Although these teeth are fastened to the blade of the weapon on the same principle, the makers vary the detail according to their own convenience. In the weapon represented in [fig. 1], a slit runs along each edge, into which the bases of the teeth fit rather tightly. A hole is bored through the tooth, and a corresponding one through the edge of the sword, and each tooth is fixed in its place by a piece of fine sinnet passed repeatedly through the holes, drawn tight, and neatly finished off. A plaited loop of broad sinnet serves to suspend the weapon round the wrist, and a piece of the hard, ivory-like skate-skin holds it in its place.
The next, [fig. 2], shows a much more elaborate weapon, which, instead of consisting of a single piece, has one central blade and three auxiliary blades. Moreover, as the reader may see by carefully examining the illustration, there are four rows of teeth instead of two on each blade, and the teeth are larger and more deeply serrated than those of the other weapon. In this case the maker has most ingeniously contrived to spare himself the trouble of making a fresh tie for every tooth, which, as upwards of two hundred teeth are employed, would have been a very tedious business.
Firstly, he has shaped the wooden blades with four bold ridges, and cut a slight groove along each ridge, so as to keep the teeth straight. Instead of troubling himself to bore holes in the sword as well as in the tooth, he has laid along the edges of each groove a strip of elastic wood obtained from the rib of the palm leaf, which is as hard and elastic as whalebone. The sinnet has then been passed through the holes in the teeth, and over all them palm-leaf strips, so that one piece of sinnet serves to fasten four teeth. As in the other case, the sinnet is exceedingly fine, and is passed several times round the sword. It is observable that in this weapon the teeth have been most carefully selected and graduated, the largest and longest being near the handle, and diminishing equally to the point, where they are comparatively small.
The auxiliary blades diverge more than is shown in the [illustration], and it is hardly possible to imagine a more formidable weapon, especially when employed against the naked skin of a savage. In actual warfare the Kingsmill Islander has a mode of protecting himself, which will be presently mentioned; but in a sudden skirmish or a quarrel the sword would be used with terrible effect. As may be inferred from its shape, it is not merely used as a striking weapon, but is driven violently backward and forward against the body of the antagonist, one or more of the blades being sure to take effect somewhere.
The next sword, [fig.] 3, has the teeth fixed exactly in the same manner as those of the many-bladed sword, as may be seen by reference to the single tooth, where is seen not only the tooth but the strips of leaf stem between which it is placed, and the mode of fastening off the sinnet. The wooden blade of this weapon is quite unlike that of the others, being marked with a rich black graining, to which the glittering white teeth form an admirable contrast.
The last of these swords, [fig.] 4, is remarkable for the cross-guard. I cannot but think that the maker must have seen an European sword with a cross-guard, and made his own in imitation of it. Otherwise, without the least idea of the object of a guard, it is not easy to see why he should have armed the guard with teeth, especially in the centre, or where they come against the handle, and must be quite ineffectual.
The Kingsmill Islanders do not restrict the sharks’ teeth to the swords, but also use them as armature to their spears. One of these spears, also in my collection, is fifteen feet in length, and about as formidable a weapon as can well be imagined. It is made of a very light wood, so that it may be wielded more easily, and at the butt is nearly as thick as a man’s wrist, tapering gradually to the point. The butt is unarmed, and rounded for about four feet, so as to act as a handle, but from this point to the tip it is rather flattened, like the sword blades, for the more convenient reception of the teeth, which are fixed along each edge nearly to the point of the weapon. The teeth are fastened by means of the leaf ribs. In order to render it a more dangerous weapon, it is furnished with three projections, also armed with teeth, and made exactly like the auxiliary blades of the sword, though much smaller.
This remarkable spear is shown in the [illustration No. 2], on the next page, accompanied by sections and a portion drawn on a larger scale, so as to show the mode of its construction. [Fig. a] represents the method in which the teeth are fastened to the weapon by the sinnet passing through the hole in the teeth and bound down by the cross loop under the little strips of wood. At [fig. b] is a section of the spear, showing the oval shape of the weapon, and the mode in which the teeth are supported by the wooden strips at each side. It is worthy of notice, that if the jaw of a saw-fish were to be cut through the section would present a wonderfully similar appearance.
In order to show more clearly the source whence the natives obtain such vast numbers of sharks’ teeth, I have introduced a drawing of a [shark’s mouth] on same page, taken from a specimen in my collection. The reader will see that the jaws are furnished with row after row of teeth, all lying upon each other, except the outer teeth, and constructed so that when one tooth is broken or falls out of the jaw, another takes its place.
In the jaw which is here [figured], the teeth lie in five rows, and altogether there are three hundred of them—largest toward the middle of the jaw, and becoming gradually smaller toward the angles of the mouth. The native, therefore, has no difficulty either in procuring the requisite number of teeth, or in selecting them of the requisite shape and dimensions.