Sheath

“ With the decorative designs of the hilt of the sword must be classed those of its sheath. The sheath consists of two slips of TAPANG wood firmly lashed together with finely plaited rattan strips, both strips being hollowed so that they fit closely to the blade. It is provided with a plaited cord, which buckles about the waist. The inner piece of the sheath is smooth inside and out. The outer surface of the outer piece is often elaborately decorated. ”

“ But the horse never stopped nor looked behind, till in the dark of the night he reached the castle of the king of the oak windows.
‘We are at the end of the journey,’ said the horse, ‘and you will find the Sword of Light in the king’s own chamber. If it comes to you without scrape or sound, the token is a good one. At this hour the king is eating his supper, and the room is empty, so none will see you. The sword has a knob at the end, and take heed that when you grasp it, you draw it softly out of its sheath. ”

“ It was not in the least likely that any one would select such an unsuitable place as the sheath of a cutlass in which to conceal an important document; still, that I might never in the future have reason to reproach myself with having passed over even the most unlikely hiding-place, I took down the weapon from the peg on which it hung, and with some difficulty drew the blade from its leather sheath. ”

“ Modern High German Schiefer is scarcely allied.
Scheide, feminine, ‘sheath,’ from Middle High German scheide, Old High German sceida, feminine, ‘scabbard’; compare Old Saxon scéðia, feminine, Dutch scheede, feminine, Anglo-Saxon sčœ̂ð, feminine, English sheath, Old Icelandic skeiðer (plural) , ‘sheath’; Gothic *skaiþi (from skaitî) , feminine, ‘sheath,’ is wanting (the term used being fôdr, neuter, ‘sheath,’ see Futteral) . Allied to scheiden, hence literally ‘separation, the separating covering’?. Modern High German Scheide, ‘separation, parting,’ is the same word ”

“ A spike which has no beard is called polled (muticus) , for, when the spike is first forming, the beard, like the horns of a young animal, is not apparent but lies hid like a sword in its scabbard under a wrapping of foliage which hence is called the sheath. ”

“ The horny sheath, which is described by earlier writers as an excretion, is by Allman considered to be rather the result of metamorphosis of tissue. In many varieties the stem and branches of the creature are slender, horny, and pipe-shaped, and the chitinous sheath is jointed at regular intervals, the joint being a mere break in the continuity of the chitine, not a movable hinge; while the living pulp within forms a continuous body, and is invested by its sheath as the pith of a plant is invested by its stalk. ”

“ When perfectly ripened, these spears are exceeding formidable, their points being sharp enough to pierce the skin of any but a pachydermatous animal. Those employed in these games, however, are gathered while yet covered by a sheath, which, as they ripen, bursts and leaves the keen, hard point exposed. ”

“ A sheath [1172] from a barrow at Hvidegaard, made of birch wood with an outer and inner casing of leather, has a leather band for the mouth-piece, and a leather eye for receiving the belt. Some small sheaths for bronze knives and for a flint dagger found at the same time are simply of leather.
[310]
CHAPTER XIV. Spear-heads, Lance-heads, etc.
There can be but little doubt that one of the weapons of offence in earliest use among mankind must have been of the nature of a spear—a straight stick or staff, probably pointed and to a certain extent hardened in the fire. ”

“ There was music and minstrels and dancing and all.
But they'll never, etc.
8 'O Willie. O Willie. what makes thee in pain?'
‘I have lost a sheath and knife that I'll never see again.'
For we'll never, etc.
9 'There is ships o your father's sailing on the sea
That will bring as good a sheath and a knife unto thee.'
10 'There is ships o my father's sailing on the sea,
But sic a sheath and a knife they can never bring to me.'
Now we'll never, etc.
B
Sharpe's Ballad Book, ed. ”

“ Fastened to the right side of the wearer in a more or less horizontal position and with the handle projecting forward, it is always at the owner's disposal for prompt and deadly action, especially so as only a mere thread or two of abaká fiber running from the handle to the under part of the sheath retains the weapon in its sheath. ”

“ That these bronze sheaths and iron swords were counterparts of each other there can be no reasonable doubt. Their points of agreement, besides general dimensions and style of manufacture, are too remarkable to be accidental. Thus the peculiar curve at the opening of the sheaths fits that of the band of separation between the handle and blade of the swords. ”

