1 8 The History of the Spur 



one shown here, having the front parts of the pieces of wood 

 cut rectangular, and the hinder parts rounded. Some of them 

 have a wider piece of leather for the heel-piece than is here 

 shown. I am not aware that this form of spur exists now 

 in any part of the world except Patagonia, but I conceive 

 it possible that some such form was once in universal use 

 among the primitive races of Europe. 



Zschille and Forrer give an illustration, in their work 

 on spurs, of a precisely similar form of spur, calling it a 

 " Feuerlanddischer Sporn," or a spur from Terra del Fuego. 

 They also conjecture that something of this kind was the 

 original form of spur amongst the earliest races, but allow 

 that as no traces of them now remain, this supposition must 

 always be problematical. They also suggest a stout forked 

 twig from a tree, with a sharpened point, as being a very 

 probable primitive form. And they give an illustration of a 

 wooden spur of this kind taken from a representation of an 

 Amazon on a Greek vase of about the fifth century B.C. 



The earliest metal spurs that I have been able to find, or 

 that have been described by others, were made of bronze, and 

 date from about the third century B.C. They all present more 

 or less the same characteristics — a very short, plain point, 

 generally about half an inch in length, and never more than 

 one inch, with short sides not projecting forwards on each side 

 of the foot more than about two inches. The sides are generally 

 round in section, though sometimes slightly flattened on the 

 inside, and with a spread only just sufficient to embrace the bare 

 heel. It is interesting to observe that the arrangement at the 



