12 BULLETIN 137, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Nomnetallic Tnatet'ials used in the constructwn of weapon parts. — 

 In the development of primitive Filipino culture there are two out- 

 standing plants that enter into the production of most of the necessi- 

 ties of daily life, namely, rattan and bamboo. Houses rest upon 

 bamboo posts ; most of the framework is of bamboo, while floors and 

 walls consist of thin bamboo tubing. Defensive walls and fences are 

 fashioned from the same material; split pales are sharpened at the 

 top and are woven firmly together into an impenetrable barrier. 

 Knives and saws, containers of various types and sizes, and qiuvers 

 for arrows and for blowgun darts, all are shaped from bamboo 

 along with innumerable other articles of daily use. 



A sharpened length of bamboo is a natural spear, and one of its 

 earliest forms. A great variety of basketry traps and receptacles 

 represents one type of articles fashioned from bamboo, while at the 

 other extreme in usage are the numerous tubular weapons rang- 

 ing from the blowgun to the less commonly constructed small 

 cannon. 



The importance of rattan " bejuco " as a tying material and as a 

 wrapper on scabbard, parang handle, and on spear shaft and other 

 weapons and objects of warfare, the hunt, and other phases of their 

 daily life permit the natives to dispense entirely with such objects 

 as iron or wooden nails. Its qualities of flexibility and tensile 

 strength are well known. 



Bamboos are tall bushy grasses having woody stems or culms 

 which are more or less hollow and are provided with transverse 

 solid joints or septums. At maturity, or after the first period of 

 rapid growth has passed, the stems become hardened at the rind by a 

 deposit of hard, brittle, silicious matter. The bamboo is a member 

 of the family of grasses {Gi'amineae) , two of the most widely dis- 

 tributed varieties being the thick-walled Bainbusa hlmneana and 

 the thin-walled dwarf variety, caha hoJio {Banihusa lumampao). 

 This latter variety occurs mostly in the forested regions, and is 

 probably more often used in the production of arrow shafts than is 

 the larger variety, though there are many examples of arrows 

 formed from this varietj^ in the Museum collections. In the making 

 of bamboo scabbards, sheaths for spears and daggers, and spear 

 shafts the larger variety is employed exclusively. 



Palm fibers and palm woods abound in the Phillippines. 

 Varieties useful in the production of weapons are such well-known 

 palms as the betel-nut palm {Ai^eca catechu)^ nipa palm {Nipa 

 fructicans)^ buri palm {Corypha uvibraculifera) ^ and the coconut 

 palm {Cocos nucifera). These varieties are useful in the prepara- 

 tion of spear shafts, arrow foreshafts, and in the hafting of parangs 

 and daggers. The fiber, or coir, of the coconut, which is found in 

 the husk or outer pericarp surrounding the nut, is emploj^ed together 



