Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-12-07
A Curious Spectacle.

In December last one hundred c%uiras-
siers We're sent up here. and, TO make
them thoroughly useful, they We're dis
patched without horses. Their horses
arrived last week. and on Saturday
General Hicks went to Omderman to
inspect them. The cuirassiers are a
fine lot of fellows, but the horses made
q poor show, and would be barely able
to carry the mems boots. The cuiras-
siers performed 4 few simple maneuvers
and seemed tolerably well up in their
drill. Their dress is quite medieval in
character-a chain shirt OF mail, chain
steel gauntlets, and a headpiece of the
time Of the crusades. Although very
picturesque looking, the weight OF this
helmet, shirt, and gauntlets is some
thing enormous-about eighty pounds l
bclieve-and the dress is certainly suit
ed neither to the climate nor to the
horses who have to carry this great
weight. The curious part of it is that
some of the Baggara Arabs wear the
same dress, and during the campaign in
Sonar | saw some beautiful inlaid head
pieces, for all the world precisely SINH
lar to those of the time of Richard
Cnur de Lion. Sheikh Mohamed
|SDSNi, VI uuC 1lilttN IL lI1Dt Ol ldO-
CARA Arabs, who accompanied us, wore
one OF these helmets, and on my asking
him where lie got ii, replied that it had
been in his family for go Years, having
been handed down from father to son.
Further than that he could not oo-but
he believed it had been in the country.
He also wore a coat OF mail and Il sword
the hilt or guard Of which, in the form
of a cross, was the fac-simile of those
used by the crusaders. His horses head
was cncased in steel, his body Cthe
horse's) was covered with a stout quilt,
thick enough to turn q lance. and made
In the form Of the rmo Which we see
depicted in one Froissarts .'Chroni-
cies.' He was Il nan of about six feet
four inches, and weighed fully seven
teen stone: so the weight carried
by his horse must have been sometime
enormous. The first time l saw aim
was just before the battle of Marabia.
About three o'clock one morning the
bugles sounded the alaln, and we
thought the Arabs Were upon us. 1t
was yet quite dark. and although there
was a moon, it was on its first quarter.
and the night was cloudy. |
turned out of my tent and tumbled
up against two knights in full
a%rmor-lance in hand. and sword on
thigh. Had L seen the ghost of my
great-grandfathcr | could not have been
more alarmed. However. they seemed
peaceably inclined so far as ] was con-
cerned, and not having much time to
spare at the moment, | hurried off to
mount my horse. 1t turned out to be
only a false alarm. SO [ set Oft in
search of my friends, who proved to be
Sheikh Iebekh and his son, who most
obligingly allowed me to inspect their
whole costume.
Now, the question which would nat
urally strike anybody would be how it
comes about that these savages. inhabit-
ing the heart of Africa, should IN the
nineteenth century wea the same dress
as the crusaders of six hundred and,
seven hundred years ago. The follow
ing explanation was given me, and itat
least appears probable: When the fol-
lowers Of Mohamed were driven from