Note 48 — A JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA IN 1497-99.
Ernest Georg Ravenstein translation
The shafts of their assegais are made of assegai- or lance-wood (Curtisea faginda) and not of olive-wood, and even in John of Empoli’s time had iron blades. Their spears for spearing fish, on the other hand, are tipped with the straight horn of the gemsbuck.