Sepik region club.

[Tim Simmons]

I have recently recieved this lovely paddle club. It is from the Sepik river region. I would not want to state with certainty which people. I show it next to a Solomon Island club which I for one am more aquainted with. It is just over 53 inches long and although it does not look it, it is 9g heavier than the Solomon Island club. Carved from palmwood. One might at first think it somewhat rough in finish when seen next to a more polish wood club. However I am very interested in simple bold form. I admire the whole decorative form. Not a carved club or forged sword which then has added decoration. Compared with most stuff we see I like the other worldly look about it.

[Indianajones]

Hi Tim, I believe this club is a fightingclub used in the Huon gulf area. They are usually made of palmwood, which is a darkbrown (softer) wood with hard black vines in it. Is yours also of palmwood; it has a nice shiny surface and looks more like ebony.
Both woods are also used by thier neighbours the Massim; ebony ofcourse favored for its hardness (but very hard to cut/availability(?)).
Nice one. Congrats!

[fspic]

The shape of these clubs reminds me of the alternate use of the pointy style new Guinea canoe paddles. My old books indicate a few which are made quite long for the purpose of standing while paddling. I have one or two tucked away somewhere. The change to standing position of canoe occupants thus confused sharks who self-taught themselves to snatch a quick meal from a canoe. After some engineering study the natives decided that standing would be a good disguise and made longer paddles to confuse surprise dinner guests.

On the other hand there is an account of an organized highly scripted cannibal murder of another New Guinea cannibal whose tribe had not been on friendly terms with the other one. As the account noted, the befriended victim was attacked in a hut. Trying to escape through a hole in the floor he was skewered through the leg thus preventing escape. The account said he was beaten to death by the women of the village as he hung through the hole in the floor. The author surmised he expected to get to his canoe at the river at which point he would be use his spear-pointed paddle as a hasty weapon and take an attacker with him.

[David]

Originally Posted by fspic

The change to standing position of canoe occupants thus confused sharks who self-taught themselves to snatch a quick meal from a canoe. After some engineering study the natives decided that standing would be a good disguise and made longer paddles to confuse surprise dinner guests.

This seems a bit unlikely. Sharks as a general rule don't like the taste of humans and when they do attack us it is generally because they mistake us for some of their more usual foods.

[Tim Simmons]

I believe there are paddles for standing up. This is not long enough and you would not get far with the blade width.

[Indianajones]

Dont think the (-se kind of) club is wide enough to make any speed in a canoo!
I have seen many of them, with all a different pattern carved in the middle and they are truly fighting clubs as do their neighbours have the ebony Massim club which are of 'sword' kind of form and have sometimes S-engraving.

[fspic]

Originally Posted by David

This seems a bit unlikely. Sharks as a general rule don't like the taste of humans and when they do attack us it is generally because they mistake us for some of their more usual foods.

That's what the New Guinea book said and for the time being I'll accept the on-scene account. Sharks do poke their heads out of water to be hand fed as shown on some of the Great white specials on South African sharks. There must be some strange motivation to have a line of rowers stand in a log canoe to paddle it. I'll accept the book account. The other problem is crocs. Wooden Boat magazine stated an issue for canoeists around the Mississippi flowing into the Gulf of Mexico is that paddlers face both sharks and crocs or alligators (whichever of the latter two hang out down there).

[David]

Originally Posted by fspic

That's what the New Guinea book said and for the time being I'll accept the on-scene account. Sharks do poke their heads out of water to be hand fed as shown on some of the Great white specials on South African sharks. There must be some strange motivation to have a line of rowers stand in a log canoe to paddle it. I'll accept the book account. The other problem is crocs. Wooden Boat magazine stated an issue for canoeists around the Mississippi flowing into the Gulf of Mexico is that paddlers face both sharks and crocs or alligators (whichever of the latter two hang out down there).

Of course you are welcome to believe anything you choose. All i know is what years of scientific study on the nature and habits of sharks has to say. Perhaps you could give us the actual title of the book and perhaps a few of the actual passages you are citing. That might be helpful.

[fearn]

Hi All,

Little bit about shark biology:

Great white sharks typically go after seals and sea lions. They often spit out humans because we don't have enough body fat.

