The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1902-06-14
0ound Brings Death
Deadly Weapons of Savages Dreaded by
Soldiers. = - - .-1'5

~ SUCH weapons as do not involve
the use Of explosives savage races
have from ancient days been very
inventive. Ever since the time
when the Samoese twin divinities
split great rock in two for the purpose
Of fashion1ng stone clubs for the giants
Of those days, the Samoans have been well
skilled in the art of making and using
, heaVy clubs. Long before bayt-nets came
into general use in European arfare the
idea OF a gun and spear in one was elab-
grated IN the form of the Dyak's sum-
pltan, which we shall presently describe.
1t Is even probable that before the sword
Was we'll developed as a weapon in Eng
iand the Po1ynesian savage had brought
MS sharks teeth blades to perfection.
Considering, then, that the weapons of
savagery are Of no mean ORDER and COM
pare well in ingenuity with similar instru-
ments of offense and defense in the pres
ent day, they may have a fair claim to
consideration.
Most remarkable, and perhaps most
deadly, Of all savage weapons is the sum-
pltan OF Borneo, mentioned above. It is
extraordinary that the Dyaks, barbarous
and uncultured as they are should have
anticipated the idea of our rifle and bay
onet, 1t is not known how many centuries
before the secret of gunpowder was dis
covered. Their g1;.. IS a blow-pipe of hard,
light wood, some eight or ten feet in
length and abount an inch indiameter, and
their bayonet is a kind of broad, sharp
edged and pointed spearhead. This is
pound to the head of the blow-gun by
means of strong rattan or brass wire,
ana 1t is SO arranged that it does not in
terfere with the flight of the darts.
Ihls at first glance is a deadly weapon
at close quarters in the hands of a dash
ing warrior like the Dyak; but it is even
more effective at a distance, for the little
arrows made from the spicules of the
90 mol
the upas tree. The arrows are so small
that they intlict only a puncture like that
of a pin prick; but by virtue of the poi
son many man has died five minutes
after being hit. This fact coupled with
the marvellous delicacy of construction
and consequent accuracy of the sumptian
in the hands of the experienced Dyak
marksman, makes it a most formidable
weapon.
In the attack led by Johnson in 1859
against the Dyaks of the interior, he lost
upward of thirty men under the fatal fire
or these weapons, and not one of them
showed amy wound more dangerous-look-
ing than mere pin prick Of the skim
The advantage that this weapon has even
over the rifle is that in the defense foliage
Dyak marksman may lie concealed and
pick off his enemy without betraying his
whereabouts either by sound of re-
port, by flash, or smoke. Altogether it re-
silent and deadly sumptian. Warfare by
poisoned missiles is nowhere so perfect as
IN BOrneO, but various savage races do
what they can in the art. The Fans use a
small poisoned arrow, which they dis
charge with cross-bow, but, though the
poison is very deadly, it is neither so
carefully made nor capable Of such &C.
curacy of aim as the sumptian arrow OF
the Dyaks.
- indeed. it is SO blunt that it. fEeaueutlY
hits without penetrating the skin The
savage tribes of Guiana also use poison
known as wourali on their arrows, which
are not only multibarbed with the tail of
the singing ray, but have cunningly de-
tachable points. The Maoris of New Zea-
land and many Polynesian tribes having
no poison which they can use for the pur-
pose, adopt the next best thing, and tip
their spears and darts with hardwood
from the trunk or the ponga, or tree fern,
the beauty of this wood, from the savage
warriors point of view, being that it is Of
highly irritant nature, and sets up fes-
teflng in wounds very quickly.
Next to bloW-guns, provided with bay
onets or otherwise, come those savage
weapons which are designed to pierce,
saw, lacerate and inf1ict wounds almost
beyond healing. For these savage man
IS indebted to nature, who has placed
within the mouth of the shark such a set
of formidable incisors that the weapon
maker could scarcely fail to notice and
apply them in his art. " The two jaws Of
full-grown shark usually contain about
800 teeth, large and small, so that the
Pacific islander, who can kill a shark
whenever he happens to want one, can
find ample material for swords and clubs
Of all sizes. The Kingsmill islander is
particularly apt at the manufacture Of
weapons edged with sharks teeth
He Is not content with the somewhat
blunt and heavy ideas of many Polyne-
sian peoples, who swing great clubs and
depend upon the knockdown blow. He
has keen sense of the pleasure Of in
f1icting pain on the foe, and likes to put
a very fine point on the death-dealing ex-
celence of his weapon; indeed; one might
say, rather, a thousand fine points, for it
is his custom to serrate the cutting edges
OF swords, maces and spears with rows
of murderous sharks teeth, each one of
which is so sharp as to make the weapon
dangerous even to handle for the puT-
poses of examination. 1t appears that
some of the swords Of the Kingsmill ISL
anders are quite works of art, one, of
which the Rev. j. G. Wood gives a de-
inscription, having no less than four blades
on one handle-one central blade and
three auxiliary. On each blade there are
four distinct rows of sharks teeth, MAX
ing in all over four hundred formidable,
sharp points carefully graduated in re-
gard to size The shifting and saving
power of these fourfold swords was so
great that they were never used for
thrusting, and from this fact were bare
of teeth for several inches toward the
point. @.' FIX" -" .r.,s
But these warlike savages had another
weapon which could inflict the most ter.
rible thrust wounds, and that was the
shark s-tooth spear. This is made Of
light wood, is from twelve to fifteen feet
n ic ;eI,o
teeth for nearly ten feet from the point
To make it still more formidable there
are side fins or. small auxiliary blades
sticking out at intervals of two or three
feet; these also are bristling with teeth
All these weapons-swords, spears anc
maces-are used principally with a saw.
ing motion, which, especially when the
combatants are almost naked, is par
tticularly efhcacious, and yet it issaston
ishing in what a skillful way the Kings
mill Islander will defend himself in
combat with these murderous things; in
deed he frequently comes off without
scratch. In Samoa also the sharks tootl
is utilized in warfare. E%.
Mariner, in his Voyages in the Pa
sclfc,s makes mention of pair of gaunt
let's made of cocoanut fiber and Furnished
on the palmar side with sharks teeth Sc
teogeWlse. He tells a remarkable tale O
a chief of giant proportions who Away
fought with these terrible gauntlets; bu
he disdained to rip open the bodies of hi
antagonists, either after the fashionX o
.s the Hindoos armed with their bagh' -nakh
p or tiger claw" or yet according to TIL
style Of the negro tribes of the; Whit
nile, who used a spiked ring round tn
wrist for the same purpose Mariner
8 hero was more heroic in his method. Hi
custom was torush at one of the enemy
seize him with one gloved hand, throw
him violently on his face steady hi
trunk with one foot, and catching hir