Boutou of the Kalinago

The above is a beautiful example of a Kalinago club, or boutou, from Sieur de la Borde's well-known Relation. Like the Taino macana, these weapons were considered by Europeans to be very dangerous. They also had ritual and political connotations. The intricate and elaborate pattern on the above boutou shows the degree to which the Kalinago imbued different aesthetic and possibly political considerations into this powerful weapon. It is of interest that Breton's dictionary of the Kalinago language indicated the use of the word boutou to signify captain or leader, clearly reflected in European sources describing captains with the finest, largest, or most beautiful clubs as markers of their status. As proof of how dangerous these weapons could be, one of our distant European ancestors was nearly killed by "Caribs" who attacked the southern coast of Puerto Rico in the 1560s. According to Burset Flores, Delgado was left for dead by the "Caribs" and received a wound that was likely from their clubs.