The difference between the direct and the oblique cut is still better shown by the annexed diagram: ‘Let A B C D (fig. 116) represent the portion of a Sword-blade, of which A B is the edge and C D the back, measuring about one-eighth of an inch in thickness. Now, if the object to be cut through is presented to the blade at right angles to the edge, as shown by arrow No. 1, then the section of the blade with which the cut is to be effected will be as represented in the triangular section F E G (fig. 117). But if the object be presented to the blade obliquely, as shown by arrow No. 2, then the section along the line of the cut will be as represented by the angle C E K. It will readily be seen that in the latter case the acuteness of the angle at E is greatly increased, whilst the substance is the same as in the other case. To effect this it is the custom in many parts of the East to strike with a drawing cut, but the same purpose is secured by bending the blade backwards: the curve itself presents the edge obliquely to the object without entailing the necessity of imparting a drawing motion to the stroke.’[438] [Illustration: FIG. 116.] [Illustration: FIG. 117.] _Par parenthèse_, it is this drawing motion which, added to the curve of the weapon and its oblique presentation, increases the trenchant power. The ‘Talwár,’ or half-curved sabre of Hindustan, cuts as though it were four times as broad and only one-fourth the thickness of the straight blade. But the ‘drawing-cut’ has the additional advantage of deepening the wound and of cutting into the bone. Hence men of inferior strength and stature used their blades in a manner that not a little astonished and disgusted our soldiers in the Sind and Sikh campaigns. [Heading: _SECTIONS OF SWORD-BLADES._] If we consider the sections of cutting weapons, we find them all modifications of that most ancient mechanical contrivance, the wedge, as shown by the following figures: [Illustration: FIG. 118.—SECTIONS OF SWORD-BLADES.]