CW Steel. 
437 
Isount of the united qualities of tenacity and hardness* 
When the sword was the chief weapon of war, it must 
have been an object of great interest and demand to give 
to its blade a durable keen edge, and a degree of firmness 
or strength, which, without rendering it unwieldy, should 
ensure the warrior against exposure to the fatal accident of 
its breaking in the act of combat. The sabres of Damas- 
cus have been famous for ages, and still bear a great price 
in the East ; but we have no decided account of the man- 
ner in which this steel is manufactured or made up* 
Some years ago I was favoured with the possession of a 
true blade of this kind for a few days, which, if my recol- 
lection be accurate, had cost the possessor twelve guineas 
.at Constantinople. I know the sum was not less than this® 
As I was not permitted to make any experiments upon it, 
I could only ground my process upon reasoning from its 
external appearance and obvious qualities. 
It had a dull grey or bluish appearance, was scarcely 
harder than common steel from the forge, was not easily 
bended, and when bended had no spring to recover its fi* 
gure. Its back was smooth, as were also two narrow slo- 
ped surfaces which formed its edge under an angle of 
about 40 degrees ; but its fiat sides were every where co- 
vered with minute waving lines in masses in all directions, 
not crossing each other, and, for the most part, running 
in the direction of its length. The lines were in general 
as fine as harpsichord wire, not extremely well defined 
nor continued ; and their distinction from each other was 
effected by no perceptible indentation of the surface, but 
rather by the succession of parts differing in the degree 
of polish or brightness. No one, upon inspection of this 
surface, would for a moment have imagined or allowed 
that it could have been done by engraving or etching, as 
the false blades are damasked. I was informed that if any 
part of this blade were made smooth by grinding or whetv 
3 K 
