Somalian Billao

[Aurangzeb]

Greetings To Everyone !

Here I have posted what has been described as a 19th century Somalian 'Billao'. The measurement of the blade is 7.5 inches long by 2 inches wide at it's widest point. Brass spacers are sandwiched in between the two sections of horn handle. It's handle is made of horn and of course shows several 'nicks and dings' from useage. It sports a sturdy blade with steel butt-cap. The front of the sheath is hardened white leather, while the back is a softer brown leather. There is a 'belt loop' cut into the back of the sheath. Not very visable in the accompanying pictures is an 'X' shape design pressed into the soft leather. As received, the sheath required some minor repair work which was successful. Shown in one of the digital photographs is an 'Italian Mandate' Somalia 1950 1 Centesimo coin.
Your comments, as always, are most welcome.

Enjoy !
Mark..

[Ian]

Thanks Mark. Great pictures.

You mention that it is thought to be 19th C., and it seems to have some age and wear. Is there a provenance that came with this one to sugegst it may be that old. The sheath would seem to be a replacement if the knife is 19th C.

[Aurangzeb]

Hi Ian !

Thank you very much for your comments and inquiry regarding the Billao's provenance. Actually, I purchased it on one of 'Oriental Arms' auctions on E-Bay, which is where I obtained the original information regarding it's assumed age. I was wondering if you may be aware of any decent books regarding Somalia, especially weaponry and the 'mad Mullah's' revolts ? Any information that you may be able to impart would be most appreciated ! Thank you for your compliments regarding the digital pictures that I have posted of the Billao !

Best regards,

Mark... computermedic@epix.net

[Tim Simmons]

Hello Mark, the white metal on these,I have recently realised is zinc, not pewter as I said in an earlier thread.I am still on the look out for one of these short wide blade type.Tim

[Aurangzeb]

Hi Tim!

Very interesting,I whould have never thought of it being zinc I whould have suspected tin or like you said pewter.The brass fittings on my dagger were so tarnished when I got it I at first did not think it was brass!Good luck in finding one of these! (no sarcasem intended)I have been looking quite some time for a good low priced choora,I have gone to the next step in the search,a freind deployed over in Afghanistan itself.But lets not let this get off the topic of Somali weapons.

[Conogre]

That's another of the knives that keeps escaping me, but I'm sure I'll find one eventually...yours is a very nice specimen, by the way.
I find the asymetrical blade fascinating, as well as the unusual pommel arrangement usually seen on them, with both features found on another knife/sword from the general region, the Jile' or Gile', I believe from the Afar people, another case where a tribal weapon's features evolved throughout the region.
Mike

[tom hyle]

The two seem to be pretty much versions of each other, with (shades of matulis/talibon, but don't ask me for examples, please!) intermediary forms.
Tim, are you saying the spacers are always/traditionally zinc? I've taken ones I've seen for lead, and they seem to be composed of layers of almost foil-like thin-ness. Mind you I wouldn't recognize unmixed zinc......so what's the deal?

[Aurangzeb]

Hi all!

Like I said earlier the handle is horn but I do not know what type of horn.Any one have any guesses on what it might be?I gussed rhino horn but I am not sure.Does the shape of the butcap/pommel have to do with a diffrent region of Somalia?(1 spike or 3 spike shapes)Does anyone know about why these spacers are put in there and why the handle and blade are so thin?Sorry for so many questions but I find the horn of africa a facenating place.

P.S.-Why does it seem that zinc or lead spacers more previlent than brass,I whould think it whould be the other way around.

[tom hyle]

I've wondered about that; a vague guess is some odd convenience of old trade routes and international markets; it seems to be industrial sheet metal?
As for the thin-ness of the blades, that is part of a long and widespread African tradition; it's discussed on a fairly recent thread about ceremonial African weapons. There's disagreement, but I feel it comes out of traditional and martial weapon philosophies. It's certainly typical; gilles are thicker AFAIK. The fine, hollow-bevelled forming of these thin blades entirely by handforging amazes me.
I've heard something about the spikes, but don't remember.....The guards and pommels are fitted with an obsessiveness to please any European, and are often the ground for some tiny and sometimes intricate geometric line engraving.
The sheath looks old to me, why not? The unusual feature to my experience it the belt-hanging slots; the one I had had a belt sewn to it.

[Aurangzeb]

Hi Tom!

I find it odd that they wear belts in Somalia.In the very good book"African Arms and Armour" on Pg.-106 picture 104 of a Souther Somali man wearing a dagger similer to mine.But why are Billao's also referrd to as Belawa's.Is it Pronaunced BILL-A-O or BILL-OH.Do you think that these spiky pommels came out of a need to impess european buyers or is it personal taste.

[tom hyle]

I find that multiple spellings can be a good hint to pronouncing
I don't think that wearing a belt just to be wearing one is a traditional Somali thing (?), and I think the traditional skirts just tie on. Of course, the traditional belt is sewn to the sheath, similarly to the bracelet on arm daggers, so that's different. I suspect the slots on your sheath may relate to a modern military belt for carring things on. I don't think they'd take a "web" belt (?) but leather belts with looped pouches, sheaths, etc. was previously the European standard, and may still prevail with some armies (?).