“ In some points, indeed, they go beyond us; for the most ignorant Fan savage would never think of blunting the edge of his weapon by sheathing it in a metal scabbard. Their sheaths are beautifully made of two flat pieces of wood, just sufficiently hollowed to allow the blade to lie between them, and bound together with various substances. For example, the sheaths of one or two daggers in my possession are made of wood covered with snake-skin, while others are simply wood bound with a sort of rattan. ”

“ Although the sheaths which protected the daggers and swords described in the preceding chapters consisted probably for the most part of wood or leather, yet in many instances some portion of the scabbard and its fittings was made of bronze; and to the description of these objects it seems desirable to devote a separate chapter. It is rarely that the metallic portions of the sheaths have been found in company with the blades; but in one instance at least a portion of a sword blade has been discovered within a surrounding sheath of bronze ”

“ and sometimes, while her sword is not yet unsheathed, she stretches out her huge left arm and grasps her victim. The mighty hand is invisible, but the victim totters under the dire clutch. ”

“ The interior of the shed when shearing is at its height commends itself very forcibly to the attention of the artist. The heaps of fleeces, mellow masses of gray, yellow, and white, the throng of anxious sheep, watching with painful interest their companions struggling in the swarthy arms of the stalwart, bare-chested shearers, saddles, broad sombreros, whips, and weapons grouped in so many pendent escutcheons of the great Mexican vagabond family, the flitting coleritos, the scarfed shearers themselves, all are so many veritable "bits." ”

“ I was much impressed by the silence in the shed; not a sound was to be heard except the click of the shears, and the wool-sorter's decision as he flings the fleece behind him, given in one, or at most two words. I was reminded how touchingly true is that phrase, "Like as a sheep before her shearers is dumb." All the noise is outside ”

“ The shearer, who was quite a young man, sat upon a box close to the drive, and when he received a sheep it was always the same way—between his knees—and he commenced and finished the shearing of each animal exactly the same way, every clip of the large shears counting to the best advantage. ”

“ In a few moments a most appalling sight met our view: piles of bullocks’ skulls, sheep’s skulls, bones, horns, and hides were lying about in front of some broken, weather-beaten old sheds; pigs and ducks of immense size were feeding on heaps of offal; carcasses of bullocks and sheep were hanging up in rows to the roof of an adjoining shed; and at the back, in pens, droves of bullocks and sheep were waiting their doom. ”

“ Many English officers have, with fair success, tried to cut a sheep in two, but, even though they used the curved Eastern sword, they always seemed to perform the feat by main force, and not by the proper use of the drawing cut, and I have in my possession a tulwar with a notch in the blade, showing where, in the hands of a very powerful man, it rent a sheep’s backbone. ”

“ It is not, however, a pleasant process to watch even for a man, far less a sensitive woman, for the poor creatures get cut about a good deal in the process. The shearer seizes a sheep, fixes him head up between his knees, and then plunges the swiftly-moving clippers into the thick wool which covers the stomach. With wonderful speed he runs it along and the creature is turned out of its covering, and left as bare as a turkey in a poulterer's window, but, alas, its white and tender skin is too often gashed and ripped with vivid lines of crimson by the haste and clumsiness of the shearer. ”

“ A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 126:
"The wool-shed is a large building open on every side, with a high-pitched roof,—all made of wood and very rough. The sheep are driven in either at one end or both, or at three sides, according to the size of the station and the number of sheep to be shorn. They are then assorted into pens, from which the shearers take them on to the board;—two, three or four shearers selecting their sheep from each pen. ”

“ There's five-and-thirty shearers here a-shearing for the loot,
So stir yourselves, you penners-up, and shove the sheep along --
The musterers are fetching them a hundred thousand strong --
And make your collie dogs speak up ”

“ The shearers are paid by the number of sheep they shear, and they work very fast, every man trying to see if he cannot be the "ringer," as they call the man who has sheared the greatest number of sheep at the close of the shearing. ”

“ I have shown that our shearing by affliction glorifies God, rewards the Shepherd, and benefits ourselves. I have shown that the Lord measures and tempers our affliction, and sends the trial at the right time. I have shown you in many ways that it will be wise to submit ourselves as the sheep does to the shearer, and that the more completely we do so the better. ”

