Beschreibung:

length 14ft 8in (Please scroll down for additional photographs.) with a classic butt-end finial and lanceolate blade. As with many Hawaiian weapons, most likely carved from the very hard kauila wood. According to King (Cook, 1784, vol.3, pp. 151,152): " ... The spears are of two sorts, and made of a hard solid wood .... The other sort (of spear) with which we saw the warriors of Owhyee (Hawaii) and Atooi (Kauai) mostly armed, are twelve to fifteen feet long, and instead of being barbed, terminated toward the point, like their dagger." These spears were used for thrusting, much like a pike, and occasionally for pole-vaulting as demanded by the terrain upon which the battle was being fought."Most of these extremely long thrusting spears were later cut down, refashioned for use as kahilis or staffs, and as such, very few survive intact, those mostly in museum collections. Provenance: Judd Family Collection, Hawaii Gerrit Parmele Judd (1803-1873) was a medical missionary who arrived in Hawaii with the 3rd company of ABCFM missionaries in 1828. He became a leading counselor to Kamehameha III, and played a pivotal role in restoring the Kingdom to the Hawaiian monarchy after the abortive takeover by the British in 1843. cf. Buck (1957: Pages 418-420; Figures 270 (a) & 271(a))