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1884.19.290

Spear with four short hard-wood points at the tip, which have bound to the bamboo shaft with cane plant and string. [ASh [OPS move] 28/6/2018]

1884.19.290

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Collection type
Object
Description
Spear with four short hard-wood points at the tip, which have bound to the bamboo shaft with cane plant and string. [ASh [OPS move] 28/6/2018]
Date / Period
Date made: Possibly before 1878
Date collected
?Prior to 1878
Acquisition information
Donated: 1884
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Material Bamboo Plant, Material Plant Fibre, Material String, Process Carved, Process Bound
Dimensions
Length: max 1444 mm, Width: max 72 mm, Depth: max 24 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1884.19.290 PR Cat other PR nos: 3625
Associated publications
JG Wood 1870 Natural History of Man: Australia etc p479: 'It has been mentioned that the heads are wanting to 'open the mourning' after the death of any person .... When a chief loses a relative, he closes some stream during the time of mourning. This is done by driving spears into the bank, on either side, and fastening bamboos to them across the stream. No one is allowdd to pass this obstruction ... until a head has been obtained. .... [as part of the trophy ceremony] The fish come floating to the surface, and are then captured by means of barbed spears, which are flung at them from the bank. The spears are very light, their shafts, being made of bamboo, so that they always float, and enable the thrower to recover both the spear and the fish which it has struck ... One of these fish spears is shown in the accompanying illustration. It is five feet in length, and the shaft, which is three-quarters of an inch in diameter, is made of hollow bamboo, and is exceedingly light. The four prongs are made of iron [sic - different to this object which is wood prongs], and very slightly barbed. Owing to the manner in which they are lashed to the shaft they are very elastic, so that the slight barbs are perfectly capable of retaining the fish ... In the same parcel was another spear, which is also represented in the illustration. The shaft is also made of bamboo, but is nearly solid, having been cut from an old and thick plant, and the point, instead of being made of iron, is simply a piece of hard, dark wood, sharpened, and lashed to the end of the shaft with rattan.' [NB this spear seems to be an amalgamation of the two spears described in Natural History as it has four prongs [like the first] but of hard wood [like the second] [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]

Search terms: Weapon, Fishing, Spear, Fishing Accessory