THE PATH AN SWORD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 50

THE PATH AN SWORD.

A Peculiar Wsapon.

In writing of the Pathan warrior the other day I mentioned his native sword. Thet*,rm is not quite exacL I have seen chiefs and nobles wearing a sword, but not of the tulwar variety. At all points it resembled the weapon of Cossack officers, slightly curved, guard Jess, with silver or ivory hilt irlaid or engraved with black figures. On this account we noted it with inteiest, for coincidences much l?ss suspicious were taken as proof of " Bussian intrigues " at that time. I bad often examined the swords of nay good friends the Co3sack3 with admiration, and they are almost identical ; but the reason ia probably that the Circassians on the north-west and the Pdtbacs on the south-east alike, borrowed the weapon from Persia long sgo. The influence of that country on its) neighbours in all that concerns art and literature and civilisation in general is at leash as great as that of France under the Koi Solcil.

Bat the Pathan wariior carries a more effective instrument. He is terribly practical, and unnumbered generations of fighting men have perfected a tool beyond rivalry fcr tbe purposes in view. Is is not so elegant as the sword ; bnt Mr Rusldn teaches us that there is beauty of its sort in every instrument which fulfils the object for which it was designed in the most efliciant pcs ible, manner. Ul questionably this credit is dae to tbe Pathan knife. With a very large experience, I assert that no people have invented a weapon so well fitted for killing quickly and surely in battle, for murder, secret and open alike, and ,for carving the victim afterwards. The wisdom and experience of cur butchers have led them to adopt a knife exactly similar in conception for their business — that is, for

STABBING AND CUTTING UP J but the Pathan has to adapt the sama shape for striking. When I look up I see one hanging opposite. It was annexed and given to me after the famous Ghazi rush into a Faltentiust outside a gate of, Qandahar* wher^

five English soldiers were killed, I think, and many wounded. I was on the return march from Khslat-i-Ghi!zai at the tinv 3 .

Many and various are the arms that adorn my wall, but whe«r"'l ask a visitor to name one amorg them which looks as if it had committed murder never yet did he fail to choose this. Here is the de- cription : Total lesgth, 2ft sin ; length of blade, 2ft; breadth of blade at hilt, 2n ; thickness at back, It tapers to the finest point, but so gradually that half an inch from the tip the back is very ne3r!y a quarter of an inch thick. Hilt and all, it is one piece of metal, but slice 3of horrj, ribbed, give a fine grip.

S anding oat from the pommel, but solid as all the rest, is an adjunct like a spur, which may be regarded as an ornament in time of peace, bat very effective for smashing a man's jaw with a back handed stroke in a n<elee.

As a weapon of offence this is perfect. Contrast it with the feeble and unbusinesslike machette of Spanish America, which is u«ed for the same purpose by an un warlike race which had apparently the same general idea. Studying this long and heavy butcher's knife one understands the awful cuts, like those of a battle-axs, which we beheld on many a poor wretch ,

KILLED AKD " CRIMPED "

by those savfges. The stcut point cannot possibly bend, and rarely indead does it break. Unencumbered with a guard of any sort, the balance is admirable.

A Pathan uaed to rely upon his target for defence. That picturcqae equipment is going out of fashion, but the tribesmen will be ill "advised if they adapt their national arm to the changed s<:Kt3 of things in war with the Sircar. They fight by rushe?. P/oiection for the sword hand would not avail much against a bayonet thruet, and the perfect balance of the knife would be impaired.

The most characteristic outrage by Ghazia thatjl can recall wascorncjitted almost uuder my own eyes — at Lundi K.*iai, I think. At leas*-, General M-jade was in command. His tent stood clo?e to the mouth of a very steep little incline. By the roadside under this, perhaps" two or uhree hundred yards away, but within the limits cf the camp, was a spring which had been cleared out and provided with a rough basin. C*rap-followers and miscellaneous people drew water there. A number of them stood and sit around as I passed by. On the other side the road, which was cut along the feca of the mountain, a slope clothed with biusLwood fell very steeply to invisible depths below. I EErOBTED MYSELF TO THE GENERAL. We had not spoken 20 words when a clamour arose cutgide. A hapless Bheestie appeared at the mouth of the ir cline, stumbled on, and fell a'most at the teat door. He hsd a lorg cub from tha breastbone to the fctoraacb, intended for hia he3d, no doubt ; his arms and legs were slashed from behind, right and left.

The poor fellow was waiting at the spring, when two Pjthans sittit g th'ra leapt to their feet and mauled him thes. It is noteworthy that whea he ran they might have cut him down ; as a greater insult probably they " crimped " him,

Soldiers were constantly coming andgoii g on that road ; perhaps there were none in sight at the momeiit. Several (ffic-rs had passed with me very few minutes before. There were sentries along the hill above and an army at call. But those demons were not to be denied. Perhaps they came with the resolve to kill a sahib, or perhaps a tuden thirst for biood oveicame them. Afrer the ciime they dashed down the slope atd vaaUhed in a cacmetit among the rocks a»d brushwood. I think they were not caught. Tue Bneesrie died.— Feedbrick Boyle, in the I\»ll Mall G. watte.