ARROW-RELEASE. 



157 



dock for calling my attention to two other references 

 concerning the practice of archery among these Arctic 

 people. 



Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, naturalist of the Howgate Polar 

 Expedition, says of the Cumberland Sound Eskimo, "In 

 shooting this weapon the string is placed on the first joint 

 of the first and middle fingers of the right hand." * 



The Krause brothers state that the natives of East 

 Cape, Siberia, do not hold the arrow between the thumb 

 and first finger, but between the first and middle fingers. 2 



Neither of these descriptions is complete, and yet 

 both indicate unmistakably the Mediterranean release. 

 It was somewhat surprising to find this release among the 

 tribes of Eskimo, for I had supposed that the arrow-re- 

 lease of this people would be either in the form of the 

 primary or secondary release. As a confirmation of this 

 unlooked-for method of shooting among the west-coast 



Fig. 10. Point Barrow Eskimo arrow, half size, o, end view. 



Eskimo at least, Mr. Murdock called my attention to 

 the shape of the nock end of their arrow, which was 

 greatly flattened at right angles to the nock, so that it 

 offered greater convenience for grasping between the fin- 

 gers. It is possible also that this peculiar flattening may 

 have something to do with the flight of the arrow. This 

 flattening of the arrow I have never observed before ; and 

 an arrow of this shape must indicate unmistakably the 

 method of release employed, for in no other form of 

 release with which I am familiar could the arrow be dis- 

 charged. Fig. 10 gives the appearance of this arrow. 



1 Bulletin of the TJ. S. National Mnsenm, No. 15, p. 37. 

 8 Deutsche geographische Blatter, Vol. I, p. 33. 



