War Club, "Totokia"

"Totokia," beaked hardwood war club, or battle- hammer with a heavy, swollen head covered with rows of carved points and ending in an elongated beak. The hand grip is covered with incised geometric designs, and there are three bands of incising at the top of the club. There are two holes drilled at the base of the club. Publication: for a similar club see Fergus Clunie, "Yalo I Viti," Fiji Museum, 1986, pp. 118 & 185. Exhibited Magnificent Voyagers, National Museum of Natural History, 1985-86.

This object was collected in Fiji under the direction of Lt. Charles Wilkes, leader of the historic United States Exploring Expedition, the American scientific expedition to circumnavigate the globe. The objects collected from that expedition became some of the founding collections of the Smithsonian Institution.