ON THE PRICK SPUR 



^T is probable that the earliest form of spur used by 

 our remote ancestors was made of pieces of hard wood 

 or bone, or possibly a combination of both, sharpened 

 to a point, and bound to the foot by leathern thongs. But of 

 these, naturally, no examples remain. 



There is a form of wooden spur once, I believe, univer- 

 sally used in Patagonia, and even now to be found among the 

 native tribes, who occupy much of their time in hunting, on 

 horseback, some large running bird of the ostrich species, a 

 pursuit which entails a good deal of galloping. I give an 

 illustration of this form of spur on Plate 3. It is taken from 

 a specimen in the possession of the United Service Institution 

 at Whitehall. It consists of two pieces of hard wood, six 

 inches long, connected together about the middle by a short 

 piece of leather about two inches in length. This piece of 

 leather is adjusted to the heel, and the two pieces of wood 

 being placed one on each side of the foot, the front ends are 

 then drawn towards each other by a leathern thong passed 

 over the instep and under the sole and bound round the foot. 

 This keeps the two pieces of wood in position with their 

 hinder ends approaching each other behind the heel. 



Into each of these ends, in this specimen, there is inserted 

 a short iron point. There are several specimens of this form 

 of spur in the British Museum, and which were also brought 

 from Patagonia. They are very similar in every detail to the 



