OP ARROW-RELEASE. 151 



between the thumb and forefinger. Some of them use the 

 thumb and forefinger alone, while others use the second, 

 and still others add the second and third fingers to as- 

 sist in pulling the string back, and let the string slip off 

 the ends of the second and third fingers at the same instant 

 the arrow is released from between the thumb and fore- 

 finger." This release, though clearly distinct from the 

 primary release, is an advance upon it in the added as- 

 sistance of one or two fingers in pulling back the string ; 

 and the description given by Mr. Hastings is confirmatory 

 of the natural relations existing between the two releases. 

 For this reason it will be designated as the Secondary re- 

 lease. 



Mr. La Flesche, an intelligent Omaha, showed me a 

 release practiced by his people which differs sufliciently 

 from the secondary release to warrant its recognition as a 

 separate form. In this release the forefinger, instead of 

 being bent, is nearly straight with its tip, as well as the 

 tips of the second and third fingers, pressing or pulling on 

 the string, the thumb, as in the primary and secondary 

 release, active in assisting in pinching the arrow and 

 pulling it back. This release I shall call the Tertiary 

 release. (See Figs. 6 and 7.) 



Lieut. A. W. Vogdes, U. S. A., has informed me that 

 the Sioux, Arapahoes, and Cheyenne practice the tertiary 

 release ; and Col. James Stephenson has noticed this re- 

 lease practiced not only by the two latter tribes but 

 by the Assiniboins, Comauches, Crows, Blackfeet, and 

 Navajos. Mr. La Flesche and Lieut. Vogdes informed me 

 that the tribes using this release held the bow nearly hori- 

 zontally. 



In holding the bow horizontally the release-hand is held 

 with the palm uppermost, the arrow, of course, resting 

 on the bow. In the Zuni and Ottawa practice, the bow 



