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I 


(p^^V/fcv:    (M^^i-t^  . 


A 


PKIMITIVE   WARFARE. 


A  Lecture  delivered  at  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 


{.-u'fliorx  (ilnnc  art-  yes-ponn'I'le  fur  I  he  (onleiita  of  their  rexpcHire  meini, 


{For private  circnlation  onli/) 


LECTURE. 

Friday,  June  28tli,  1807. 
Colonel  PHILIP  J.  YORKE,  F.R.S.,  in  the  Cliai 


PRIMITIVE     WARFARE  :      ILLUSTRATED     BY     SPECIMENS 
FROM    THE    MUSEUM    OF    THE    INSTITUTION. 

By  Colonel  A.  Laxe  Fox,  Grenadier  Guards. 

Although  it  is  more  in  accordance  with  the  purposes  for  which  this 
establishment  has  been  organised,  that  the  Lecture-room  should  be 
devoted  chiefly  to  subjects  of  practical  utility  connected  with  the  im- 
provement of  our  miUtary  system  and  the  progress  of  the  mechanical 
appliances,  the  organization,  and  general  efficiency  of  our  Army  and 
Navy,  than  to  the  efforts  of  abstract  science,  yet  the  fact  of  youi- 
possessing  in  the  three  large  apartments  that  are  devoted  to  your 
armoury,  one  of  the  best  assortments  of  semi-civilized  and  savage 
weapons  that  are  to  be  found  in  this  country,  or,  perhaps,  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  it  is  not  foreign  to  the  objects 
of  the  Institution  that  the  science  of  war  should  be  ethnographically 
and  archfeologically,  as  well  as  practically,  treated. 

The  requirements  of  our  advancing  age  demand  that  every  vein  of 
knowledge  should  be  opened  out,  and,  in  order  to  make  good  our  title 
to  so  interesting  a  collection  of  objects  as  that  comprised  in,  what  may 
very  properly  be  called  our  ethnographical  military  department,  it 
should  be  shown  that,  whether  or  not  the  subject  maj'  be  considered 
to  fall  within  the  ordinary  functions  of  the  Society,  our  Museum  is 
made  available  for  the  purposes  of  science. 

The  age  in  which  we  live  is  not  more  remarkable  for  its  rapid  on- 
ward movement  than  for  its  intelligent  retrospect  of  the  past.  It  is 
reconstructive  as  well  as  progressive.  The  light  which  is  kindled  by 
the  practical  discoveries  of  modern  science,  throws  back  its  rays,  and 
enables  us  to  distinguish  objects  of  interest,  which  have  been  unno- 
ticed in  the  gloom  of  bygone  ages,  or  passed  over  with  contempt. 

Men  observe  only  those  things  which  their  occupations  or  their 
education  enable  them  to  understand  and  appreciate.  When  a  savage 
is  introduced  on  board  the  deck  of  a  European  vessel,  he  notices  only 
those  objects  with  the   uses  of  which  he  is  familiar — the  sewing  of  a 


PRIMIIIVE    WARFARE.  3 

coat,  a  chain  or  a  cable  at  once  rivets  his  attention,  but  he  passes  by 
the  steam-engine  without  observation,  and  if  a  work  of  art  is  forced 
upon  his  notice,  he  is  unable  to  say  whether  it  represents  a  man,  a 
ship,  or  a  kangaroo!*  So  in  past  ages  the  flint  implements  of  the 
drift,  the  parents  of  all  our  modern  implements,  whether  for  war  or 
handicraft,  must  have  been  carted  away  in  hundreds,  imobserved,  and 
in  ignorance  that  these  inconspicuous  objects  would  one  day  be  the 
means  of  upsetting  the  received  chronology  of  our  species. 

Whilst,  therefore,  we  devote  our  energies  chiefly  to  progress,  and 
fix  our  attention  upon  the  present  and  future  of  war,  it  cannot  fail  to 
interest  those  who  are  actively  engaged  in  the  duties  of  their  profes- 
sion, if  we  occasionall}^  take  a  glance  backward  and  see  what  recent 
discoveries  have  done  towards  elucidating  its  origin  and  early  history. 

It  might,  perhaps,  assist  a  right  understanding  of  the  principles  on 
which  the  weapons  and  implements  of  savages  deserve  to  be  studied, 
if  I  were  to  notice  some  of  those  great  questions  respecting  the  origin 
of  our  species,  and  man's  place  in  nature,  which  the  investigations  of 
science  have  been  the  means  of  raising  in  our  day.  I  need  hardly  say 
that  the  rude  implements,  which  I  am  about  to  describe,  are  of  httle 
pi-actical  interest  in  themselves,  as  models  for  instruction  or  imitation. 
We  have  no  need  of  bows  and  arrows  in  the  existing  state  of  war, 
and  if  we  did  require  them,  the  appliances  of  modern  times  would 
enable  us  to  construct  them  in  far  greater  perfection  than  could  be 
acquired  by  any  lessons  from  savages.  These  weapons  are  valuable 
only,  in  the  absence  of  other  evidence,  from  the  light  they  throw  on 
pre-historic  times,  and  on  those  great  questions  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
and  from  their  enabling  us  to  trace  out  the  origin  of  many  of  those 
customs  which  have  been  handed  down  to  us  by  past  generations. 

As,  however,  the  discussion  of  these  interesting  subjects  would  lead 
me  into  matters  that  are  hardly  suited  to  the  Lecture-room  of  this  In- 
stitution, I  must  pass  over  the  consideration  of  them  with  a  few  brief 
remarks. 

In  so  doing,  I  may  appear  to  postulate  some  opinions  upon  points 
that  are  still  the  subject  of  animated  controversy  in  the  scientific  world. 
But  it  would  require  a  far  broader  field  of  investigation  than  is  here 
afforded  me,  in  order  to  treat  these  inquiries  successfully,  and  to 
adduce  all  the  evidence  that  would  be  necessary  to  support  the  hypo- 
theses put  forward  ;  and  I  am  anxious  to  devote  no  greater  space  to 
these  preliminary  remarks  than  is  necessary  to  point  out  some  of  the 
main  features  of  interest  that  are  involved  in  the  particular  study 
which  forms  the  subject  of  my  lecture. 

We  are  apt  to  speak  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  as  a  thing  of 
the  past,  and  to  suppose  that  the  world,  with  all  the  varied  life  upon 
it,  previous  to  man's  appearance,  having  been  created  for  his  especial 
happiness  and  supremacy,  was  afterwards  left  to  his  control  and  govern- 
ment. But  this  view  of  the  subject  belongs  to  an  age  in  which  the 
laws  of  natiare  in  their  all-sufficiency  and  completeness  were  but  little 

*  Beechey's  Voyage  to  the  Pacific,  p.  298.  Oldfield's  Aborigines  of  Australia. 
Transactions  of  the  Ethnological  Society,  vol.  iii,  new  series,  p.  227. 

b  2 


4  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

studied  and  appreciated.  Modern  science  finds  no  evidence  of  any 
such  abandonment  of  the  universe  to  man's  jurisdiction.  The  more 
comprehensive!}"  the  subject  is  viewed,  the  more  restricted  appear  to 
be  those  Umits  over  which  the  free  will  of  mankind  is  permitted  to 
range,  and  the  more  evident  it  becomes,  that  in  his  social  advancement, 
his  laws,  arts,  and  wars,  he  moves  on  under  the  influence  and  develop- 
ment of  those  same  laws  which  have  been  in  force  from  the  very  first 
dawn  of  creation.  The  lower  the  archaeologist  searches  in  the  crust 
of  the  eartli  for  the  relics  of  human  art,  the  more  faint  become  the 
traces  of  that  broad  gulf,  which  in  our  times  appears  to  separate  man 
from  the  brute  creation.  In  all  the  numerous  and  varied  offsprings  of 
the  human  intelhsct,  in  the  arts,  and  even  bi  speech,  the  more  we  in- 
vestigate and  trace  them  back,  the  more  clearly  they  appear  to  point 
to  a  condition  of  the  human  race  in  which  they  had  no  existence  what- 
ever. The  great  law  of  nature,  "  natura  uon  facit  saltum,"  was  not 
broken  by  the  introduction  of  man  upon  the  earth.  He  appears  to 
have  been  produced  in  the  fulness  of  time,  as  the  work  of  creation  re- 
quired a  more  perfect  tool,  and  to  have  ameliorated  his  condition,  only 
as  the  work  to  be  performed  became  more  complicated  and  varied,  just 
as  in  the  hands  of  man,  the  rougher  tool  is  employed  for  felling,  and 
the  finer  tool  for  finishing  and  polishing. 

By  this  view  we  come  to  look  upon  even  the  most  barbarous  state  of 
man's  existence,  as  a  condition,  not  so  much  of  degradation,  as  of 
arrested  or  retarded  progress,  and  to  see  that,  notwithstanding  many 
halts  and  relapses,  and  a  very  varied  rate  of  movement  in  the  different 
races,  the  march  of  the  human  intellect  has  been  always  onward. 

As  in  the  lower  creation,  we  find  no  individuals  that  are  capable  of 
self-improvement,  though  some  appear,  by  their  imitative  faculties, 
to  contain  within  them  the  germs  of  an  improving  element,  so  the 
aboriginal  man,  closely  resembUng  the  brutes,  may  have  passed  through 
many  generations  before  he  began  to  show  even  the  first  symptoms  of 
mental  cultivation,  or  the  rudiments  of  the  simplest  arts ;  and  even 
then  his  progress  may  have  been,  at  first,  so  slow,  that  it  is  not  wnth- 
out  an  effort  of  imagination  that  the  civilized  races  of  our  day  can 
realise,  by  means  of  the  implements  which  he  has  left  us,  the  minute 
gradations  which  appear  to  mark  the  stages  of  his  advancement.  This 
appears  to  be  the  view  taken  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell  in  his  "  Antiquity 
of  Man,"  when,  in  comparing  the  flint  implements  found  in  the  higher 
and  lower  level  gravels  of  tlie  valley  of  the  Somme,  he  arrives  at  the 
conclusion,  "  that  the  state  of  the  arts  in  those  early  times  remained 
stationary  for  an  almost  indefinite  iieriod."  "We  see,"  he  says,  "in 
"  our  time,  that  the  rate  of  progress  m  the  arts  and  sciences  proceeds 
"  in  a  geometrical  ratio  as  knowledge  increases,  and  so,  when  we  carry 
"  back  our  retrospect  into  the  past,  we  must  be  prepared  to  find  the 
"  signs  of  retardation  augmenting  in  a  like  geometrical  ratio.  So  that 
"  the  progress  of  a  thousand  years,  at  a  remote  j^eriod,  may  correspond 
"  to  that  of  a  century  in  modern  times,  and  in  ages  still  more  remote, 
"  man  would  more  and  more  resemble  the  brutes  in  that  attribute 
"  which  causes  one  generation  exactly  to  imitate,  in  all  things,  the 
"  generation  which  preceded  it." 


PRIJIITIVE    AVARFARE.  5 

In  order  to  understand  the  I'elationship  which  the  savage  tribes  of 
our  own  time  bear  to  the  races  of  antiquity,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  in 
view  that,  neither  in  historic  nor  pre-historic  times  is  there  any  evidence 
that  civilization  has  been  equally  or  universally  distributed ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  appears  always  to  have  been  partial,  and  confined  to  par- 
ticular races,  whose  function  it  has  been  by  means  of  war  and  conquest, 
to  spread  the  arts  among-st  surrounding-  nations,  or  to  exterminate 
those  whose  low  state  of  mental  culture  rendered  them  incapable  of 
receiving  it. 

Assuming  the  whole  of  the  human  species  to  have  sprung  originally 
from  one  stock,  an  hypothesis  which,  although  disputed,  appears  to  me 
by  all  existing  evidence  and  analogy  of  known  facts,  to  be  the  most 
reasonable  assumption,  the  several  races  appear  to  have  branched  off 
at  various  and  remote  periods,  many  of  them,  perhaps,  previously  to 
the  present  geographical  arrangement  of  land  and  water,  and  to  have 
located  themselves  in  the  several  regions  in  which  they  are  now  found, 
in  a  state  which  probably  differs  but  little  from  that  in  which  they 
existed  at  the  time  of  their  separation  from  the  parent  stem. 

Each  race,  after  separation,  shows  evidence  of  arrested  growth  ;  and, 
finally,  the  intellect  of  the  nation  fossilizes  and  becomes  stationary  for 
an  indefinite  period,  or  until  destroyed  by  being  brought  again  in 
contact  with  the  leading  races  in  an  advanced  stage  of  civilization, 
precisely  in  the  same  way  that  the  individuals  composing  these  races, 
after  propagating  their  species,  stagnate,  and  ultimately  decay,  or,  in 
a  low  state  of  savagery,  are  often  destroyed  by  their  own  offspring. 

Taking  a  comprehensive  view  of  tlie  development  of  civihzation,  it 
maybe  compared  to  the  growth  of  those  plants  whose  vigour  disjDlays 
itself  chiefly  in  the  propagation  of  their  leading  shoots,  which,  over- 
topping the  older  and  feebler  branches,  cause  them  to  be  everywhere 
replaced  by  a  fresh  growth  of  verdure.  The  vegetable  kingdom  thus 
furnishes  us  with  the  grand  type  of  progress ;  continuity  and  bifur- 
cation are  principles  of  universal  application,  uniting  the  lowest  with 
the  highest  created  thing. 

The  analogy  of  tree  growth  has  been  frequently  employed  in  rela- 
tion to  natural  phenomena,  and  it  may  very  well  be  taken  to  explain 
the  distribution  of  the  human  race,  and  the  progress  and  expansion  of 
tlie  arts.  It  forms  the  key  to  the  Darwinian  theory  of  natural  selec- 
tion, which  is  essentially  monogenistic  in  its  application  to  the  origin 
of  the  human  race. 

Thus  the  existing  races  of  mankind  may  be  taken  to  represent  the 
budding  twigs  and  foliage,  each  in  accordance  with  the  relative  supe- 
riority of  its  civilization,  appertaining  to  branches  higher  and  higher, 
placed  upon  the  great  stem  of  life. 

So  little  is  as  yet  known  of  the  early  history  of  any  but  our  own 
family  of  nations,  that  in  the  existing  state  of  knowledge,  the  attempt 
to  classify  and  place  them  on  their  proper  branches,  must  be  attended 
with  much  difficulty,  and  great  liability  to  error.  However,  by 
arranging  the  existing  races  according  to  their  civilization,  a  tolerably 
correct  judgment  may  perhaps  be  formed  as  to  the  value  of  this  system 
of  classification,  if  we  distribute  them  with  those  of  antiquity  in  some 


6  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

two  or  three  broad  divisions.  The  Caucasian  races  of  modem  Europe, 
for  example,  may  be  said  to  bear  to  their  ancestors  of  the  historical 
period  the  same  relationship  that  geologists  have  shown  the  existing 
mammalia  of  our  forests  bear  to  the  mammalia  of  the  tertiary  geolo- 
gical period.  The  semi-civilized  Chinese  and  Hindoos,  in  hke  manner, 
may  be  classed  with  the  races  of  ancient  Assyria,  Egypt,  and  other 
nations  immediately  prior  to  the  first  dawn  of  history,  the  civilization 
of  which  nations  they  still  so  greatly  resemble,  and  appear  to  have 
retained,  in  a  state  of  retarded  progress  from  those  ages  to  our  own. 
A  third  division  may  perhaps  be  made  of  the  Malay,  Tartar,  and 
African  negro  nations,  which  though  now  in  an  age  of  iron,  maj^  by 
the  state  of  their  arts,  and  more  especially  by  the  form  of  their  imple- 
ments, be  taken  as  the  best  representatives  of  the  pre-historic  bronze 
period  of  Europe,  towards  which  they  appear  to  hold  the  same  relation- 
ship that  the  fish  and  reptiles  of  our  seas  bear  to  those  of  the 
secondary  geological  period.  In  a  fourth  division  may  be  included 
the  still  more  barbarous  races  of  our  times,  the  Australian,  Bushman, 
and  hunting  races  of  America,  whose  analogy  to  those  of  the  stone 
age  of  Europe  may  be  typified  by  that  of  the  mollusca  of  recent  species 
to  the  mollusca  of  the  primary  geological  period. 

In  all  these  existing  races,  we  find  that  the  slowness  of  their  pro- 
gression and  incapacity  for  improvement  is  proportioned  to  the  low 
state  of  their  civilisation,  thereby  leading  to  the  supposition  that  they 
may  have  retained  their  arts  with  but  slight  modification  from  the 
time  of  their  branching  from  the  parent  stem,  and  may  thus  be  taken 
as  the  living  representatives  of  our  common  ancestors  in  the  various 
successive  stages  of  their  advancement. 

Many  examples  of  this  immobility  on  the  part  of  savages  and  semi- 
civilized  races  may  be  given. 

