22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL, MUSEUM. Vol.60. 



No. 4. Copper blades for slashing, with grip, tang, or socket for hafting. 

 Illinois, Greece, and Italy 7,535 



No. 5. Boarding blade turned into a slashing weapon by wrapping the tang 

 with split spruce root. Eskimos, Mackenzie River 2,077 



No. 6. Slashing weapon, Malay blade, razor-shaped ; tang driven into the end 

 of the hilt. The latter is octagonal in section at the butt, curved, 

 tapering forward, and ornamented with hair and basket work in 

 bamboo 154,130 



No. 7. Nepaul sword (kookri) with curved, leaf -shaped blade, thick on the 

 back and chisel-edged ; hilt of wood, fitting close to the blade, which 

 has a shoulder on the tang ; sword breaker on the blade near the 

 tang. India 126,691 



No. 8. Cutlass or machete. Blade of steel, thin, wide, curved at the end, 

 double grooved at the back ; tang flat, riveted between two pieces of 

 carved wood to form the grip 151,162 



No. 9. Japanese saber with nearly straight blade, pentagonal in section ; grip 

 of wood, with brass cap and ferrule and ornamented with knotted 

 leather thong; guard against thrust. 



No. 10. Cutlass. Straight two-edged blade ; brass hilt, with guard. American 

 Navy. 



No. 11. Bronze sword. Blade long, leaf-shaped, and grooved, inserted into hilt 

 piece and riveted ; grip ridged ; pommel adorned with open work. 

 Roman. 



No. 12. Gaboon sword, West Central Africa. Blade short, leaf -shaped, slightly 

 ribbed, finely chased, and punched at inner end. This portion is fur- 

 nished with sword-breaking attachment. Hilt elaborately adorned 

 with wirework 164,912 



No. 13. Chinese sword. Blade tapering slightly, point angular, shoulder of 

 chased brass, covering the end of the scabbard ; grip of bone, fluted ; 

 pommel of chased brass, with figure of Good Fortune 167,002 



HISTORY OF PIERCING PROJECTILE WEAPONS. 



Piercing weapons are either held in the hand or attached to a shaft. 

 They are thrown from the hand, slung from the throwing stick, or 

 moved by elasticity. Those moved by elasticity may be discharged 

 from a blowtube, from a bow, from an arbalest, or from a firearm. 

 The progress of invention in the piercing projectile is marked in the 

 perfecting, firstly, of the projectile itself; secondly, of the elastic 

 device or projector; and, thirdly, of the mechanism of release. Illus- 

 trations of the projectile are not shown. The series presented here 

 serves to illustrate the progress of the bow and the arbalest, bringing 

 the development to the gun and the pistol. 



SEBIES 5. — BOW AND ABBALEST. 



Plate 23. 



The bow is an elastic rod or stave which is bent, the two ends being 

 united by a tough string. A bolt is shot from this apparatus, either 

 to pierce, to cut, or to bruise. The first bows were unmodified staves; 



