I have been led to think that the natives throw stones and other missiles with extraordinary force. I am confirmed in this opinion by a musket which stands at my elbow. It was used by a Tonguese in the late attack on Koro na Yasaca. During the conflict a stone struck the barrel of this musket - the barrel is 3 feet and 2 inches long - shattered the lighter part of the stock; made an indentation in the barrel 1-8 of an inch in depth, and ... drove the barrel 7-16 of an inch out of the straight line.( I have since learned that this stone was thrown from a sling). I have also been surprised at the ease with which and active native avoids stones which are hurled at him.
Rev. Thomas Williams (Henderson 193a:290)

It seems logical to proceed from the spear-throwing cord [Swiss/Yorkshire arrow] to the sling or i rabo, which was a popular Fijian weapon, although it gradually disappeared and was almost totally replaced with firearms in the second half of the nineteenth century, still being used for sport until the early twentieth century. Early accounts by traders and beachcombers (Imthurm & Wharton 1925:41-70; Dillon 1829:5-6, 23, 27; Cary 1972:52) show that the battle usually opened with volleys of sling stones and arrows before the warriors closed to fight at close quaters with spears and clubs. William Lockerby mentioned that clubmen were also armed with slings; the sling being particularly handy in that it provided warriors with an effective missile weapon which when not needed could simply be tied around the waist or upper arm, not impeding the use of the war club in any way.

The strings of the sling were plaited from Magimagi (pronounced mungy-mungy with the "ng" as in sing) coir-sinnet, the inner bark of the vau wild hibiscus (hibiscus tiliaceus), and in very rare cased from human hair. Fine twine made from the wa yaka vine (pueraria lobata) was used to cover and bind together the several parallel coir-sinnet cords which made up the basket or stone pouch of the sling. the two throwing strings which ran up from either end of the basket , one ending in a finger loop the other ending in a knot, where each generally some 60 to 70 centimeters long.

In using the sling or i rabo the finger loop was placed over the middle finger of the throwing hand, the knot of the cord being grasped between the thumb and index finger, and the stone being placed in the basket. The slinger swung the sling round once above his head, then snapped out his arm and released the knotted cord, the sling jerking out to its fullest extent, sending the stone hurtling towards its target (Rougier 1915:30-31). Colman Wall (1916:12) claimed that alternatively the two strings were held as outlined above in the throwing hand, which was braced across the middle of the chest ,and the pouch or basket containing the stone was grasped by the other hand, which held extended back at arm's length. The slinger simultaneously released the basket and whipped his throwing arm out to its full extent, releasing the knotted cord with a powerful jerk, projecting the stone towards its target. I have tried this and again and it provides a food flat trajectory, but I can achieve very little velocity by this means, which must have taken a special knack.

I have never seen a definite Fijian sling stone so cannot confirm whether they were simply rounded river stones or were oval pointed in shape, they were probably carried in a bag worn around the waist. Te sling stones, judging by the range in size from heft pebbles to rocks up to the size of the stone baskets, must have varied considerably in size from heft pebbles to rocks up to the size of a small orange and I suspect that the round stones of about tennis ball size found lying about in old forts, while definitely hurled by hand from hill forts,may well have been cast from slings on occasion.

Apart from sling and hand-thrown stones some use was also made of incendiary stones consisting of dry grass plaited around the stone and then ignited, the flming projectile being flung over the fighting fence into the thatched roofs it defended (Ratu [chief] Viliame Vatureba: pers. comm)

William Lockerby described how mercenary warriors from Koro painted themselves for a taqa [military revue] at Bua in 1808, according to the arms they bore: I visited these strangers previous to their obtaining audience, and found them engaged in cleaning their spears and club, painting their bodies, &c. Those who were armed with bows and arrows painted themselves all over with turmeric and coconut oil: those armed with spears were painted from their naval upwards all black, and red from that part downwards; those, with slings and clubs, were painted entirely black, their heads and rms excepted, which were red