48 BULLETIN 137^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



broad sectioned, with wide distal end, tapering toward the proximal 

 end; it is provided with a guard, handle grip, and small bulbous 

 pommel. 



Length of sword club, 73.8 centimeters (29 inches). Collected by 

 Gen. James W. Bell, United States Volunteers. (PL 1.) Cat. No. 

 209359, U.S.N.M. 



Clubbed skidds. — Numerous shields in the National Museum from 

 eastern and western Malaysia, from the Philippines, and from the 

 outlying islands off the west coast of Sumatra are fashioned from 

 a single piece of strong light wood and consist of an elliptic body, 

 concavo-convex in transverse section, with projecting clublike ends. 

 The shield is strengthened by a midrib, which is expanded into a 

 boss in which the hand grip is excavated. This shield shows plainly 

 a development from the club, and is evidently still mainly used for 

 parleying, though it has widened out under the influence of the spear 

 and of cut and thrust weapons. The solid projecting ends and the 

 midrib preserve the vestiges of the club from which it has been 

 derived. In the Philippines this shield is produced chiefly in the 

 Tawi tawi group and in the Sulu Archipelago, although a shield 

 resembling it is made by the Negritos. (PI. 1.) 



Sawfish blade. — Many adaptations of the blade of the sawfish 

 ZiphiiLS gladius for use as a fighting weapon, such as a sword or 

 battle-ax, occur in the Philippines. In some cases the natural shape 

 of the blade is preserved ; in others, the saw teeth have been removed 

 from the bony tissue and have been inserted into the lateral edges 

 of a wood blade. Everywhere along the Philippine coast the value 

 of the sawfish blade as a natural fighting weapon is known, although 

 with the penetration of the iron industry to all parts of the islands 

 the need for such weapons grows less. One of the sawfish blades 

 that has been reshaped and fitted to a wooden handle and container 

 for the teeth was collected by the Philippine Island Commission, 

 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Cat. No. 235240, U.S.N.M. ; another 

 blade with the teeth still in place, and with the natural shape pre- 

 served save for the hollowing out of a grip handle at the base of 

 blade, is Cat. No. 324737, U.S.N.M., collected by James C. McGuire. 

 The length of the blade in the latter weapon is 83.2 centimeters (32 

 inches) ; width, 18.2 centimeters (7 inches). 



Sting ray whips. — The tail of the sting ray {Pristis pectinatus) 

 was formerly used as a punitive weapon for whipping slaves, pris- 

 oners, and as a flagellation rod by the penitentes during Lent. Many 

 of these whips are crude affairs and show but little adaptation to 

 existing weapon types; others, evidently of later manufacture, are 

 neatly cut and mounted in silver. There are many such whips in 

 the Museum collections. Probably the most important use to which 



