The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-29
ZULU WEAPONS.
The Arms with which Cetywayo's War
riOrs Killed the Britishers.
London Standard.l


The painful interest which attaches itself al
the present moment to the weapons offensive
and defensive, Of the Amazulu, and their
method OF using them In BATTLE has been fur
Their Increased by the account of the action OF
1sandula, given by an officer Of Londsdale's
native contingent, q survivor OF that glorious
disaster. " The word assagai does not belong
to the vernacular, but-like 'Kaffir' itself,
the Arabic for infidel: "karose," cloak
made OF skins OF beasts or birds; "kraal." d
cOnglomeration OF hutS and cattle pens which
does duty for town or village, and many
other terms-ts borrowed from q foreign
tongue. The Zulu name for the weapon is
unkonto.' The shaft, with an average length
OF nearly five feet and a dI meter equal to a
mans little finger, is cut from the assagai
tree (cdrttsla Jaglned), which Is not unlike ma
hogany. The wood is brittle yet elastic, the
latter quality giving the spear that peculiar
vlbratory motion on which its accuracy OF
flight so much depends. On account Of the
brittleness novice will break many shafts
before he learns to throw his assagai secus-
dun drtem. Inaptly cast, the shaft, as soon
as 1T reaches the ground, Is liable to whip for
ward and break off short ab,ye the blade, a
vantage o. on one occasion, hy q celebrated
chief. Before joining battle he made his fol-
lowers cut half way through the staff Just
above Its junction with the metal head The
consequence was that when the spear went
nome into human BODY, the shaft remained
intact, but IL 1t struck shield, tree. or the
ground, 1t snapped and became useless to the
enemy, The assagi heads are generally
plade-shaped; some con- ist OF mere spike,
and few are barbed. When the first
out the barb, there Is Invariably a
raised ridge along the centre of the blade,
which 1s concave on one side and convex on
the other. The reasons assigned for this Pc
culiarlty OF form are that that this blade acts
likes the feathers of an arrow, and that, as
the heads areialways made Of soft iron, they
can be more easily Sharpened when
bluntey by use. BY making the tang of the
head red-hot the former bores passage for
Itself into the thickest end OF the shaft where
IL lS secured by binding narrow strip OF raw
and wet hide around the wood. The hide con-
tracts on drying, and thus simple band Is
made nearly as strong as II of iron. There
are two principal kinds OF assagais, the
throwing and the stabbing,. the latter with
long straight blade. To a Kaffir this weapon
Is literally the staff Of life. With it be kills
his enemy and his game, slaughters and cuts
up his cattle, trains their horns shaves his
own or his neighbours head does his carpen-
Lex ana furriery and countless other
mai form, the assagai was essentially
} mis- Sile, but the renowned Chaka among
)ther military reforms, converted it into
shorter and heavier stabbing spear, unfit fol-
throwing, and only to be used at close quar-
'ers. His soldiers were armed with a very
arge shield and only one assasai, instead OF
me nall dozen or even more with which they
lsed to go into action. This necesstated a
'hange In the old tactics. Thenceforward the
men were taught to move swiftly on the enc |
ny In compact body, and after the hottie !
lSssagals We're expended on their shields to |
lose Prospects of reward and the certainty
. Inc late that awaited them In case of fail
uie, rendered them almost invincible when |
opposed TO native tribes, and justified the |
aopllon OF the new weapon; but when, in the |
tpa 30 Vi tifne, the Zulus came to encounter
INC Dubcn Doors, new conditions Of war
stria' ah9 the missile assagais and old
16aS.,a - nghllhg were restored to favor.
tiae uheompfomlslng weapon and tao
.lcs We're found to be useless against
.oa selnen who after delivering fire. paIlOned
,1,a. ~ u reach to reload 1t would appear.
- "I9sei, from sthe description of the action
=. ~ !. I ba t' mat Cetywayo has reverted
y itne sIapDng aSSagai of his uncIa vvhiIa |
S eafflg Ihe original missile, In addition to
n le IRE. nleaIlns with which many of his soldiers
W Vi noW armed. The clubs used bv the Katfir
l Lpes vary from fourteen inches to mora than
- .,e tee. ~ lelsln, ard are terminated hv
1 h1o.t TnenIe Tue name OF knobkiri.. The
norter knooklrl can be carried in the bait
nd at close quarters can be emnloua o o o
Tub, but it Is more commonly nsad y. ~ as d
lie, especially Ia knocking over hirds and
mail game. The short, Observation-Disclosures
mes are more generally used by the HottonA
DIS and BoJeSmen than by the Zulns wha
reIer Inc longer weapon even as a missiIa
he shorter kiri Is, however, the true one &c
vented originally by the Hottentots- and
ne Zulus have gradually heightened the sticI
nd diminished the size OF the knobs, kris
re for the most part made OF acacia wood
ONE few OF the horn Of the white rhinoceros'