The times., 1898-12-25
EARLY WEAPoNs.
Display Of the Savage Tools of
Warfare
(From the London Times)

tfrom the LONDON I1nles)
To the relics of many battles which are
spread out In the great banqueting room
Of Whitehall. under the famous Rubens
ceiling, the Royal United Service Insti-
tuition has now added an interesting COL
lection OF dervish trophies, lent by off,
GERS who have taken part in the Soudan
expeditions of the last three years-the
loot Of Ferkeh. Hafir. Atbara and Om-
durman. Those who have followed the
newspaper narratives of these campaigns
SHOULD avail themselves of this oppor-
tunity Of seeing the jibbas, barbaric
weapons. and quaint armor. of which
they have read so much, before this col
lection Is once more scattered. On Sat-
urday the Sirdar's sword of honor, speci-
mems OF the medals struck by Gordon
and conferred as rewards during the siege
OF khartoum, and some other relics were
still wanting to the exhibition, but p is
expected that these will arrive today. and
tomorrow the collection In its entirety
will be on view to the public
Close to the entrance of the hall are
several captured banners, for the most
part white or of bright color, with pray
ers and praises of the Mahdi inscr bed on
them in Arabic characters. UGs great
black standard, riddled ny outlets. is no.
ticeable; It fell into Col Macdona d's
hands after the battle of Omdurman,
and was by him given to Lieut. Col n.
Finn, of the Twenty-first Lancers. who
has lent this. together with several other
trophies. to the exhibition. The derv-sh
uniforms are certain to attract good
deal of attention. Here are to be seen
the white cotton jibbas, with their
patches OF dark blue. brown, or other col
ored cloth, some of them handsom ly en-
broidered, symbols of the rise and fall of
Mahdism. For it will be remembered that
the Mahdi enjoned on his followers a life
of meekness and humility, of street as
ceticism; they were to own no property
and were to be clothed in rags and
patches in token Of their sanity poverty;
but after rapine and license had demor-
alized the deryishes and brought about
a religious decadence the dirty patched
rag gradually developed into the lExuif-
Gus Jibba, the symbolic patches becoming
neat and ornamental oblongs Of colored
cloth, symmetrically arranged upon the
snowy robe, tokens of poverty and as-eti-
cism no longer, but of the hypocritical
spirit that had taken the place OF the
former honest fanaticism.
Ihere are good specimens here of the
wonderful Uniform and equipment of the
derVish horsemen-their coats of chain
@pch as were worn by the Crusaders
OF old ION tne s-~ast@of one of these
supposed to have been made ile-Ahy-...4ia
IN the sixteenth century, Will be observed
a large cross formed OF brazen links, the
emblem of Christianity cleaning out like
dull geld against the white steeD: their
long padded or quilted coats. calculated
10 deaden the force OF a sword cut; their
iron helmets and casques fitted with
chain-arnor ard quilted shoulder pads:
their quilted caps of various grotesgue
shapes worn over the iron head pieces;
and their metal armlets. It Is difficult to
. understand how man and horse can sup
port the heat and weight Of their full
equipment in such a climate as that OF
the Soudar. for il is not only the man
VINO is thus cumbrousiy armed cap-a-ple;
! the horse, too, is protected by thickIy
padded quilts and head-armor. so thar the
resemblance of a dervish emir's equip
ment to that OF knight OF old at a
tournament is very striking; and, as Sla-
! tin Pashd says in his book. one might al
most imagine that one was gazing at one
of those medieval displays when present
at Mahdist cavalry review There is
good specimen in this collection of horse
head-guard Of embossed brass. which be-
longed to an emir slain at the Atbara
tight. and has been lent by Capt N NJ.
Smyth, V. c..
In the collection are several oblong and
circular shields of stout hide, such as <e
Z
and of dervish weapons there is a goodly
show-cayairy spears with shafts ten feet
in length ana huge blades, the blade OF
one Coaned by Col. HattoH, c. B., Grena-
! der Guards, who has contributed a num-
Der OF the most interesting trophiesl
/ bsins nearly two feet in length and more
than eight inches in breadth. so that il
/ properly employed it would almost cut
man in tive; the smaller infantry spears,
( such as are used for fishing and hunting
/ by the Shhook and other negrOid tribes.
with barbed Or serrated heads, cruel look
/ ing weapons that infiict dreadful wounds;
| the heavy. STRAIGHTFORWARD. cross-handled
Arab swords. like those of the Crusaders;
knives straight or curiOusly curved,
among these a very remarkable weapon
| from kordofan or Nyam-Nyam, with its
blade bent round and having sharpened
spur attached to il. an executioner's in
| strument possibly intended to hslf eneir-
| Gle the neck OF the one condemned 10 ce-
capitation.
| Among other noteworthy trophies are
| the great wer drums; handouts taken on
| a prisoner found in omdurman; slipgs
| made of cowrie shells from the west
| coast. employed to support stone water
| coolers. and a curiously shaped embroids
| cred cloak OF an Abyssinian chief. SINH
| lar 10 one presented by Mene!ek to Lord
| Salisbury Few people are aware that
boonlerangs are employed by some South
| African tribes: but 1t seems that ole CT
these weapons found Its way to O'Edur-
man and has been loaned 10 the institu-
| ton by the First Battalion of the Grena-
| der Guards Major Emslie and the ofri-
| Gers of the Thirty-sevonth howitzep
| Field Battery. Royal Artillery. secured
| some valuable trophies, which now fern
| part OF this collection Among Ihese IS
| the metal top of the now Utterly de-
! ssroyed tomb of the Mahdi, bearing traces
of the damage inflicted by the fire of the
| aforementioned battery. and brass
field gun, believed to have been taken b.
the dervishes from Hicks Pasha's ILL
| fated force, and recaptured by US at
Omdurman.
Some relics OF our former campaigns IN
| Egypt, of the bombardment of Alexan-
dria, of Tamai FL Teb. TosAi. and other
battles, are also on view in the banquet
ing room at Whitehall, and combine with
these trophies of more recent achieve
ments to form display that should be
of interest to many.
Homes for Old Soldiers.
From the Philadelphia Reeord)
1t is held that the provision of the Federal