This sword with a simple carved hilt was made for combat. The sheath, made of wood, alternate with strips of brass sheathings. On the island of Nias, off the west coast of Sumatra, sword and dagger hilts are usually carved in the shape of human and animal heads. This sword was donated to the Museum by Cecil Boden Kloss, an English zoologist who accompanied Abbott, an American naturalist, on a few of his expeditions. He wrote an account of their trip to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1903.
