SAVAGE WEAPONS AT THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. 



259 



Fir.. 82.— Two bladed 

 sword of the ijuld 

 coast. Africa. 



one battalion of the Dahome" Amazons. The weapon is copied from the 

 white man's razor, bnt has a blade 2 feet long, and a handle of propor- 

 tionate size. A spring" holds the blade open. It is as if, in a jocular 

 spirit, some trader had foisted an absurdity upon them; 

 but the natives claim it as an invention of the late King 

 Gezo. The real razor el' the A shantee is of a nearly trape- 

 zoidal form; this latter is for legitimate shaving. 



Coming southwardly along the coast of Africa we arrive 

 ^tx at Angola, which, 



as we have already 

 had occasion to re- 

 mark, was well rep- 

 resented in the Ag- 

 ricultural Building. 

 Fig. 83 is a sword 

 made by a native 

 armorer of Angola ; 

 it has a curiously- 

 shaped hilt, and 

 tufts of horse-hair 

 stained red. The 

 hilt is in part cov- 

 ered with sheet-lead. 

 The gay appear- 

 ance of the hilt, 

 as it showed when 

 sheathed and worn 

 at the side, was prob- 

 ably its principal 

 recommendation. 

 The general shape 

 of the African sword is curved, although of the examples from the Portu- 

 guese colonies two are straight and but one bent. The specimens illus- 

 trated from other sections of the continent will amply compensate for the 

 present larger majority of straight-bladed weapons. Fig. 84 shows a na- 

 tive sword of Mozambique. It has a short wooden handle, from which the 

 usual button on the end of the tang has dropped off. The guard of the 

 hilt has a peculiar scroll shape, and one branch has been broken. The 

 sword of the Hamram Arabs, of Central Africa, 134 is also straight, double 

 edged, and has a cross-guard. The blade is 3G inches long, and each 

 edge is as sharp as a razor. It is carried in a wooden scabbard made 

 of two pieces, hollowed to receive the blade, and covered with leather. 

 With this weapon the Arab will cut a man in two, or will hamstring an 

 elephant. 



m 



Fig. 8X — Sun,-,! 

 Angola, Africa. 



Fig. 84. — Swordof Mo- 

 zambique, Africa. 



1J1 Wood, vol. i, p. 753. 



