KAFIRI KNIFE

Evening Star, Issue 23146, 21 December 1938, Page 20

KAFIRI KNIFE

INDIAN HILLMAN CURIO [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, December 20. Once worn at the waist of an Indian hillman for thrusting between the ribs of his enemies when the occasion warranted, a Kafiri knife, a fine example of native workmanship, is now used by Major G. H, Clifton, at army headquarters, Wellington, for opening envelopes. The major says Kafiri knives are very difficult to come by, even in India, and he considers it unlikely there is another in New Zealand or Australia. The slightly-curved nine-inch blade is made of soft iron mined in India, and is the work of Kafiristan hill men, by whom the weapon is exclusively used. These knives are seldom found elsewhere than in Kafiristan, because they are made only as required, and one knife usually serves its owner during his lifetime. A striking feature of the weapon is its peculiar grip. When one’s fingers have closed round the iron haft, the metal guards, about four inches long, fully protect the hand both from the blade end and the butt end._ Another obvious advantage of the grip is that it would be practically impossible to take the knife from its owner. The sheath is of brass, ornamented at either end with a scroll pattern in relief. ; Questioned about the knife, which was noticed on his desk to-day, Major Clifton said there was no exciting story to toll about his coming into possession of it. He simply bought it from a hillman at the roadside when he was with a column on its way to relieve the garrison in the Chitral State, in 1920. Major Clifton said that Kafiristan is a very mountainous area lying between Chitral and Russian Turkestan, and is one of the less important routes into India from Russia. Chitral is an independent State, very friendly towards Britain, and a British garrison has been maintained there since 1895, and is changed periodically.