Tiger sharks and bull sharks think we're yummy and good with ketchup, if they're big enough. They are more common in tropical waters, and the bull shark even gets into fresh water, well up the Mississippi.

Were I in the Sepik, I'd worry far more about tiger sharks and bull sharks than great whites. I'd also worry about crocodiles.

As for the standing paddles, the ones I've seen seem to have smallish blades on the end of long poles. I'm not sure whether any of these really qualify.

My 0.00002 pence,

F

[David]

Originally Posted by fearn

Hi All,

Little bit about shark biology:

Great white sharks typically go after seals and sea lions. They often spit out humans because we don't have enough body fat.

Tiger sharks and bull sharks think we're yummy and good with ketchup, if they're big enough. They are more common in tropical waters, and the bull shark even gets into fresh water, well up the Mississippi.

Were I in the Sepik, I'd worry far more about tiger sharks and bull sharks than great whites. I'd also worry about crocodiles.

As for the standing paddles, the ones I've seen seem to have smallish blades on the end of long poles. I'm not sure whether any of these really qualify.

My 0.00002 pence,

F

Fearn, Tiger sharks don't think we are tasty at all...they will just eat anything, including a bucket of nails if you throw it their way. Bull shark are a little more discerning, but humans are not on their preferred menu list either. They eat mostly bony fish and other sharks.
Shark attacks on humans are relatively rare anyway, but when they do happen they almost invariably happen in the water, not on a boat. Of coarse a canoe is low to the water and this may have happened occasionally. It would certainly have to happen fairly frequently though if a culture were to develop a new way to paddle and specifically designed new tools because of the occurrence. Still, if a shark were to attack a canoe i can see no reason why it would be less likely to if the occupants were standing. From the water it is the boat it sees, not the human, and if it did attack the boat it would be with the assumption that the boat itself was prey. A standing occupant would then be far more likely to fall into the water where the shark could make quick work of him if it chose to.
I certainly wouldn't want to be in croc infested waters in a low-lying canoe. But i still don't see how standing in the boat would provide any particular protection from a hungry croc that chose to attack.
So from my point of logic there must be some other advantage to standing while paddling that is not being considered here.

[fspic]

Originally Posted by David

Of course you are welcome to believe anything you choose. All i know is what years of scientific study on the nature and habits of sharks has to say. Perhaps you could give us the actual title of the book and perhaps a few of the actual passages you are citing. That might be helpful.

I will dig through my books. The ones that happened to be on one shelf include the classic by C.A.W. Moncton, The Taming of New Guinea,Wanderings Among the South Sea Savagesby H.W. Walker, and one of my favorites, Cannibal Caravan, a true life account of photo and other work in Dutch New Guinea in the period after WWI and into the thirties. Believe this account may be the one of the Morobi coast cannibals some of whom went up to 6'6" whereas most of that island's varied population fell into the shorter or pygmy size range. I have one of their pineapple stone club heads which the seller described as pre-contact. Basically basalt and rather heavy and fitted to a baseball bat like handle which was likely 1.5" across the top at the wide slip preventing taper at the top. Whoever used that thing (and it shows use) had to be huge. It is this tribe, if I recall, that this man accompanied on a cannibal raid on another village. Probably 60 KIA on the other side but the attackers had to flee after a quick cutting up of bodies to take home for the victory feast. The white Dutch author and his rich idle Hollywood wife who separately financed her own expedition until hey met and married, stayed back at their main camp with Maylay guards.

The author explained the night time (just before daybreak) village attack as a hand weapon battle until the defenders seemed to be holding their own and the attackers brought in their artillery which was bows and arrows. That turned the tide and they fled into the jungle through the ranks of the attackers causing close quarters club fighting.

