History of Chain Mail and Ring Mail 257 



constructed by J. de Morgan 1 after a bas-relief of Takht-i-Bostan, 

 both in its shape and in the style of its decoration, for which inlaid stones 

 were employed. The history of the sword, however, is somewhat dif- 

 ferent from that of chain armor, and is not connected with an importa- 

 tion of swords from Persia into Tibet. The swords of the Turkish 

 tribes of Central Asia, to which the Tibetan swords are related, must be 

 taken equally into consideration ; and it seems that this type of sword is 

 a common property of the whole group, of such great antiquity that the 

 accurate history of its distribution can no longer be traced. 2 



The Tibetans make (or rather, made) use also of the circular and 

 convex rhinoceros-hide shield of Indian manufacture, ornamented with 

 four brass bosses (Plate XXVII, Fig. i). 3 This shield is employed like- 

 wise in Burma and Siam. The national Tibetan shield is made from 

 rattan plaited in the basketry style of circular coils (Plate XXVII, 

 Fig. 2). Of what type the shield of the ancient Tibetans (K'iang), 

 adopted by the Chinese, was (p. 188), we do not know. 



Also the Tibetan helmet (Plate XXVIII), composed of steel sheets 

 incrusted with gold and silver wire, forming floral designs, and with 

 attached coif of mail and sliding nasal, is of Indo-Persian origin (com- 

 pare Plate XXV) . 



1 Mission scientifique en Perse, Vol. IV, p. 321 (Paris, 1897). Compare this 

 volume, p. 15. 



2 The swords represented on the monuments of Turkistan belong to the same 

 type (see A. Grunwedel, Altbuddhistische Kultstatten, pp. 26, 27, and many other 

 examples). 



s For Indian specimens see W. Egerton, An Illustrated Handbook of Indian 

 Arms, pp. 95, in, 118, 134 (London, 1880). Rhinoceros-hide shields are mentioned 

 in the Ain I Akbari of Abul Fazl Allami (translation of H. S. Jarrett, Vol. II, 

 p. 281, Calcutta, 1891). 



