274 SAVAGE WEAPONS AT THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. 



to the path frequented by the animals, is held by a catch and is set 

 free when the animal treads upon it. The Banyai of the Zambesi have 

 a hippopotamus spear with a wooden shaft, iron head, and weighted with 

 stones ; like the former, it is suspended over the track of the animals. 

 The Fans of the Gaboon have a similar contrivance. The Dor tribe pre- 

 pares a similar spear, but the hunterclimbs a tree and drops it upon an 

 elephanl passing beneath. The elephant spear of Uuyoro is similar. 



The hippopotamus harpoon of the Zambesi 1 " has an iron head inserted 

 in the end of a long pole of light wood. The head has a stout barb and 

 becomes detached from the shaft ; the rope attached to the head unreels 

 from the shaft, and when it has all run out the shaft acts as a float to 

 indicate the locality of the animal. An inflated bladder is sometimes 

 used as a float. The rope is made from the bark of the milola, an umbra- 

 geous hibiscus. The Hamram Arabs use a float of ambatrlu an extremely 

 light wood. The Makobahs of Lake Ngami 181 attach the rope to the 

 head by a large bunch of loose strands, which cannot be cut clean off 

 by the teeth of the animal. A rope of palm leaf is attached to the shaft, 

 and is coiled up in the boat. 



The turtle-spear of the Central American Indians is a heavy palm- wood 

 staff with a notched iron peg at the end, and twenty fathoms of silk- 

 grass line attached. 



The assegai, the hurling spear or javelin of the Kafirs, was shown in 

 the Cape of Good Hope collection. It is a very formidable weapon in 



^^ ^7^4^'^^V/<W^''' lVss i s >^ s '^- V; -^ 'iili r il l ll i Miii rr 



s W/A s/,;s; ;/;;;.> »>>■" •■>■>' m wwi.aA' ■■■'i'WWAW 

 Fig. 112. — Kafir assegais. 



the hands of this athletic and untamed people. The people of "the 

 Cape" say that the Kafirs are the remains of the lost "ten tribes of 

 Israel," and have foughl their way all down through Africa. Their asse- 

 gais are made from native iron, have wooden shafts, and are decorated 

 with tufts of cow hair. The blade has various symmetrical lanceolate 

 shapes. A ridge passes along the center of the blade, which is concave on 

 one Side, convex on the Other. This shape is intended to give rotation to 

 the weapon. The head of the assegai is about the size of the blade of 

 a table knife, and has a tang which is inserted by burning it while red- 

 hot into a shaft of assegai wood {Curtisia jaginea), which resembles 

 mahogany. The two parts are secured by lashings of raw hide, which 

 contracts in drying and holds all firmly. The assegaiis the main weapon 

 of the Kafir, and with it he kills his cattle, skins them, and cuts them 

 up; with it he also carves his clubs, spoons, dishes, pillows, and milk- 



""Liviii-r.stoue'a Zambesi, p. 44. m Wood, vol. i, i>. 379. 



