Woman's cincture (susuru)
Baelelea people, North Malaita Island, Solomon Islands
Shell beads, natural fiber
Mid 20th century
25 by 2 inches (63.5 by 5 cm)

A belt (susuru) of money-beads from Ofatabu in Baelelea, from the 1960s, also called gulua' afe or woman's tie-on, is a cincture worn by women for special occasions. Made of rows of shell money disks and spondylus shell disks strung on natural fiber, with rectangles of colored diamond-shaped motifs alternating with areas of shell money strung in a twill pattern.

Cf. Body Ornaments of Malaita, Solomon Islands by Ben Burt, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2009. p. 148
#2539

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