194 ANCIENT AND MODERN METHODS 



arrows two cubits. When they made use of these weapons, 

 they placed their left foot o/t the bottom of the bow, and 

 by that method they drove their arrows with great vio- 

 lence," etc. 



It is recorded of the Arabians that they used their bows 

 in the manner above alluded to, by the help of the foot. 

 The release in these cases must be of a most vigorous 

 character ; and when in some accounts the archer is rep- 

 resented as resting on his back, with both feet bracing 

 against the bow, the string is probably clutched with both 

 hands, after the manner I have provisionally called the 

 archaic release. 



In the following classified list of releases and the peo- 

 ple who practice them, it is shown in a general way that the 

 primary, secondary, and tertiary releases are practiced by 

 savage races to-day, as well as by certain civilized races of 

 ancient times ; while the Mediterranean and Mongolian re- 

 leases, though originating early in time, have always char- 

 acterized the civilized and dominant races. The exceptions 

 to this generalization are curious : the Little Andaman 

 islanders practicing the Mediterranean release, and the 

 inhabitants of the Great Andaman Island practicing the 

 tertiary release, are an illustration. The fact that the vari- 

 ous groups of Eskimo practicing the Mediterranean release, 

 and so far as I know being the only people who have de- 

 signed a distinct form of arrow for this method, is exceed- 

 ingly curious. Mr. John Murdock, who is engaged in a 

 careful study of the Eskimo, has expressed to me a sur- 

 mise that certain arts of the Eskimo may have been derived 

 from Greenland through Scandinavian colonists ; and this 

 might explain the anomaly. 



It may be shown that in tribes in which the bow is but 

 little used, and then only for small birds and game, the 

 release is weak or irregular. The data, however, are alto- 

 gether too few to establish any conclusions respecting this. 



