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One of a pair of upper-arm bracelets (Bedamuni: éfé nabu). One of a pair of upper-arm bracelets (nabu). The nabu are made from pieces of liana and worn only by men, and were used in the past for making fire. The liana (éfé) is unrolled and pulled to and fro underneath a set of seede (Calophyllum sp) sticks (1982.58i and 1982.58ii). Friction causes dry grass near the sticks to catch fire and within a few minutes a fire may be burning.
This example was made by Kabase.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
