'A bundle of arrows, some of them poisoned.'

Arrows, 1886.1.1184, 1185, 1186, 1190, 1191

These arrows are from Vanuatu, and described in the 'Catalogue of Curiosities', under the heading 'Mallicollo' as '144. A bundle of arrows, some of them poisoned.' and, from Tanna, No. 152 'A bundle of arrows.' The arrows are made from reed, and most have sharpened wooden points.  One, 1886.1.1844, at the bottom in the above photo, is recorded as having a bone point when it was transferred from the Ashmolean Museum to the Pitt Rivers in 1886 - this arrow is recorded in plate XXVIII of Cook's account of the second voyage.  

'Weapons &c at Mallicollo and Tanna' The arrow 1886.1.1844 is probably No.5

As the Resolution approached Malakula on Thursday 21st July 1774, George Forster recorded that some islanders approached in canoes.  'By degrees they ventured near the ship, and received a few pieces of Taheitee cloth, which they eagerly accepted.  Presently they handed up some of their arrows in exchange; at first such as were pointed with wood only, but soon after even such as were armed with points of bone, and daubed with a black gummy stuff, on which account we suspected them of being poisoned. A young Tahitian puppy was therefore wounded in the leg with one of these arrows, to try its effect, but we perceived no dangerous symptoms.'

A day or two later, Forster mentions poisoned arrows again.  'They began to sell us their common arrows, and afterwards those which were poisoned; but advised us not to try the points against our fingers, making us understand, by the plainest signs, that with a common arrow, a man might be shot through the arm without dying, but that the slightest scratch with one of the other sort was mortal.  If notwithstanding this information, we attempted to bring the point on our fingers, they caught hold of our arm, with the most friendly gesture, to save us, as it were, from imminent danger.'

During the night, one of the sailors on board the Resolution caught a shark nine feet long, which was eaten by the crew.  Although Forster did not regard them as palatable, he thought they they were 'at all times preferable to salt provisions.'  However, when the shark was cut open, it was found to have the bone point of a poisoned arrow in its skull.  'The wound was healed so perfectly that not the smallest vestige of it appeared on the outside….Fishes therefore are not affected by these arrows, which are thought to be poisoned.'

When summing up the visit to Malakula, Forster again reflected on poisoned arrows, noting that 'it is at this moment doubtful, whether their arrows are really poisoned.  The dog on which we made the experiment on the day of our arrival recovered perfectly without any assistance…Another experiment was tried upon the sequel upon a different dog; an incision was made in his leg with a lancet, and the gummy substance, supposed to be the poison, was laid into it, and covered with a plaster.  The dog was very lame for a few days, from the swelling and festering of the wound, but gradually recovered like the first.'

According to Felix Speiser, in 'Ethnology of Vanuatu: An Early Twentieth Century Study, trans. D.Q.Stephenson (Bathurst, 1990 (orig. 1923)), 200-201) the resinous substance used to coat bone arrows was not necessarily poisonous, but it often contained tetanus bacilli, which would often lead to death.  Some reports suggest that arrowheads were also treated with putrefying flesh from decomposing bodies. (See George Forster, 'A Voyage Round the World' Vol II.  Ed. Nicholas Thomas and Oliver Berghof, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2000.)

A club from Malakula

Club 1886.1.1466

This club is from Vanuatu, from the island of Malakula, which Cook visited at the end of July 1774.  It is number 142 in the 'Catalogue of Curiosities', and is one of only three items collected in 'Mallicollo', the others being a bow and a bundle of poisoned arrows.  Meetings with the inhabitants of Malakula only occurred on the beaches - the visitors were not permitted to venture inland.  As a result the objects collected here are the kinds of things that would have been carried on the person.

George Forster writes in 'A Voyage Round the World' that 'Besides bows and arrows they wore a club of the casuarina-wood, which hung from their right shoulder , from a thick rope, made of a kind of grass.  This club was commonly knobbed at one end, and very well polished, like all their manufactures.  It did not exceed two feet and a half in length, and appeared to be reserved for close engagement, after emptying the quiver.'  The inhabitants of the island were persuaded to sell their arms for 'a handkerchief, or a piece of Taheitee cloth, or English frieze' (a type of coarse cloth).  As they departed Malakula, Forster said that that 'the natives came to us with all their fourteen canoes, and sold us great numbers of arrows of all kinds and some clubs….they seemed very eager to part with their arms for Taheitee cloth.'

Club head

The club in the Pitt Rivers collection is Janus-headed, having two faces with highly conventionalised features. Lissant Bolton, in her chapter entitled 'Place, Warfare and Trade 1700-1840' in 'Art in Oceania: A New History' (Peter Brunt et al. London: Thames and Hudson, 2012) writes that 'part of the Forster Collection now in the Pitt Rivers  Museum, Oxford, is a club collected at Port Sandwich, Malakula Vanuatu, in July 1774. Kirk Huffman identifies it as a "rare type of high-status club" that signifies links between south-east Malakula and west Ambrym, north Ambrym and south Pentecost. Although the club was very likely made where it was collected, it appears that this, one of the first objects ever collected by Europeans in island Melanesia, was an item in a ritual network that linked a number of adjacent islands and regions. This kind of club could be used as a weapon, but also in ceremonies and as a dance club. It was above all an object that related to a complex system of status enhancement: it would have been owned by a high-ranking man, and would have signified his status as a someone to be treated with respect.'

Barkcloth from the Pacific

The Cook collections at the Pitt Rivers were originally at the Ashmolean Museum, which was founded in 1683.  The majority of the ethnographic collections were transferred to the newly-opened Pitt Rivers Museum in 1886.  Because the Catalogue of Curiosities was still lost at this time, there was a possibility that some Cook-voyage objects had not been identified as such.  Yesterday, we went to look at some of the stored barkcloth that originally came from the Ashmolean, some of which came with no provenance.  Although we don't think we found any 'lost' Cook pieces, we did see some interesting barkcloth.

This is a barkcloth poncho, possibly from Tahiti.  It has been decorated with what are believed to be strips of the epidermis of banana leaves, and flowers made from plant material.

1984.3.1 Detail of decoration

Detail of banana leaf epidermis

The poncho is incredibly fragile and will require many hours of conservation work before it is stable enough to go on display.

This barkcloth stained with turmeric and with a feather fringe is from Tongoa, part of the Shepherd Islands, Vanuatu.  It was donated to the museum by Lieut. Boyle T. Somerville, who served on HMS Dart, which carried out a survey of Vanuatu in 1890 and 1891.

Detail of feather fringe - 1893.27.4

The next piece has some characteristics of barkcloth from Niue, which lies in an expanse of sea between the Samoan Islands to the North, the Cook Islands to the East, and the Tonga Group to the west.  Called hiapo on Niue, this barkcloth has notched edges, and an openwork pattern highlighted with orange pigment.

1887.1.564 Detail of openwork design

Also with striking surface decoration is 1895.22.121, a barkcloth from New Georgia in the Solomon Islands.  The decoration is of a deep blue colour, and analysis shows it is a type of indigo, but it is not certain how this dye was obtained (See 'Not Quite Extinct - Melanesian Barkcloth ('tapa') from Western Solomon Islands', Rhys Richards and Kenneth Roga, Wellington, 2005)

1895.22.121 Detail

This large yellow barkcloth is decorated with motifs made by dipping fern leaves in dye and pressing them onto the surface.  Decoration of this type is characteristic of Tahiti.  These striking barkcloths are not described in any of the Cook-voyage journals, but it is thought that this style of decoration came into use soon after that period.

1886.1.1237 Detail of fern print