1921.93.212

Collection type

Object

Description

Fish hook of whale bone and turtleshell.

Geographical reference

Tonga

Oceania > Polynesia > Tonga

Fiji

Oceania > Melanesia > Fiji

Person

Field collector Charles Frederick Wood

PRM source Edith Lucy Wake Wood

Date / Period

Date made: Before 30/07/1873

Date collected

Between 22 and 30 July 1873

Acquisition information

Donated: 1921

Materials and processes

Material Whale Bone Animal, Material Turtleshell Reptile, Material Shell, Material String, Material Bird Feather, Material Plant Fibre, Process Plaited, Process Carved

Dimensions

Length: max 190 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1921.93.212

Research and responses

see [1921.93.1] for complete introduction to accession book and to this collection. This is one entry in the accession book dealing with two objects. For the snood mentioned in the description see 1921.93.213. [EB 10/9/2001]

This object was examined by Fergus Clunie during a research visit on 24 July 2013. He stated this type of fish hook is used for catching dogfish tuna. The barb on the point indicates that it is a trolling hook. He suggested that this is a god embodiment. Tongan's do not use feathers as lures for fish hooks. Red feathers are a godly feature. There is writing on the base of the fish hook - this might be the native name for the god this object embodies. [MJD 24/07/2013]

Associated publications

Featured in colour on page 245 of 'Fiji - Art and Life in the Pacific' by Steven Hooper, UEA 2016 wuth the caption '218 BAYALOYALO (TROLLING FISHING LURE). Fiji, early-to-mid 19th century Whale bone, pearl shell, turtle shell, feathers, fibre: L. 19.0 cm (hook) Oxford, PRM: 1921.93.212. Acquired 1921; collected by Charles Wood at Lomaloma, Vanua Balavu, 22-30 July, 1873 This is another example of the type of hook that was a common gift in the 1770s in Tonga and continued to be made both for fishing and gift presentation into the second half of the nineteenth century. They were Tongan-made, but often circulated in Fiji. 'LOMO-LOMO' is the village of Lomaloma on Vanua Balavu in eastern Fiji, which is adjacent to the village of Sawana, the headquarters of Ma'afu and the Tongans in eastern Fiji in the 1870s and which is still occupied by Tongans today (Lessin and Lessin, 1970). The crisply cut pearl shell reflector plate has been particularly carefully fitted to the undulating whale bone shank (rather than vice versa), suggesting that shank was ancient and had been refurbished. [FB 8/11/2016]

Search terms: Fishing, Trade, Fishing Accessory, Hook