Spurred Club, Fiji

Abraham Rosman and Paula Rubel, New York

Hooper notes that the “larger, knob-like designs on the cheeks” distinguish the spurred sali from the very closely related cali. (Hooper, Fiji: Art and Life in the Pacific, Norwich, 2016, p. 257). Both types, which were much used in dancing, are distinguished from the gata type by the pronounced size of their spur or crest. Clunie notes that the name appears to derive from the “clawed sali flower of one of the wild banana-like plants […] which grown in the Fiji bush.” (Clunie, Fijian Weapons and Warfare, Suva, 1977, p. 54).