The preparations for the attack consisted of the usual human sacrifice of the sick and disabled as an offering to the spirits of dead warriors and the preparation of new weapons. New arrow heads were fitted, fresh bow strings prepared, and cane was split for new knives. (This or the Moncton book mentions that some knives were made from human thigh bones.) Heavy stone clubs such as mine were used in this attack to batter through the walls of huts - never mind the doorway. In this battle the defending Digoels used their own stone clubs to beat back attacking hordes of Marind-Amins who wound up fighting over the bodies of their fallen to get at the Digoels. The attackers ran to their dropped piles of bows and arrows and launched flights of arrows at the defenders who made a dense target. The Digoels fought with fury, again with stone clubs, and hewed a swatch through the lines of their attackers to escape. The white author noted he was in the middle of this and heard the sound of skulls crushing under the stone clubs. He stood in the torrential flow of retreating cannibals who were running through his position and he open fire with both pistols he carried. He wound up beating their warriors as they ran past with his empty pistols. He took a club blow to the shoulder but was saved from further harm by his good cannibals whose faces were painted in white clay. This was a recognition feature and very important as all this happened at the bare break of day in the dark. Now involved in jungle fighting (literally) in tangles of vines the author had a fighting advantage (sort of) in that the Digoels were unable to swing their clubs from the shoulder in those quarters. He was beating them with his pistol butts. He now took a bamboo knife wound in the chest and smashed that cannibal with his gun butt. Now, barely standing, a vine is snapped against his cheek and he throws himself to the ground as a club smashes into his first aid kit on his belt. Flipping over, he kicks the cannibal away against a liana plant. At that point his appointed guardian, named Herman, attacks the interloper and smashes his skull with his stone club. That was the chief of the tribe who was leading the attack. He had some problems with the white man and had to settle scores from earlier embarrassments in the village. Herman noted that the chief was no good and would eat his own mother.

The aftermath of the battle provided the next stage for the drama of horrors which was the killing of the wounded. Stone clubs can crush a skull but wounds elsewhere are not fatal. Even the blunt tipped arrows used protruded from through and through wounds and did not permit much bleeding. The Digoel warriors heing fled for the moment, the victors rounded up prisoners. Babies were swung like clubs against trees or the ground. Children six or older were thrown into a surviving hut as captives to be taken back. Now the taking of heads began as this was an issue of status or graduating to adulthood. There were fights over who got what and some of those ended fatally - which was fine as long as the head wasn't damaged even if it was one of your own men. Presumably the clay would be washed off and it might be presented as an enemy or maybe an honest trophy regardless of who it was. The head was taken using a bamboo knife with neck muscles cut in preferred places for the task of wringing the head off the body. The head was then given to the warrior's favorite woman, if she was in the group of sixty females who came on the raid. She fiercely guarded the head. After an indescribable orgy of mutilation of dead bodies and bathing themselves in blood and mud, limbs were cut off for food to be taken back as were hearts and livers which were tossed into a pile. This was all bamboo knives with brute force being used to wrench limbs off once muscles were cut. Captive women were raped, tortured, killed, re-raped and sodomized and caused more fighting for heads. A father killed a son for a head and a brother killed a brother for a captive woman. Later Herman brought the white man a head and said it was his and pointed to his guns. (well, I guess he did earn a couple.)

Anyway I am now so inspired with re-reading this account (much of which describes a sickening but real form of living) that I decided to get some original new Guinea wood of the type which would be used as the handle for my club head. These heads were sometimes cemented in place on the bottom taper with human teeth inserted into the "glue" mix. We can guess where those came from. I'll also check to see exactly how "pre-contact "pre-contact" is. I have seen greenish toned club heads auctioned with claimed ages to be from the 13th century. It was withdrawn from auction allegedly for being a national artifact which shouldn't be sent from New Guinea.

As for the sharks issue I will scan the other likely volumes but I may have to search some some of my other books upstairs. However the South Seas Savages is a good bet.

[Tim Simmons]

Paddles for use standing up. Clearly paddles with a wide blade.

[Indianajones]

WOW WHAT AN IMPUT HERE!!! The total biologies of all kinds of sharks, complete stories written down.
Though I think that one pic says it all; all men are holding padles as we would all reckognise as paddles.
In this other thread 'Sepik region club' Tim already found a book of Hamson with similar clubs, and if one knows all about New Guinea art its Michael Hamson, can tell you!

[fspic]

Ha! We should expect nothing less than an Englishman of all people to know his New Guinea cannibals! And there's no telling what loathsome disgusting things decorate his shelves and hang from the rafters of the Great Hall in his castle!

