Interesting Totokia

[LJ]

A fascinating club.

I haven't seen any other club with lead shot embedded. I wonder if this was done deliberately by the Fijians (as they embedded teeth, bits of whale ivory etc.) or if a European has blasted it? Also the staining - just playing devil's advocate here, but how do we know it is blood ?

As an aside, one Totokia question has had me puzzled for years. In the film Carry on up the Jungle a hostile tribe (I can't remember the name of the tribe) appears, and they are all carrying totokias. Which of course offends my sense of pedantry, since the film is supposed to be set in Africa! I sometimes wonder where they got them from - and if there is a heap of them still in a corner of the film studios.

[Kinikini]

Thanks for your comment and interest in this club.........I am aware that clubs with lead inlays do exist but these are Not inlays, they really are musket/pistol shot, and here's why...............One of the shot is loose enough to lift up about 10mm but no more because it has "mushroomed" on contact and swollen inside the shaft, just like you would expect to find if you fired a musket ball into a barn door,( the lead has almost liquefied on
impact). The hole its made is as much a dent/crater as a hole. This has not been been drilled and it's not a deformity/knot in the grain, it's been caused by compression/penetration. The other musket ball has also dented the shaft on impact. There are also several other areas of the club that have tiny fragments of lead embedded in the wood that I would say are the result of lead shot hitting the club but at such an angle that they have failed to penetrate like the others and skidded off the wood.
I also doubt if anyone would drill such deep (20-25mm) into the shaft and hammer lead shot into it,as this would have weakened the shaft to the point that it's split.
Finally....Let's imagine that I am right about the Musket balls.......and that the club had been used in a battle against an enemy armed with Muskets and Pistols......Bullets/shot must have been flying everywhere as well as a great deal of blood!!! All the best Kinkini

[DaveA]

Thanks for sharing this. I am extremely fond of ethnographic weapons with a story, even if all the facts might never be known. This one in particular gives a vivid sense of history.

I am imagining the warrior who wielded the club, standing off against powerful invaders (in fairness, he could have been the attacker). Did he have such keen eyes and was he fast enough to block multiple relatively slow shots, perhaps from a distance? Or were these two of many shots that ultimately brought him down?

With the club so severely weakened by the impacts, the fact that it is intact suggests that the owner didn't get a chance to use it afterward. It would likely have shattered. Or if he survived, these events might have made it seem very lucky and he put it away. Either way, it is probably a trophy!

Welcome to the forum and best regards,

Dave A.

[David]

This is an interesting story indeed, though frankly i do find it a big hard to believe that not just one, but two musket balls could hit such a slender piece of wood without shattering it. It would be interesting to so a test with a working musket and a similar piece of wood to see what the damage would loud like. Of course, anything is possible i suppose.

[Kinikini]

Originally Posted by DaveA

Thanks for sharing this. I am extremely fond of ethnographic weapons with a story, even if all the facts might never be known. This one in particular gives a vivid sense of history.

I am imagining the warrior who wielded the club, standing off against powerful invaders (in fairness, he could have been the attacker). Did he have such keen eyes and was he fast enough to block multiple relatively slow shots, perhaps from a distance? Or were these two of many shots that ultimately brought him down?

With the club so severely weakened by the impacts, the fact that it is intact suggests that the owner didn't get a chance to use it afterward. It would likely have shattered. Or if he survived, these events might have made it seem very lucky and he put it away. Either way, it is probably a trophy!

Welcome to the forum and best regards,

Dave A.

I am pleased to read how you have imagined what was going on at the time this brave warrior probably joined his ancestors in the spirit world. Considering the amount of hot lead that must have been flying about at the time and the fact that the shaft has been hit 3 times (2 penetrated 1 didn't) it only stands to reason that the club and it's owner had been subjected to "concentrated" fire from more than one Musket, maybe dozens, in a short space of time. If we look at it logically ....Take a target the same size as a man and draw a Totokia on it being held in front of his chest or (if you want to make it really difficult) above his head........Now fire as many musket balls from various distances as it takes to hit the shaft at least 3 times......I bet you couldn't do it in less than 20 shots....that leaves 17 close misses that would have ripped the rest of the target to pieces, any one of which could have fatally wounded the Warrior. All the best, K

[Kinikini]

Originally Posted by LJ

A fascinating club.

I haven't seen any other club with lead shot embedded. I wonder if this was done deliberately by the Fijians (as they embedded teeth, bits of whale ivory etc.) or if a European has blasted it? Also the staining - just playing devil's advocate here, but how do we know it is blood ?

As an aside, one Totokia question has had me puzzled for years. In the film Carry on up the Jungle a hostile tribe (I can't remember the name of the tribe) appears, and they are all carrying totokias. Which of course offends my sense of pedantry, since the film is supposed to be set in Africa! I sometimes wonder where they got them from - and if there is a heap of them still in a corner of the film studios.

Hi, I saw the film several months ago, and I couldn't help but spot the Huge Totokia......and what a Beauty it was!!! I only spotted that one....Cheers K