58 



NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



Between these two weapons is a spear-head armed with 

 shark-teeth. I have a very remarkable weapon of this kind, 

 made in Mangaia. It is eleven feet in length, and, besides 

 being armed with a double row of sharks' teeth nearly to the 

 handle, it has three curved blades similarly armed, set at dis- 



SWORD-GRASS. 

 LEECH JAW. 

 SAW-FISH. 



SPEARS AND SWORD AR1IED WITH 

 OBSIDIAN AND SHARKS' TEETH. 



tances of about two feet, and projecting at right angles. Thus, 

 if the foe were missed with the point of the spear, he would 

 probably be wounded by one of the blades. 



The upper figure represents a weapon where the natural bone 

 of the sting-ray has been used as the point. 



On the opposite side are seen three natural objects similarly 

 armed. The uppermost is another species of sword-grass, like 

 that which has already been described. 



Next comes a magnified view of one of the three cutting 

 instruments of the leech, showing the serrated teeth set along 

 its edge, by means of which it produces the sharply- cut wounds 

 through which it sucks the blood. 



The last figure represents the head of the common Saw-fish, 

 in which a vast number of flat and sharply-edged teeth are set 

 upon the blade-like head. The fish has been observed to use 

 this weapon just as the Mangaian uses his sword- spear. It 

 dashes among a shoal of fish, sweeps its head violently back- 

 wards and forwards, and then, after they have dispersed, picks 

 up at its leisure the dead and disabled. 



The Spear and the Dagger. 



It is tolerably evident that the invention of the spear and 

 dagger must have been nearly, if not quite, contemporaneous 

 with that of the club. I place these weapons together because 



