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These batons were made by the Areare people at the southwest end of Malaita and consist of a knob of iron pyrites that is covered with fine plaiting and lashed to the wooden handle with strips of cane. The handle is inlaid with Nautilus shell. They were worn suspended from a cord around the neck and hung down on the wearer’s back with the knob uppermost. As a strictly ceremonial baton, their wearing was said to have been limited to those men authorised to claim payment for an execution. However, other earlier accounts suggest that they were worn more widely by men at ceremonial dancing. This one was collected in 1878.