Spurred Club, Fiji

With its sinuous convex and concave curves, this large club is an especially elegant example of the cali type. The neat, chequered blade has two bands of contrasting geometric designs, each of which has a bow-like perforation at its centre. These perforations recall the similarly shaped holes for oars that appear on the decks of double-hulled canoes, or drua (see Steven Hooper, Fiji: Art and Life in the Pacific, Norwich, 2016, p. 243, cat. no. 215).

Clunie notes that “according to the Fiji Museum catalogues, these clubs are named after the clawed sali flower of one of the wild banana-like plants (Musa species) which grow in the Fiji bush.” (Fergus Clunie, Fijian Weapons and Warfare, Bulletin of the Fiji Museum, No. 2, Suva, 1977, p. 54).