Niho ma'o

Niho ma'o. Shark tooth implement. A carved wooden handle or shaft with a singular shark's tooth lashed with coconut sennit cord to the head. The lashing is threaded through two drilled holes in the tooth and two drilled holes in the handle's head. There is a third hole drilled into the shark's tooth which has no lashing through it. The shaft has an ovoid cross-section and terminates to a soft point at the butt. The handle is covered with a plaited coconut leaf on the vertical axis and fau on the horizontal axis, to create a chequered pattern. The coconut [midrib] is natural in colour and the fau is dark brown/black. The sheath is tied at the butt-end with coconut sennit cord. There is black residue on the lashing and on the wood. The wood is of medium density and colour.

Other Name

Shark tooth implement (English)

Place

[Tahiti]/French Polynesia/Pacific

Accession Date

01 Jan 1915

Other Id

12835 (ethnology)

Department

Pacific