WEAPONS. 



307 



eliase, and in battle against the archer: he seems 

 to trust it in close quarters rather than the feather- 

 weight arrow or the spear that bends like gutta-percha, 

 and most murders are committed with it. The East people 

 do not, like the Kafirs, use the handle of the knobkerry 

 as a dibble. 



The sime or dudgeon is the makeshift for the Arab 

 jambiyah and the Persian khanjar. The form of this 

 weapon differs in almost every tribe. The Wahumba or 

 Wamasai use blades about four feet long by two fingers 

 in breadth; the long, round, and guardless hilt is ribbed 

 for security of grasp, and covered with leather ; their 

 iron is of excellent quality, and the shape of the 

 weapon has given rise to the report that " they 

 make swords on the model of those of the Knights 

 Templars." The Wazegura and the Wagogo use knives 

 not unlike the poniard of the Somal. In some tribes 

 it is 3*5 feet long, with a leathern sheath extending 

 half-way up the blade. Generally it is about half that 

 size, straight, pointed, and double-edged, or jagged with 

 teeth. The regions about the Lake manufacture and ex- 

 port great numbers of these weapons varying from a 

 finger's length to full dimensions. 



The shoka or battle-axe is much used by the tribes 

 around the Tanganyika. It has a blade of triangular 

 shape, somewhat longer and thinner than that used as a 

 working tool, which is passed through the bulging 

 head of a short handle cut out of the bauhinia or 

 some other hard tree. Amongst the Wasagara the 

 peculiar mundu or bill often serves for the same 

 purpose. 



The targes of the Wasagara and the Wanyamwezi 

 have already been described ; the Wavinza make a 

 shield of basket-work six feet by two, and much re- 



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