The clubs ([Plate 75, Figs, 1 and 2]) are stone-headed, the heads being of the pineapple and disc types; but these heads are the same as those used on the plains and coast, whose people, in fact, get them from the mountains, and as these are so well-known, it is not necessary for me to describe them.
The adzes ([Plate 75, Fig. 4]) are of the usual type, the stone blade being lashed directly on to the handle. There are two common forms. In one, which is also used for ordinary adze work, the haft is cut from a natural branch, with the angle of the head part set obliquely. In the other, which is also used for cutting timber, the haft is cut from a branch with the angle of the head part set at right angles, or nearly so. I do not know to what extent this second form is common in New Guinea. It is not found in Mekeo.
The shields ([Plate 74, Figs. 2 and 3]) are thick, heavy, cumbrous weapons, made out of the wood used for making wooden dishes. The outer surfaces are convex, and the inner ones concave, the natural convexity of the circular trunk of the tree from which they are made being retained. These shields are 4½ to 5 feet long, and usually about 15 or 16 inches wide in the broadest central part, getting somewhat narrower towards the two ends, where they are rounded off. Each shield has two strong cane handles in the centre of its internal concave side, each of which handles is fixed by means of two pairs of holes bored through the shield, and of thongs which are passed through these holes and attached to the ends of the handles. The shields are carried by passing the left arm through the upper handle downwards, the left hand holding the lower handle.
[1] But see [p. 178, note 1].
[2] Half-a-dozen years ago, before open systematic killing and cannibalism were checked, it was a Kuni custom, when a woman died in her confinement, to bury the living baby with the dead mother. I have not heard of this custom in Mafulu, and do not know whether or not it exists, or has existed, there; but as regards matters of this sort the Mafulu and the Kuni are very similar. My statement that there is no burying alive must be taken subject to the possibility of this custom.
[3] This custom is found elsewhere.
[4] From Dr. Haddon’s distribution chart in Vol. XVI. of The Geographical Journal, it will be seen that the Mafulu district is just about at the junction between his spear area and his bow and arrow area.