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.'

Tongan Clubs

There are ten clubs from Tonga in the Cook-voyage collections at the Pitt Rivers, described in the 'Catalogue of Curiosities'  (nos.70-79) as  'Ten clubs of different shapes, some curiously carved.'

George Forster writes in 'A Voyage Round the World' in the section for October 1773 that 'the clubs of the people of this isle, were of an infinite variety of shapes, and many of them so ponderous that we could scarce manage them with one hand…by far the greatest part were carved all over in many chequered patterns, which seemed to have required a long space of time, and incredible patience…the whole surface of the plain clubs was as highly polished , as if our best workmen had made them with the best instruments.'

Four of the ten Tongan clubs - from the top, 1886.1.1439, 1886.1.1445, 1886.1.1447, 1886.1.1467

Tongan clubs, akau, make up the largest category of objects collected on Cook's voyages, comprising roughly 20 percent of the Polynesian artefacts obtained.  The fact that so many were collected reflects both the numbers of war-clubs present in Tonga at the time, and the interests of those collecting objects, perhaps with an eye on the European market.

Akau were significant objects in historical Tonga.  A club that had killed many men was considered to be mana, through a close association with an owner who was successful in battle and possibly also high ranking, and the club was tapu to people of a lower social status.  Successful clubs were given names, and sometimes also considered to be sentient and capable of limited movement.  (See Gifford, 'Tongan Society', 1929)

Akau were made from hardwood, often ironwood (Casuarina equisetifolia), but many other woods were used.  The clubs in the Pitt Rivers collection all appear to be made from the same wood -  merbau (Intsia bijuga).

Microscope image of the wood of club 1886.1.1445 x9

The club was made in two stages.  First, the tufunga fo'u vaka (canoe builder),who was responsible for all the fine quality woodwork, made the body of the club, shaping it with adzes made from basalt or clam shells.  A polished finish was obtained by using shark or ray skin rasps and pumice.  Very fine tool marks can be seen at high magnification on some of the Pitt Rivers clubs.

Toolmarks from 1886.1.1436 x50

There was a lot of variation in the shape of the club.  A common type was the apa 'apai, which resembled the coconut leaf midrib used in the sport of recreational club fighting
Other forms included the bovai, or pole club, and the maungalaulau or paddle club.

Next,the tufaunga tata, who was responsible for the decorative incision of clubs and other objects, would use tools made from sharks teeth to decorate the club.  The designs used are often also found on Tongan barkcloth and basketry, and many have heliaki, or hidden meaning.  Some of the designs are ideograms, like this panel on 1886.1.1349, which represents flying birds:

(See 'Akau Tau: Contextualising Tongan War Clubs, Andy Mills, Journal of the Polynesian Society Vol 118 2009 pp7-46)