they contained mana of the dead man. In Bougainville barbs were deeply undercut so that the head broke off in the wound. In Rennell and Bellona arrows had a long point of human bone, of two or three pieces spliced and lashed together. Arrows were infinitely preferred to clubs and spears. Scientific analysis has proven that the arrows were not poisoned at all, but magical substances might be smeared on them. This dark substance could cause lockjaw, but what the native warrior relied on was the dead man’s bone, which had been affixed with ceremonial charms. It was the supernatural power that belonged to the human bone of which the arrow-head was made on which they chiefly relied, and with that the magical power of the incantations with which it was fastened to the shaft. The bone of any dead man would give efficacy in the native belief to the arrow; a dead man’s bone made the wound, the power of the ghost was brought by the incantation to the arrow, and therefore the wounded man would die. The bone of one who was powerful when alive was even more valued.