Kaskara opinion

[Iain]

Hi Jim,

My pleasure - thanks to digital copies of many old resources and narratives being available, searching through hundreds of pages for key words is a much easier task than it used to be!

I also hope this exchange is at least proving interesting for the 'lurkers'. Just to keep things going as this thread is a nice little repository for a lot of good info now - I will leave here a nice quote from Raphael's "Through Unknown Nigeria" regarding the sword makers in the Kano market. It is a nice window into the centuries old process of producing iron bladed swords.

"Although not made in the market, there you may
see knives and swords of diverse quality, always
encased in a leather sheath. The knives, which are
of the dagger type, are mostly worn for show. A
common way of carrying is at the elbow, the lower
part of wearer's arm passing through a broad ring
of leather. Swords nowadays are not regarded as
to be drawn for offensive or defensive purposes.
But every gentleman of quality wears one. And in
Hausaland a gentleman of quality may be a man of
poverty with his robe in rags. For ordinary walks
abroad the sword will be held by a length of lamp
wick or several strips of discoloured linen passing
over the shoulder. On State occasions — for pro-
cessions of the Emir — the sling will be wool, plaited
to thick tubular form, the ends finished by large
tassels. Green, yellow, red are the colours of
slings, some combining the three.

These swords are remarkable evidence of the
ability of the metal workers. The blades are occa-
sionally made from high quality steel previously
used in a similar capacity, but most have been iron
which bound packing-cases, and to this iron is
added odd bits of other iron — nails or whatever of
the kind comes to hand — the whole welded by hand
hammering.

It is astonishing to take some of these swords and,
placing the point in the ground, bend them to a
half-circle, so finely tempered has the metal been
brought by the simple process. The handles are
dulled and set with pieces of brass cut from used
cartridge-cases and fitted artistically. The leather
scabbards are also daintily picked out with small
corners of the same metal alternating with polished
tin."

This account is from 1914 I believe. So while scrap iron and brass cartridge cases may have formed the base materials (replacing locally smelted iron ore) the process remained the same. Hand hammered and forged blades with apparently quite good flex resulting. The use of tin and brass is well described - quite possibly referring to the pommel stacks.

All the best,

Iain