TYPES OF THE’ CLUBS: oy ae 
hundredfold. It consists of the expanded portion, which embraces the 
stem from which the leaf grows, a stalk which is bare for several feet 
and is quite strong enough to serve as a club, last of all the many leaf- 
lets. The wings of the part of the stalk which engages with the parent 
trunk become at their edges so thin as to lack substantial character; it 
is for that reason that they are trimmed off, leaving a considerable 
body which on its natural lower face offers the two faces of a mass 
whose section is a rhomb, and in the trimming of the wings the rhomb 
is naturally completed. Inasmuch as the trunk with which the leaf- 
stalk engages is circular, the end of the stalk has a corresponding de- 
pression. This establishes all the critical dimensions of the club carved 
in imitation of this stalk, so much so that the hardwood club marked h 
reproduces quite distinctly the proportions of the natural stalk. 
Dr. Kramer, relying too confidently upon Samoan information, has 
set into the same class both the lapalapa and the talavalu, and in the 
case of the latter he interprets the lateral teeth as symbolic of the per- 
sisting stems of the leaflets. Several vital objections oppose this 
assignment of source. ‘The leaflets of the coconut leaf are remote from 
the naked stem and knob, which are used for clubs; in the talavalu the 
teeth are so close to the knob that in several of these instances they 
merge therewith. ‘The stalk of the leaf is tough and of considerable 
size; the stalk of the leaflets is short and comparatively insubstantial 
and could serve no weapon purpose. ‘The end of the head of the 
talavalu is a considerable pyramidal body; the end of the lapalapa is 
characterized by a depression. In the museum specimens this is so 
constant that there are but four pieces in which it is cut square off 
and only one in which it is domed. 
The purpose of trimming off the wings of the solid end of the leaf- 
stalk is to prevent the splitting of the temporary club in the fencing. 
Even after the trimming this tendency to sliver downward into the 
stem persists and is capable of very simple correction. Rather than 
lose his bout through damage to his weapon, the fencer using the green 
stalk frequently reinforces it by ties lashing it from side to side, and 
these ties may be either sennit or pandanus leaf, both of which are fre- 
quently met with in these collections. As a detail of ornament the 
sennit tie is susceptible of interpretation as the source of the rather 
prominent cross-ribs on certain of these clubs (fig. 2) and the pandanus 
ties (Plate II, c) as the source of the bands on certain others (fig. 7). 
Herein is a criterion upon which to erect three subdivisions of the type: 
A. No cross-ribs; head diamond-section, in which the two axes are 
nearly equal. 2281 in respect of the head is transitional to species B. 
B. Single cross-rib; head diamond section in which the minor axis is 
considerably the less. 3178 in respect of the head somewhat resem- 
bles species A. 
