Onzil

An onzil (or osele or musele) is a throwing knife of ethnic groups from eastern Gabon (Kota, Fang, Mbété).

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.

  • 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
  1. Fernand Grébert, Le Gabon de Fernand Grébert, 1913-1932 - Page 91
  2. Mémoire africaine
  3. Mary H Kingsley, West African Studies (1899), London, MacMillan, 1901


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