020 SLING CONTRIVANCES FOR PROJECTILE WEAPONS, 



iisnally called "throwing sticks," a misleading term, since it conveys a 

 false meaning, as though these shafts were themselves thrown, while 

 thej^ merely serve as a help in throwing; and (2) throwing nooses 

 and throwing thongs. 



The spear sling is spread over four distinct areas: (1) Australia 

 and, partially, Melanesia and Micronesia; (2) among certain north- 

 eastern Asiatics, as well as among the American and (Ireenland Eski- 

 mos; (3) Central America and equatorial South America, and (4) 

 France during the reindeer epoch. 



The throwing noose is found in (1) New Caledonia, Xew Hebrides, 

 and New Zealand; (2) Hawaii; (3) Togo, India, China (?); (4) 

 among the Romans, Greeks, Celts, Cythians, and other barbarians. 



I. SrEAR Slings. 



The spear sling is a piece of wood formed either flat, like a board, 

 or in the shape of a rod; it is held in the right hand and attached 

 at the foot of the spear. In throwing, the right arm, stretched back- 

 ward and holding the apparatus, is thrust forward with full force; 

 at the same time the spear is released. The spear sling thus length- 

 ens the arm of the thrower and serves as a lever to thrust the lance 

 forward after it has flown beyond the reach of the hand." 



According to the methods by which the sling stick is fastened to 

 the butt of the spear, three kinds are distinguished by v. Luschan : 

 (1) "male;" (2) "female," and (3) "mixed" (Zwitterhaften). 



The male spear slings have a hook pointing toward the front, or 

 grip at the upper end, and the spear has a small cavity or groove 

 in the butt end into whicli the sling hoolv catches. The spear thus 

 has a support until thrown oft', and at the same time can easdy 

 release itself from the stick. In using, the native deftly catches the 

 hook of this sling into the cavity at the butt of the spear, so that the 

 instrument lies parallel to the underside of the shaft, while the out- 

 stret<-lied left hand grasps the spear nearer the point, the fingers 

 upward.'' When the spear is to be thrown, "the (right) hand 

 grasps the sling stick as well as the weapon. r>otli are tlien turned 

 I)ackward as far as the arm can reach, and the si)ear thi-own forward 

 wdth all the miglit." ' One foot is generally thrust backward in 



o Lauterer : Australia and Tasmania, p. 272. 



Tlie itrineiple wliicli v. Liis<li;ui advances (Das Wurfhnlz in Xeu-IIollnnd 

 und Milii-onesien) is not entirely correct. He compares the throwing motion 

 with that of slinging an apple from a stick. But in this operation almost a quar- 

 ter circle is described by the arm and stick, with the apple as center; about the 

 same motion is therefore made as with the sling for stones. With the spear 

 sling the same motion takes place as in ordinary spear throwing, except that 

 the right hand does not itself hold the spear, but its continuation, the stick. 



6 Klennn : AVerkzeuge nnd Waffen, p. 31 et seq. 



c Lumholtz : Unter Menschenfressern, 1, 122 et seq. 



