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Bird's Nest Harvester

Object Number:P426B
Current Location: Collections Storage
Culture:Melanau
Provenience: Borneo
Sarawak
Section:Oceanian
Materials:Bamboo
Metal
Peel
Length: 194 cm
Width: 7 cm
Credit Line:Gift of Dr. William H. Furness 3rd., 1898

Description

Implement for detaching edible bird nests. Long, slender bamboo pole with, lashed to one end, an iron blade for cutting nest free from cave ceiling. Blade is flat, shovel shaped, and slightly concave/convex, with a long tang for lashing to pole. Rattan peel lashings now dry and broken - some missing. ". . . they scrape down the nests . . . by means of a long pole bearing a hoe-like blade, and with a home-made wax candle fastened to it to show where the nests are." (Home-Life of Borneo Head-Hunters)

Bibliography:

[Book] Furness, William H. 1902. The Home-Life of Borneo Head-Hunters: Its Festivals and Folk-lore.. Philadelphia. J. B. Lippincott & Co. Type Citation : Page/Fig./Plate: p. 182View Objects related to this Type Citation

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