OEIGIN OF WEST AFRICAN CROSSBOWS BALFOUR. 



637 



out the greater part of its length, so as to form an upper and lower 

 limb, whose hinder ends are free and can be forced apart, while 

 they remain united in the solid for end of the stock. When the 

 two limbs are brought together, a square-sectioned peg fixed to the 

 lower limb passes upwards through the upper limb and completely 

 fills up a notch situated on the upper surface behind the bowstring. 

 The distance between the latter and the notch is 3^ inches, and this 

 represents the full extent of the " draw." When drawn or set, the 

 bowstring is held in the notch and the peg is forced downwards, 



Fig. 4. — Side view of stock of Fan crossbow (pi. 1, 6), length 521 inches. 



causing the two limbs to separate. By bringing these together again, 

 with a squeezing action, the peg as it rises in the notch forces out 

 the bowstring, and in this very simple manner the release is effected. 

 There is a very faint groove in which the arrow lies. 



The second example (pi. 1, fig. 1, b), also in the Pitt Rivers collec- 

 tion was obtained by the well-known West African traveler, R. B. N. 

 Walker, from Du Chaillu, and is a very handsome specimen, deli- 

 cately carved. It resembles in general the example above mentioned, 

 but the stock (fig. 4) is somewhat longer, 52f inches; the bow' is 



Under Surface 



Fig. 5. — Details of carving upon Fan crossbow (pi. 1, fig. 1, b). 



angular in outline, square in section at the center, and slightly con- 

 again later, is engraved upon either side. The chief point of de- 

 vex along the back; it measures 28 inches across the arc. The dis- 

 tance of the bowstring from the notch is 3f inches. The release peg 

 is semilunar in section, the convex edge directed forward. The stock 

 is very neatly carved in linear designs in the neighborhood of the 

 notch, the pattern extending as far forward as the union of the two 

 limbs (fig. 5), at which point (a) a small circle, to which I refer 

 parture from the other specimen lies in the stock being incompletely 

 divided. In the former example the two limbs of the stock are quite 