[Aurangzeb]

Hi Tom!

The belt loop is to small for a web belt but fits a standard leather belt nicely,(I know this only by measuring,I can not get a belt through it)I find that very interesting how a late 19th. century dagger might have a relativly modern military connection.(with all the Somalian waring clans this whould not surise me,the reuse of old weapons such as a billao.You are certainly right about the leather belts,although not used by most modern hi-tech armies the various militias and clans of africa/asia seem to be like europe's sell off yard for outdated war-gear.Like the two FT-17 light tanks the army found over in Afghanistan in a junkyard.

[Oriental-Arms]

Few comments if I may:

AGE:

I have had the privilege to examine the one shown above and I really think it is an old one. Probably late 19 C. or very early 20 C. My reasons for the old dating are:
- The blade has a very shallow central rib. Later blades of similar daggers are usually flat.
- The horn handle is age worn and the patina on the spiked pommel is real.
- The general feeling of a real old item (This unfortunately I can not substantiate, but after so many years in the business, one develops the proper feeling of age).
- One exception though: The soft leather back may be later, added to cover a damaged or worn back.

BELT:

Most of the Billao will come with a soft leather belt, usually tooled with some geometrical design. The belt is diagonally sewn to the front side of the scabbard. The warrior in the photo referred to by Aurangzeb, has a very similar belt. See for example (A later, 20 C. piece in this case):



GRIP MATERIAL:

Water Buffalo horn is most common. Bone and Ivory are also seen from time to time. Rhino horn is very rare. I have seen only one with a Rhino horn grip. He grip spacers are made from a variety of materials: steel, brass, bone, ivory and Zinc. Later ones will come also with Aluminum spacers.

POMMEL SPIKES

Billao will come with either one central spike or three spikes. The three spikes ones are more common and are made of steel, or Zinc in the later ones, as properly mentioned above. The one prong pommels are less common, and in many cases are seen on the better specimens, with Ivory hilts. It is usually made of silver:



Or bone or ivory:



The reasons for this variations are not very clear. I have in my article drawer an article titled: AFRICAN ARMS, SHIELDS & WEAPONS 1890 to 1940. There is no indication on when or where it was published or by whom, so I take the liberty to quote from this article few short sentences Regarding the Billao:

”… the top of the grip denotes the status of the warrior or the wearer. The single, more pointed cap ornamentation denotes a brave and courageous warrior who had killed and survived many battles; The 3 pronged cap is for a lower echelon warrior who had yet to achieve the same status…”

[tom hyle]

I also see some other differences with the one-spikers you show; the horn/ivory/animal part of the guard is not the same shape; it is rectangular from a side view, while on the 3 spike ones it narrows to form a short part of the handle. Also, the arrangement of the spacers is different, and seems consistantly different. Any of this may be consistant with a military rank marker, as suggested, especially when taken with the ivory. Do African water buffaloes have pale/green horns? Aren't Somalis cattle-keepers?

[tom hyle]

Notice two little tabs, diagonal from each other, on the edges of the treadstarter's sheath; these seem to correspond the the placement of the traditional belt; perhaps it lost one. I haven't noticed this feature on others that have belts, but it is somewhat subtle, especially on a warpy and shrunk-up old sheath, and would be obscured by the belt......with the under the belt wear, these might give your belly a little extra protection from your own dagger by reinforcing the sheath's edges where it is pressed against you.

[Conogre]

While I can't speak with any certainty about the bilao daggers, the blades of the gile's seem to have become thinner with the advent of surplus milatary vehicle steel, while older pieces often had a darkened depression in the center with a central rib running from top to bottom.
This same chacteristic is/was also seen in spears from the area, with older heads having deeper depressions just as in the knives.
On newer spearheads it's my understanding that they'll crosshatch and darken the area in an attempt to achieve the same effect as in the deeper, older models.
I also suspect that the belt loop may have been a later repair/modification.
As to the horn, aside from water buffalo and cattle, oxen are still used in areas to arrid for the buffalo as beasts of burden with considerable amount of variation in the color of the horn, not just between different animals but even the same horn along its length.
Mike

[tom hyle]

I've seen old, putatively and seemingly 19th c. billaos and the only one that wasn't real real thin was a marked Persian trade blade. The gilles and those spear blades you mention bear a certain resemblance to kattars in the cross-sectional variation along their length, no? A wide shallow groove at the base (are you saying you see this with a midrib running up it on gilles as on spears or some kattars? I think I remember it simply a wide groove?) and a thicker diamond section tip. All of my Ethiopian military spears have some version of this type cross-section, BTW. The leaf shaped ones exactly this; a midrib with grooves beside it for a leaf-shaped area at the base, and a diamond-section tip the thickness of the midrib. The gladius shaped ones with a midrib, but instead of shaped tapered grooves thin flat flanges ala jambiya on one, heavy wedge-section flanges on the other, then becoming a diamond section point. Maritime relations between this area and India are well established, too. I wonder about Arab spears; I've seen them (and known it at least) mostly from a distance or in small photos, and don't know about the cross section of the blades. I suppose they've mostly burned the handles up for cookwood by now, as we hear of dry-country Africans doing?