PRIMITIVE SPEARS. 59 



there is great difficulty in assigning to either of them the pre- 

 cedence, the spear being but a more or less elongated dagger, 

 and the dagger a shortened spear. 



As a good example of this fact, I have in my collection a 

 number of spears and daggers belonging to the Fan tribe of 

 Western Africa. In every case the weapons correspond so 

 closely with each other, that if the daggers were attached to 

 shafts they would exactly resemble the spears, and if the spears 

 were cut off within a few inches of the head, they would be 

 taken for daggers. 



I may here mention that as this part of the subject merely 

 involves the employment of a pointed or thrusting weapon, 

 instead of the club or sword, both of which are used for 

 striking, the question of poison, barbs, and sheaths will be 

 treated on another page. 



The primary origin of the Spear is probably the thorn, as a 

 savage who had been wounded by a thorn would easily pass to 

 the conclusion that a thorn of larger size would enable him to 

 kill an enemy in war, or an animal in hunting. Anything of 

 sufficient dimensions, which either possessed a natural point or 

 could be sharpened into a point, would be available for the pur- 

 pose of the hunter or warrior. 



Accordingly we find that such objects as the beak of the 

 heron or stork, the sharp hind-claw of the kangaroo, the bone 

 of the sting-ray, the beak of the sword-fish, and many similar 

 objects, are employed for the heads of spears, or used simply as 

 daggers. 



As to artificial spears, nothing is easier than to scrape a stick 

 to a point, and then, if needful, to harden it in the fire. This 

 is, indeed, one of the commonest forms of primitive spears, and 

 I have in my collection many examples of such weapons. 

 Another simple form of this weapon is that which is made by 

 cutting a stick or similar object diagonally. 



Hollow rods — such, for example, as the bamboo — are the 

 best for this purpose. I have now before me a cast of a most 

 interesting weapon discovered by Colonel Lane Fox. It is the 

 head of a spear, and is formed from part of the leg-bone of a 

 sheep. At one end there is a simple round hole, which acted 

 as a socket for the reception of the shaft, and the other end is 

 cut away diagonally, so as to leave a tolerably sharp point. 



