SAVAGE WEAPONS AT THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. 281 



shape, somewhat like, but flatter than, the Roman scutum. m The shield 

 is 4 feet by 2i feet, half an inch thick, and is hewn out of the solid block. 

 It has a ridge-like protuberance across the middle and is stiffened and 

 ornamented with transverse plates of cop- 

 per and rotang twist. The shields are usu- 

 ally decorated with tails of the guinea-hog 

 (Potamachcerus), and are invariably stained 

 black. 



The shield of the Kanemboo negroes in 

 the army of the Sultan of Borneo is about 

 4 by 2 feet and of an oval shape. It is of an 

 extremely light wood, which grows in the 

 shallow waters of Lake Tchad. The pieces 

 of which it is made are bound together witli 

 strips of raw-hide with the hair on. These 

 straps make a vandyked pattern across the 

 shield and around its edge. The Arab shield 

 of Zanzibar 192 is round, 18 inches in diame- 

 ter, made of rhinoceros hide, and worn at 

 the back from the left shoulder. The Abys- 

 sinian shield is made of buffalo hide, and 

 its convex outer surface has a boss in the fig. 126. — Monbuttoo wooden shield, 



. T , . , , .", ,, Ventral Africa. 



center. It is ornamented with the mane, 



tail, and paw of a lion, if the owner has been so fortunate as to kill one j 

 others have silver or brass plates. Around the shield are holes, through 

 which passes the thong by which it is suspended. It is changed so as 

 to hang by a different hole each day, in order that it may not become 

 warped. The Nubian shield is made of hippopotamus or crocodile skin, 

 and has a central projecting boss formed of a separate piece of skin. It 

 is stretched on a wooden frame-work. The notches in its perimeter are 

 a fashion, probably the remaining impression of some ancient shape. 



The shields of ancient Asia Minor and Assyria and the modern shields 

 of India show the various shapes and materials which we have cited. 

 The large shield of the Assyrians, used at sieges, was of wicker-work or 

 hide; it had a curved point or a projection like a roof. It was held by 

 a shield 1 >earer. I9,i The oblong standing shield was referred to by Herodo- 

 tus, who said 194 "the Persians made a fence of their osier shields." 

 The Assyrians had also circular bucklers of hide or metal. The oval copper 

 shield found by Dr. Schliemann in the excavations at Hissarlik, 195 28 feet 

 below the surface, is 20 inches in length, quite flat, except a raised rim and 

 boss. Herodotus says 1 "" that the Carians invented the handle of the 

 shield, previous to which time it had been strung by a strap from the 



"' Smith's Diet., Gr. & Rom. Antiq., London, 1875, p. 1013. 



192 Ruschenberger's "Voyage Round the World." p. 31. 



'-"Iliad, h. viii, /. 319, 327; 1 Samuel, xvii, 7; Layard's Nineveh, Pis. vii, viii. 



1,1 Herodotus, /. 9, c. 61. 



195 Schliemann's "Troy and its Remains," PI. xiv, opp. p. 324. 



''"'/. i, c. 171. 



