NAMES ON A CLOTH

Evening Star, Issue 23384, 29 September 1939, Page 8

NAMES ON A CLOTH

LINK WITH DUNEDIN'S EARLIER DAYS

NATIVE ARROWS BY THE THOUSAND

An unusual link with Dunedin’s early days is among recent accessions to be found in the Otago Museum in the shape of an embroidered tablecloth. This was presented, along with other items, by Mrs Le Francois (formerly Miss Gladys Hoeken, only daughter of Dr T. M. Hoeken), when she left South Africa to take up her permanent residence in England. She forwarded a case of material, which is to be divided between the Hoeken Library and the Otago Museum. Undoubtedly, so far as local appeal is concerned, the most interesting item is the tablecloth, on which 103 persons well known in Dunedin in the middle 1890’s have inscribed their signatures. These had been embroidered into the cloth by Mrs Hoeken. Mrs Le Francois also forwarded several albums of photographs, including a series of pictures of Samoa and another of Tonga taken by the Hoeken family on a visit to these islands. The Museum also received! several pieces, including a taiaha of unusual design, which is figured in Hamilton’s great book ‘ Maori Art,’ and a wooden musical instrument belonging to the xylophone class collected by the late Elsdon Best in the Urewera Country, and also referred to in ‘ Maori Art.’ MISCELLANEOUS DONATIONS. Mr George Lothian has given an Abyssinian dagger in a highly-decorated leather case. The blade of the dagger is of beaten iron, and is of so great width that it appears more like a trowel than a dagger, but must have been extremely serviceable. The handle is made of ebony, inlaid with brass. From Mr C. E. Walker conies an interesting group of pieces collected by him, the most notable being a splendid bone pendant, Win in length, made from the rib of some sea mammal, and collected at the mouth of the Tokanui River. This must certainly be the first piece of its kind in any collection, and nothing so large has previously been known by the Museum authorities. Mr B. Gates has presented an ancient wooden shark hook obtained from Tongarewa, in the northern Cook Islands. This is one of three similar hooks known, the other two being mentioned by Dr Buck in his recent monograph on the culture of Tongarewa. A very fine line sinker and an equally good net sinker found by Mr W. 11. Gedcles at Sandhills Point, Tuatapere, has been presented by the finder. By purchase through the Fels fund the Museum obtained a small collection of material from beaches north of Cape Saunders. This includes a very good specimen of barracoota hook point made of basalt, and a number of other fine points in human hone, moa bone, and bird bone. There is also a tiny needle with a drilled hole which can be no more than half a millimetre in diameter, so minute is it. SOLOMON ISLAND DEATH WEAPONS. Arrows by the thousand are now enumerated in the Museum’s collection, and recently approximately 2,000 collected by the Rev. Mr Voyce in Bougainville, one of the largest and most northerly of the Solomon Islands, have been obtained. For arrows these weapons are unusually long, being 4ft Gin, and they are not feathered._ They are, however, highly decorated in different fashions, some being covered with nn elaborate plait work or by a close mesh woven on a tubular loom such as is used by the natives of this area. The shafts" of other arrows are decorated with etched designs or human figures, while the heads are similarly decorated by figureheads carved out of the wood itself. Some have also other forms of decorations, such as air holes of varying sizes. v Several of the arrows have obviously not been intended as war weapons, but solely as instruments of kill on hunting expeditions, for the heads are not in any way barbed. These smooth heads would penetrate the skin or pelt of bird or animal without doing any great damage. The fighting arrows, however, are brutal-looking objects, being heavily, barbed, in some cases the barbs being two or'three inches long These barbs have either been neatly executed as part of the original wood, or are made of bone or wood and attached to the head afterwards. These instruments must have been capable of inflicting frightful wounds, and arrows pulled out of a human body must have created appalling lacerations. These arrows give the Museum a very great deal of work, for each one has to bo given a registration number on receipt, and entries are made in various books, not collectively, but individually.