top of page

Muleli

The muleli was described as made from shell and worn around the wrist of the Mua

One of Rotuma's early explorers Gardiner noted that the Sau’s officers wore around their wrists the Muleli,


"Round the neck might be a necklace of beads of whale's teeth, the tifui lei, and on each wrist was the muleli, described to me as a round piece of turtle bone. I dug up one when I opened the graves of the mua; it is certainly not bone, but resembles somewhat the horny and prismatic layers of the outer part of a pearl shell. It is about 2 inches in diameter, and has a large hole in the centre"



The main image of this piece




This sketch of a piece of the Muleli is shown above as number 7. This was excavated by Gardiner. He noted that the “The muleli was only worn by the mua as well as the sou, but the other ornaments were more generally used”.

bottom of page