Sir Samuel Baker - comments on the kaskara

[colin henshaw]

As there is interest on the forum about the Sudanese double-edged sword "kaskara", I am attaching extracts from Sir Samuel Baker's book (which I am currently reading) ... "The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia and the Sword Hunters of the Hamran Arabs" 1871, in which he talks about the sword carried by this branch of the Beja peoples.

Baker and his wife explored the area around the River Atbara and the Sudan/Ethiopia border in the early 1860s, before going on to travel down to the White Nile and Lake Albert area.

Note: Baker's mention of the link between the kaskara and the crusades, has I believe, been since debunked...

[Philip]

Thanks, Colin, for this excerpt. Nothing beats the first-hand accounts from observers in the field to put these weapons, indeed just about any aspect of material culture, in their proper functional and ethnographic context.

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by Philip

Nothing beats the first-hand accounts from observers in the field to put these weapons, indeed just about any aspect of material culture, in their proper functional and ethnographic context.

Well said Philip, my sentiments as well.