THE ARTS OF THE CLUB. 15 
(Tonga, fehokaaki, to strike with the end of the weapon). Very con- 
siderable skill is exhibited in the handling of this weapon; by reason of 
lightness the stance is less important and change of position is frequent. 
In fact, it is this weapon alone which would engage any attention from 
the North Devon cudgel-player; the ordinary wielder of the heavy 
club would find himself soundly trounced by a man skilled in cudgel- 
play or the quarter-staff and could interpose no defense to the rain of 
blows. ‘The thrust is not found in Fiji; it is a Polynesian art and 
reaches its best development in Futuna and Uvea. 
The vocabularies afford various pictures of the events in a club con- 
test. In the Samoan matafatu (visage of rock) there is the contestant 
who stands up unmoved under the blow; lauulumafa‘': (hair mussed) 
is used of one who goes down easily under a blow; fanene and manene, 
to sink to the ground when the knees give way through the shock; 
sa‘e, to be quite capsized and throw the leg in the air in the fall. In 
the Samoan, sosont and tasele describe the cutting stroke of the edged 
club, and Fiji samuta the stroke of the heaviest clubs. In the Fijian, 
sakutia is to land a blow on the head; Samoa, toulu to receive one there. 
The tale of wounds is in the following terms: Fiji, tatwki, beaten with 
clubs; Samoa, aimdmd, severely beaten; fenavunavua‘ina, beaten 
all over, quite as the lime dressing for the hair (vavuz) is dusted all over 
the head; Fiji, moku, to strike dead; Samoa, taulalo, to lower the hands 
in sign of defeat and thereby to give up the game. Last scene of all, 
battle over, the victor tosses his club in air and dances as best he may; 
his war party in Samoa, fa‘atuetue, raise the triumphant shout of tué, 
with the final vowel immensely prolonged. 
Quite as simple is the play of the single-handed clubs, except in one 
particular, where the lighter facility of the weapon conditions some 
slight change in method. With this quickly manipulated type of 
weapon stance ceases to be of importance; the contest is rather of 
agility than of endurance, and each fighter hits and dodges in unin- 
termitting advance and retreat until the chance of a well-directed 
blow gets home. Here again the competent fencer could hold himself 
perfectly safe; one skilled with the cutlass would find no difficulty in 
guarding every possible blow which the club-player could address. 