Throughout  the  entire  continent  of  Australia  the  weapons  and  imple- 
ments are  alike,  and  of  the  simplest  form,  and  the  people  are  of  the 
lowest  grade.  The  spear,  the  waddy,  and  the  boomerang,  with  some 
stone  hatchets,  are  their  only  weapons ;  but  amongst  these  it  has  been 
noticed  that,  like  the  implements  of  the  drift,  there  are  minute  dif- 
ferences, scarcely  apparent  to  Em'opeans,  but  which  enable  a  native 
to  determine  at  a  glance  to  what  tribe  a  weapon  belongs.*  This, 
whilst  it  proves  a  tendency  to  vary  their  forms,  shows  at  the  same 
time  either  an  incapacity  or,  what  answers  the  same  purpose,  a  retard- 
ing power  or  prejudice,  which  prevents  their  effecting  more  than  the 
smallest  appreciable  degree  of  change.  In  the  island  of  Tahiti, 
Captain  Cook  was  unable  to  make  the  natives  (a  superior  race  to  tlie 
Australians)  appreciate  the  uses  of  metal,  until  he  had  caused  his 
armourer  to  construct  an  iron  adze  (Plate  I,  fig.  1  a)  of  precisely  the 
same  form  as  their  own  adzes  of  basalt  (Fig.  1  b).1f  After  that,  metal 
tools  came  into  general  use  amongst  them,  though  their  old  forms  are 
in  a  great  measure  preserved  to  this  day.   When  during  the  American 

•  *  A.   Oldfielcl  on  the  Aborigines   of    Australia.     Trans.    Ethno.    Soc,    toI.    iii, 
p.  261,  267. 

t  Sec  the  fi«uics  in  llcyrick's  Ancient  Ai-ms,  kc,  pi.  cslix. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  7 

war,  tho  English  endeavoured  to  utilise  the  Indians  by  arming  them, 
they  were  compelled  to  construct  for  them  tomahawks  after  their 
own  pattern,  having  a  pipe  in  the  handle  (Fig.  2).  When  the 
Furus  Indians  of  South  America  receive  a  knife  from  Europeans 
they  break  off  the  handle,  and  fashion  the  knife  according  to  their 
own  ideas,  placing  the  blade  between  two  pieces  of  wood,  and 
binding  it  round  tight  with  a  sinew\*  The  natives  of  Samoa  now  use 
iron  adzes,  constructed  after  the  exact  pattern  of  their  ancient  stone 
ones.f  The  Fije  Islanders,  though  they  have  now  the  means  of  ob- 
taining good  blades  and  chisels  from  Sheffield,  and  axes  from  America, 
prefer  plane  irons  to  any  other  form  of  implement,  because  they  are 
able  to  fix  them  by  lashing  them  on  to  their  handles  in  the  same 
fashion  as  the  ancient  stone  adzes  of  their  own  manufacture,  which 
they  resomble.J  The  Andaman  Islanders  use  the  European  metal 
that  falls  into  their  hands,  only  to  grind  it  down  into  spear-  and  arrow- 
heads of  the  same  form  as  their  stone  ones.  The  same  applies  to  the 
whole  of  the  Aborigines  of  North  and  South  America,  which  have 
stood  by,  for  nearly  three  centuries,  passive  spectators  of  the  arts  of 
Europeans,  without  attempting  to  copy  them.  Mr.  Crawfurd,  in  his 
history  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  comuieuts  on  the  obstinate  adherence 
of  the  Javanese  to  ancient  customs,  in  accounting  for  the  kris  having 
been  retained  by  them  long  after  the  causes  which  produced  that 
peculiar  weapon  had  ceased  to  operate.  Tylor,  in  his  account  of  the 
Anahuac,  observes  upon  the  preservation  of  old  types  amongst  the 
pi-esent  inhabitants  of  Mexico,  which  have  remained  almost  unchanged 
from  generation  to  generation,  enabhng  the  historian  to  distinguish 
clearly  those  which  are  of  Aztec  from  those  which  are  of  Spanish 
origin.§  Herodotus  describes  the  spears  carried  by  the  Ethiopians 
in  the  army  of  Xerxes  as  being  armed  with  the  sharpened  horn  of  the 
antelope. II  Consul  Fetherick  found  still  in  use  by  the  Djibba  negroes 
more  than  two  thousand  years  after,  these  identical  spears,  armed  with 
the  straightened  and  sharpened  horn  of  the  antelope,  and  their  other 
weapons  also  resembled  in  character  those  described  by  Herodotus, 
although  they  had  passed  from  the  stone  weapons  then  used,  into  an 
age  of  metal, ^  The  Scythian  bow  (Fig.  3)  is  the  bow  still  used  by 
the  whole  of  the  Tartar  races  (Fig.  4).  The  Celt  of  the  Tartar,  and 
the  Celt  and  sword  of  the  Negro  (Fig.  5)  is  still  the  Celt  and  sword  of 
the  European  bronze  period  (Fig.  G),  and  this  resemblance  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  general  outhne  of  the  weapons,  but  extends  to  the  style 
and  patterns  of  ornamentation.  The  same  identity  of  form  exists 
between  the  Manillas  (Fig.  7)  used  as  a  medium  of  exchange  in  the 
Eboe  country  of  West  Africa  and  the  so-called  penanular  rings  or  ring 
money  (Fig.  8)  of  gold  and  bronze  that  are  found  in  Ireland,  and 
which,   with  some  modifications,   belong   also  to    Germany   and   the 

*  Klemm-Werkzeuge  und  Waffen,  p.  159. 

+  Turner,  Nineteen  Years  in  Polynesia,  p.  262. 

t  Fije  and  the  Fijeans,  p.  78. 

§  Analiuao,  by  E.  B.  Tylor,  p.  70. 

II  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  iv,  p.  69. 

•H  Petherick's  Travels,  p.  360. 


8  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

Swiss  Lakes.  The  corrugated  iron  blade  of  the  Kaffir  assegai,  a 
section  of  which  is  shown  in  Fig.  9,  and  which  is  used  also  in  Central 
and  West  Africa,  is  identical  with  those  found  in  the  Saxon  graves 
(Fig  10),  and  is  intended  to  give  a  spiral  motion  to  these  missiles. 
Chevalier  Follard  observes  that  the  Gauls  were  remarkable  for  the 
tenacity  with  which  they  clung  to  their  ancient  customs,  while  the 
Romans,  their  conquerors,  are  mentioned  by  all  historians  as  peculiar 
in  their  time  for  the  facilit}^  with  which  they  adopted  the  customs  of 
others,  and  developed  their  own.  In  modern  Europe,  the  Gypsies 
have  also  been  noticed  as  being  distinguished  from  the  Europeans 
in  all  the  various  localities  in  which  they  are  found,  for  their 
remarkable  adherence  to  especial  arts,  savoiuing  of  an  extinct  civi- 
lization. Amongst  the  Chinese  and  Hindoos,  the  conservatism  which 
has  caused  them  to  remain  for  ages  in  nearly  the  same  condition 
is  too  well  known  to  require  comment.  It  will,  however,  be 
remembered,  in  illustration  of  the  fact,  that  customs  of  minor  im- 
l)ortance  often  survive  great  political  changes,  and  serve  to  keep  up 
the  continuity  that  would  otherwise  be  broken ;  that  after  the  Manchu 
Tartars  had  conquered  and  established  themselves  in  the  Chinesi; 
territory,  they  were  nearly  driven  again  from  the  country,  on  accoimt 
of  their  forcing  upon  the  subject  people,  the  custom  of  wearing 
pigtails,  after  the  fashion  of  their  conquerors,  showing  how  difficult 
it  is  to  ingraft  upon  an  alien  race,  customs  that  are  not  indigenous. 

These,  and  maiij'^  other  notices  of  a  similar  character  that  are  to  be 
found  in  the  pages  of  travel,  establish  it  as  a  maxim,  that  the  existing 
races,  in  then-  respective  stages  of  progression,  may  be  taken  as  the 
bond  fide  representatives  of  the  races  of  antiquity  ;  and,  marvellous  as 
it  may  ajipear  to  us  in  these  days  of  rapid  progress,  their  habits  and 
arts,  even  to  the  form  of  their  rudest  weapons,  have  continued  in 
many  cases,  with  but  slight  modifications,  vmchanged  throughout  coimt- 
less  ages,  and  from  periods  long  prior  to  the  commencement  of  history. 
They  thus  afford  us  living  illustrations  of  the  social  customs,  the  forms  of 
government,  laws,  and  warlike  practices,  which  belonged  to  the  ancient 
races  from  which  they  remotely  sprung,  whose  implements,  resembling, 
with  but  httle  difference,  tlieir  own,  are  now  found  low  down  in  tlie 
soil,  in  situations,  and  under  circumstances  in  which,  alone^they  would 
convey  but  little  evidence  to  the  antiquary,  but  which,  when  the 
investigations  of  the  antiquary  are  interpreted  by  those  of  the  etli- 
nologist,  are  teeming  with  interesting  revelations  respecting  the  past 
history  of  our  race,  and  which,  in  the  hands  of  the  anthropologist,  in 
whose  science  that  of  antiquity  and  ethnology  are  combined  Avith 
physiology  and  geology,  is  no  doubt  destined  to  throw  a  flood  of ' 
light,  if  not  eventually,  in  a  great  measure,  to  clear  up  the  mystery 
which  now  hangs  over  everything  connected  with  the  origin  of  man- 
kind. 

That  such  a  combination  of  the  sciences  should  have  been  brought 
about  so  opportunely  in  our  days,  appears  to  me  to  be  one  of  those 
many  indications  of  an  overruling'  power  directing  in  the  aggreg'ate  the 
minds  of  men,  and  which  must,  at  all  times,  strike  even  the  most  super- 
ficial ob^Jerver  of  nature  ;  for  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  a  few 


PRIMITIVE    WAHFAHE.  [) 

years  all  the  most  barbarous  races  will  have  disaiipeared  from  tlie 
earth,  or  will  have  ceased  to  preserve  their  native  arts. 

The  law  which  consigns  to  destruction  all  savage  races  when 
brought  in  contact  with  a  civilization  much  higher  than  their  own,  is 
now  operating  with  unrelenting  fury  in  every  part  of  the  world.  Of  the 
aborigines  of  Tasmania,  not  a  single  individual  remains;  those  of  New 
Zealand  are  fast  disappearing.  The  Australian  savage  dies  out  before 
the  advancing  European.  North  and  South  America,  and  the  Polynesian 
Islands,  all  tell  the  same  tale.  Wherever  the  generous  influences  of 
Christianity  have  set  foot,  there  they  have  been  accompanied  by  thi 
scourge.  Innumerable,  and  often  unseen  causes,  combine  in  effecting 
the  same  purpose  ;  diseases  which  are  but  little  felt  by  Europeans,  ac^t 
as  plagues  when  introduced  into  uncivilized  comnmnities,  and  caus<> 
them  to  fall  before  its  ravages,  like  wheat  before  the  sickle  ;  and  th(^ 
vices  of  civilization,  taking  a  firmer  hold  of  the  savages  than  its  virtues^, 
aid  and  abet  in  the  same  work.  The  labours  of  the  missionary,  if  they 
have  produced  no  other  benefit,  have  been  useful  in  teaching  us  the 
great  truth,  that  notwithstanding  the  philanthropic  efforts  of  the 
intruding  race,  the  law  of  nature  must  be  vindicated.  The  savage  is 
morally  and  mentally  an  unfit  instrument  for  the  spread  of  civilization, 
except  when,  like  the  higher  mammalia,  he  is  reduced  to  a  state  of 
slavery ;  his  occupation  is  gone,  and  his  place  is  required  for  an 
improved  race.  Allowing  for  the  rapidly  increasing  ratio  in  which 
progress  advances,  it  is  not  too  much  to  assume,  that  in  half  a  century 
from  the  present  time,  savage  life  will  have  ceased  to  have  a  single  true 
representative  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  and  the  evidence  which  it  has 
been  the  means  of  handing  down  to  our  generation  will  have  perished 
with  it. 

When  we  find  that  the  condition  of  the  aboriginal  man  must  have 
been  one  of  such  complete  inanity  as  to  render  him  incapable  of  spon- 
taneously initiating  even  the  most  rudimentary  arts,  it  follows  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  in  the  earliest  stages  of  his  career,  he  must,  like 
children  of  our  own  day,  have  been  subject  to  compulsory  instruction. 
And  in  looking  to  nature  for  the  sources  from  which  such  early  instruc- 
tion must  have  been  derived,  we  need  not,  I  think,  be  long  in  coming  to 
the  conclusion,  that  the  school  of  our  first  parents  must  be  sought  for 
in  his  struggles  for  mastery  with  the  brute  creation,  and  that,  conse- 
quently, his  first  lessons  must  have  been  directed  to  attaining  proficiency 
in  the  art  of  war. 

Hence  it  follows  that  it  is  to  the  lower  animals  that  we  must  look 
for  the  origin  of  all  those  branches  of  primitive  warfare  which  it  is 
the  object  of  this  lecture  to  trace  out.  Nor  indeed  shall  we  fail  to 
find  abundant  evidence  that  there  is  hardly  a  single  branch  of  human 
indnstry  which  may  not  reasonably''  be  attributed  to  the  same 
source. 

The  province  of  war  extends  downward  through  the  animal  king- 
dom, shewing  unmistakeable  evidence  of  its  existence  in  forms  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  differing  but  little  from  those  of  the  human  era, 
throug'h  the  unnumbered  ages  of  the  geological  pei'iods,  long  prior  to 
man's  advent,  proving,  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt,  that  from  the 


10  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

remotest  age  in  which  we  find  evidence  of  organised  beings,  war  has 
been  ordained  to  aa  important  function  in  the  creative  process. 

Judg-ing  by  results,  which  I  apprehend  is  the  only  true  method  of 
investigating  the  phenomena  of  life,  three  primary  instincts  appear  to 
have  been  implanted  in  nearly  all  the  higher  animals  :*  alimeutiveness, 
for  the  sustenance  of  life ;  amativcness,  for  the  propagation  of  species ; 
and  combativeness,  for  the  protection  of  species,  and  the  propagation 
by  natural  selection  of  the  most  energetic  breeds;  on  which  latter 
subject  much  important  information  has  been  given  to  the  world  by 
Mr.  Darwin,  in  his  celebrated  work  on  the  origin  of  species. 

Much  might,  I  believe,  be  said  on  the  connection  which  subsists 
between  these  functions,  all  of  which  are,  in  some  form  or  other, 
necessary  to  a  healtliy  condition.  Suffice,  however,  to  observe,  that 
as  regards  the  dawn  of  an  Utopia,  in  which  some  men  who  think  them- 
selves practical,  appear  to  indulge ;  whether  we  stud}'  the  subject  by 
observing  the  uses  to  which  animals  apply  the  various  and  ingeniously 
constructed  weapons  with  which  Providence  has  armed  them,  or 
whether  we  view  it  in  relation  to  the  prodigious  armaments  of  all  the 
most  oivihsed  nations  of  Europe,  we  find  no  more  evidence  in  nature,  of 
a  state  of  society  in  which  wars  shall  cease,  than  we  do  of  a  state  of 
existence  in  which  we  shall  support  life  without  footl,  or  propagate 
our  species  by  other  means  than  those  which  nature  has  appointed. 

The  universality  of  the  warlike  element  is  shewn  in  the  fact,  that  the 
classification  of  the  weapons  of  men  and  animals  are  identical,  and  may 
be  treated  under  the  same  heads. 

Many  constructive  arts  are  brought  to  greater  perfection  in  animals 
by  the  development  of  faculties,  especially  adapting  them  to  the 
peculiar  implements  with  which  nature  has  furnished  them,  than 
can  be  attained  by  man,  and  especially  by  the  aboriginal  man,  whose 
l)articular  attribute  appears,  by  all  analogy  of  savage  life,  to  have  been 
an  increase  of  that  imitative  faculty  which,  in  the  lower  creation,  is 
found  only  in  a  modified  degi'ee  in  apes. 

The  lower  creation  would  thus  furnish  man  not  only  with  the  first 
elements  of  instruction,  but  with  examples  for  the  improvement  of  the 
work  commenced,  or  to  use  the  words  of  Pope : — 

"  From  the  creatures  thy  instruction  take, 

"  Thy  arts  of  building  from  the  bee  receive ; 

"  Learn  from  the  mole  to  plough,  the  worm  to  weave  ; 

"  Learn  from  the  little  nautilus  to  sail, 

"  Spread  the  thin  oars,  and  catch  the  driving  gale  ; 

"  Here,  too,  all  forms  of  social  reason  find, 

"  And  hence  let  reason  late  instruct  niankind."t 

In  the  art  of  war,  as  we  shall  see,  he  would  not  only  derive  his  first 
instruction  from  the  beasts,  but  he  would  improve  his  means  of  offence 

*  In  adopting  the  nomenclature  of  phrenology,  I  am  not  to  be  understood  as 
advocating  sfa-ictly  the  localization  of  the  faculties  which  plirenology  prescribes. 
The  mind  doubtless  consists  of  a  congeries  of  faculties,  and  phrenology  atibrds 
the  best  classification  of  them  thai  has  yet  been  devised. 

t  Pope's  Esi-;iy  on  Man,  epistle  iii. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  ]1 

and  defence  from  time  to  time  by  lessons  derived  from  the  same 
source. 

It  therefore  appears  desirable  that,  before  entering  upon  that  branch 
of  the  subject  which  relates  to  the  progress  and  development  of  the  art 
of  war,  I  should  point  out  briefly  the  analogies  which  exist  between 
the  weapons,  tactics,  and  stratagems  of  savages  and  those  of  the  lower 
creation,  and  shew  to  what  extent  man  appears  to  have  availed  him- 
self of  the  weapons  of  animals  for  his  own  defence. 

In  so  doing  the  subject  may  be  classified  as  follows  : — 

Classification  of  the  Weapons  of  Animals  and  Savages. 


Defensive. 

Offensive. 

Stratagems. 

Hides. 

Piercing. 

Flight. 

Solid  plates. 

Striking. 

Concealment. 

Jointed  plates. 

Serrated. 

Tactics. 

Scales. 

Poisoned. 

Columns. 

Missiles. 

Leaders. 
Outposts. 
Artificial  defence 
War  cries. 

Firstly,  with  respect  to  the  combative  principle  itself.  The  identity 
of  this  instinct  in  men  and  animals  may  be  seen  in  the  widely-spread 
custom  of  bating  animals  against  each  other,  a  practice  which  is  not 
derived  from  any  one  source,  but  is  indigenous  in  the  countries  in  which 
it  prevails,  and  arises  from  the  inherent  sympathy  which  exists  between 
men  and  animals  in  the  exercise  of  this  particular  function. 