These illustrated paddles are more like poles with attached blades. Mine, while long, are in one piece. I should unbox the things to check length. They are not useable in a low level canoe but might work in something higher. They do have sailboats. On the other hand they also have seagoing coastal canoes and even rather slight designs which are capable of longer range calm seas ocean use. This latter type of canoe was used cannibals to unload a grounded and abandoned British trade vessel whose English crew took off in a cutter and left the Chinese crew to themselves. The cannibals happened upon the vessel and happily took the Chinese in groups of five or ten. The canoes, which looked small and shallow, were thought to be going only a short distance but that wasn't the case. No problem. They got to shore safely and the Chinese, who sang a happy traditional song of return, were welcomed into the village where they participated in the resulting feast. Literally. The Chinese song was heard so many times that the cannibals memorized some of it. This happened in the 1870's or a bit later and the words or melody survived in some form into modern times, meaning perhaps the time the book was written in the twenties. In fact, they likely survived until today as the tribe (if I have the right one in mind) recently apologized for eating the Chinamen. Of that crew only one survived being carried off. He was there when a British ship happened by. The man earned his share of fame. I forgot how many were eaten. The tribe apparently had a reputation for this interesting bit of converting a ship into a Burger King.

I'll measure the paddles as my curiosity is aroused. There has to be an optimum body size and position for their use. Likewise I'll have to consider their pointy shape as there may be a backup intention to use as a weapon.

Even so the spear was used as ship to ship or shore artillery with bows and arrows as convenient. This is noted in an account by Moncton of Giwi, a friendly coastal cannibal who did an analysis of the bad cannibals who sent a flotilla down the coast to raid his village. After doing an analysis he used advanced materials and techniques to come up with armaments and ambush tactics for defense. He wound up destroying the next raider group leaving only one canoe to escape. Moncton noted with some annoyance that chief Giwi told him he cooked someone's hands in the very pot - from which Moncton had cleaned grease using clean sand - and used as his own dinner plate or cookpot.

The issue in this battle was weight, speed, and range of all weapons used. Even in New Guinea a thoughtful cannibal chieftan would employ the equivalent of high tech materials to obtain the advantages of carbon fiber and long range weaponry.

[David]

Originally Posted by fspic

I will dig through my books. The ones that happened to be on one shelf include the classic by C.A.W. Moncton, The Taming of New Guinea,Wanderings Among the South Sea Savagesby H.W. Walker, and one of my favorites, Cannibal Caravan, a true life account of photo and other work in Dutch New Guinea in the period after WWI and into the thirties. Believe this account may be the one of the Morobi coast cannibals some of whom went up to 6'6" whereas most of that island's varied population fell into the shorter or pygmy size range. I have one of their pineapple stone club heads which the seller described as pre-contact. Basically basalt and rather heavy and fitted to a baseball bat like handle which was likely 1.5" across the top at the wide slip preventing taper at the top. Whoever used that thing (and it shows use) had to be huge. It is this tribe, if I recall, that this man accompanied on a cannibal raid on another village. Probably 60 KIA on the other side but the attackers had to flee after a quick cutting up of bodies to take home for the victory feast. The white Dutch author and his rich idle Hollywood wife who separately financed her own expedition until hey met and married, stayed back at their main camp with Maylay guards.

The author explained the night time (just before daybreak) village attack as a hand weapon battle until the defenders seemed to be holding their own and the attackers brought in their artillery which was bows and arrows. That turned the tide and they fled into the jungle through the ranks of the attackers causing close quarters club fighting.

