Interesting Kaskara from the Askeri Museum

[Pertinax]

[QUOTE=Jim McDougall;299271]

* on p.162 Burton notes, "few of the Baghirmi can afford 'kaskara' (swords)".

Barth Heinrich «Travels and discoveries in North and Central Africa» (1857) v.3, Chapter LI., pp. 450-451

With regard to the special features of the country, and the topography of the towns and villages, they will be described in a separate chapter; here I will only say that the entire population of the country seems scarcely to exceed a million and a half, and the whole military force, in the present reduced state of the kingdom, can hardly be more than 3000 horse, and 10,000 foot, including the Shuwa population, who surpass the black natives in breeding horses, while the cavalry of Waday may be most correctly estimated at from 5000 to 6000, and that of Dar-Fur at more than 10,000. The weapon most in use among them is the spear (“nyiga”), — the bow (“ka-kese”) and arrow (“kese”) being rare, not only with the inhabitants of Bagirmi Proper, but even with those of the pagan states to the south. Scarcely a single person has a shield; and they therefore use only the Kanuri name for this arm, viz “ngawa.” Very few possess the more valuable coat of mail, or “sullug;” and I scarcely observed a single fire-arm during my stay. But, on the other hand, almost all the pagan inhabitants of these regions are armed with that sort of weapon found in so many other countries which we have touched on our journey, viz. the handbill, or, as the Kanuri call it, the “goliyo” (here called “njiga,” the difference between the name of this weapon and that of the spear consisting in one single letter). Very few of the Bagirmi people are wealthy enough to purchase swords (“kaskara”), which they are not able to manufacture themselves; and few even wear that sort of dagger (“kiya”) on the left arm, which, in imitation of the Tawarek, has been introduced into a great part of Negroland.

[Edster]

Yuri,

Those 19. C travelers'/explorers' reports are unfortunately all we have on the life styles and weapons of the Arabized and Black inhabitants of the Sahel. But we are also very fortunate to have them. Spears and shields were the main weapons with swords a "sidearms" mostly for the elite and their cavalry who also used spears and threw short lances. I think it was the Southern Beja who converted from spears to swords while the Northern Beja retained them. There are also stories of tribal "knights" having sword fights to determine the outcome of tribal engagements.

I was surprised by the large extent of poisoned arrows especially used by the Black tribes in Darfur and more to the West. The stuffed cloth horse armor were the important defense.

So much social and ethnic variation from West of Lake Chad to the Red Sea and technological/cultural change from 1709 to 1899.

Best regards,
Ed

[Edster]

Here are two pics of Ababda nomads with kaskara looking swords from 1848 and 1851. The Ababda were a dominant tribe in NE Sudan between the Nile and the Red Sea.

The top pic is from 1848 by Freeman and bottom one is from 1851. Both pics re from the Wikapedia article on the Ababda people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ababda_people

All the swords look alike and could well be of a variation of the kaskara form. The scabbards look flared and pointed as well. These suggests that the kaskara style was fixed at least by 1848.

Ed

[Pertinax]

J. RICHARDSON
«TRAVELS IN THE GREAT DESERT OF SAHARA, IN THE YEARS OF 1845 AND 1846»