In  the  island  of  Tahiti,  long  before  the  first  European  vessel  was 
seen  off  their  shores,  the  inhabitants  were  accustomed  to  train  and 
fight  cocks,  which  were  fed  with  great  care,  and  kept  upon  finely- 
carved  perches.*  Cock-fighting  also  prevails  amongst  the  Malays, 
Celebes,  and  Balinese.  The  Javanese  fight  their  cocks  like  the  Ma- 
hommedans  of  Hindustan,  without  spurs ;  the  Malays,  Bugis,  and 
Macassars  with  artificial  spurs  shaped  like  a  scythe.f  It  also  pre- 
vails in  Central  Africa,  Central  America,  and  Peru.  The  Sumatraiis 
fight  their  cocks  for  vast  sums ;  a  man  has  been  known  to  stake  his 
wife  and  children,  son,  mother,  or  sister  on  the  issue  of  a  battle, 
and  when  a  dispute  occurs,  the  owners  decide  the  question  by 
an  appeal  to  the  sword.  In  like  manner  Adrastus,  the  son  of  Midas, 
Khig  of  Phrygia,  is  said  to  have  killed  his  brother  in  consequence  of  a 
quarrel  which  took  place  between  them  in  regard  to  a  battle  of 
quails. 

When  Themistocles  led  the  Greeks  out  against  the  Persians,  hap- 
pening to  see  two  cocks  fight,  he  shewed  them  as  an  example  to  his 
soldiers.     Cock-fighting  was  afterwards  exhibited  annually  in  presence 

*  Ellis's  Polynesian  Kesearches,  vol.  i,  p.  222. 
t  Crawfurd's  Imliau  Archipelago,  vol.  i,  p.  116. 


12  PRIMITI^'E    WARFARE. 

of  the  whole  people,  and  the  crowing  of  a  cock  was  ever  after 
regarded  as  a  presage  of  victory.* 

The  Javanese  also  fight  hogs  and  rams  together.  The  buffalo  and 
tiger  are  matched  against  each  other.  In  Butanthe  combat  is  between 
two  bulls.  Combats  of  elephants  took  place  for  the  amusement  of  the 
early  Indian  kings.  The  Chinese  and  Javanese  fight  quails,  crickets, 
and  fish.  The  Romans  fought  cocks,  quails,  and  partridges,  also  the 
rliinoceros.  In  Stamboul  two  rams  are  emploj^ed  for  fighting.  Th(^ 
Puissiaiis  fight  geese,  and  the  betting  nms  very  high  upon  them.-j-  "We 
find  liorses,  elephants,  and  oxen  standing  side  by  side  with  man  in 
hostile  array,  and  dogs  were  used  by  the  Gauls  for  the  same  purpose. 
Amongst  the  ancients,  the  horse,  the  wolf,  and  the  cock  were 
offered  on  the  altar  of  Mars  for  their  warlike  qualities. 

Who  can  doubt  with  these  examples  before  us,  that  an  instinct  so 
widely  disseminated  and  so  identical  in  men  and  animals,  must  have 
been  ordained  for  special  objects  ? 

The  causes  which  give  rise  to  the  exercise  of  the  function,  vary 
with  the  advance  of  civilization.  We  have  now  ceased  to  take  delight 
in  tlie  mere  exhibition  of  brute  combats,  but  the  profession  of  war  is 
still  held  in  as  much  esteem  as  at  any  previous  period  in  the  history 
of  mankind,  and  we  bestow  the  highest  honours  of  the  State  upon  suc- 
cessful comljatants. 

This  however  leads  to  another  subject,  viz.,  the  causes  of  war 
amongst  primitive  races  which  is  deserving  of  separate  treatment. 


Defensive   Weapons. 

We  may  pass  briefly  over  the  defensive  weapons  of  animals  and 
savages,  not  by  any  means  from  the  analogy  being  less  perfect  in 
this  class  of  weapons,  but  rather  because  the  similarit^^  is  too  obvious 
to  make  it  necessary  that  much  stress  should  be  laid  on  their  resem- 
blance. 

Hides. — The  thick  hides  of  pachydermatous  animals,  correspond  to 
the  quilted  armour  of  ancient  and  semi-civilized  races.  Some  animals 
like  the  rhinoceros  and  hippopotamus  are  entirely  armed,  in  this  way, 
others,  have  their  defences  on  the  most  vulnerable  part,  as  the  mane 
of  the  lion,  and  the  shoulder  pad  of  the  boar.J  The  skin  of  the  tiger 
is  of  so  tough  and  yielding  a  nature,  as  to  resist  the  horn  of  the 
buffalo  when  driven  with  full  force  against  its  sides.§  The  condor  of 
Peru  has  such  a  tliick  coating  of  feathers,  that  eight  or  ten  bullets 
may  strike  without  piercing  it.|| 

According  to  Thucydides,  the  Locrians  and  Acarnanians,  being  pro- 
fessed thieves  and  robbers,  were  the  first  to  clothe  themselves  in 
armour.     But  as  a  general  rule  it  may  be  said,  that  the  opinions  of 

*  Beckmau's  History  of  Inventions — Cock-fighting. 

t  Stanley's  History'of  Birds,  p.  .361. 

J  Darwm,  Origin  of  Species,  p.  88. 

§  Williamson's  Field  Sports. 

Jl  Swaiuson's  Ilubits  autl  Instincts  of  Animals. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  13 

rjicient  writers  upon  the  origin  of  the  customs  with  which  they  were 
famihar,  are  of  little  value  in  our  days.  There  is  however  evidence  to 
.show,  that  the  use  of  defensive  armour  is  uot  usual  amongst  savages 
m  the  lowest  stages  of  culture.  It  is  not  emi^loyed,  properly  speak- 
ing, by  the  Australians,  the  Bushmen,  the  Puegians,  in  the  Fije  or 
Sandwich  Islands.  But  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world,  soon  after 
men  began  to  clothe  themselves  in  the  skins  of  beasts,  they  appear  to 
have  used  the  thicker  hides  of  animals  for  purposes  of  defence.  When 
the  Esquimaux  apprehends  hostility,  he  takes  off  his  ordinary  sliirt, 
and  puts  on  a  deer's  skin,  tanned  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  it 
thick  for  defence,  and  over  this  he  again  draws  his  ordinary  shirt, 
which  is  also  of  deer-skin,  but  thinner  in  substance.  The  Esquimaux 
also  use  armour  of  eider  di-ake's  skin.*  The  Abipones  and  Indians  of 
tiie  Grrau  Chako,  arm  themselves  with  a  cuirass,  greaves,  and  helmet, 
composed  of  the  thick  hide  of  the  tapir,  but  they  no  longer  use  it  against 
the  musketry  of  the  Europeans.  The  Yucanas  also  use  shields  of  the 
same  material.  The  war  dress  of  a  Patagonian  chief  from  the  Museum 
of  the  Institution  is  exhibited  (Plate  II,  figs.  11,  12);  it  is  composed 
of  seven  thicknesses  of  hide,  probably  of  the  horse,  upon  the  body,  and 
three  on  the  sleeves.  The  chiefs  of  the  Musgu  negroes  of  Central 
Africa,  use  for  defence  a  strong  doublet  of  the  same  kind,  made  of 
buffalo's  hide  with  the  hair  inside.f  The  Kj^ans  of  Borneo  use  hide 
for  their  war  dress  as  shown  by  a  specimen  belonging  to  the  Institu- 
tion (Fig.  13).  The  skin  of  the  bear  and  panther  is  most  esteemed  for 
this  purpose. I  The  inhabitants  of  Pulo  Nias,  an  island  off  the  western 
coast  of  Sumatra,  use  for  armour  a  baju  made  of  leather.§  In  som^e 
parts  of  Egypt  a  breast  plate  was  made  of  the  back  of  the  crocodile 
(Fig.  14).  In  the  island  of  Cayenne,  in  1519,  the  inhabitants  used 
abreast  plate  of  buffalo's  hide.||  The  Lesghi  of  Tartary  wore  armour 
of  hog's  skin.^  The  Indians  of  Chili,  in  the  17th  century,  wore 
corselets,  back  and  breast-plates,  gauntlets,  and  helmets  of  leather,  so 
hardened,  that  it  is  decribed  by  Ovalle  as  being  equal  to  metal.** 
According  to  Strabo,  the  German  Rhoxolani  wore  collars,  helmets,  and 
shields  of  bull's  hide,  though  the  Germans  generally,  placed  little 
reliance  in  defensive  armour.  The  Ethiopians  used  the  skins  of  cranes 
and  ostriches  for  their  armour.ff 

We  learn  from  Herodotus  that  it  was  from  the  Lybians,  the  Greeks 
derived  the  apparel  and  jegis  of  Minerva,  as  represented  upon  her 
images,  but  instead  of  a  pectoral  of  scale  armour,  that  of  the  Lybians 
was  merely  of  skni.:j:J     According  to  Smith's  dictionary  of  Greek  and 

*  Beecliey's  Voyage  to  the  Pacific,  vol.  i,  p.  248. 

t  Earth,  voh  iii. 

X  Sarawak,  by  Hugli  Low,  Esq.,  Colonial  Secretary  at  Labuan,  1848. 

§  Dobrizhoffer. 

II  Pigafetta's  Voyage  Rouud  the  World.    Pinkertou,  vol.  ix,  p.  349. 

%  Travels  of  William  de  Eubruqviis  into  Tartary  and  China  in  1253  ;  Pinkorton, 
vol.  viii,  p.  89. 

**  An  Historical  relation  of  the  Kingdom  of  Chile,  by  Alonso  de  Ovalle,  of  (lie 
Company  of  Jesus,  1649. 

tt  Herodotus  ;  Meyrick's  Ancient  Armoui*. 

XX  Meyrick's  Ancient  Armour,  vol.  i,  pi.  iv. 


14  PRIMITIVE    -WARFARE. 

Roman  Antiquities,  the  Greek  thorax,  called  a-raSios,  from  its  standing- 
erect  by  its  own  stiffness,  was  orig-inally  of  leather,  before  it  was  con- 
structed of  metal.  In  Meyrick's  Ancient  Armour,  there  is  the  figure  of 
a  suit,  supposed  formerly  to  have  belonged  to  the  Rajah  of  Guzerat 
(Plate  III,  fig.  15).  The  body  part  of  this  suit  is  composed  of  four 
pieces  of  rhinoceros  hide,  showing  that,  in  all  i^vobability,  this  was 
the  material  originally  employed  for  that  particular  class  of  armour, 
which  is  now  produced  of  the  same  form  in  metal,  a  specimen  of 
which,  from  the  Museum  of  the  Institution,  taken  from  the  Sikhs,  is 
now  exhibited  (Fig.  16). 

In  more  advanced  communities,  as  skins  began  to  be  replaced  by 
woven  materials,  quilted  armour  supphed  the  place  of  hides.  In  those 
parts  of  the  Polynesian  Islands,  in  which  armour  is  used,  owing  pro- 
bably to  the  absence  of  suitable  skins,  woven  armour  appears  to  have 
been  employed  in  a  comparatively  low  state  of  society.  Specimens  of 
this  class  of  armour  from  the  Museum  of  the  Institution  are  exhibited ; 
they  are  from  the  King's  MiU,  Pleasant  Island,  and  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  A  helmet  from  the  latter  place  (Fig.  1 7)  much  resembles  the 
Grecian  in  form,  while  the  under  tippet,  from  Pleasant  Island  (Plate  II, 
fig.  18),  may  be  compared  to  the  pectoral  of  the  Egyptians  (Fig.  19, 
a  and  b),  which,  as  well  as  the  head  dress  (Plate  III,  fig.  20),  was  of  a 
thickly  quilted  material.  The  Egyptians  wore  this  pectoral  up  to  the 
time  of  Xerxes,  who  employed  their  sailors,  armed  in  this  way,  during 
his  expedition  into  Greece.  Herodotus  says  that  the  Indians  of  xVsia 
wore  a  thorax  of  rush  matting.  In  1514,  Magellan*  found  tmiics  of 
quilted  cotton,  called  laudes,  in  use  by  the  Muslims  of  Guzerat  and  the 
Deccan.  An  Indian  helmet  of  this  description  from  my  collection  (Fig.  21) 
is  exhibited  ;  in  form  it  resembles  the  Egyptian,  and  an  Ethiopian  one 
(Fig.  22),  composed  of  beads  of  the  same  form,  brought  from  Central 
Africa  by  Consul  Petherick  is  exhibited.  Fig.  23  shows  that  the  same 
form,  in  India,  was  subsequently  produced  in  metal.  A  suit  of  quilted 
armour  formerly  belonging  to  Koer  Singh,  and  lately  presented  to  the 
Institution  by  Sir  Vincent  Eyre  is  also  exhibited  (Plate  II,  fig.  24).  The 
body  armour  and  helmet  found  upon  Tippoo  Saib  at  his  death,  and 
which  is  now  in  the  Museum  of  the  Institution  (Plate  IV,  fig.  25,  a,  b, 
and  c),  was  thickly  quilted.  Upon  the  breast,  this  armour  consists  of 
two  sheets  of  parchment,  and  nine  thicknesses  of  padding  composed  of 
cocoons  of  the  Saturnia  mylitta,  stuffed  with  the  wool  of  the  Erioden- 
dron  aufractuosum,  D.  C,  neatly  sewn  together,  as  represented  in 
Fig.  25  b.-f     The  Aztecs  and  Peruvians  also  guarded  themselves  with 

*  The  Coasts  of  East  Africa  and  Malabar,  by  Diiarte  Barbosa,  translated  from 
the  Spanish,  by  the  Hon.  H.  E.  Stanley,  for  the  Hakluyt  Society.  Since  publica- 
tion, the  translator  has  ascertained  that  the  authorship  of  this  work  should  be 
ascribed  to  Magellan. 

+  The  Saturnia  mylitta  is  the  caterpillar  from  which  the  Tusseh-silk  is  obtained, 
the  cocoon  is  of  an  oval  shape  when  suspended  upon  the  tree,  and  of  exceedingly 
firm  texture,  it  is  figured  in  Sir  Wm.  Jardine's  Naturalist's  Library,  vol.  xxxii.  The 
Eriodendron  anfractuosum,  D.  C,  is  an  Indian  Bombax.  The  woolly  cotton  which 
envelopes  the  seed  is  remarkable  for  its  softness,  and  is  mucli  and  deservedly 
esteemed  for  making  cushions  and  bedding,  owing  to  its  freedom  from  any 
tendency  to  become  lumpy  and  uneven  by  getting  impacted  into  hard  knots.    Various 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  15 

n  wadded  cotton  doublet.*  Quilted  armour  or  thick  linen  corselets 
were  used  by  the  Persians,  Phoenicians,  Chalibes,  Assyrians,  Lusita- 
nians,  and  Scythians,  by  the  Greeks,  and  occasionally  by  the  Romans. 
By  the  Persians  it  was  used  much  later ;  and  in  Africa  to  this  day, 
quilted  armour,  of  precisely  the  same  description,  is  used  both  for  men 
and  horses  by  the  Bornouese  of  Central  Africa,  and  is  described  by 
Denham  and  Clapperton  (Plate  III,  fig.  26).  Plate  II,  fig.  27  is  a  suit 
of  armour  in  the  Institution,  from  the  Navigator's  Islands,  composed  of 
cocoa-nut  fibre  coarsely  netted.  Fig.  28  is  part  of  a  Chinese  jacket  of 
sky-blue  cotton,  quilted  with  enclosed  plates  of  iron,  it  is  preciselj' 
similar  to  the  Brigandine  jacket  used  in  Europe  in  the  16th  century, 
which  was  composed  of  "  small  plates  of  iron  quilted  within  some  stuff, 
and  "  covered  generally  with  sky-blue  cloth."t  This  class  of  armour 
may  be  regarded  as  a  link  connecting  the  quilted,  with  the  scale  armour, 
to  be  described  hereafter. 

As  a  material  for  shields,  the  hides  of  animals  were  employed  even 
more  universally,  and  up  to  a  later  stage  of  civilization.  In  North 
America,  the  majority  of  the  wild  tribes  use  shields  of  the  thickest 
parts  of  the  hides  of  the  buffalo. J  In  the  New  Hebrides,  the  skin  of 
the  alligator  is  used  for  this  ptu-pose,  as  appears  by  a  specimen  belong- 
ing to  the  Institution.  In  Africa,  the  Fans  of  the  Gaboon  employ  tlie 
hide  of  the  elephant  for  their  large  rectangular  shields. §  The  Wadi, 
the  Wagogo,  and  the  Abyssinians  in  East  Africa,  have  shields  of 
buffalo's  hide,  or  some  kind  of  leather,  like  the  Ethiopians  of  the 
time  of  Herodotus.  The  ox-hide  shields  of  the  Greeks  are  mentioned 
in  Homer's  Iliad ;  that  of  Ajax  was  composed  of  seven  hides  with  a 
coating  of  brass  on  the  outside.  The  spear  of  Hector  is  described 
as  piercing  six  of  the  hides  and  the  brass  coating,  remaining  fixed 
in  the  seventh  hide.||  The  Caffres,  Bechuanas,  Bassutos,  and  others 
in  South  Africa,  use  the  hide  of  the  ox.^  The  Kelgeres,  Kelowi,  and 
Tawarek,  of  Central  Africa,  employ  the  hide  of  the  Leucoryx  ante- 
lope.** Shields  of  the  rhinoceros  hide,  from  Nubia,  and  of  the  ox, 
from  Fernando  Po,  are  exhibited.  In  Asia,  the  Biluchi  carry  shields 
of  the  rhinoceros  horn,  and  the  same  material  is  also  used  in  East 
Africa.  If  A  specimen  from  Zanzibar  is  in  the  Institution.  In  the 
greater  part  of  India,  the  shields  arc  made  of  rhinoceros  and  buffalo's 

attempts  hare  been  made  to  fabricate  it  into  cloth,  biit  hitherto  witliont  success, 
except  as  a  very  loose  material,  fit  only  for  quilting  muffs,  for  which  it  is  sujjerior  to 
cotton  or  woollen  stuffs,  the  looseness  of  its  texture  rendering  it  an  excellent  non- 
conductor, whilst  at  the  same  time  it  is  extremely  light. — Illustrations  of  Indian 
Botany,  by  Eobert  Wight,  M.D.,  P.L.S.,  vol.  1,  p.  68.— Flora  Indica.— Eoxburgh , 
vol.  iii,  p.  169.  Both  the  caterpillar  and  the  plant  are  found  in  the  jimgle  in  tlie 
neighboui'hood  of  Seringapatam.  For  the  identification  of  the  vegetable  substance, 
I  am  indebted  to  W.  Carruthers,  Esq.,  F.L.S.,  British  Museum. 

