Sulawesi bangkung

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Ian

The distinguishing features of the Sulawesi bangkung, as shown in van Zonneveld and the two examples above, appear to be the "finger notch" just in front of a very short, down-turned hilt. It is necessary for me to place my forefinger into the notch to hold the knife comfortably.

I do not recall any knives from Malaysia that have such a notch just below the hilt. If you are thinking of "Malay" in a more anthropolgical sense, then some of the knives from Sumba come to mind, as well as the Visayan plamingko and some Bugis badik that have similar notches or cut out areas in that position.

Hi Ian,

the finger notch is seen also by other short goloks and special by the short version "bedok" from Sunda so I am unsure if this could be called as distinguishing feature, see here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=golok
And we have only a drawing by Zonneveld.

Morotai is ethnologic the same like Halmahera and I have never heard about a great Bugis population over there, similar situation like on Halmahera which I know well. What you can find are a Javanese and Sundanese population.

And yes, I've meant Malay in the meaning of Malaysia and this for the scabbard form from your both examples.

Regards,
Detlef