“ When the great shed is in full activity it is a splendid sight with the row of stooping figures, each embracing his sheep, the buzz of the shears, the rush of the messengers who carry the clip to the table, the swift movements of the sorters who separate the perfect from the imperfect wool, and the levering and straining of the packers who compress it all into square bundles as hard as iron with 240 pounds in each. ”

“ As soon as these lads saw that a sheep was wanted by the shearers within, they sprang towards one in the field—the [331] more boisterous and stubborn an old ram the better—and tugging and pulling and pushing and shouting—sometimes mounted astride of the poor obstreperous brute, and holding his horns like a bridle—they gained their point, and dragged their captive up to the shearer, like little victors as they were, all glowing and ruddy with conquest. ”

“ Some can finish off as many as six score sheep in a summer’s day; and if you consider the weight and uncouthness of the animal, and the general heat of the weather, you will see that, with justice, clipping or shearing is regarded as harder work than mowing. But most shearers are [332] content with despatching four or five score; it is only on unusual occasions, or when Greek meets Greek, that six score are attempted or accomplished.
When the sheep is divided into its fleece and itself, it becomes the property of two persons. ”

“ Before dawn I led my flock to the sheep-walks, and guarded them through the day. It was a life of toil; for rain and cold were more frequent than sunshine; but it was my pride to contemn the elements. My trusty dog watched the sheep as I slipped away to the rendezvous of my comrades, and thence to the accomplishment of our schemes. At noon we met again, and we threw away in contempt our peasant fare, as we built our fire-place and kindled the cheering blaze destined to cook the game stolen from the neighbouring preserves. ”

“ As soon as the King was dressed the Shepherd was again brought before him; but he was more angry than ever to think the wild boars had not torn the man to bits, and he said:
"Well, you have learned what it feels to be near ten deaths, now say 'To my good health'!"
But the shepherd broke in with:
"I do not fear a hundred deaths; and I will only say it if I may have the Princess for my wife."
"Then go to a hundred deaths!" roared the King, and ordered the Shepherd to be thrown down the deep vault of scythes. ”

“ The Sheep eating the acorns, inadvertently frayed and tore the cloak. The Shepherd coming down, and seeing what was done, said, "O you most ungrateful creatures! you provide wool to make garments for all other men, but you destroy the clothes of him who feeds you. ”

“ Here the shearers knelt, the sun slanting in on their bleached shirts, tanned arms, and the polished shears they flourished, causing them to bristle with a thousand rays strong enough to blind a weak-eyed man. ”

“ When the mighty volume is coursing along its channel towards the ocean, he marks every drop that leaps aside in spray. It is a solemn thought, and to the reconciled a gladsome one, that, as the shepherd observed when one sheep left the fold, the Shepherd of Israel, who slumbers not nor sleeps, detects every wandering soul, and in that soul every wandering thought. ”

“ And then rose the sound through the livelong day
Of the constant clash that the shear-blades make
When the fastest shearers are making play;
But there wasn't a man in the shearers' lines
That could shear a sheep with the two Devines. ”

“ The poor people stood in continual fear either of the intendant of the king or of the Marquis, or of the collector of the dues of the Church. At harvest time, a bough was seen sticking in half the sheaves. In every ten, one sheaf is marked for the tithe, tow for the seigneur, two for the king; and the officer of each takes the best, so that only the worst are left for the peasant. ”

“ In order to simplify the blazoning of a shield, and so express the position of the charges, the field has been divided into points, of which those placed near the top, and to the dexter, are always considered the more important. In heraldry, dexter and sinister are determined, not from the point of view of the onlooker, but from that of the bearer of the shield. ”

“ In our researches as to the shapes of shields we have now, therefore, lost that rich body of evidence supplied by the seals on charters, which extended to nearly the end of the fifteenth century, and the MS. pictures of knights and tournaments. The evidences now available consist of pedigrees, the smaller heraldic seals attached to documents and deeds, heraldic visitations and grants of arms, printed books on heraldry, which begin 1496, stained glass, the stone carvings on buildings, tombs, and ledger stones, and, from the end of the seventeenth century or a little earlier, book-plates. ”