*  Schoolcraft. — Meyi-ick. 

t  See  Critical  Enqiury  into  Ancient  Armour,  by  Sir  Samuel  R.  Meyrick,  vol.  iii, 
p.  21,  and  pi.  Ixviii. 

X  BoUaert,  Indians  of  Texas,  Trans.  Ethno.  Soc,  vol.  1-2. 

§  Du  ChaUlu,  p.  79,  80. 

II  Iliad,  vii.  ^  Cassalis. 

**  Earth,  vol.  i.  +t  Meyrick,  pi.  cxlvii. 


IG  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

hide,  boiled  in  oil,  until  they  sometimes  becrime  transparent,  and  are 
proof  against  the  edge  of  a  sabre.* 

In  a  higher  state  of  civilization,  as  the  facilities  for  constiiictiiig 
shields  of  improved  materials  uicreased,  the  skins  of  animals  were  still 
used  to  cover  the  outside.  Tlius  the  negroes  of  the  Gold  Coast  made  their 
shields  of  osier  covered  Avith  leather.f  That  of  the  Kanembu  of 
Central  Africa  is  of  wood  covered  Avith  leather,  J  and  very  much 
resembles  in  form  that  of  the  Egyptians,  which,  as  we  learn  from 
Meyrick  and  others,  was  also  covered  with  leather,  havhig  the  hair  on 
the  outside  like  the  shields  of  the  Greeks. §  The  Roman  scutum  was 
of  wood  covered  with  linen  and  sheepskin.  According  to  the  author 
of  "  Hor^e  Perales,"  the  Saxon  shield  was  of  wood  covered  with 
leather ;  the  same  applies  to  the  Scotch  target,  and  leather  was  used 
as  a  covering  for  shields,  as  late  as  the  time  of  Henrj'  VIII. 

Head  Crests. — The  origin  of  the  hairy  crests  of  om-  helmets,  is 
clearly  traceable  to  the  custom  of  wearing  for  head-dresses  the  heads 
and  hair  of  animals.  The  Asiatic  Ethiopians  used  as  a  head-covering, 
the  skin  of  a  horse's  head,  stripped  from  the  carcase  together  with 
the  ears  and  mane,  and  so  contrived,  that  the  mane  served  for  a  crest, 
while  the  ears  appeared  erect  upon  the  head.  In  the  coins  represent- 
ing Hercules,  he  appears  wearing  a  lion's  skin  upon  the  head.  These 
skins  were  worn  in  such  a  manner  that  the  teeth  appeared  grinning  at 
the  enemy  over  the  head  of  the  wearer,  as  represented  in  Plate  III,  fig.  29, 
which  is  taken  from  a  bronze  in  the  Blacas  collection,  a  custom  which 
seems  also  to  have  prevailed  in  Mexico. ||  Similar  head-dresses  are 
worn  by  the  soldiers  on  Trajan's  column.  The  horns  worn  on  the  heads 
of  some  of  the  North  American  Indians  (Fig.  30),  and  in  some  parts 
of  Africa,^  are  no  doubt  derived  from  this  practice  of  wearing  on  the 
head,  the  skins  of  animals  with  their  appendages.  The  helmet  of 
Pyrrhus,  Khig  of  Epirus,  was  surmounted  by  two  goat's  horns.  Horns 
were  afterwards  represented  in  brass,  on  the  helmets  of  the  Thracians 
(Fig.  31),  the  Belgic  Gauls,  and  others.  Fig.  32  is  an  ancient  British 
helmet  of  bronze  lately  found  in  the  Thames,  surmounted  by  straight 
horns  of  the  same  material.**  Horned  helmets  are  figured  on  the 
ancient  vases.  Fig.  33  is  a  Greek  helmet  having  horns  of  brass,  and 
traces  of  the  same  custom  may  still  be  observed  in  heraldrj.ff 

The  practice  of  wearing  head-dresses  of  feathers,  to  distinguish  the 
chiefs  from  tlie  rank  and  tile,  is  universal  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and 
in  nearly  every  stage  of  civihzation.  Amongst  the  North  American 
Indians,  the  feathers  are  cut  in  a  particular  manner  to  denote  the  rank 
of  the  wearer,  precisely  in  the  same  manner  that  the  long  feathers  of 

*  Meyriek's  Engraved  lUustratioDfi  of  Ancient  Armour,  by  J.  Skelton,  F.S.A., 
vol.  ii,  pi.  cxli. 

t  Bosnian's  Guinea,  Pinkerton,  vol.  xii,  p.  413. 

X  Earth,  Denham  and  Clapperton. 

§  Meyrick,  vol.  i,  p.  111.  ||  Meyrick,  vol.  i,  p.  20. 

'I  At  Fernando  Po. — Cuming  on  Weapons  and  Armour  of  Horn,  Journnl  of  the 
Archaeological  Association,  vol.  iii. 

**  Fig.  32  is  from  a  rough  sketch  taken  about  two  years  ago,  and  lias  no  preten- 
sion to  accuracy  of  detail. 

tt  Meyrick,  vol.  i,  pi.  iv. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  17 

nnr  o-eneral  officors  distinguish  them  from  those  wearing  shorter  feathers 
ill  suborcUnate  ranks.  This  custom,  Mr,  Schoolcraft  observes,  when 
describing  the  head-dresses  of  the  American  Indians,  may  very  pro- 
bably be  derived  from  the  feathered  creation,  in  which  the  males,  in 
most  of  the  cock,  turkey,  and  pheasant  tribes,  are  crowned  with  bright 
crests  and  ornaments  of  feathers. 

Solid  Plates. — It  has  often  struck  me  as  remarkable  that  the  shells  of 
the  tortoise  and  turtle,  which  are  so  widely  distributed  and  so  easily 
captured,  and  wliich  would  appear  to  furnish  shields  ready  made  to  the 
hand  of  man,  should  seldom,  if  ever,  in  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
learn,  be  used  by  savages  for  that  purpose.  This  may,  however,  be 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  broad  shields  of  that  particular  form, 
though  common  in  more  advanced  civihzations,  are  never  found  in  the 
hands  of  savages,  at  least  hi  those  localities  in  which  the  turtle,  or 
Uxrge  tortoise,  is  available. 

It  will  be  seen  subsequently,  in  tracing  the  history  of  the  shield,  that 
in  the  rudest  condition  of  savage  hfe,  this  weapon  of  defence  has  a 
history  of  its  own ;  that  both  in  Africa  and  Australia,  it  is  derived  by 
successive  stages  from  the  stick  or  club,  and  the  broad  shield  does  not 
ajjpear  to  have  been  developed  until  after  mankind  had  acquired  suffi- 
cient constructive  skill  to  have  been  able  to  form  shields  of  lighter  and 
more  suitable  materials  than  is  afforded  by  the  shell  of  the  turtle.  It  is, 
however,  evident  that  in  later  times,  the  analogy  was  not  lost  sight  of, 
as  the  word  testudo  is  a  name  given  by  the  Romans  to  several  engines 
of  war  having  shields  attached  to  them,  and  especially  to  that  parti- 
cular formation  of  the  legionary  troops,  in  which  they  approached  a 
fortified  building  with  their  shields  joined  together,  and  overlapping, 
like  the  scaly  shell  of  the  imbricated  turtle,  which  is  a  native  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  Asiatic  seas. 

Jointed  Plates. — In  speaking  of  the  jointed  plates,  so  common  to  all 
the  Crustacea,  it  is  sufficient  to  notice  that  this  class  of  <lefence  in  the 
animal  kingdom,  may  be  regarded  as  the  prototype  of  that  peculiar 
form  of  armour  which  was  used  by  the  Rom^ins,  and  to  which  the 
French,  at  the  commencement  of  the  17th  century,  gave  the  name  of 
"  ecrevisses,"  from  its  resemblance  to  the  shell  of  a  lobster.  The 
fluted  armour,  common  in  Persia,  and,  in  the  middle  ages,  of  Em-ope,  is 
also  constructed  in  exact  imitation  of  the  corrugated  shell  defences  of 
a  large  class  of  the  MoUusca. 

Scale  armour. — That  scale  armour  derived  its  origin  from  the  scales 
of  animals,  there  can  be  little  doubt.  It  has  been  stated  on  the  autho- 
rity of  Arriau,  that  the  Greeks  distinguished  scale  armour  by  the  term 
XfTTiScaTo'?,  expressive  of  its  resemblance  to  the  scales  of  fish  whilst  the 
jointed  armom-,  composed  of  long  flexible  bands,  hke  the  armour  of  the 
Roman  soldier,  and  the  ecrevisses  of  the  middle  ages  was  called 
0oXiSo)Tos  from  its  resemblance  to  the  scales  of  serpents.  The  brute 
origin  of  scale  armour  is  well  illustrated  by  the  breast  plate  of  the 
Bugo  Dyaks,  a  specimen  of  which,  from  the  Museum  of  the  Institution, 
is  exhibited  (Plate  IV,  fig.  34).  The  process  of  its  construction  was 
described  in  a  notice  attached  to  a  specimen  of  this  armom*  in  the  Exhibi- 
tion of  1862.     The  scales  of  the  Pangolin  are  collected  by  the  Bugis 

c 


18  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

as  they  are  thrown  off  by  the  animal,  and  are  stitched  on  to  bark  with 
small  threads  of  caiie,  so  as  to  overlap  each  other  iu  the  same  marnier 
that  they  are  arranged  on  the  skin  of  the  animal.  When  the  front 
piece  is  completely  covered  with  scales,  a  hole  is  cut  in  the  bark  for  the 
head  of  the  wearer.  The  specimen  now  exhibited  appears,  however, 
to  be  composed  of  the  entire  skin  of  the  animal.  Captain  Grant,  in 
his  "  Walk  across  Africa,"  mentions  that  the  scales  of  the  armadillo 
are  in  like  manner  collected  by  the  negroes  of  East  Africa,  and  worn 
in  a  belt  "  three  inches  across,"  as  a  charm.* 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  use  of  scale  armour,  in  most 
countries,  originated  in  this  manner  by  sewhig  on  to  the  quilted  armour 
before  described,  fragments  of  any  hard  material  calculated  to  give  it 
additional  strength.  Plate  III,  fig.  35  is  a  piece  of  bark  from  Tahiti, 
studded  with  pieces  of  cocoa-nut  stitched  on.  The  Sarmatians  and  Quadi 
are  described  by  Ammianus  Marcelhnus  as  being  protected  by  a  lorica, 
composed  of  pieces  of  horn,  planed  and  pohshed,  and  fastened  like 
feathers  upon  a  linen  shirt.f  Pausanias  also,  who  is  confu-med  by 
Tacitus,  says  that  the  Sarmatians  had  large  herds  of  horses,  that  they 
collected  the  hoofs,  and  after  preparing  them  for  the  purpose,  sewed 
them  together,  with  the  nerves  and  sinews  of  the  same  animal,  so  as 
to  overlap  each  other  like  the  surface  of  a  fir  cone,  and  he  adds,  that 
the  lorica  thus  formed  was  not  inferior  to  that  of  the  Greeks  either 
in  strength  or  elegance.  The  Emperor  Domitian  had,  after  this  model, 
a  cuirass  of  boar's  hoofs  stitched  together.J  Fig.  36  represents  a 
fragment  of  scale  armour  made  of  horn  found  at  Pompeii.  A  very 
similar  piece  of  armour  (Fig.  37),  from  some  part  of  Asia,  said  to 
be  from  Japan,  but  the  actual  locality  of  which  is  not  known,  is 
figured  in  Meyrick's  Ancient  Armour,  PI.  III.  It  is  made  of  the 
hoofs  of  some  animal,  stitched  and  fastened  so  as  to  hold  together- 
without  the  aid  of  a  linen  corselet.  An  ancient  stone  figure§  (Plate  IV, 
fig.  38),  having  an  inscription  in  a  character  cognate  to  the  Greek,  but 
iu  an  unknown  language,  and  covered  with  armour  of  this  description, 
is  represented  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Journal  of  the  Archfeological 
Association.  The  Kians  inhabiting  the  eastern  coast  of  Borneo,  form 
a  kind  of  armour  composed  of  little  shells  placed  one  overlapping  the 
other,  like  scales,  and  having  a  large  mother-of-pearl  shell  at  the  end. 
This  last  portion  of  the  armour  is  shown  in  the  figure  of  the  Kian  war- 
dress already  referred  to  (Fig.  13).  Plate  III,  fig.  39  is  a  back-  and 
breast-piece  of  armour  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  composed  of  seals' 
teeth,  set  like  scales,  and  united  with  string. 

Similar  scales  would  afterwards  be  constructed  in  bronze  and  iron. 
It  was  thus  employed  by  the  Egyptians  (Plate  IV,  fig.  40),  two  scales 
of  which  are  shown  in  Fig.  41 ;  also  by  the  Persians,  Assyrians, 
Philistines,  Da-ciaus,  and  most  ancient  nations. 

The  armour  of  Goliah  is  believed  to  have  been  of  scales,  from  the 
fact   of  the  word  "kaskassim,"  used  in  the  text  of  1  Samuel,  xvii, 

*  Walk  across  Africa,  p.  47. 

t  Smith's  Dictionary — Mcyrick'a  Ancient  Armour,  pi.  iii. 

X  Pictorial  Bible,  note  to  1  Samuel,  chap.  xrii. 

§  Gumming — Journal  of  the  Archajological  Association,  vol.  iii. 


rRIMTTIVE    WARFARE.  19 

being  the  same  employed  in  Leviticus  and  Ezekiel,  to  express  the 
scales  of  fish.*  Among-st  the  Romans,  scale  armour  was  regarded  as 
characteristic  of  barbarians,  but  they  appear  to  have  adopted  it  in  the 
time  of  the  Emperors.  A  suit  of  Japanese  armour  in  my  collection 
shows  four  distinct  systems  of  defence,  the  back  and  breast  being  of 
solid  plates,  the  sleeves  and  leggings  composed  of  small  pieces  of  iron, 
stitched  on  to  cloth,  and  united  with  chain,  whilst  other  portions  are 
quilted  with  enclosed  pieces  of  iron  (Fig.  42,  a  and  b).  Fig.  43,  a  and 
b,  is  a  suit  of  Chinese  armour,  in  the  Museum,  having  large  iron 
scales  on  the  inside  (Fig.  44).  This  system  was  also  employed  in 
Europe.  Fig.  45  is  the  inner  side  of  a  suit  of  Jazerine  armour  of  the 
loth  or  16th  century,  in  my  collection.  Fig.  46  represents  a  similar 
suit  in  the  Museum  of  the  Institution,  probably  of  the  same  date,  having 
large  scales  of  iron  on  the  outside.  A  last  vestige  of  scale  armour  may 
be  seen  in  the  dress  of  the  Albanians  which,  like  the  Scotch  and  ancient 
Irish  kilt,  and  that  formerly  worn  by  the  Maltese  peasantry,  is  a  relic 
of  costume  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  age.  In  the  Albanian  jacket 
the  scales  are  still  represented  in  gold  embroidery.| 


Offensive  Weapons  of  Men  and  Animals. 

Piercing  Weapons. — The  Gnu  of  South  Africa,  when  pressed,  will 
attack  men,  bending  its  head  downwards,  so  as  to  pierce  with  the 
point  of  its  horn. I  The  same  applies  to  many  of  the  antelope  tribe. 
The  rhinoceros  destroys  the  elephant  with  the  thrust  of  its  horn,  ripping 
up  the  belly  (Plate  V,  fig.  47).  The  horn  rests  on  a  strong  arch  formed 
by  the  nasal  bones ;  those  of  the  African  rhinoceros,  two  in  number, 
are  fixed  to  the  nose  by  a  strong  apparatus  of  muscles  and  tendons,  so 
that  they  are  loose  when  the  animal  is  in  a  quiescent  state,  but  be- 
come firm  and  immovable  when  he  is  enraged,  showing  in  an  especial 
manner  that  this  apparatus  is  destined  for  warlike  purposes. §  It  is 
capable  of  piercing  the  ribs  of  a  horse,  passing  through  saddle,  padding, 
and  all. II  Mr.  Atkinson,  in  his  Siberian  Travels,  speaks  of  the  tusk  of 
the  wild  boar,  which  in  those  parts  is  long,  and  as  sharp  as  a  knife, 
and  he  describes  the  death  of  a  horse  which  was  killed  by  a  single 
stroke  from  this  animal,  delivered  in  the  chest.^  The  buffalo  charges 
at  full  speed  with  its  horn  down.**  The  bittern,  with  its  beak,  aims 
always  at  the  eye.ff     The  walrus  (Fig.  48)  attacks  fiercely  with  its 

*  Pictorial  Bible,  note  to  1  Samuel  xvii. 

t  Skene  on  the  Albanians,  vol.  i-ii — Ethnologieal  Journal. 

X  Cassalis,  Account  of  the  Bassutos,  p.  172 

§  Maiinder's  Treasury  of  Natural  History. 

