192 ANCIENT AND MODERN METHODS 



clciircst manner the two-fingered variety of the Mediter- 

 ranean release. A curious form of the Mediterranean 

 release is shown on tlie door of the Church of the Made- 

 leine at Vezelay, a cast of which is to be seen at Troce- 

 dero Museum. In this release the archer has all four 

 lingers on the string, the arrow being held between the 

 second and third fingers. I had supposed that this was a 

 mistake of the artist, as indeed it may have been, but Col. 

 James Stevenson, in describing to me the methods of re- 

 lease among the Navajo Indians of North America, illus- 

 trated a release identical with this four-fingered variety. 



In conclusion, it is interesting to observe that all the re- 

 leases thus far described have been practiced from the 

 earliest historic times. Each release with the exception 

 of the primary release, which admits of no variation, has 

 one or more varieties. The secondary release may have 

 the second finger, or the second and third fingers on the 

 string. Some forms of this release in India and Assyria 

 show all the fingers on the string ; it is hardly probable, 

 however, that these are correctly represented. The terti- 

 ary release may have the first and second, or the first, 

 second, and third fingers on the string. The Mediterranean 

 release may be effected with two or three fingers, and in 

 two instances all the fingers, on the string. The Mongolian 

 release may have the assistance onl}' of the first finger as in 

 the Chinese and Manchu, or the first and second fingers as 

 in the Korean and Japanese, — or, if rightly interpreted, 

 the early Persian form, with the second and third only 

 aiding the thumb ; and if the Mongolian release described 

 on page 161 be an established form, then we have here a 

 mixture of Mongolian and secondary. 



The persistence of a release in a people is well illustrated 

 in the case of the Aino. For centuries the Ainos have 



