Selu Tuiga (head comb)

In Samoa, up until the early 20^th century, combs were worn in the hair as an item of adornment and were made from coconut leaflet midrib or pau wood. The former consisted of a row of long coconut midribs that had been cleaned, smoothed and fastened together to form the “teeth” of the comb. The toothed end panned out and was generally wider than the other end where the midribs were fastened together with strands of hair or coconut fibre. The lashing was often very decorative.

Materials

This is a selu tuinga head comb made from coconut midrib that has been dried, scraped, rounded, and then fastened together with fine coconut fibre binding. The comb has 23 tines joined by a band of very fine coconut fibre and horse hair. Five pairs of the 23 midrib tines extend to form the ornamental top, and are drawn together by a narrow binding at the tip. Of these pairs, the two outer and central ones are finely lashed together, the two intervening pairs are not. In pre-European times, selu were made using coconut midrib points, these were lashed together with sennit (coconut husk fibre/plaited), and decorated with beads or shells. By the late nineteenth century, combs were carved out of wood, using steel tools introduced through European contact.

Acquisition
This selu was donated to the Dominion Museum (Te Papa's predecessor) by Alexander Turnbull in 1918.