Nature's Teachings: Human Invention Anticipated by Nature. J. G. Wood
Africa, that an inexperienced eye would scarcely be able to distinguish between them.
The next plan was to arm the enlarged head with projecting pieces or spikes, sometimes cut out of the solid wood, and sometimes artificially inserted. The “Shillelagh” of Ireland is a simple example of this kind of club. One of the best and most elaborate examples of this sort of weapon is the “Pine-apple” Club of Fiji, a figure of which may be seen in the illustration, drawn from a specimen in my collection.
It is made in the most ingenious manner from a tree which is trained for the purpose. There are certain trees belonging to the palm tribe which possess “aërial” roots, i.e. subsidiary roots, which surround the trunk at some distance from the ground, and assist in supporting it. Some trees have no central root, and are entirely upborne by the aërial roots, while others have both.
One of these latter is selected, and when it is very young is bent over and fastened to the ground almost at right angles, as shown in the illustration. When it has grown to a sufficient age it is cut to the requisite length, the central root is sharpened to a point, and the aërial roots are also cut down in such a way that they radiate very much like the projections on a pine-apple. This is really an ingenious weapon, for if the long and sharpened end should miss its aim, the projections would be tolerably sure to inflict painful if not immediately dangerous injuries.
As the pine-apple is so well known, I have given in the opposite side of the illustration a figure of the Durian, a large Bornean fruit, which is covered with projections almost identical in appearance with those of the pine-apple club, and almost equally hard and heavy.
Perhaps some of my readers may have heard of the grand Italian game of Pallone, the “game of giants,” as it has been called. The ball, which is a large and rather heavy one, weighing more than twice as much as a cricket-ball, is struck with a wooden gauntlet reaching nearly half-way up the fore-arm. The original gauntlet was cut entirely out of the solid wood, and exactly resembled the exterior of the Durian. The modern gauntlet, however, has the spikes fixed separately into a wooden frame, so that they can be replaced if broken in the course of the game. The principle, however, is identical in all three cases. The technical name of this gauntlet is Bracciale.
The next improvement was to add still further to the destructive powers of the club by arming it with stones, so as to make it harder and heavier. Sometimes a stone is perforated, and the end of the club forced into it. Sometimes the stone is lashed to the club, and sometimes a hole is bored in the club, and the stone driven into it. This kind of club, made of a sort of rosewood, may be found among some of the tribes inhabiting the district of the Essequibo.
The next improvement was to make the weapon entirely of metal, and such clubs are plentiful in every good collection of arms. There was, for example, the common mace, which was used for the purpose of stunning an adversary clothed in armour which the sword could not penetrate. As this, however, was nothing more than an ordinary wooden club executed in iron, we need not produce examples.
Other and more complicated forms were soon made, and were wonderfully valuable until the rapidly improving firearms kept combatants at a distance, and rendered a hand-to-hand fight almost impossible.
Three examples of such clubs are given in the illustration, and are taken from Demmin’s valuable work called “Weapons of War.”
The upper left-hand specimen is called Morgenstern, i.e. Morning Star. It is a large, heavy wooden ball studded with steel spikes, and affixed to a handle usually some six or seven feet, but sometimes exceeding eleven feet, in length. It was chiefly used by infantry when attacking cavalry, the long shaft enabling the foot-soldier to be tolerably sure of dealing the cavalier or his horse a severe blow, while himself out of reach of the latter’s sword.
Behind it is another Morgenstern in which there is an improvement, the armed ball being furnished at the end with a spike, so that it could be used either as a mace or a spear.
The commonest form of the Morning Star is shown below, and is thus described by Demmin:—
“This mace had generally a long handle, and its head bristled with wooden or iron points. It was common among the ancients, for many museums possess several fragments of these weapons belonging to the age of bronze.
“The Morning Star was very well known and much used in Germany and Switzerland. It received its name from the ominous jest of wishing the enemy ‘good morning’ with the Morning Star when they had been surprised in camp or city.
“This weapon became very popular on account of the facility and quickness with which it could be manufactured. The peasants made it easily with the trunk of a small shrub and a handful of large nails. It was also in great request during the wars of the peasantry which have devastated Germany at different times, and the Swiss arsenals possess great numbers of them.”
One of these primitive weapons may be seen in the lower figure of the illustration.
Sometimes the spiked ball was attached to a chain, and fastened to the end of a handle varying greatly in length, measuring from two to ten feet. One of these weapons may be seen in the Guildhall of London, being held by one of the celebrated giants.
If the reader will now turn to the illustration on page 53, he will see that on the right of the Durian there are two spherical objects covered with spikes. The upper is the pollen of the Hollyhock, and the lower the common Horse-chestnut. The reader will see that these are precisely similar in form to the spiked balls of the Morgenstern, whether they be used at the end of a staff or slung to a chain. There are many similar examples in the vegetable kingdom which will doubtless suggest themselves to the reader, but these are amply sufficient for this purpose.
Then, in the animal world, the curious Diodons, sometimes called Urchin-fishes, or Prickly Globe-fishes, are good examples. These fishes are covered with sharp spines, and, as they have the power of swelling their bodies into a globular form, the spikes project on all sides just like those of the pollen or chestnut. There is a specimen in my collection, which, if the tail and fins were removed, and a cast taken in metal, would make a very good Morgenstern ball.
The Sword.
The next improvement on the club was evidently to flatten it, and sharpen one or both edges, so as to make it a cutting as well as a stunning implement—in fact, the club was changed into a Sword.
A good example of this weapon in its simplest form is the wooden sword of Australia, now an exceedingly rare weapon. It looks like a very large boomerang, but is nearly straight, and is made from the hard, tough wood of the gum-tree. Travellers say that the natives can cut off a man’s head with this very simple weapon.
I just missed obtaining one of these swords from a man-of-war, but, unfortunately, a few hours before my arrival the zealous first lieutenant had ordered a large collection of savage weapons to be thrown overboard, among which were several Australian swords.
Finding that the edges were not sufficiently sharp, and were liable to break, the maker next turned his attention to arming them with some substance harder than wood. Various materials were used for this purpose, some of which will be mentioned.
One of these is given in the illustration, and is taken from a specimen in my collection. It is made of wood, rather more than two feet in length, and would in itself be an insignificant weapon