THE ZULU WEAPON.

Dunstan Times, Issue 897, 27 June 1879, Page 3

THE ZULU WEAPON.

There arc two principal kinds of assagais, The throwing ami the stabbing, the latter with, a long and straight blade. To a Kaffir this weapon is literally the staff of life. With it he kills his enemy and his game, slaughters and cuts up his cattle, trains their horses, shave his own and his neighbour’s head, does his carpentry and fariory, and countless other jobs of various sorts. lu its original form, tho assagai was essentially a missile, hut the renowned Chaka, among other military reforms converted it into a shorter ami heavier stabbing spear, unlit for throwing, and only to be used at close quarters. The shaft, with an average length of nearly five feet, and a diameter equal to a man’s little finger, is cut from the assagai tree (Curlina jngincu), which is not unlike mahogany. The wood is brittle yet elastic, the latter quality giving the spear that peculiar vibratory motion on which its accuracy of flight depends. On sccount of the brittleness, a novice will break many shafts before ho learns to throw

bis assagai secundem arlem. Inaptly cast, the shaft as soon as it reaches the ground is liable to whip forward and break off short above the blade. The assagai heads are generally blade-sharped some consist of a mere spike, and a few are barbed. When the first shape is adopted, whether with or without the barb, there is invariably a raised ridge along lire centre of the blade, which is concave on one side and convex on the other. The reasons assigned for this peculiarity of form are that this blade acts like the feathers of an arrow, and that, as the heads are always made of soft iron, they can be more easily sharpened when blunted by use. — 1 Public Opinion. ’