DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0260
Double-bladed swords of the West Coast
189
Yet another phase of the conventionalizing tendency is seen in the gold-weight shown
in fig. 5. Here the blade and hilt have suffered little change, the former has the old
ornamentation by holes, the latter shows carved lines of the sort usual in the prototype.
But whereas the object with which the sword is united is clearly a horned animal skull in
the case of the specimens seen in figs. 3 and 4, in the case of that shown in fig. 5 the skull
has vanished, and only the horns, twisted into two compact spirals, remain.
In figs. 8, (obverse), 8a, (reverse) —an Ashanti gold-weight in the Peabody Museum’s
collection7 — two swords have been crossed, and at their juncture has been placed the
animal’s skull with curved horns (one has been broken away). This grouping may possibly
have been suggested by a suspended group such as that seen in fig. 2, or it may have origi-
nated in a natural inclination toward a heraldic opposition. In favor of the former alter-
native is the fact that the position of the heads in figs. 3, 4, and 8, and of the jaw-bone
in fig. 6, is the natural one they would assume if hung up; that of the swords is less signifi-
cant, but correct enough if we suppose them to have been usually suspended, as are some
of those in fig. 2, by means of a cord passed through one of the perforations in the blade.
In fig. 9, despite the fact that the casting of the original is badly defective, we can
distinguish the hilts of two swords, and two palm fronds — a pair being given each
of the two weapons. Instead of being arranged in a V-fashion as in fig. 7 the fronds
have here, on analogy of the swords, been crossed. In the ceremonial sword (Noaba,
Gold Coast) shown in fig. 10, conventionality has considerably progressed; we have here
two opposed blades united at the base, and connected with a single handle of the usual
dumb-bell form by a double twist which preserves the memory of the original two shanks.
In fig. 11, another sword from the same place, the memory is fainter: the dumb-bell
handle has taken on a more elaborate character, the shank of the blade is a single
sinuous piece of metal, and it is only the well defined pair of blades in which it terminates
that carries us back through the types of figs. 10, 8, and 9, to the specimen portrayed in
fig. 1. Highly conventionalized as are the two swords of figs. 10 and 11, it is nevertheless
curious that they have preserved very clearly the tongue in which the blade ends.
This last remark is true of the gold-weight seen in fig. 12, where we observe two
blades joined in a single handle of the usual type. In this instance, at the junction of the
blades, is a cylindrical amulet case (?), represented as being made fast to the dumb-bell
hilt by a twisted cord. In fig. 13 the blades have become more conventionalized than in
the other cases, and the hilt is more summarily treated.
We may at this point return to the wooden object from Benin (text fig. 1A) described
last year. Its resemblance to the crossed swords of fig. 8 is very remote, nor would the
7 P. M, no, 53715, Length 7.3 cm-
189
Yet another phase of the conventionalizing tendency is seen in the gold-weight shown
in fig. 5. Here the blade and hilt have suffered little change, the former has the old
ornamentation by holes, the latter shows carved lines of the sort usual in the prototype.
But whereas the object with which the sword is united is clearly a horned animal skull in
the case of the specimens seen in figs. 3 and 4, in the case of that shown in fig. 5 the skull
has vanished, and only the horns, twisted into two compact spirals, remain.
In figs. 8, (obverse), 8a, (reverse) —an Ashanti gold-weight in the Peabody Museum’s
collection7 — two swords have been crossed, and at their juncture has been placed the
animal’s skull with curved horns (one has been broken away). This grouping may possibly
have been suggested by a suspended group such as that seen in fig. 2, or it may have origi-
nated in a natural inclination toward a heraldic opposition. In favor of the former alter-
native is the fact that the position of the heads in figs. 3, 4, and 8, and of the jaw-bone
in fig. 6, is the natural one they would assume if hung up; that of the swords is less signifi-
cant, but correct enough if we suppose them to have been usually suspended, as are some
of those in fig. 2, by means of a cord passed through one of the perforations in the blade.
In fig. 9, despite the fact that the casting of the original is badly defective, we can
distinguish the hilts of two swords, and two palm fronds — a pair being given each
of the two weapons. Instead of being arranged in a V-fashion as in fig. 7 the fronds
have here, on analogy of the swords, been crossed. In the ceremonial sword (Noaba,
Gold Coast) shown in fig. 10, conventionality has considerably progressed; we have here
two opposed blades united at the base, and connected with a single handle of the usual
dumb-bell form by a double twist which preserves the memory of the original two shanks.
In fig. 11, another sword from the same place, the memory is fainter: the dumb-bell
handle has taken on a more elaborate character, the shank of the blade is a single
sinuous piece of metal, and it is only the well defined pair of blades in which it terminates
that carries us back through the types of figs. 10, 8, and 9, to the specimen portrayed in
fig. 1. Highly conventionalized as are the two swords of figs. 10 and 11, it is nevertheless
curious that they have preserved very clearly the tongue in which the blade ends.
This last remark is true of the gold-weight seen in fig. 12, where we observe two
blades joined in a single handle of the usual type. In this instance, at the junction of the
blades, is a cylindrical amulet case (?), represented as being made fast to the dumb-bell
hilt by a twisted cord. In fig. 13 the blades have become more conventionalized than in
the other cases, and the hilt is more summarily treated.
We may at this point return to the wooden object from Benin (text fig. 1A) described
last year. Its resemblance to the crossed swords of fig. 8 is very remote, nor would the
7 P. M, no, 53715, Length 7.3 cm-