Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
In fact, the 'throwing knives' in some cases were indeed thrown, however in the broader spectrum, with African arms as discussed, often it was a matter of elaborate design which was in a sense, 'for show'. These were in my opinion used in certain events and perhaps even confrontations as a kind of bearing weapon, and not intended for actual combat.
All best regards
Jim
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Hi Jim! Sorry, but you're deeply mistaken.
Read:
Lyon G. F., Narrative of travels in Northern Africa, in the years 1818, 19, and 20, London, 1821, 228:
«Mukni has several times desolated different parts of the country of the Tibboo of Borgoo, and Kawar, and these people now revenge themselves on whatever luckless whites may fall into their power. Their arms in the interior are three light spears and a lance, a dagger and sword, and missile weapons called Shangar, which do much execution».
Dr. Gustav Nachtigal, «Sahärä und Südän», Berlin, 1879, 453:
«The throwing irons, then—called Midschri by the Arabs of neighboring countries Shangermangor, are of various shapes, approximately three spans long (of which about half is the handle), have projections of different shapes and directions, averaging one span long, and are double-edged in the lower part of the body, while the projections usually have a back and a cutting edge. They are made from a single piece of iron, and the end of the handle is wrapped with strips of leather or twine for better handling. The people of Ennedi were praised to me as being particularly skilled in the manufacture of this favorite weapon of those regions.
People are accustomed to the use of weapons from their earliest childhood. Even tender boys are given a medium-length lance, serving simultaneously as a spear and javelin, made of sharply pointed wood, with which they practice and which they never let go. Instead of a throwing iron, at this age they are given a flat-cut piece of wood, curved in its surface and sharpened at one edge, whose shape resembles a saber. While this weapon is hardly capable of causing serious injury, the sharply pointed end of the small acacia wood lance is more likely to do so. In later boyhood, they are entrusted with a real throwing spear, albeit of a smaller scale, and later the throwing iron and the lance are added, until, upon entering adolescence, they come into possession of the full arsenal of weapons. As a result, the men are so accustomed to at least having a spear and throwing stick in their hands that in their home villages, where they are not allowed to go about armed, they revert to the customs of their boyhood: the wooden spear and the flat, crooked stick. The fact that custom forbids them from appearing with metal weapons within their settlements has particularly compelling reasons for Bardai and the other permanent villages. Everywhere, the inhabitants' propensity for quarrels and disputes justifies this custom; but in Bardai and other villages of eastern Tibesti, their quarrelsome nature is compounded by a passion for the Laqbi, which multiplies the opportunities for conflict and increases the inclination towards bloody settlement».
Also, I can't remember the source yet (I'll add it when I find it). Infantrymen carried three throwing irons in a case. When the enemy approached, they would hurl them at the legs of infantry and horses, causing serious damage.
Sincerely,
Yuri