II  Williamson's  Field  Sports,  vol.  i,  p.  174. 

•[[  Atkinson's  Travels  in  Siberia,  p.  495. 

**  Williamson's  Field  Sports. 

ft  Thompson's  Passions  of  Animals,  p.  225.  The  American  hunter  avails  him- 
self of  this  pecularity  to  entrap  the  crane  by  presenting  the  barrel  of  his  firelock  to 
the  animal ;  supposing  it  to  be  an  eye,  the  crane  immediately  strikes  at  the  hole, 
and  fixes  its  beak  firmly  in  the  muzzle. 

C   2 


20  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

pointed  tusks,  and  will  attempt  to  pierce  the  side  of  a  boat  with  them.* 
The  needle  fish  of  the  Amazons  is  armed  with  a  long  pointed  lance.f 
The  same  applies  to  the  sword-fish  of  the  Mediterranean  and  Atlantic 
(Fig.  49),  which,  notwithstanding  its  food  is  mostly  vegetable,  attacks 
the  whale  with  its  spear  point  on  all  occasions  of  meeting.  There  is 
an  instance  on  record  of  a  man,  whilst  bathing  in  the  Severn  near 
Worcester,  having  been  killed  by  the  sword-fish. 

The  weapon  of  the  sword-fish  is  used  as  a  spear-head  by  the  wild 
tribes  of  Cambodia,  and  some  idea  may  be  formed  of  its  efficiency  for 
this  purpose,  and  of  the  confidence  with  which  it  is  used,  by  the  follow- 
ing account  of  an  attack  on  a  rhinoceros  with  this  weapon,  by  Mons. 
Mouhot.|     He  says  : — 

"  The  manner  in  which  the  rhinoceros  is  hunted  by  the  Laotians  is 
"  curious,  on  account  of  its  simplicity  and  the  skill  they  display.  They 
"  had  bamboos,  with  iron  blades,  something  between  a  bayonet  and  a 
"  poignard.  The  weapon  of  the  chief  was  the  horn  of  a  sword-fish, 
"  long,  sharp,  strong,  supple,  and  not  likely  to  break.  Thus  armed, 
"  we  set  off  into  the  thickest  part  of  the  forest,  with  all  the  windings 
"  of  which  our  leader  was  familiar,  and  could  tell  with  tolerable  cer- 
'•'  tainty  where  we  should  find  our  expected  prey.  After  penetrating 
"  nearly  two  miles  into  the  forest,  we  suddenly  heard  the  crackling  of 
"  branches,  and  rustling  of  the  dry  leaves.  The  chief  went  on  in 
"  advance,  signing  to  us  to  keep  a  little  way  behind,  but  to  have  our 
•'  arms  in  readiness.  Soon  our  leader  uttered  a  shrill  cry,  as  a  token 
"  that  the  animal  was  near.  He  then  commenced  striking  against 
"  each  other  two  bamboo  canes,  and  the  men  set  up  wild  yells  to  pro- 
"  voke  the  animal  to  quit  his  retreat. 

"  A  few  minutes  only  elapsed  before  he  rushed  towards  us,  furious 
"  at  having  been  disturbed.  He  was  a  rhinoceros  of  the  largest  size, 
"  and  opened  a  most  enormous  mouth.  Without  any  sign  of  fear,  but 
"  on  the  contrai-y  of  great  exultation,  as  if  sure  of  his  prey,  the 
"  intrepid  hunter  advanced,  lance  in  hand,  and  then  stood  still  waiting 
"  for  the  creature's  assault.  I  must  say  I  trembled  for  him,  and  loaded 
"  my  gun  with  two  balls ;  but  when  the  rhinoceros  came  within  reach, 
"  and  opened  his  immense  jaws  to  seize  his  enemy,§  the  hunter  thrust 
"  his  lance  into  him  to  a  depth  of  some  feet,  and  calmly  retired  to 
"  where  we  were  posted."  After  the  animal  was  dead,  the  chief 
withdrew  his  sword-fish  blade,  and  presented  it  to  Mons.  Mouhot. 

The  narwhal  has  a  still  more  formidable  weapon  of  the  same  kind 
(Fig.  50).  It  attacks  the  whale,  and  occasionally  the  bottoms  of  shi])s 
a  specimen  of  the  effect  of  which  attack,  from  the  Museum  of  the 
Institution,  is  now  exhibited  (Fig.  51).  The  Esquimaux,  who,  in  the 
accounts  of  which  they  give  of  their  own  customs,  profess  to  derive 
much  experience  from  the  habits  of  the  animals  amongst  which  they 
live,  use  the  narwhal's  tusk  for  the  points  of  their  spears.     Fig.  52 

*  Beechey's  Voyage  to  the  North  Pole,  p.  91,  94. 
t  Bates — Naturalist  on  the  Amazons,  vol.  ii,  141. 

J  Travels  in  the  Central  parts  of  Indo-Ckina,  Siam,  Cambodia,  and  Laos,  in 
1858-9,  by  the  late  M.  Ilenri  Mouhot,  vol.  ii,  p.  147. 

§  It  is  to  be  observed  that  this  is  not  the  rliinoceros's  usual  mode  of  attack. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  21 

represents  a  nuguit  from  Greenland,  of  the  form  mentioned  by  Crantz ; 
it  is  armed  with  the  point  of  the  narwhal's  tusk.  Fig.  53,  from  my 
collection,  has  the  shaft  also  of  narwhal's  tusk ;  it  is  armed  with  a 
metal  blade,  but  it  is  introduced  here  in  order  to  show  the  association 
which  existed  in  the  mind  of  the  constructor  between  his  weapon  and 
the  animal  from  which  the  shaft  is  derived,  and  for  the  capture  of 
which  it  is  chiefly  used.  The  wooden  shaft,  it  will  be  seen,  is  constructed 
in  the  form  of  the  fish,  and  the  ivory  fore  shaft  is  inserted  in  the  snout 
ia  the  exact  position  of  that  of  the  fish  itself.  At  Kotzebue  Sound 
Captain  Beechey*  found  the  natives  armed  with  lances  composed 
of  a  walrus  tooth  fixed  to  the  end  of  a  wooden  staff  (Fig.  54). 
They  also  employ  the  walrus  tooth  for  the  points  of  their  tomahawks 
(Fig.  55).  The  horns  of  the  antelope  are  used  as  lance  points  by  the 
Djibba  negroes  of  Central  Africa,  as  already  mentioned,  and  in  Nubia 
also  by  the  Shillooks  and  Dinka.f  The  antelope's  horn  is  also  used  in 
South  Africa  for  the  same  purpose.|  The  argus  pheasant  of  India,§ 
the  wing- wader  of  Australia,  ||  and  the  plover  of  Central  Africa,!"  have 
spurs  on  their  wings,  with  which  they  fight ;  the  cock  and  turkey  have 
spurs  on  their  feet,  used  expressly  for  offence.  The  white  crane  of 
America  has  been  known  to  drive  its  beak  deep  into  the  bowels  of  a 
hunter.**  The  Indians  of  Virginia,  in  1606,  are  described  as  having 
arrows  armed  with  the  spurs  of  the  Turkey,  and  beaks  of  birdsf |. 
In  the  Christy  collection  there  is  an  arrow  supposed  to  be  from  South 
America,  which  is  armed  with  the  natural  point  of  the  deer's  horn  (Fig. 
56).  The  war  club  of  the  Iroquois,  called  GA-NE-U-GA-0-DUS-IIA, 
or  "  deer-horn  war  club,"  was  armed  with  a  point  of  the  deer's  horn 
(Fig.  57),  about  4  inches  in  length ;  since  communication  with  Euro- 
peans, a  metal  point  has  been  substituted  (Fig.  58).  It  appears  highly 
probable  that  the  martel-de-fer  of  the  15th  and  16th  centuries,  and 
which  is  also  used  in  India  and  Persia,  may  have  been  derived,  as  its 
ft)rm  indicates,  from  a  horn  weapon  of  this  kuid.  Horn  points  suitable 
for  arming  such  weapons  have  been  found  both  in  England  and  Ireland, 
two  specimens  of  which  are  m  my  collection.JJ  The  weapon  of  the 
sting  ray,  from  the  method  of  using  it  by  the  animal  itself,  should 
more  properly  be  classed  with  serrated  weapons,  but  it  is  a  weapon 
in  general  use  amongst  savages  for  spear  or  arrow  points  (Fig.  59), 
for  which  it  has  the  particular  merit  of  breaking  off  in  the  wound.  It 
causes  a  frightful  wound,  and  being  sharply  serrated,  as  well  as 
pointed,  there  is  no  means  of  cutting  it  out.     It  is  used  in  this  way 

*  Beechey's  Voyage,  p.  252. 

t  Journal  of  the  Archseological  Association,  vol.  iii,  p.  25. 

J  Ibid.  vol.  iii,  p.  26, 

§  Swainson's  Habits  and  Instincts  of  Animals,  p.  141. 

II  G-regory's  Expedition  to  tlie  North-west  Coast  of  Australia,  vol.  32 — Royal 
G-eographical  Society's  Journal. 

TI  Denham  and  Clapperton's  Travels,  p.  20. 

**  Narrative  of  the  Canadian  Exploring  Expedition,  by  G.  H.  Hind,  p.  316. 

tt  Captain  John  Smith's  Sixth  Voyage  to  Virginia  in  1606  ;  Pinkcrton,  vol.  xiii, 
p.  36. 

XX  See  Cuming  on  Weapons  of  Horn,  Journal  of  the  British  Archseological  Asso- 
ciation, vol.  iii,  p.  27. 


23  PRIMITIVE    WAliFAllE. 

by  the  iuhabitaiits  of  Gambler  Island,  Samoa,*  Otaheite,t  the  Fijo 
Islands,!  Pi^llew  Islands,§  and  many  of  the  low  islands,  Anion.<;st 
the  savages  of  tropical  South  America,  the  blade  of  the  ray,  [)i-obubly 
the  trygon  histrix,  is  used  for  arrow  points.  || 

In  the  "  Bahstes  capriscus"  (Fig.  60rt)  a  rare  British  fish,  the  anterior 
dorsal,  is  preceded  by  a  strong  erectile  spine,  which  is  used  for  piercing 
other  fishes  from  beneath.  Its  base  is  exiianded  and  perforated,  and  a 
bolt  from  the  supporting  plate  passes  freely  through  it.  When  this  spine 
is  raised,  a  hollow  at  the  back  receives  a  prominence  from  the  next 
bony  ray,  which  fixes  the  spine  in  an  erect  position,  as  the  hammer  of 
a  gun-lock  acts  at  full  cock,  and  the  spine  cannot  be  forced  down  till 
this  prominence  is  withdrawn,  as  by  pulling  the  trigger,  "  This 
''  mechanism  may  be  compared  to  the  fixing  and  unfixing  of  a 
"  bayonet ;  when  the  spine  is  unfixed  and  bent  down,  it  is  received 
"  into  a  groove  on  the  supporting  plate,  and  offers  no  impediment  to 
"  the  progress  of  the  fish  through  the  water."  These  fishes  are  also 
found  in  a  fossil  state,  and  to  use  the  words  of  Professor  Owen,  from 
whose  work  this  description  of  the  Balistes  is  borrowed  :  "  exemplify 
"  in  a  remarkable  manner  the  efficacy,  beauty,  and  variety  of  the  ancient 
"  armoury  of  that  order."^  The  stickleback  is  armed  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  is  exceedingly  pugnacious.  The  Cottus  diceraus,  Pall., 
(Fig.  606)  has  a  multi-barbed  horn  on  its  back,  exactly  resembling  the 
spears  of  the  Esquimaux,  South  American,  and  AustraUan  savages. 
The  Naseus  fronticornis,  Lac,  (Fig,  60c)  has  also  a  spear-fonned 
weapon.  The  Yellow-bellied  acanthm-us  is  armed  with  a  spine  of  con- 
siderable length  upon  its  tail. 

The  Australians  of  King  George's  Sound  use  the  pointed  fin  of  the 
roach  to  arm  their  spears,**  the  inhabitants  of  New  Guinea  also  ann 
their  arrows  with  the  offensive  horn  of  the  saw-fish,  and  with  the 
claw  of  the  cassowar3^  The  sword  of  the  limulus,  or  king-crali,  is 
an  offensive  weapon;  its  habits  do  not  appear  to  be  well  miderstood, 
but  its  weapon  is  used  in  some  of  the  Malay  islands  for  arrow  points 
(Fig.  61).  The  natives  of  San  Salvador,  when  discovered  by  Columbus, 
used  lances  pointed  -with  the  teeth  of  fish.-j")-  The  spine  of  the  Diodon 
is  also  used  for  arrow  points  (Fig.  62).  Amongst  other  piercing 
weapons  suggested  by  the  horns  of  animals,  may  be  noticed,  the  In- 
dian kandjar  composed  of  one  side  of  the  horn  of  the  buffalo,  having  the 
natm-al  form  and  point  (Fig.  63).  In  later  times  a  metal  dagger,  with 
ivory  handle  was  constructed  in  the  same  country  (Fig.  64),  after 
the  exact  model  of  the  one  of  horn,  the  handle  having  one  side  flat, 
in  imitation  of  the  half-split  horn,  though  of  course  that  peculiar 
form  was  no  longer  necessitated  by  the  material  then  used.  The  same 
form  of  weapon  was  afterwards  used  with  a  metal  handle  (Fig,  65). 

•  jS^iueteen  Tears  in  Polynesia,  Tm-ner,  p.  276. 

+  Beechey's  Voyage  to  the  Pacific,  vol.  i,  eh.  vi. 

X  Fije  ami  tlie  Fijeans,  by  T.  Williams,  Missiouary,  vol.  i,  ch.  iii. 

§  Wilson's  Pellew  Islands,  Keate,  pi.  v. 

II  Klemm  Wertzenge  und  Waffen,  p.  48. 

11  CompavatiTe  Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  VertebratcB,  Oven,  vol.  i,  p.  103. 

**  Klemm,  p.  31.  '       ff  'Pre -historic  Man,  toI.  i,  p.  146. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  23 

The  sharp  horns  of  the  sasin,  or  common  antelope,  often  steel  pointed, 
are  still  used  as  offensive  weapons  in  India  (Fig-s.  66,  67,  68).  Several 
examples  of  these  are  in  the  Museum  of  the  Institution.  Three  stages 
of  this  weapon  are  exhibited,  the  first  having  the  natural  point,  the 
second  a  metal  point,  and  the  tliird  a  weapon  of  nearly  the  same  form 
composed  entirely  of  metal.  The  Fakirs  and  Dervish's,  not  being 
permitted  by  their  profession  to  carry  arms,  use  the  pointed  horn  of 
the  antelope  for  this  purpose.  Fig.  69  is  a  specimen  from  my  collec- 
tion ;  from  its  resemblance  to  the  Dervish's  cratch  of  Western  Asia, 
I  presume  it  can  be  none  other  than  the  one  referred  to  in  the  Journal 
of  the  Archa3ological  Association,  from  which  I  obtained  this  information 
respecting  the  Dervish's  weapon.*  Mankind  would  also  early  derive 
instruction  from  the  sharp  thorns  of  trees,  with  which  he  must  come 
in  contact  in  his  rambles  through  the  forests,  the  African  mimosa,  the 
gledischia,  the  American  aloe,  and  the  spines  of  certain  palms,  would 
afford  him  practical  experience  of  their  efficacy  as  piercing  weapons, 
and  accordingly  we  find  them  often  used  by  savages  in  barbing  their 
arrows.f 

Striking  Weapons. — Many  animals  defend  themselves  by  blows  de- 
livered with  their  wings  or  legs  ;  the  gii  affe  kicks  like  a  horse  as  well  as 
strikes  side- ways  with  its  blmit  horns ;  the  camel  strikes  with  its 
fore  legs  and  kicks  with  its  hind  legs  ;  the  elephant  strikes  with  its 
proboscis  and  tramples  with  its  feet ;  eagles,  swans,  and  other  birds 
strike  with  their  wings  ;  the  swan,  is  said  to  do  so,  with  sufficient 
force  to  break  a  man's  leg ;  the  cassowary  strikes  forward  with  its 
feet ;  the  tiger  strikes  a  fatal  blow  with  its  paw ;  the  whale  strikes 
with  its  tail,  and  rams  with  such  force  that  the  American  whaler 
"  Essex,"  is  said  to  have  been  sunk  by  that  animal. ;]:  There  is  no 
known  example  of  mankind  in  so  low  a  state  as  to  be  unacquainted 
with  the  use  of  artificial  weapons.  The  practice  of  boxing  with  the 
fist,  however,  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  British  Isles  as  some 
people  seem  to  suppose,  for  besides  the  Romans,  Lusitanians,§  and 
others  mentioned  in  classical  history,  it  prevailed  certainly  in  the  Poly- 
nesian islauds||  and  in  Central  Africa.^ 

Serrated  Wecqwns. — This  class  of  weapons  in  animals  corresponds  to 
the  cutting  weapons  of  men.  Amongst  the  most  barbarous  races,  how- 
ever, as  amongst  animals,  no  example  of  a  cutting  weapon  is  found,** 

*  Journal  of  the  Archaeological  Association,  vol.  iii,  p.  26 — Ciiming  on  Weapons 
of  Horn. 

+  The  probabiUty  of  the  aboriginal  man  having  derived  his  first  lessons  from  this 
source  may  be  judged  of  by  the  accounts  given  by  travellers  of  the  effects  produced 
by  the  large  thorns  of  trees  in  South  Africa,  of  which  there  is  a  good  account  in 
Routledge's  Natural  History  of  Man,  by  the  Eev.  J.  G.  Wood,  chap,  xxi,  Kaflh-. 
Large  animals  are  said  to  be  frequently  destroyed,  and  even  to  have  impaled  them- 
selves upon  the  large,  strong  spines  of  the  thorny  Acacia.  Throughout  Central 
Africa  a  pair  of  tweezers  for  extracting  thorns  is  an  indispensable  requisite  in  the 
eqiiipment  of  every  native. 

