Club Item Number: C884 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Cylindrical wooden club tapering to a sharp point at bottom end. Head of the club is made from a spherical black stone pieced through the centre by the club's shaft; small, white shells are inlaid in the stone around the points of contact with the shaft.

Specific Techniques

According to Burnett, the hole in the stone of this type of club was made by placing a rock "in a slow fire of cocoanut shells which give out an immense heat," and allowing it to become red hot. Then it is removed from the fire and drops of water are dripped on it "from a hole in a cocoanut vessel, drop by drop, each drop falling exactly on the same place. That portion of the stone on which the water falls cracks and flies off until the heat has gone out of the stone." The process is repeated until "with the aid of a bone pick, a hole is formed through the centre."