MOST DESIRED OCEANIC WAR CLUBS 4: SAMOA

[Billman]

Hypothesis - the Samoans has wooden clubs with or without teeth, but with a decoratiive (?) back hook before European contact. The similarity with hooked blubber knives, maybe seen on whaling ships that stopped at the islands, or maybe by Samoan crew members who worked on them, led to the adoption of steel blades, made in England during the early 19th century. Like the tomahawks that were traded with native americans by both English and French traders, these blubber knives were traded for valuables (e.g. pearls) with native Samoans.

My first image, above shows an obvious wooden copy of a machete, complete with carved rivet heads on the handles. Several of your later images, show a style of war club that is almost identical in shape to an English double edged billhook - it would be interesting to know if this shape predates European contact, or is a wooden copy of a billhook????

Below: left a Westmoreland pattern with a double edge, right a Hertfordshsire pattern with a single edge, but a curved hook on the back. There are many other regional patterns of double edged billhooks.