THE ASSEGAI.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 154, 30 June 1879, Page 4

THE ASSEGAI.

This implement of war, and the manner in which it ig used, are thus described in Public Opinion-.— "There are two principal kinds of assegais, the throwing and the stabbing, the latjter with a l<mg and straight blade. To a ! Kaffir this weapon is literally the staff' of life. With it he kills, liis'e.riemy rind , his game, slaughters and cuts up his cattle, trains their horns, shaves his own or his neighbor's head, does his ' carpentry and furriery, and countless other jobs of various sorts. In -its, 'original form the assegai was' essentially a missile, but the renowned Chak, among other military ..reforms, con-

verted it into a shorter and heavier stabbing spear, unfit for throwing, and only to be used in close quarters. The shaft, with an average length of nearly five feet, and a diameter equal to a man's little finger, fa cut from, the assegai tree, (Gurtisia jagirieaj, which is not unlike mahogany. The wood is yefc elastic, the latter quality givibg the spear that peculiar vibratory motion on which its accuracy of flight so much depends. On account of the brittleness a novice will break many shafts before he learns to throw his assegai secundumr artem. Inaptly cast, the shaft a3 soon as ifc reaches the ground is liable to whip forward and break off short above the blade. The assegai-heads are generally bladeshaped, some consist of a mere spike, and a few are barbed. When the first shape is adopted, whether with or without the barb, there is invariably a Wised ridge along the centre of. the blade, which is concave on one side and convex on the other. The reasons assigned for this peculiarity of form, are that this blade acts like the feathers of an arrow, and that, as the heads are always made of soft iron, they can be more easily sharpened when blunted by use." .'■■■-*