Onzil
An onzil (or osele or musele) is a throwing knife of ethnic groups from eastern Gabon (Kota, Fang, Mbété).
![](../I/m/Couteau_de_jet_fang_et_kota_gabon_onzil.jpg)
Onzil from eastern Gabon
Uses
Looking like an axe, the onzil has a calao-shaped blade.[1] Its handle, often made of wood, is covered with copper wire, iron or brass. Sometimes handles are made of ivory.[2] The onzil served as sacrificial weapons or for the war.[3] The Kotas called them osele or musele, and the Fangs, with sometimes a longer handle, called them onzil. The name remained.
Gallery
- Classical onzil
- Rare fish shaped onzil
Bibliography
- Jan Elsen, De fer et de fierté, Armes blanches d’Afrique noire du Musée Barbier-Mueller, 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2003, ISBN 88-7439-085-8
- Louis Perrois, L'esprit de la forêt : terres du Gabon, 1997, p.141
- Manfred A.Zirngibl-Werner Fischer, Afrikanische Waffen
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References
- Fernand Grébert, Le Gabon de Fernand Grébert, 1913-1932 - Page 91
- Mémoire africaine
- Mary H Kingsley, West African Studies (1899), London, MacMillan, 1901
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