PRIMITIVE WEAPONS AND ARMOR OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 65 



kiisses, the guard piece, is welded to the blade proper, although in 

 the older types the base piece or guard is so accurately fitted to the 

 base of blade as to appear to form an integral part of it. Both 

 guard and contre guard are characteristically notched and pierced. 

 The kris is held in the hand with guard up. Thus the notches may 

 serve to catch the edge of the enemy's blade, while the irregularities 

 and ornamentations of the contre guard represent, according to some 

 writers, the conventionalized jaws and fangs of a serpent. Knight 

 says that the perforations in the contre guard represent a record of 

 the number of enemies slain. 



The more recent specimens of krisses are produced primarily for 

 sale to tourists and are made from any suitable available material. 

 Wagon tires are sometimes used. The kris made from such material 

 is shaped, wave crests and all, within the space of a few hours. 

 Wagon springs are preferred by the native smiths, since the shape 

 of the leaves and the better grade of steel make them more suitable 

 for being wrought into swords and blades of various types. The 

 older and better kris specimens are easily recognized not so much by 

 the quality of steel, but in the quality of workmanship displayed on 

 pommel, handle grip, guard, and stirrups. In the United States the 

 larger collections of superior krisses are to be found in the Field 

 Museum, Chicago; the Peabody Museum, Salem; and the various 

 other larger museums, including the National Museum. 



Social significance of the &0Z0.— The point has been raised by 

 writers that once a ceremonial or war weapon has reached a position 

 of differentiated structure and function its use for purely agricul- 

 tural and domestic purposes becomes taboo. This statement has been 

 much overemphasized. With the exception of the more ornate 

 barongs, krisses, and daggers of the Moro, there is not a single 

 weapon employed by the Filipino that is not at times also employed 

 in the industries. This is true of the sword weapons, parangs, and 

 bolos, no less than of the head-hunter's equipment consisting of the 

 head ax and head basket. Thus the head basket may alternately be 

 used as such or as a common pack basket, while the recurved spike of 

 the head ax may be thrust in the ground and the projecting ax be 

 used as a stationary knife or adz. The sharply recurved parang- 

 latok may be used as a common zacate grass cutter, while the beau- 

 tifully shaped barong blade becomes a common jungle knife. Dif- 

 ferentiation and specialization in structure and function are more 

 local and personal in primitive society and weapons never reach the 

 degree of specialization in function that applies to the dueling sword 

 or saber in our own civilization. 



Referring to the bolo of the Filipino, Doctor Hawley states that 

 the bolo proper, with handle cut from the horn of the carabao and 

 blade hammered out of a piece of steel, has given the generic name 

 to all classes of the weapon. 



