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Fijian two-handed club known as a sali. Long handle ending with a curved, flattened club face decorated on each side with wide bands of carved circles of different size separated by narrow bands of overlapping triangles. There is a projecting spur off the club head. Said to be fashioned after the clawed flower of a wild banana-like plant. Referred to by Westerners as a "gunstock" club because its shape is similiar to a rifle's, Fijians were using sali before contact with Western weapons. The club was used to inflict bone-crushing damage to an enemy combatant.
clubs (weapons)
wood (plant material)
Club
Original to Phillips House (Salem, Mass.),
E47,154
FD228
Unknown
Pacific Island Group
8 (W) (inches)
Gift of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Charitable Trust for Historic Preservation
2006.44.955
http://www.new-guinea-tribal-art.com/wp/index.php/2011/10/05/native-weapons/. This site has a comprehensive yet concise review of Fijian war clubs.
Fiji
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