The preparations for the attack consisted of the usual human sacrifice of the sick and disabled as an offering to the spirits of dead warriors and the preparation of new weapons. New arrow heads were fitted, fresh bow strings prepared, and cane was split for new knives. (This or the Moncton book mentions that some knives were made from human thigh bones.) Heavy stone clubs such as mine were used in this attack to batter through the walls of huts - never mind the doorway. In this battle the defending Digoels used their own stone clubs to beat back attacking hordes of Marind-Amins who wound up fighting over the bodies of their fallen to get at the Digoels. The attackers ran to their dropped piles of bows and arrows and launched flights of arrows at the defenders who made a dense target. The Digoels fought with fury, again with stone clubs, and hewed a swatch through the lines of their attackers to escape. The white author noted he was in the middle of this and heard the sound of skulls crushing under the stone clubs. He stood in the torrential flow of retreating cannibals who were running through his position and he open fire with both pistols he carried. He wound up beating their warriors as they ran past with his empty pistols. He took a club blow to the shoulder but was saved from further harm by his good cannibals whose faces were painted in white clay. This was a recognition feature and very important as all this happened at the bare break of day in the dark. Now involved in jungle fighting (literally) in tangles of vines the author had a fighting advantage (sort of) in that the Digoels were unable to swing their clubs from the shoulder in those quarters. He was beating them with his pistol butts. He now took a bamboo knife wound in the chest and smashed that cannibal with his gun butt. Now, barely standing, a vine is snapped against his cheek and he throws himself to the ground as a club smashes into his first aid kit on his belt. Flipping over, he kicks the cannibal away against a liana plant. At that point his appointed guardian, named Herman, attacks the interloper and smashes his skull with his stone club. That was the chief of the tribe who was leading the attack. He had some problems with the white man and had to settle scores from earlier embarrassments in the village. Herman noted that the chief was no good and would eat his own mother.

The aftermath of the battle provided the next stage for the drama of horrors which was the killing of the wounded. Stone clubs can crush a skull but wounds elsewhere are not fatal. Even the blunt tipped arrows used protruded from through and through wounds and did not permit much bleeding. The Digoel warriors heing fled for the moment, the victors rounded up prisoners. Babies were swung like clubs against trees or the ground. Children six or older were thrown into a surviving hut as captives to be taken back. Now the taking of heads began as this was an issue of status or graduating to adulthood. There were fights over who got what and some of those ended fatally - which was fine as long as the head wasn't damaged even if it was one of your own men. Presumably the clay would be washed off and it might be presented as an enemy or maybe an honest trophy regardless of who it was. The head was taken using a bamboo knife with neck muscles cut in preferred places for the task of wringing the head off the body. The head was then given to the warrior's favorite woman, if she was in the group of sixty females who came on the raid. She fiercely guarded the head. After an indescribable orgy of mutilation of dead bodies and bathing themselves in blood and mud, limbs were cut off for food to be taken back as were hearts and livers which were tossed into a pile. This was all bamboo knives with brute force being used to wrench limbs off once muscles were cut. Captive women were raped, tortured, killed, re-raped and sodomized and caused more fighting for heads. A father killed a son for a head and a brother killed a brother for a captive woman. Later Herman brought the white man a head and said it was his and pointed to his guns. (well, I guess he did earn a couple.)

Anyway I am now so inspired with re-reading this account (much of which describes a sickening but real form of living) that I decided to get some original new Guinea wood of the type which would be used as the handle for my club head. These heads were sometimes cemented in place on the bottom taper with human teeth inserted into the "glue" mix. We can guess where those came from. I'll also check to see exactly how "pre-contact "pre-contact" is. I have seen greenish toned club heads auctioned with claimed ages to be from the 13th century. It was withdrawn from auction allegedly for being a national artifact which shouldn't be sent from New Guinea.

As for the sharks issue I will scan the other likely volumes but I may have to search some some of my other books upstairs. However the South Seas Savages is a good bet.

Fspic, thank you for this overblown, graphic and completely off-topic account, complete with editorial remarks. You seem to revel in the gory details of this story, but i can assure you, it is not what these forums are about, so please try to reel this in in the future. I would be more than happy to entertain discussion of standing paddling and the possibility of shark attack if and when you locate this passages.

[David]

Originally Posted by fspic

Ha! We should expect nothing less than an Englishman of all people to know his New Guinea cannibals! And there's no telling what loathsome disgusting things decorate his shelves and hang from the rafters of the Great Hall in his castle!

Really Fspic? Definitely not good forum form. You earned yourself a 10-day vacation.

[fearn]

Getting back to the issue of standing while paddling, I'm looking at Stand-up paddleboarding as a western analog. The major advantage seems to be that you're higher off the water, so you can see further. You can also see down into the water, which might be useful for things like spearfishing.

