And Now For Something Completely Different

 

                                                                                               A.

And now for something completely different - knife fights. Despite what we've all been led to believe by the many different Zorro films, television programs, comic books, etc., the Californios apparently did not usually settle their differences with displays of skilled and acrobatic fencing.

I came across this account of dueling in California written by the Russian naval officer, Dmitry Zavalishin. He visited California in 1824 and, because he spoke Spanish, quickly made friends and acquaintances among the Californios. Here is what he had to say:

"Despite the ardor of the predominantly acrimonious temperament, quarrels among the Spaniards were fairly rare, and the chief reasons for them were love and jealousy; then the matter was often settled by a knife fight. In this fight two main systems were known: the Andalusian and the Navarrian. The short and deft Andalusian is more suited to striking blows from below; the tall and strong Navarrese strikes from the shoulder and inflicts blows from above. There was, however, another special and very dangerous way of fighting with knives, namely, throwing a knife with unusual sleightness and strength from a sleeve. During our stay, a soldier was wounded by this method such that a very long knife entered his body up to the hilt."

 

                                                                                                                                                    B.

Images

A. Noah Beery Sr. and Douglas Fairbanks dueling with swords in The Mark of Zorro (1920). 

B. A belduque, which is typical of the knives used in early California, at least in shape. This appears to be a very high quality version. But belduques are mentioned in both presidio and mission records, and those may have been somewhat plainer. This one measures about 13.75 inches overall, with a 10.25 inch blade. Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe (Simmons and Turley, 1980).

Sources 

Simmons, Marc and Frank Turley. Southwestern Colonial Ironwork. The Spanish Blacksmithing Tradition from Texas to California. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1980. 

Zavalishin, Dmitry, “California in 1824.” Translated and annotated by James R. Gibson. Southern California Quarterly, v. 55, no. 4, 1973.