Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Philip · 21st February 2017, 04:13 AM

This looks like a "nifo oti" to me, a combo machete and bill hook, with a somewhat longish straight handle, used as a tool and weapon in Samoa. The steel blades were first supplied by cutlery manufacturers in Germany and Britain starting in Victorian times (Samoa was one of Imperial Germany's few colonies, ceded to the UK and US during WW I after British victories over the German fleet in the Pacific). When I lived in Hawaii, I had the opportunity to see the local Samoan community perform dances with these, twirled around in pairs and often set alight after dunking the blades in kerosene, for the entertainment of tourists craving "authentic traditional dancing".

21st February 2017, 04:13 AM	#7
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	This looks like a "nifo oti" to me, a combo machete and bill hook, with a somewhat longish straight handle, used as a tool and weapon in Samoa. The steel blades were first supplied by cutlery manufacturers in Germany and Britain starting in Victorian times (Samoa was one of Imperial Germany's few colonies, ceded to the UK and US during WW I after British victories over the German fleet in the Pacific). When I lived in Hawaii, I had the opportunity to see the local Samoan community perform dances with these, twirled around in pairs and often set alight after dunking the blades in kerosene, for the entertainment of tourists craving "authentic traditional dancing".