+  Beechey's  Voyage  to  the  Pacific,  vol.  i,  p.  47. 

§  Strabo,  b.  iii,  c.  iii.  ||  Ellis's  Polynesian  Researches,  chap.  viii. 

'H  Clapperton's  Travels,  p.  58. 

**  I  exclude  from  this  category  all  nippers,  cross  bills,  and  pi'chcnsile  implements. 


24  PRIMITIVE    AVARFARE. 

ulthongli  the  Polynesian  ishinders  make  very  good  knives  of  the  split 
and  sharpened  edges  of  bamboo,  and  the  Esqninianx,  also,  nse  tlie  split 
tnsk  of  the  walrus  as  a  knife,  they  cannot  be  regarded,  nor,  indeed, 
are  they  used,  as  edged  weapons.  These,  strictly  speaking,  are  confined 
to  the  metal  age,  and  their  place,  in  the  earliest  stages  of  civihzation, 
are  supplied  by  weapons  with  serrated,  or  saw-like  edges. 

Peihaps  the  nearest  approach  in  the  aninial  kingdom  to  an  edged 
weapon  is  the  fore-arm  of  the  mantis,  a  kind  of  cricket,  used  by  the 
Chinese  and  others  in  the  East  for  their  amusement.  Their  combats 
have  been  compared  to  that  of  two  soldiers  fighting  with  sabres.  They 
cut  and  pariy  with  their  fore-arms,  and,  sometimes,  a  single  stroke  with 
these  is  sufficient  to  decapitate  or  cut  in  two,  the  body  of  an  antago- 
nist. But,  on  closer  inspection,  these  fore-arms  are  found  to  be  set 
with  a  row  of  strong  and  sharp  spines,  similar  to  those  of  all  other 
animals  that  are  provided  with  this  class  of  weapon.  The  snout  of  the 
saw-fish  is  another  example  of  the  serrated  weapon.  Its  mode  of  at- 
tacking the  whale  is  by  jumping  up  high  in  the  air,  and  falhng  on  the 
animal,  not  with  the  point,  but  with  the  sides  of  its  formidable  weapon, 
both  edges  of  which  are  armed  with  a  row  of  sharp  horns,  set  like 
teeth,  by  means  of  which  it  rasps  a  severe  cut  in  the  flesh  of  the 
whale.  The  design  in  this  case  is  precisely  analogous  to  that  of  the 
Australian  savage,  who  throws  his  similarly  constructed  spear  so  as  to 
strike,  not  with  the  bone  point,  but  with  its  more  formidable  edges, 
which  are  thick  set  with  a  row  of  sharp-pointed  pieces  of  obsidian,  or 
rock-crystal.  The  saw-fish  is  amongst  the  most  widely  distributed  of 
fishes,  belonging  to  tlie  arctic,  antarctic,  and  tropical  seas.  It  may, 
therefore,  very  possibly  have  served  as  a  model  in  many  of  the  nume- 
rous locaUties  in  which  this  character  of  weapon  is  found  in  the  hands 
of  savages.  The  snout  itself  is  used  as  a  weapon  by  the  inhabitants  of 
New  Guinea,  the  base  being  cut  and  bound  round  so  as  to  form  a  handle. 
Plate  VI,  fig.  70,  is  a  specimen  from  the  Museum  of  the  Institution.  The 
weapon  of  the  sting  ray,  though  used  by  savages  for  spear-points, 
more  propeily  belongs  to  this  class,  as  the  mode  of  its  employment  by 
the  animal  itself  consists  in  twisting  its  long,  slender  tail  round  the 
object  of  attack,  and  cutting  the  surface  with  its  serrated  edge.*  The 
teeth  of  all  animals,  including  those  of  man  himself,  also  furnish 
examples  of  serrated  weapons. 

When  we  find  models  of  this  class  of  weapon  so  widely  distributed 
in  the  lower  creation,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  first  efforts  of  man- 
kind in  the  constraction  of  trenchant  implements,  sht)uld  so  universally 
consist  of  teeth  or  flint  flakes,  arranged  along  the  edges  of  staves  or 
clubs,  in  exact  imitation  of  the  examples  which  he  finds  ready  to  his 
hand,  in  the  mouths  of  the  animals  which  he  captures,  and  (ni  which 
he  is  dependent  for  his  food.  Several  specimens  of  implements,  edged 
in  this  manner  with  sharks'  teeth,  from  the  Museum  of  the  Institution, 
are  now  exhibited  (Figs.  71,  72,  73,  74).  They  are  found  chiefly  in 
the  Marquesas,  hi  Tahite,  Depeyster's  Island,  Byron's  Isles,  the  King's 
Mill  group,  Ptadact  Islandt,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands^,  also  in  New 

*  Natiu-alist's  Library,  vol.  iii,  p.  335. 

+  V(\y:ise  P!(for(-sr|ne  Autoiu'  du  Moudo,  par  M.  Loiiio  Chori^,  pemtre  ly22. 

I  Cook's  Third  Voyage. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  25 

Zealand  (Fig.  75).  They  are  of  various  shapes,  and  used  for  various 
cutting  piuposes,  as  knives,  swords,  and  glaves.  Two  distinct 
methods  of  fastening  the  teeth  to  the  wood  prevail  iu  the  Polynesian 
Islands ;  fu-stly,  by  inserting  them  iu  a  groove  cut  iu  the  sides  of  the 
stick  or  weapon,  aud,  secondly,  by  arranging  the  teeth  hi  a  row,  along 
the  sides  of  the  stick,  between  two  small  strips  of  wood  on  either  side 
of  the  teeth,  lashed  on  to  the  staff,  in  all  cases,  with  small  strings, 
composed  of  plant  fibre.  The  points  of  the  teeth  are  usually  arranged 
in  two  opposite  directions  on  the  same  staff,  so  that  a  severe  cut  may 
be  given  either  in  thrusting  or  withdrawing  the  weapon.* 

A  similarly  constructed  implement,  also  edged  with  sharks'  teeth, 
was  found  by  Captain  Graah,  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  and  is 
mentioned  iu  Dr.  King's  paper  on  the  industrial  arts  of  the  Esquimaux, 
in  the  Transactions  of  the  Ethnological  Society,  t  The  teeth  in  this 
implement  were  secured  by  small  nails,  or  pegs  of  bone ;  it  was  also 
used  formerly  on  the  West  Coast.  A  precisely  similar  implement 
(Fig.  76),  but  showing  an  advance  in  art  by  being  set  with  a  row  of 
chips  of  meteoric  iron,  was  found  amongst  the  Esquimaux  of  Davis 
Strait,  and  is  now  in  the  department  of  meteorolites  in  the  British 
Museum.  Others,  of  the  same  nature,  from  Greenland,  are  in  the 
Christy  collection  (Fig.  77).  The  pacho,  of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  a\)- 
pears  to  have  been  a  sort  of  club,  armed  on  the  inner  side  with  shark's 
teeth,  set  in  the  same  mauner.|  The  Tapoyers,  of  Brazil,  used  a  kind 
of  club,  which  was  broad  at  the  end,  and  set  with  teeth  and  bones, 
sharpened  at  the  point.  § 

Hernandez  gives  an  account  of  the  construction  of  the  Mexican 
Maquahuilt  or  Aztec  war  club,  which  was  armed  on  both  sides  with  a 
row  of  obsidian  flakes,  stuck  into  holes,  and  fastened  with  a  kind  of 
gum||  (Fig.  78).  Herrera,  the  Spanish  historian,  also  mentions  these  as 
swords  of  wood,  having  a  groove  iu  the  fore  part,  in  which  the  flints 
were  strongly  fixed  with  bitumen  and  thread.^  In  1530,  according  to 
the  Spanish  historians,  Copan  was  defended  by  30,000  men,  armed 
with  these  weapons,  amongst  others  ;**  and  similar  weapons  have  been 
represented  in  the  sculptures  of  Yucatan.ff  They  are  also  represented 
in  Lord  Kingsborough's  important  work  on  Mexican  Antiquities,  from 
which  the  accompanying  representations  are  taken  (Figs.  78,  79,  80). 
One  of  these  swords,  having  six  pieces  of  obsidian  on  each  side  of  the 
blade,  is  to  be  seen  in  a  Museum  in  Mexico. 

In  the  burial  mounds  of  Western  North  America,  Mr.  Lewis  Mor- 
gan, the  historian  of  the  Iroquois,  mentions  that  rows  of  flint  flakes 
have  been  found  lying,  side  by  side,  iu  order,  and  suggesting  the  idea 

*  Klemm,  ;  Wilkes's  United  States  Exploring  ExiDetlitiou, 

vol.  V,  ell.  ii. 

t  Trans.  Ethnol.  Soe.,  vols,  i-ii,  p.  290. 

t  Ellis's  Polynesian  Researclies,  chaps,  xi,  xii. 

§  Menhoff — Travels  in  Brazil ;  Pinkerton,  vol.  xiv,  p.  874. 

II  Tylor — Anahuac,  Appendix. 

i  Prc-liistoric  Man,  vol.  i,  p.  216,  217. 

**  Ineidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America,  by  J.  Lloyd  Stephens,  p.  51. 

tt  Pre-historic  Man,  vol.  i,  p.  226,  227. 


26  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

tliat  they  must  have  been  fastened  into  sticks  in  the  same  manner  as 
those  of  Mexico  and  Yucatan. 

Tliroug'hout  the  entire  continent  of  Austraha  the  natives  arm  their 
spears  with  small  sharp  pieces  of  obsidian,  or  crystal,  and  recently 
of  glass,  arranged  in  rows  along  the  sides  near  the  point,  and  fastened 
with  a  cement  of  their  own  preparation,  thereby  producing  a  weapon 
which,  though  thinner  in  the  shaft,  is  precisely  similar  in  character  to 
those  already  described  (Figs.  81  and  82).  Tiu-ning  again  to  the 
northern  hemisphere,  we  find  in  the  Museum  of  Professor  Nilsson,  at 
Lund,  in  Sweden,  a  smooth,  sharp-pointed  piece  of  bone,  found  in 
that  country,  about  six  mches  long,  gi'ooved  on  each  side  to  the  de[)th 
of  about  a  (juarter  of  an  inch,  into  each  of  which  grooves  a  row  of 
fine,  sharp-edged,  and  slightly-curved  flints  were  inserted,  and  fixed 
with  cement.  The  instiiunent  thus  armed  was  fastened  to  the  end  of 
a  shaft  of  wood,  and  might  either  have  been  thrown  by  the  hand  or 
projected  from  a  bow  (Fig.  83).  Another  pi'ecisely  similar  implement 
(Fig.  84)  is  represented  in  the  illustrated  catalogue  of  the  Museum  at 
Copenhagen,  showing  that  in  both  these  countries  this  system  of 
constructing  trenchant  implements  was  employed.  In  Ireland,  although 
there  is  no  actual  e\'idence  of  flints  having  been  set  in  this  manner, 
yet  from  the  numerous  examples  of  this  class  of  weapon  that  are 
found  elsewhere,  and  the  frequent  occurrence  of  flint  implements  of 
a  form  tliat  would  well  adapt  tliem  to  such  a  purpose,  the  author  of 
the  Catalogue  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  expresses  his  opinion  that 
the  same  aiTangement  may  very  possibly  have  existed  in  that  country, 
and  that  the  wood  in  which  they  were  inserted  may,  like  that  which, 
as  I  have  already  said,  is  supposed  to  have  held  the  fihits  found  in 
the  graves  of  the  Iroquois,  have  perished  by  decay. 

Poisoned  Weapons. — It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  here  into  a  detailed 
account  of  the  use  of  poison  by  man  and  animals.  Its  use  by  man 
as  a  weapon  of  offence  is  chiefly  confined  to  those  tropical  regions 
in  which  poisonous  herbs  and  reptiles  are  most  abundant.  It  is 
used  by  the  Negroes,  Bushmen,  and  Hottentots  of  Africa;  in  tlic 
Indian  Archipelago,  New  Hebrides,  and  New  Caledonia.  It  appears 
formerly  to  have  been  used  in  the  South  Seas.  It  is  employed  in 
Bootan,  Assam,  by  the  Stiens  of  Cambodia,  and  formerly  by  the 
Moors  of  Mogadore.  The  Parthians  and  Scythians  used  it  in  ancient 
times  ;  and  it  appears  always  to  have  been  regarded  by  ancient  writers 
as  the  especial  attribute  of  barbarism.  The  Italian  bravoes  of  modern 
Europe  also  used  it.  In  Ameiicait  is  employed  by  the  Darian  Indians 
in  Guiana.  Brazil,  Peru,  Paraguay,  and  on  the  Orinoco.  The  compo- 
sition of  the  poison  varies  hi  the  different  races,  the  Bushmen  and 
Hottentots  using  the  venomous  secretions  of  serpents  and  caterpillars,* 
whilst  most  other  nations  of  the  world  employ  the  poisonous  herbs  of 
the  different  countries  they  locate,  showing  that  in  all  probability  this 
must  have  been  one  of  those  arts  which,  though  of  very  early  origin, 
arose  spontaneously  and  separately  in  the  various  quarters  of  the 
globe,  after  the  human  family  had  separated.     This  subject,  however, 

*  Thcrubcrg's  Ac-couut  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope — Liviiigstoue. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  27 

is  deserving'  of  a  separate  treatnieiit,  and  will  be  alluded  to  else- 
where. 

In  drawing  a  jjarallel  between  the  weapons  of  men  and  animals 
used  in  the  application  of  poison  for  offensive  purposes,  two  points  of 
similitude  deserve  attention. 

Firstly.  The  poison  gland  of  many  serpents  is  situated  on  the  upper 
jaw,  behind  and  below  the  eyes.  A  long  excretory  duct  extends  from 
this  gland  to  the  outer  surface  of  the  upper  jaw,  and  opens  above  and 
before  the  poison  teeth,  by  which  means  the  poison  flows  along-  the 
sheath  into  the  upper  opening  of  the  tooth  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
secure  its  insertion  into  the  wound.  The  hollow  interior  of  the  bones 
with  which  the  South  American  and  other  Indians  arm  their  poisoned 
arrows  secures  the  same  object  (Fig.  85)  ;  it  contains  the  poisonous 
liquid,  and  provides  a  channel  for  its  insertion  into  the  wound.  In  the 
brave's  daggers  of  Italy,  a  specimen  of  which  from  my  collection  is 
exhibited  (Fig.  86),  a  similar  provision  for  the  insertion  of  the  poison  is 
effected  by  means  of  a  groove  on  either  side  of  the  blade,  communicating 
with  two  rows  of  small  holes,  into  which  the  poison  flows,  and  is  re- 
tained in  that  part  of  the  blade  Avhich  enters  the  womrd.  Nearly  similar 
blades,  with  holes,  have  been  found  in  Ireland,  of  which  a  specimen 
is  in  the  Academy's  Museum,  and  they  have  been  compared  with  others 
of  the  same  kind  from  India,  but  I  am  not  aware  that  there  is  any 
evidence  to  show  that  they  were  used  for  poison.  Some  of  the  Indian 
daggers,  however,  are  constructed  in  close  analogy  with  the  poison 
apparatus  of  the  serpent's  tooth,  having  an  enclosed  tube  running  dovni 
the  middle  of  the  blade,  communicating  with  a  resei-voir  for  poison  in 
the  handle,  and  having  lateral  openings  in  the  blade  for  the  diffusion  of 
the  poison  in  the  wound.  Similar  holes,  but  without  any  enclosed  tube, 
and  having  only  a  groove  on  the  surface  of  the  blade  to  communicate 
with  the  holes,  are  found  in  some  of  the  Scotch  dirks,  and  in  several 
forms  of  couteau  de  chasse,  in  which  they  appear  to  have  been  used 
merely  with  a  view  of  letting  air  into  the  wound,  and  accelerating 
death  (Figs.  87  a  and  b).  The  Scotch  dirk,  here  represented,  has  a 
groove  running  from  the  handle  along  the  back  of  the  blade  to  within 
three  and-a-half  inches  of  the  point.  In  the  bottom  of  this  groove  ten 
holes  are  pierced,  which  communicate  with  other  lateral  holes  at  right 
angles,  opening  on  to  the  sides  of  the  blade.  Daggers  are  still  made  at 
Sheffield  for  the  South  American  mai-ket,  with  a  small  hole  drilled 
through  the  blade,  near  the  point,  to  contain  the  poison,  and  in  my 
collection  there  is  an  iron  arrow-point  (Fig.  88),  evidently  formed 
of  the  point  of  one  of  these  daggers,  having  the  hole  near  the 
point. 

It  often  happens  that  forms  which,  in  the  early  history  of  an  art, 
have  served  some  specific  object,  are  in  later  times  applied  to  other  uses, 
and  are  ultimately  retained  only  in  the  forms  of  ornamentation.  This 
seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  the  pierced  work  upon  the  blades  of 
weapons  which,  intended  originally  for  poison,  was  afterwards  used  as 
air-holes,  and  ultimately  for  ornament  only,  as  appears  by  a  plug 
bayonet  of  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  the  Tower 
Ai'moury,  No.  390  of  the  ofiicial  Catalogue,  for  a  drawing  of  which,  as 


28  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

well  as  that  of  the  Scotch  dirk,  I  am  indebted  to  Captain  A.  Tnpper,  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  this  Institution. 

