Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/42

24. The object for which it is used is that of bringing the pursued down on his knees, and thus effectually stopping his further progress. This is accomplished by thrusting the open space between the prongs against the knee-joint—from the back of course—and so compelling the man by the force and suddenness of the attack, to make a genuflexion; the result of which is, that he becomes an easy prey to the pursuer. In the interior of some guardos there are other weapons, or sunjata, such as the tomba, or long spear, but none of them so ludicrously novel as those I have just described.

A curious object, always to be seen near the Guardo, is the Tong-tong, or Tok-tok, as it is called from the sounds produced when it is struck, though there is another name for it, which I have forgotten. This instrument is formed of a portion of the trunk of a tree, from three and a half to four feet long, and a little more than a foot in diameter,