Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

254 III. Судан и его соседи ‘ kaskara ’. 1 This version, already considered by Norman as highly improbable, should be totally rejected, however. Barth specifically noted that the Bagirmi possessed few swords and did not produce them: “Very few of the Bagirmi people are wealthy enough to purchase swords (“kás- kara”), which they are not able to manufacture themselves”. 2 That implies that their use of kaskara was limited, thus they could not possibly introduce this type of sword and by extension its name in their language to the region of Chad and neighbouring areas. In fact, the Bagirmi kingdom (sometimes referred as ‘sultanate’, though the title of the ruler was “banga” 3 ) was located in the area where two major types of North African sword types — kaskara and takouba (Fig. 16) — overlapped, though the latter prevailed (see map on Fig.14). The only plausible explanation for Stone’s interpretation (unless it was merely somemisun- derstanding on his part) is that the sword(s) he referred to originated from Bagirmi region of Chad. The item published in his book (Fig. 13, right) does fit to such an explanation: it is a worn-out, old sword with shabby scabbard that has obviously lost its chape, while the languet of the guard is short and seemingly rusted. All these correspond toBarth’s information about scarcity of swords among the Bagirmi, hence they could keep them as long as possible, and may continue to use even a dilapidated weapon. The second sword published by Stone is a typical luxury kaskara , most likely produced for ‘Ali Dinar in El Fasher. 5 Since Stone men- 1 Norman Iain. Kaskara Terminology. 2 Barth H. Op. cit. Vol. 3. P. 450–451. 3 Ibid. P. 452. 4 North A. Op. cit. Pl. 23c, d. 5 See similar examples presented in: Hunley E. The Sudanese Kaskara Sword in Silver Dress; Anderson J. et al. Royal Regalia: a sword of the last Sultan of Darfur, Ali Dinar. Fig. 15. A ‘Dankali’ sword. From: Burton Richard F. The Book of the Sword. London, 1884. P. 165. Fig. 180