The  second  point  of  analogy  to  which  I  would  draw  attention  is  that 
of  the  multi-barbed  arrows  of  most  savages  to  the  multi- barbed  stings 
of  insects,  especially  that  of  the  bee  (Fig.  89),  which  is  so  constructed 
that  it  camiot  usually  be  withdrawn,  but  breaks  off  with  its  poisonous 
appendage  into  the  wound.  An  exact  parallel  to  this  is  found  in  the 
poisoned  arrows  of  savages  of  various  races,  which,  as  already  mentioned, 
are  frequently  armed  with  the  point  of  the  sting  ray,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  breakhig  into  the  wound.  In  the  arrows  of  the  Bushmen, 
the  shaft  is  often  partly  cut  through,  so  as  to  break  when  it  comes  in 
contact  with  a  bone,  and  the  barb  is  constructed  to  remain  in  the 
wound  when  the  arrow  is  withdrawn  (Fig.  90).  The  same  applies  to 
the  barbed  arrows  used  with  the  Malay  blowpipe  (Fig.  91),  and  those 
of  the  wild  tribes  of  Assam  (Fig.  92),  which  are  also  poisoned.  The 
arrow  pouits  of  the  Shoshones  of  North  America  (Fig.  93),  said  to  be 
poisoned,  are  tied  on  purposely  with  gut  in  such  a  manner  as  to  remam 
when  the  arrow  is  withdrawn.  The  arrows  of  the  Macoushie  tribe  of 
Guiana  (Fig.  94)  are  made  with  a  small  barbed  and  poisoned  head, 
which  is  inserted  in  a  socket  in  the  shaft,  in  which  it  fits  loosely,  so  as 
to  detach  in  the  wound.  This  weapon  appears  to  form  the  link  between 
the  poisoned  arrow  and  the  fishing  arrow  or  harpoon,  Avhich  is  widely 
distributed,  and  which  I  propose  to  describe  on  a  subsequent  occasion. 
Mr.  Latham,  of  Wilkinson's,  Pall  Mall,  has  been  kind  enough  to  describe 
to  me  a  Venetian  dagger  of  glass,  formerly  in  his  possession ;  it  had  a 
tube  in  the  centre  for  the  poison,  and  the  blade  was  constructed  with 
three  edges.  By  a  sharp  wrench  from  the  assassin,  the  blade  was 
broken  off,  and  remained  in  the  wound. 

It  has  also  been  supposed  that  from  their  peculiar  construction  most 
of  the  triang-ular  and  concave-based  arrow  heads  of  i3int  that  are 
found  in  this  country  and  in  Ireland  were  constructed  for  a  similar 
pm-pose  (Fig.  95). 

The  serrated  edges  of  weapons,  Uke  those  of  the  bee,  and  the  sting-ray 
when  used  as  aiTow  points,  were  likewise  instrumental  ni  retaining 
the  poison  and  introducing  it  into  the  wound,  and  this  form  was  copied 
with  a  similar  object  in  some  of  the  Florentine  daggers  above  mentioned, 
a  portion  of  the  blade  of  one  of  ^vhich,  taken  from  Meyrick's  ancient 
arms  and  armour,  is  shewn  in  Fig.  90.* 

Although  the  use  of  poison  would  in  these  days  be  scouted  by  all 
civilised  nations  as  an  instrument  of  war,  we  find  it  still  applied  to 
useful  purposes  in  the  destruction  of  the  larger  animals.  The  opera- 
tion of  whaling,  which  is  attended  with  so  much  danger  and  difficulty, 
has  of  late  been  greatly  facilitated  by  the  use  of  a  mixture  of  strych- 
nine, and  woorali  the  well-known  poison  of  the  Indians  of  South 
America.  An  ounce  of  this  mixture,  attached  to  a  small  explosive 
shell  fired  from  a  carbine,  has  been  found  to  destroy  a  whale  in 
less  than  eighteen  minutes,  without  risk  to  the  whaler.f 

*  Meyrick — Ancient  Arms  and  Ai-mour,  vol.  ii,  Pi.  cxiii,  figs.  7,  13,  14. 
+  Times  newspaper,  24th  December,  1866. 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  29 

When  we  consider  how  impotent  a  creature  the  aboriginal  and  unin- 
structed  man  must  liave  been  when  contending  with  the  large  and 
powerful  animals  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  we  cannot  too  much 
admire  that  provision  of  nature  which  appears  to  have  directed  his 
attention,  during  the  very  earliest  stages  of  his  existence,  to  the 
acquirement  of  the  subtile  art  of  poisoning.  In  the  forests  of  Guiana 
there  are  tribes,  such  as  the  Otomacs,  apparently  weaponless,  but 
which,  by  simply  poisoning  the  thumb  nail  with  curare  or  woorale, 
at  once  become  formidable  antagonists.*  Poison  is  available  for 
hunting  as  well  as  for  warlike  pm-poses  :  the  South  American  Indians 
eat  the  monkeys  killed  by  this  means,  merely  cutting  out  the  part 
struck,t  and  the  wild  tribes  of  the  Malay  peninsula  do  not  even  trouble 
themselves  to  cut  out  the  part  before  eating.J  The  Bushmen,  and  the 
Stiens  of  Cambodia  use  their  poisoned  weapons  chiefly  against  wild 
beasts  and  elephants. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  most  noxious  of  herbs,  and  the  most  repulsive 
of  reptiles  have  been  the  means  ordained  to  instruct  mankind  in  what, 
during  the  first  ages  of  his  existence,  nmst  have  been  the  most  useful 
of  arts.  We  cannot  now  determine  how  far  this  agent  may  have  been 
influential  in  exterminating  those  huge  animals,  the  elephas  primigenixis 
and  rhinoceros  tichorhinus,  with  the  remains  of  which  the  earliest  races 
of  man  have  been  so  frequently  associated,  and  which,  in  those  primeval 
days,  before  he  began  to  turn  his  hand  to  the  destruction  of  his  own 
species,  must  have  constituted  his  most  formidable  enemies. 

Ilissiks. — Amongst  the  offensive  weapons  of  animals,  the  use  of 
missiles  cannot  be  altogether  excluded,  although  the  examples  of  its 
use  by  the  lower  creation  are  extremely  rare.  Some  species  of  cuttle- 
fish have  the  power  of  ejecting  water  with  a  good  aim.§  The  toxotes, 
or  archer-fish,  obtains  its  name  from  its  faculty  of  projecting  drops  of 
water  at  insects  some  three  or  four  feet  from  the  surface  of  the  water, 
and  which  it  seldom  fails  to  bring  down.  The  llama  has  a  habit  of 
ejecting  its  saliva,  but  I  am  not  aware  of  the  object  of  this  singular 
practice.  I  only  know  from  expeiience  that  its  manners  are  offensive, 
and  that  it  has  the  power  of  spitting  with  a  good  aim  and  for  some 
distance.  The  porcupine  has  the  power  of  throwing  its  quills,  and  is 
said  to  do  so  with  effect,  although  it  is  not  now  believed  to  dart  them 
with  any  hostile  intention.  The  Polar  bear  is  described  in  Captain  Hall's 
recent  publication  as  an  animal  capable  of  capturing  the  walrus  by 
missile  force.  It  is  said  that  the  bear  will  take  advantage  of  an  over- 
hanghig  cliff,  under  which  its  prey  is  seen  asleep  upon  the  ice,  to 
throw  down  with  its  paws,  large  stones,  and  with  such  good  aim  as  to 
hit  the  walrus  on  the  head,  after  which,  rmming  down  to  the  place 
where  tlie  animal  lays  stunned,  it  will  take  the  stone  to  beat  out  its 
brains.  That  animals  are  instinctively  acquainted  with  the  force  of 
gravitation  is  evident  by  their  avoiding  precipices  that  would  endanger 

*  Humboldt's  Aspects  of  Nature,  vol.  i,  pp.  25  and  103. 
t  Klomm. 

X  On  tlie  Wild  Tribes  in  the  Interior  of  tlie  Malay  Peninsula,  by  Pere  Bourieu, 
Trans.  Ethno.  See,  vol.  iii,  p.  78. 

§  Darwin's  Natiu-alist's  Journey,  p.  8. 


30  PRIMITIVE    WAKFARE. 

them,  and  it  certainly  requires  a  slight,  but  at  the  same  time  most 
important  advance  upon  this  knowledg-e  to  avail  themselves  of  lai-ge 
stones  for  such  jiurposes  as  ai'e  here  attributed  to  the  bear ;  but  as  the 
story  only  rests  on  the  authority  of  the  Esquimaux,  it  must,  1  think — 
although  they  certainly  are  careful  observers  of  the  habits  of  animals — 
be  rejected,  until  confirmed  l)y  the  direct  testimony  of  white  men.  It  has 
even  been  doubted  whether  the  alleged  habit  of  monkeys  in  throwing 
cocoa-nuts  at  their  pursuers,  has  not  arisen  from  the  mistake  of  the  hunter 
in  supposing  that  fruit  accidentally  detached  from  their  stalks  by  the 
gambols  of  these  animals  in  the  trees,  may  have  been  intended  as 
missiles,  but  it  appears  now  to  be  clearly  established  that  monkej'S 
have  the  intelligence,  not  only  to  tlirow  stones,  but  even  to  use  them 
in  breaking  the  shells  of  nuts.  Major  Denham,  in  his  account  of  his 
travels  in  Central  Africa,  near  Lake  Tshad,  saj^s  : — "  The  monkeys,  or 
"  as  the  Arabs  say,  men  enchanted,  '  Beny  Adam  meshood,'  were  so 
"  numerous,  that  I  saw  upwards  of  150  assembled  in  one  place  in  the 
"  evening.  Thej^  did  not  at  all  appear  inchned  to  give  up  their  ground, 
"  but  perched  on  the  top  of  a  bank,  some  20  feet  high,  made  a  tenible 
"  noise,  and  rather  gently  than  otherwise,  pelted  us  as  we  approached 
"  within  a  certain  distance."  This,  I  think,  is  clear  evidence  of  a  com- 
bined pelting  on  the  part  of  these  untutored  animals. 

The  monkey  thus  furnishes  us  with  the  only  example  of  the  use  of 
any  external  substance  for  offensive  purposes,  by  any  member  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  All  others,  except,  perhaps,  the  missile  fishes  above 
described,  use,  for  offence  and  defence,  the  weapons  with  which  nature 
has  furnished  them,  and  which  are  integral  parts  of  their  persons. 
It  is  this  which  so  essentially  distinguishes  man  from  the  lower  creation. 
Man  is  the  tool-using  animal.  We  have  no  knowledge  of  man,  in  any 
state  of  existence,  who  is  not  so ;  nor  have  we  (with  the  exception  of 
the  ape,  the  link  indirectly  connecting  him  -unth  the  lower  creation,  in 
the  same  manner  that  the  savage  coimects  the  civilized  with  the  abori- 
ginal man,  both  being'  branches  from  the  same  stem)  an}^  knowledge 
of  animals  that  employ  tools  or  weapons.  Herein  lies  the  point  of 
separation,  which,  m  so  far  as  the  material  universe  is  concerned,  marks 
the  dawn  of  a  new  dispensation.  Hitherto  Providence  operates 
directly  on  the  work  to  be  performed,  by  means  of  the  ■  living,  ani- 
mated tool.  Henceforth,  it  operates  indirectly  on  the  pi'Ogress  and 
development  of  creation,  first,  through  the  agency  of  the  histhictively 
tool-using  savage,  and  by  degrees,  of  the  intelligent  and  reasoning 
man. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLATES. 


Plato  I,  fig.  1  (a). — Adze  of  ii'on,  constructed  by  Captain  Cook's  armourer,  for  the 
use  of  the  natives  of  Tahiti,  after  the  model  of  their  own — (b)  of  stone. 

Plate  I,  fig.  2  (a). — A  pipe-handled  Tomahawk,  of  European  manufacture,  con- 
structed for  the  North  American  Indians.  Museum  of  the  Royal  United 
Service  Institution. — Engraved  Illustrations  of  Ancient  Armour.  jMeyrick, 
Vol.  2,  plate  cxlix. — {Jj)  a  Pipe  and  Tomahawk  of  pi])c  stone  used  by  the 


PRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  31 

Dacotas  of  North  America — Schoolcraft.  History  of  the  Condition  and 
Prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  2,  i^late  Ixix. 

Plate  I,  fig.  3. — A  Mceotian,  or  Scythian  Bow,  from  a  fictile  vase,  represented  in 
Hamilton's  Etruscan  Antiquities,  Vol.  4,  plate  cxvi. — Critical  Enquiry  into 
Ancient  Armour.  Meyrick,  Vol.  1,  plate  ii. — See  also  Eawlinson's  Hero- 
dotus, Vol.  1. 

Plate  I,  fin;.  4. — Bow  of  the  Tartar  Tribes  on  the  borders  of  Persia. — Engraved 
Illustrations  of  Ancient  Armour.  Meyrick,  Vol.  2,  plate  cxliv. — Museum 
of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  I,  fig.  5. — Iron  Sword  of  native  manufacture,  minus  the  wooden  handle,  and 
VVar  Axe,  both  constructed  by  the  Fans  of  the  Gaboon  country,  West 
Africa.  From  Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection.  A  nearly  similar  axe  is  in 
the  Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution.  The  iDattcrns  of 
ornamentation  are  taken,  partly  from  the  Fan  War  Axe,  and  partly  from 
some  knives  of  iron  brought  from  Central  Africa,  by  Mr.  Petherick,  and 
now  in  Colonel  Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  I,  fig.  6. — Leaf- shaped  Bronze  Sword,  minus  the  handle,  from  Ireland.  Col. 
Fox's  Collection. — A  Bronze  Celt,  in  the  Museum  at  Maintz. — Die  Alter- 
thiimer  imserer  heidnischen  Vorzeit.  L.  Lindensclmiit.  The  patterns  of 
ornamentation  are  taken  partly  from  Lindenschmit,  Plate  iii,  and  partly 
from  illustrations  of  Irish  bronze  ornamental  work  in  the  Illustrated  Cata- 
logue of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  by  E.  W.  Wilde,  M.D.,  M.R.I.A. 
Bronze,  pp.  389,  390. 

Plate  I,  fig.  7. — A  Manilla,  or  specimen  of  the  ring  money  of  copper  and  iron,  used 
as  a  medium  of  exchange  in  the  Eboe  coimtry.  West  Africa.  From 
Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection.— In  1836,  a  ship  laden  with  a  quantity  of 
these  Manillas,  made  in  Birmingham,  after  the  pattern  in  use  in  Africa 
(the  specimen  here  figured  forming  part  of  the  cargo),  was  wrecked  on  the 
coast  of  the  county  of  Cork.  By  this  means  their  exact  resemblance  to 
the  gold  and  bronze  Penanular  rings  found  in  Ireland  (Fig.  8),  attracted 
the  notice  of  Mr.  Sainthill,  of  Cork,  by  whom  the  subject  was  communi- 
cated to  the   Ulster  Journal  of  Archaologij ,  No.  19,  July,  1857. 

Plato  I,  fig.  8. — A  Penanular  Ring,  found  in  Ireland.  Wilde's  Catalogue  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy.  Bronze,  p.  570.  Gold,  p.  53. — Similar  forms  are 
found  in  England,  and  ou  the  Continent.  Linderschmit  Tafel  iv  ;  Keller, 
Plate  Iii  «,  fig.  9. 

Plate  I,  fig.  9. — A  Caii're  Assegai-liead  of  Iron,  of  native  manufacture,  with  section 
of  blade.     Museum  of  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  I,  fig.  10. — ^A  Saxon  Spear-head  of  Iron,  having  the  same  sectional  form  as 
Fig.  9.  Found  in  the  Saxon  graves. — Neville's  Saxon  Obsequies. — Aker- 
man's  Pagan  Saxendon. 

Plate  II,  fig.  11. — War  Dress  of  a  Patagonian  Chief,  composed  of  seven  thicknesses 
of  hide  on  the  body  part,  and  three  on  the  sleeves. — Museum  of  the  Royal 
United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  II,  fig.  12. — Section  of  the  above  armour  upon  the  breast,  showing  the  manner 
in  which  the  seven  thicknesses  are  miited  at  top. 

Plate  II,  fig.  13. — Kayan  Cuirass  and  Helmet.  The  helmet  of  cane  wickerwork. 
Tlie  cuirass  of  untanned  hide,  having  the  hair  on  the  outside. — Museiun  of 
the  Royal  United  Service  Institution,  presented  by  Captain  D.  Bethunc, 
R.N. 

Plate  II,  fig.  14. — An  Egyptian  Breast-plate,  made  of  a  crocodile's  back. — En- 
graved Illustrations  of  Ancient  Armour.  Meyrick,  Skclton,  Vol.  2,  plate 
cxlviii. 

Plate  III,  fig.  15. — A  suit  of  Armoiu-,  supposed  formerly  to  have  belonged  to  the 
Rajah  of  Guzerat.  The  four  breast  and  back  pieces  are  of  rhinoceros 
hide,  having  an  inscription  upon  them,  beginning  with  an  invocation 
to  Ali.  The  remaining  portions  are  of  black  velvet,  ornamented  with  brass 
studs,  and  padded. — Engraved  illustrations  of  Ancient  Armour.  Meyrick, 
Skelton.  Vol.  2,  plate  cxli. 


32  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

Plate  III,  fifj.  16. — Four  plates  of  steel,  of  similar  form  to  those  of  rhinoeeros  hide 
in  the  prcceiling  figiu-e.  They  are  fastened  \vith  straps  over  a  coat  of  ehaiu 
armom-,  aud  are  called,  in  the  Persian  language,  "  char  aineh,"  i.  e.  "  the 
four  mirrors."  They  are  ornamcuted  with  patterns  of  inlaid  gold. — 
Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  III,  lig.  17. — A  Helmet  of  Basketwork,  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  rcsemhling 
the  Grecian  in  form. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution, 
presented  by  H.  Shelley,  Esq. 

