I'm bringing up this older thread because I recently purchased a lot of swords from Sumba on auction, and one of them was from West Sumba. The seller said that they were gotten from an estate sale, so its possible that, age-wise, they are contemporary to one another. First picures of all three swords. The two Kabeala don't strike me as being that old; one I *think* is made of spring steel, the other blade might be older. Both Kabeala handles are made of horn, polished shiny. Neither sword or handle shows much wear.
The West Sumba sword shows more wear, but sadly is missing all of its fittings. Handle and scabbard are wood, rough in places, possibly where there was metal over it. Handle has punch marks in the wood, so metal was probaly put on the handle and then the design punched into the metal. Also unusual is the silver-colored "inlay" in the blade. It certainly isn't pamor (its my impression that most Sumba blades are not pamored?) but rather just irregular lines put into the blade, almost as if trying (crudely) to look like pamor. There are also fairly deep cracks and fissures at about the 1/3 point, either places where the inlay has fallen out, or some other damage.
Finally some other random references to swords from West Sumba:
From
here: "The men of West Sumba still wear the traditional parang sword as a part of everyday ware."
From
here: "There are a chain of rituals related to the West Sumba occupations: (1) Ritual to sharpen parang swords (urata patama keto) to ensure that the parang sword or knives function properly while butchering cattle or while in used at the field."
From
here: "PREPARATIONS FOR THE PURUNGU TA KADONGA RATU
The Purungu ta Kadonga Ratu takes place every other year from July 10 to July 23 in odd-number years, preceded by preparatory activities: ... 4. Extending of invitations to all the people of each clan, with the display of the ancestral spear, Umbu Koda, and the ancestral sword, Umbu Paku Togu, followed by a sacred dog, as endorsement."
Hope something here is of help to someone! Any additional information would, as always, be greatly appreciated.
--Radleigh