"Sali," large hardwood war club with broad blade and a sharp crest or spur. The blade at the distal end of the club is covered on both sides with a carved checkerboard pattern. The handle is wrapped with braided coconut fiber cord or sennit. The club is named after the clawed "Sali" flower of a wild banana-like plant.
From card: "Musket shape with a horn."
This object was collected in Fiji under the direction of Lt. Charles Wilkes, leader of the historic United States Exploring Expedition, the American scientific expedition to circumnavigate the globe. The objects collected from that expedition became some of the founding collections of the Smithsonian Institution.
- Title: War Club, "Sali"
- Location: Fiji, Melanesia
- Type: Club
- Rights: This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. The image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. http://www.si.edu/termsofuse
- External Link: View this object record in the Smithsonian Institution Collections Search Center
- Medium: Hardwood
- USNM Catalog Number(s): E2864
- Photo Credit: Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
- Field: Ethnology
- Date Collected: 1938
- Accession Date: 1858
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