PRIMITIVE WEAPONS AND AEMOR OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 49 



this weapon is now put is as a goad for horse flesh. The surface of 

 the tail of the sting ray has innumerable small spines not longer 

 than an eighth of an inch but sharp and comparatively durable. 

 The efficiency or brutality exercised in the use of such weapons is 

 not less than the artistry sometimes exercised in the mounting and 

 finishing of the adapted form. Cat. No. 290431, U.S.N.M., collected 

 by Mrs. Caroline Bates, has several banded ferrules of silver etched 

 with geometric patterns. A heavy plain silver knob or spud covers 

 the base end. 



Flagellation rods, Pueblo of Luhao, Panipanga, Luzon Island. — 

 This instrument of torture consists of a number of short, soft pithy 

 wooden sticks, from 25 to 30, tied together at one end, which is 

 grooved, with a two-ply abaca fiber cord which together with similar 

 cords from the other sticks make up the material from which a rope 

 handle is braided. The sticks are each of an average length of 20 

 centimeters (7.9 inches), and are uniformly 0.8 centimeter in section. 

 They are smooth as to surface and are varnished with the blood stains 

 of the human victims or " flagellantes." To insure a stiffening or 

 seizing of the rope handle, which is about 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) 

 in length, the unretted leaves of the abaca plant, containing the 

 fiber which is otherwise usually extracted before using, are coiled to- 

 gether and are in turn covered with a wrapping of black cotton 

 cloth. The function of whipping instruments or weapons is varied. 

 They may be employed in whipping slaves, in punishing wrong- 

 doers and criminals, and in the ceremonial and religious flagellations 

 which were universally practised throughout the Christianized sec- 

 tions of the islands. These torture weapons are in evidence espe- 

 cially during the Pentecostal season preceding Easter. 



Cat. No. 259C89-90, U.S.N.M. Collected by W. Huse Chapman. 



THE SPEAR, ITS USE IN WARFARE AND THE HUNT 



Distribution and antiquity of the Malaysian spear, parts and ma- 

 terials employed in construction. — It has been assumed that occupa- 

 tional activities of the different Filipino tribes have to a great extent 

 caused adoption or retention of the bow, the spear, or the blowgun. 

 The bow has been termed the natural weapon of the hunter, while 

 the spear has been adopted by those tribes that gave up hunting and 

 life in the forest and became agriculturalists instead. Another as- 

 sumption accepted by some writers is that the bow and blow-gun 

 are racial characteristics, in that the bow is found wherever tlie 

 Negrito is at home, and that the blowgun " sumpitan " is the natural 

 Malay weapon. There is probably some truth and error in each of 

 these assertions. The bow is a primitive weapon and was retained 

 by those tribes that remained primitive forest dwellers and hunters. 