Plate  II,  fig.  18. — A  Suit  of  Armour  of  cocoa-nut  fibre,  from  Pleasant  Island,  in  the 
Pacific  ocean. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution,  presented 
by  Colonel  Sir  Gr.  Ai-thur.  It  is  probable  that  the  midcr  tippet,  which  is 
now  attached  to  the  back  and  breast  piece  at  the  top,  may  originally  have 
been  intended  to  be  worn  round  the  loins,  like  a  kilt. 

Plate  II,  fig.  19  (rt).— Qiiilted  Pectoral  of  the  Egyptians,— Critical  Enquiry  into 
Ancient  Ai-moiu-.  Meyrick,  Yol  1,  plate  i. — (b)  shows  the  maimer  in  which 
it  was  worn,  and  is  taken  from  a  figure  in  Rawlinson's  Herodotus. 

Plate  III,  fig.  20. — Quilted  Head-dress  of  the  Egyptian  Soldiers. — Critical  Enquiry 
into  Ancient  Armour.     Meyi-iek,  Vol.  1,  plate  i. 

Plate  III,  fig.  21.- — Quilled  Helmet  of  nearly  the  same  form  as  the  above,  from  India. 
Colonel  Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  III,  fig.  22. — A  Head-dress  of  nearly  the  same  form  as  figs.  20  and  21,  belong- 
ing to  the  Nouaer  tribe  of  Negroes,  inhabiting  both  sides  of  the  Nile  from 
8°  to  10°  N.  latitude,  brought  to  England  by  Mr.  Pethei-ick,  and  now  in 
Colonel  Fox's  Collection.  It  resembles  the  Egyptian  very  closely,  and  is 
composed  of  cylindrical  white  beads,  fastened  together  with  a  kind  of  string. 
The  beads  are  of  P^iu-opean  manufacture. 

Plate  III,  fig,  23. — A  Helmet  of  the  same  form  as  fig.  21,  composed  of  united  mail 
and  plate,  formerly  belonging  to  the  Body  Guard  of  the  Moguls. — Colonel 
Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  II,  fig.  24. — A  Suit  of  Quilted  Armour,  taken  in  action  from  Koer  Singh,  the 
famous  Rajpoot  Chief,  of  Jugdespore  in  Behar,  on  the  12th  of  August, 
1857,  by  Major  Vincent  Eyre,  commanding  the  field  force  that  relieved 
Arrah. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution,  presented  by 
Major-General  Sir  Vincent  Eyre,  K.C.S.I.,  C.B. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  25  (a). — Suit  of  Quilted  Armour,  found  upon  the  body  of  Tippoo 
Saib  at  his  death,  in  the  breach  of  Seringapatam.  Upon  the  breast,  this 
armour  consists  of  two  sheets  of  parcluncnt,  and  nine  thicknesses  of  quilt- 
ing, composed  of  cocoons  of  the  "  Saturnia  Mylitta,"  stuffed  with  the  wool 
of  the  "  Eriodencb'on  Anfractuosum,  D.C.,"  a  jungle  plant,  and  neatly 
sown  together,  as  represented  in  fig.  25  (i). — Museum  of  ihe  Royal  United 
Service  Institution. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  25  (J). — A  poi-tion  of  one  of  the  nine  thicknesses  of  quilting  of  the 
above,  reduced  to  ^th  the  natural  size. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  25  (c). — Tippoo  Saib's  Helmet;  belongs  to  the  above  suit. — Museimi 
of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  III,  fig.  26.— Quilted  Armour  of  the  Bomouese  Cavalry. — Travels  of  Dcnham 
and  Clapperton. 

Plate  II,  fig.  27. — A  Suit  of  Armour  from  the  Navigator's  Islands,  composed  of 
cocoa-nut  fibre,  coarsely  netted. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  In- 
stitution ;  presented  by  Sir  W.  Burnett,  M.D. — Similar  armour  is  used  in 
the  King's  Mill  Group". 

Plate  II,  fig.  28. — Part  of  a  Chuiese  Brigandine  Jacket  of  cotton,  quilted  with 
enclosed  plates  of  metal. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institu- 
tion. 

Plate  III,  fig.  29. — Head-dress  of  Hercules  wearing  the  Lion's  Skin,  from  a  Bronze 
in  the  Blacas  Collection,  British  Museum. 

Plate  III,  fig.  30.— Head-dress  of  a  North  American  Indian  Chief.— Schoolcraft. 
History,  condition,  and  prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  Vol.  iii,  p.  GS, 
plate  X. 


TRIMITIVE    WARFARE.  33 

Plnte  III,  fig.  31. — Tliraciau  Ilchiiet  of  Brass,  with  horns  of  the  same. — Critical 
Enquiry  into  Ancient  Armour.     Meyrick,  Vol.  1,  plate  iii. 

Plate  III,  fig.  32. — Ancient  British  Helmet  of  Bronze,  with  straight  horns  of  the 
same,  found  in  the  Thames. — British  Museimi. 

Plate  III,  fig.  33. — Grreek  Helmet,  having  horns  of  brass. — Critical  Enqiiii-y  into 
Ancient  Armour.     Meyrick,  Vol.  1,  plate  iv. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  34. — Back  and  Breast-piece  of  the  Bugo  Dyaks,  armed  with  the  Scales 
of  the  Pangolin. — Museum  of  the  Eoyal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  III,  fig.  35. — A  piece  of  Bark  from  Tahiti,  studded  with  pieces  of  cocoa-nut 
shell. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  ni,  fig.  36. — Fragment  of  Scale  Armour  of  Horn,  found  at  Pompeii. — Picto- 
rial G-aUery  of  Arts,  Vol.  1,  figs.  10,  61. 

Plate  III,  fig.  37. — A  piece  of  Scale  Armour,  made  of  the  hoofs  of  some  Animal, 
from  some  part  of  Asia ;  said  to  be  from  Japan. — Critical  Enquiry  into 
Ancient  Armour. — Meyi-ick,  Vol.  1,  plate  iii. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  38. — An  ancient  Stone  Figure  in  scale  armour,  having  an  inscription 
in  a  character  cognate  to  the  Greek,  but  in  an  unknown  language. — 
Cuming  on  Weapons  of  Horn,  Journal  of  the  Archaeological  Association, 
vol.  iii. 

Plate  III,  fig.  39. — Back  and  Breast-piece  of  Armour  from  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
composed  of  seal's  teeth. — Museum  Royal  United  Service  Institution; 
presented  by  H.  Shelley,  Esq. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  40. — An  Egyijtian  Suit  of  Scale  Armour. — Eawlinson's  Herodotus. — 
See  also  Sir  Gar  diner  Wilkinson. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  41. — Two  Scales  of  Egyptian  Scale  Armoiir,  enlarged. — Eawlinson's 
Herodotus. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  42. — Japanese  Armour,  composed  of  chain,  plate,  and  enclosed  quilted 
plates. — Colonel  Fox's  Collection. —  (a)  Left  arm  ;   (b)  Greaves. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  43  (a). — A  Suit  of  Chinese  Armour  of  cotton,  having  iron  scales 
attached  to  the  inside. — Museum  Eoyal  United  Service  Institution  ;  pre- 
sented by  Captain  Sir  Edward  Belcher,  E.N. 

Plate  rV,  fig.  43  (^i).— Iron  Hebnet  of  the  above  suit. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  44. — A  portion  of  the  iron  scales  attached  to  the  inner  side  of  the 
above  suit. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  45. — The  inner  side  of  a  Breast-piece  of  Jazerine  Armour  of  iron 
scales,  of  the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth  century. — Colonel  Fox's  Collection. 
See  also  Grose's  Treatise  on  Ancient  Armour,  pi.  30. — Critical  Inquiry  into 
Ancient  Armour,  Meyrick,  vol.  vii,  pi.  Ivi. 

Plate  IV,  fig.  46. — A  Brigandiae  composed  of  large  iron  scales  on  the  outside, 
probably  of  the  same  date  as  the  above ;  left  by  the  Venetians  in  the 
armoury  of  Candia  on  the  surrender  of  that  island  to  the  Turks  iu  1715, 
and  presented  to  the  Museum  of  the  Eoyal  United  Service  Institution  by 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Patrick  Campbell,  E.A. 

Plate  V,  fig.  47. — Horn  of  the  Ehinoceros. — Colonel  Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  V,  fig.  48.— Skull  and  Tusks  of  the  Walrus.— Colonel  Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  V,  fig.  49. — Weapon  of  the  Sword  Fish  ;  scale  half  inch  to  one  foot.— Colonel 
Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  V,  fig.  50. — Spear  of  the  Narwhal ;  scale  half  inch  to  one  foot. — Colonel  Fox's 
Collection. 

Plate  V,  fig.  51. — Section,  showing  part  of  the  timber  of  the  ship  "  Fame,"  where  it 
was  pierced  by  the  narwhal  in  the  South  Seas,  through  2i  inch  oak.  The 
piece  of  the  timber  containing  the  portion  of  the  tusk  which  had  broken 
off  in  the  sliip's  bottom  was  presented  to  the  Museum  Eoyal  United 
Service  Institution  by  Lieutenant  A.  T.  Tulloch,  E.A. 

Plate  V,  fig.  52. — An  Esquimaux  Spear,  from  Greenland,  armed  with  the  spear  of 
the  narwhal. — Museum  of  the  Eoyal  United  Service  Institution.  The 
wooden  handle  is  ornamented  with  two  human  figiu'es,  carved  in  relief:  re- 
duced to  ^th  its  natural  size. 

Plate  V,  fig.  53. — Esquimaux  Spear,  constructed  in  the  form  of  a  fish,   having 

d 


34  PRIMITIVE    WARFARE. 

fore-shaft  composed  of  the  narwhal's  tusk,  inserted  so  as  to  represent  the 
tusk  of  tlie  animal ;  scale  half-inch  to  one  foot.  Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Col- 
lection. 

Plate  V,  fig.  54. — Esquimaux  Lance,  pointed  with  a  walrus  tooth. — Museum  Kojal 
United  Service  Institution  ;  reduced  ^th. 

Plate  V,  fig.  55. — Esquimaux  Tomahawk  or  Pickaxe,  headed  with  the  tooth  of  a 
walrus. — Museum  Royal  United  Service  Institution  ;  rediiced  ^th. 

Plate  V,  fig.  56. — Aitow  Head,  probably  from  South  America,  headed  with  the 
point  of  a  deer's  horn. — Christy  Collection. 

Plate  V,  fig.  57.— War  Club  of  the  Iroquois,  caUed  "  GA-KE-U-GA-0-DUS-HA," 
or  "  Deer-horn  War  Club." — League  of  the  Iroquois,  by  Louis  Morgan. 

Plate  V,  fig.  58. — North  American  Indian  Club,  with  a  point  of  iron. — Musemn 
Royal  United  Service  Institution ;  presented  by  T.  Hoblyn,  Esq. ;  re- 
duced ^th. 

Plate  V,  fig.  59 — Arrow,  armed  with  the  weapon  of  the  ray,  probably  the  "  Trygon 
Histrix,"  from  South  America. — Museum  Royal  United  Sei^ce  Institution ; 
reduced  i. 

Plate  V,  fig.  60(a). — Spine  of  the  "Balistes  Capriscus"  erect. — Yarrell's  Britisli 
Fishes. 

Plate  V,  fig.  60  (J).— Horn  of  the  "  Cottus  Diceraus."  PaU.— From  Cuvier's 
Pktes. 

Plate  Y,  fig.  60Cc-). — Horn  of  the  "Naseus  Fronticomis."  Lac. — From  Cuvier's 
Plates.  ■ 

Plate  V,  fig.  61. — Spear  of  the  "  Limulus,"  or  "  King  Crab." 

Plate  V,  fig.  62. — Aj^-ow,  armed  with  the  spine  of  the  "  Diodon." — Colonel  Lano 
Fox's  CoUectiou;  reduced  4. 

Plate  V,  fig.  63. — Kanjar,  or  Indian  Dagger,  composed  of  the  horn  of  the  buifalo, 
having  the  natural  form  and  point. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection ;  re- 
duced -Toth. 

Plate  V,  fig.  64. — Ditto,  with  metal  blade,  of  the  same  form,  having  an  ivorj- 
handle. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection  ;  reduced  -^oth. 

Plate  V,  fig.  65. — Ditto,  of  the  same  form,  having  both  blade  and  handle  of  iron. 
The  handle  is  ornamented  with  the  figure  of  a  bird,  and  some  small  quad- 
ruped.— Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection ;  reduced  xoth. 

Plate  V,  fig.  66. — Dagger  formed  of  the  horn  of  the  sassin,  or  common  antelope. — 
Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection  ;  reduced  ^oth. 

Plate  V,  fig.  67. — Ditto,  the  points  armed  with  metal. — Museum  Royal  United 
Service  Institution  ;  reduced  Yt^h. 

Plate  V,  fig.  68. — Ditto,  of  nearly  the  same  form  and  use,  composed  entirely  of 
metal,  and  having  a  shield  for  the  hand. — Musemn  Royal  United  Service 
Institution ;  reduced  ^th.  Similar  shields  are  sometimes  attached  to 
those  figured  in  figs.  66,  67. 

Plate  V,  fig.  69. — Weapon  composed  of  the  horn  of  the  antelope  ;  steel  pointed  ; 
supposed  to  be  tliat  used  by  the  Fakirs  in  India. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's 
Collection. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  70. — Sword  formed  of  the  serrated  blade  of  the  saw-fish  from  New 
Guinea. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  VI,  figs.  71,  72,  73,  74.— Weapons  from  the  Pacific  Ocean,  edged  with  tlu; 
teeth  of  the  shark.  The  teeth  near  the  points  are  jolaced  points  forward  ; 
the  remainder  with  tlie  points  towards  the  handle.  Two  methods  of 
fastening  tlie  teeth  are  shown  ;  in  grooves,  and  lashed  between  two  strijis 
of  wood. — Museum  of  the  Royal  United  Sei-vice  Institution. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  75.  — Implement  from  New  Zealand,  armed  with  sharks'  teeth. — 
Britisli  Museum. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  76. — Esquimaux  Knife,  armed  with  pieces  of  meteoric  iron,  from  Davis 

Strait. — British  Museum. 
Plate  VI,  fig.  77. — Knife,  anned  with  pieces  of  iron  along  the  edge,  from  Greenland. 

— Christy  Collection. 
Plate  VI,  figs.  78,  79,  80. — Tlie  Mexican  Maquahnilt. — From  Lord  Kingsborougli's 
work  on  Mexican  Antiquities. 


PRIMITIVE    AVARFARE.  35 

Plate  VI,  figs.  81,  82. — Spear  and  Knife,  from  Australia,  armed  with  pieces  of  obsi- 
dian, or  rock  crystal. — Museimi  of  the  Eoyal  United  Service  Institution. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  83. — Bone  Arrow-point,  armed  -with  a  row  of  sharp  flint  flakes  on  each 
side. — Miisemn  of  Professor  Nilsson,  at  Lund,  in  Sweden.  Reduced  to  one- 
half,  fi'om  the  figure  in  Wilde's  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  Animal  Materials,  p.  254. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  84<. — A  similar  implement  to  the  above,  in  the  Copenhagen  Museum. — 
From  the  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  the  Copenhagen  Museum. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  85. — Hollow  Bone  Arrow-point,  from  South  America,  the  hollow  of 
the  bone  being  filled  with  poison. — Museum  of  the  Eoyal  United  Service 
Institution. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's  collection. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  86. — An  Italian  Bravo's  Dagger,  with  grooves  and  holes  to  contain  the 
poison.  The  handle  represents  a  monk  in  the  act  of  suppUcation. — Colonel 
Lane  Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  87  {a). — A  Scotch  Dirk,  pierced  with  holes  along  the  back  and  sides. 
A  groove  runs  along  the  back  of  the  blade  eight  inches  in  length,  in  which 
holes  are  jiierced  that  commimicate  with  lateral  holes  on  the  side  of  the 
blade. — Captain  A.  Tupper's  Collection. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  87  (h). — A  Coiiteau-de-Chasse,  having  two  grooves  on  each  side  near 
the  back  of  the  blade,  which  is  pierced  through  with  holes. — Colonel  Lane 
Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  88. — Arrow  Head,  of  iron,  with  a  hole  near  the  point  for  poison,  from 
South  America. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  89. — The  Serrated  or  Multi-barbed  Sting  of  the  Bee. — Hiiber  on 
Bees. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  90. — Point  of  the  Bushman's  Arrow,  barbed  with  an  iron  head.  The 
head  is  constructed  to  come  off  in  the  wound. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collec- 
tion ;  reduced  i. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  91. — Iron-headed  Arrow  of  the  Malay  Blow-pipe ;  similarly  con- 
structed.— Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection  ;  reduced  i. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  92. — Similarly  constructed  Arrow  of  the  wild  tribes  of  Assam,  headed 
with  copper ;  reduced  j. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's  Collection. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  93. — Fhnt  Arrow  Head  of  the  Shoshones  of  North  America ;  con- 
structed to  come  ofi'  in  the  wound. — Schoolcraft,  vol.  i,  p.  212-13. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  94. — Arrow  Point  of  the  Macousliie  Indians  of  South  America ;  con- 
structed so  as  to  detach  in  the  wound ;  reduced  i. — Colonel  Lane  Fox's 
Collection  ;  presented  by  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  M.A.,  F.L.S. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  95. — Fhnt  Arrow  Heads,  from  the  north  of  Ireland. — Colonel  Lane 
Fox's  Collection  ;  reduced  j. 

Plate  VI,  fig.  96. — Part  of  the  serrated  and  pierced  Blade  of  an  Italian  Dagger  ; 
full  size. — Engraved  illustration  of  Ancient  Ai'mour,  Meyrick,  Skclton, 
vol.  ii,  pi.  cxiii. 


HARRISON  AND   SONS,   PRINTERS   IN   ORDINARY   TO   HER   MAJESTY,    ST.   MARTIN'S   LANE. 


PL  II. 


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PI.  VI, 


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