Zulu Assegai descriptions

[The Double D]

Bryant in The Zulu People has a wonderful description of the inHlendhla or iZakha, or as he refers to it inTlendla.

The inTlendla was a "royal" weapon, carried only by the chief and other great men as he permitted. It had a a barbed blade (with two wings, each about 2 inches long) at the end of a very long shank. It was commonly used by the gentry as a walking staff of quality: though on occasion it was used for more serious business of either stabbing or hurling at a foe, who generally ran off with, as it was difficult to extract.