They certainly were (and are) real weapons.
Interesting side-light about the armor. If you read Arthur Grimble's book on the Gilberts, he mentions not only the armor woven out of coconut fiber (what we see here), but also a ray skin (i.e. rawhide/shagreen) "cuirass" that was tied to the front to protect the belly.
I've always wondered why the Kiribatian armor was tied in front with that vulnerable little cord, but I've never seen the ray skin piece that Grimble says went over it.
Question: has anyone ever seen the alleged ray-skin part of this armor? Did it exist? The fact that they're willing to use a puffer fish skin as a helmet suggests that the ray skin story could be real.
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