Lance

Note: The following text is taken from a 19th-century collection catalog and, in its language and perspective, partially reflects colonial thought patterns. We present the text in its original version to make the collection's history transparent and promote a critical examination of the colonial legacy. Certain terms and formulations may be perceived as problematic today. A 2009 research project concluded that most descriptions are factually correct and still usable; only a few details were found to be inaccurate or incorrect. The results of this project were published in the following collection catalog: khm-wmw-tm-library.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1457155265"53. Lance - "Pamulu".The head of this kind of lance is iron or brass, round, has a spindle form, is very thin -about the thickness of a heavy weight wire. The wooden sheath, where the head rests, is missing in this example. The shaft is very thin, long and of light wood, on the lower end, similar to the earlier examples, outfitted with hair but here they are horse hairs cut short, which are tied one atop the other in a spiral to make a kind of  bushy hair cylinder similar to a round spiral brush. The fittings of the thin and light shafts are very heavy, mostly of lead or iron. As can be seen from their construction, they are not for striking but for throwing and belong only to princes or chiefs, which in the same manner as those lances decorated with hair mentioned above, are carried up front by slaves on special occasions."Translation of: Czurda, F. A. J. (1883). Catalog mit Erklärungen der Etnografischen Privatsammlung des Dr. F. A. J. Czurda in Postelberg (Böhmen). (p. 9). Wien, Wilhelm Braumüller