Omani Sayf/Saif

[TVV]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

It does not seem in going through these accounts by Burton, that any warfare occurred in these apparently slave acquisition expeditions, and as noted, Arab 'gentlemen' wore these in Zanzibar, and must have on these ventures as well. In the accounts, the curved sabers preferred by the slave factors and Swahili do not have descriptions of their hilts, but examples we have seen of course suggest they too had the open guardless hilt.

So if these Omani sa'if broadswords were 'warrior' weapons, though being paraded around by Arab 'gentlemen' in a status oriented context, what warfare were they involved in?

The Arab incursions into the Congo with the purpose of acquiring ivory and slaves were, sadly, violent in nature. Looking at "Armies of the 19th Century: Africa; Central Africa" by Chris Peers, he mentions that during the early years of the so-called Congo Arabs in Nyasaland, their firearms were muzzleloaders and therefore after discharging, "their users are sometimes described as charging with their long swords" (page 11). Later, by the 1890s the muzzleloaders were replaced with breechloading repeating firearms and swords were no longer used, with the Congo Arabs avoiding hand to hand combat and relying on superior firepower in battles with the locals. During that time the kingdom Tippu Tip and his heirs established in Congo came in direct conflict with the Congo Free State, which Leopold's colonial troops won, ending Arab presence in the region.

I will admit that I have not, and probably never will read every single account by 19th century Western explorers in order to find references to the use of swords by Zanzibari slavers in the African interior, but small-scale conflict with locals was present, and in the initial stages of the Arab raids it appears that swords were used, and the term "longswords" is intriguing, as the archaic Omani battle swords from the previous centuries do not fit the longsword description, but the conical hilted saifs certainly do.

The saifs I have are all fairly light, in the 1.5-1.75 lbs range (700-800 grams), and unlike the long flyssas, seem fairly well balanced. They tend to be slightly lighter than the takoubas and kaskaras I have, so I am not sure why Burton thought they need to be wielded double handed. Their long blades are of the same trade blade patterns we see on swords in the Sahel and Sudan from the 19th century. If these blades worked on takoubas and kaskaras, we should safely assume they worked with a conical hilt as well.