Because you're higher off the water, stand-up paddling also seems to be confined to relatively calm waters. There's an exhibit at the Field Museum where they show a number of Oceanic paddles, from standing paddles to deep-water paddles, with the statement that you can see the influence of the environment on paddle shape. Examples include having a flat tip on the paddle so that you can pole with it, having the long handle and small blade of a stand-up paddle (for calm waters), and so forth. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find a picture of that exhibit online.

Best,

F

[VANDOO]

THIS IS A VERY ATTRACTIVE CLUB AND WOULD FUNCTION AS CLUB, SWORD OR SHORT SPEAR, IT WOULD MAKE A VERY POOR PADDLE.
I SUSPECT FROM THE CARVING ON THE CLUB BUTT IT WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR FIGHTING WITH BOTH ENDS AS SOME ARE BUT HAS A DISTINCT GRIP AND STRIKING AREA. MOSTLY USED FOR CEREMONIES OR DANCEING STORIES THESE DAYS AS FIGHTING IS LESS COMMON. BUT IT WAS NOT VERY LONG AGO WHEN THESE WERE STILL USED FREQUENTLY. I LIKE THE DESIGN YOU HAVE BEEN GETTING SOME GOOD ITEMS LATELY. HMMM!! THE FORCE IS STRONG IN THIS ONE

THE GREAT WHITE IS THE ONLY SHARK KNOWN TO STICK ITS HEAD OUT OF THE WATER TO ATTACK. THIS BEHAVIOR EVOLVED THRU THEM HUNTING SEALS, WALRUS, ELEPHANT SEALS ,ECT. I GUESS THEY OCCASIONALY WOULD LOOK ON THE ROCKS AND PERHAPS SNATCH ONE COMING OR GOING OR TOO NEAR THE WATER?? THE GREAT WHITE COMES FROM BELOW FAST AND TAKES A BIG BITE AND LETS GO AND THEN USUALLY WAITS FOR ITS VICTUM TO BLEED TO DEATH AND THEN COMES IN TO FINISH DINNER. IT HAS LESS CHANCE OF GETTING HURT THAT WAY, IF SOMEONE IS NOT THERE TO RESCUE A WOUNDED HUMAN THEY JUST DISSAPEAR I DOUBT IF THE WAY WE TASTE HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT HAPPENS.
I UNDERSTAND THE ENTHUSIASM OF OUR MEMBER FOR A GOOD ADVENTURE STORY AS I ENJOY A GOOD ADVENTURE STORY EVEN IF THE FACTS ARE FAR FETCHED IN ORDER TO MAKE A GOOD STORY.
BUT WE CAN'T TELL THE TALE HERE AS THEN WE WOULD WANDER TOO FAR FROM THE DISCUSSION AT HAND WHICH IS ON A CLUB NOT ON PADDELING OR MAN EATING SHARKS, CROCS AND GATORS.
I HOPE HE IS NOT DISCOURAGED BY THE TIME OUT AND DOES RETURN AND I HOPE I DON'T JOIN HIS TIME OUT FOR GETTING FAR OFF TOPIC AS WELL

[David]

Originally Posted by fearn

Getting back to the issue of standing while paddling, I'm looking at Stand-up paddleboarding as a western analog. The major advantage seems to be that you're higher off the water, so you can see further. You can also see down into the water, which might be useful for things like spearfishing.

Because you're higher off the water, stand-up paddling also seems to be confined to relatively calm waters. There's an exhibit at the Field Museum where they show a number of Oceanic paddles, from standing paddles to deep-water paddles, with the statement that you can see the influence of the environment on paddle shape. Examples include having a flat tip on the paddle so that you can pole with it, having the long handle and small blade of a stand-up paddle (for calm waters), and so forth. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find a picture of that exhibit online.

Best,

F

Fearn, i think you are on to the real reason for the standing positions with this. I also did a bit of on-line reading that talks about the extra rowing power that you get from this position. These boats must move rather quickly through the water with all these standing rowers applying all that extra upper body strengths that can be applied from this position over a seated one.

[tribalarms]

Paddling standing up in Congo up allows for better sight, which is essential for survival (driftwood, hippos, etc) and also allows a less wide canoe (better speed, less weight than the big dugouts used for transportation of goods).

It also makes it easier to navigate thru dense vegetation and swamps by occasional poling.

For Sepik, I don't know - how is their waters?