Part I

a curious arrow from Formosa made by the savage Botans. The nock end is cut in long 11 shallow gashes giving a firmer grip of the thumb and forefinger. This form indicates the use of the primary release. (Fig. 10.) In using the primary release, as I have already shown, the arrow is usually knobbed or the nock end of the arrow where the thumb and finger grasp it is roughened by slight cuts, or gashes to ensure a stronger hold on the arrow. In studying the remarkable collection of Danish antiquities in the Museum of Northern Antiqui- Fig. 10 Formosa ties, at Copenhagen, we found an exhaustive collection of objects from the peat bogs of Denmark. So abundant are these remains that Steenstrup estimated that every column of peat, three feet square at the surface, would yield some evidence of human workmanship. In the collection were a number of long bows, round in section, with a slight notch at either end. These bows with their arrows were mounted on tablets and were believed to be about 2000 years old. The arrows were of special interest, they were rather thick and"^clumsily made but the constriction of (A Fig. 11 Peat bogs, Denmark the shaft before reaching the nock end was very noticeable. Of great interest to me was the fact that every arrow was distinctly knobbed and enlarged at the nock end, (Fig. 11) showing that these ancient people had not acquired the Mediterranean release which would have been difficult with this form of arrow. They were using the prirrary release of their savage ancestors. Mr. Vilhelm Boye, 12 an officer of the Museum, told me that the arrows had only two barbs. No trace of the barbs were seen, though a close examination with the poor light at the time showed that the nock end of the arrow had been wound with a fibre of some kind. At the Kiel Museum there was a fine collection of peat bog relics from Schleswig. Here also I was permitted to make sketches of arrows, all of which showed the same enlargement of the nock end, though quite different in shape from the Danish forms, indicating the same method of release, namely, the primary, (Fig 12.) Their (nj age dated from 217 A. D., as determined Fig. 12 Schleswig by coins associated with them. In Figure 13, I give rough tracings of the nock ends of the arrows of various tribes of North American Indians, all showing enlargement of the nock ends of the arrows, indicating the use of the primary release. In some cases the knobbed arrow might indicate the use of the secondary release but in that release with the use of two extra _; V\ tAl Fig. 13 North American Indians fingers in pulling the bow the enlargement of the arrow was not so necessary. Figure 14 illustrates in a marked degree the use of the primary release. It represents an arrow used by the Thlingit tribe of Alaska. It was collected by Lieut. G. T. Emmons, U. S. A. and is in the collection of the U. S. National Museum. It is interesting as showing that these people in close proximity to the Eskimo who used the Medi- 13 terranean release had never acquired the more powerful form but A retained the primary form. parallel case is shown by the Ainu method of drawing the bow. Though associated with the Japanese for nearly 2000 years they had never acquired the more effective Mongolian release but adhered to the primary form. Fig. 14 Alaska Prof. E. N. Horsford informed me that when he was a boy his father was a missionary among the Seneca Indians in New York. He often played and shot with the Indian boys, the target generally consisting of a big copper cent held in a cleft stick. The practice of drawing the bow was with the thumb and bent forefinger pinching the arrow and two other fingers assisting in drawing the string, a distinct secondary release. Lieut. Schawatka, an arctk: explorer, who had traveled in Mexico told me that the Baramos Indians, a tribe of the Tarahumari, living in southwestern Chihuahua practiced the secondary 'release. The Menomini Indians who now live on their reservation in north central Wisconsin have been minutely studied by Mr. Alanson Skinner and the results form a monograph in the publications of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. The Indians are typical Algonquin people and Mr. Skinner states that they use the tertiary release while the neighboring Ojibwa use the primary and secondary releases. 14 In an interesting article by Carl Lumholtz, in Scribner's Magazine, Vol. XIV, 1894, entitled "Tarahumari Dances and Plant Worship," he gives a picture of an Indian using the bow. The method of release is clearly depicted and represents the tertiary release . Tracings of figures in certain ancient Mexican codices sent me by Mrs. Zelia NuTTALL represent the tertiary release. Prof. W. Joest, of Berlin, kindly sent me some observations he made regarding the arrow release of indians and bush negroes of Sur- inam. In his letter he makes the distinction between the Arawaks, Caribs, and Galibes of the coast and interior of Surinam and of the Upper Maroni which he calls indians, and the inhabitants of Surinam and the Upper Maroni which he designates as bush negroes. They no longer use arrows and bows as weapons, but only for shooting fish, small deer, turtle, tapir, birds, etc. He says: " I observed a remarkable difference between Indians and 'Bosch.' The American aborigine, Arawaks, as well as Caribs, keep the bow horizontally, the 'Bosch,' whose ances- tors were imported from Africa, vertically. Both put the arrow at the upper or left side of the bow; both keep the arrow steady with the forefinger of the left hand, the palm of course undermost. The way of pulling corresponds to your 'tertiary release' with the difference that Indians and Bush negroes use all their four fingers while the thumb (stretched) helps the forefinger. The forefinger is nearly straight. I had the impression that the forefinger and thimib were only keeping the arrow in its position whilst the 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers were really pulUng." He found an astonishing number of the Bush negroes were left-handed. They accordingly put the arrow at the right side of the bow. He thinks no difference exists between the natives of Guyara in the method of release. Dr. Thomas Barbour, in his travels in New Guinea, secured a photograph of a Papuan in the act of shooting the bow. The release is with the thumb pressed against the arrow and all four fingers bearing on the string, the arrow being between the thumb and forefinger. This represents the tertiary release. This release varies as does the Mediterranean form. In both releases two, three and even four � 15 fingers may be used in drawing the string, though rarely is the little finger used. (Fig. 15). Felix Speiser in his "Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific" represents the arrow release of the natives of Santa Cruz, an island between the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides. Figtires of two men are given in the act of drawing the bow, the attitude of the fingers on the string is given in the clearest manner arid represents the tertiary release. The middle finger is slightly overlapping the fore- finger. Fig. 15 Papuan From a photograph in the Ethnological Museum at Berlin 1 copied the arrow release of the Kaders of India. The Kaders are a primitive tribe living among the Ammali Hills, north of Tiruwanduram on the western side of India. It resembles somewhat the release of the Bakuba and Basonge people of Africa brought back by Lieut. WissMANN. The four fingers are over the string, the forefinger slightly flexed and pressing the arrow against the bow, the thumb inactive. It must be classed with the tertiary release.' (Fig. 16.) The Kaders used a heavy bow, the arrows are iron-pointed and four-barbed. 16 . Prof. F. W. Williams, of Yale, when he was in Rangoon, Burma, sent me a postal card on which was depicted an archer shooting a bow, the forefinger was extended along the arrow while the other three fingers were flexed over the string. It may be regarded as a slight modification of the tertiary release. Mr. Williams writes: "Here is an arrow release that appears to be the real thing, but I have yet to see one of the natives shoot. The picture is lettered "A Burmese Villager." Dr. Karl von den Steinen, in his work on "The Savages of Central Brazil" says; (p. 230) "The bow is generally held downward. The arrow lies to the left of the bow. It is held by the second and third fingers, while the fourth and fifth fingers help to steady the cord for the aim, the thumb is not used at all. This Fig. 16 Kader, India way of holding the bow and arrow which is used in the Middle Sea, of which E. S. Morse speaks is different from that of the Bororo. Any contrivance to keep the fingers from being rubbed by the cord is not used. The left hand which holds the bow can hold a number of arrows in reserve." The release is typically tertiar3^ (Fig. 17). I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Steinen and he told me that he explored a new region in Brazil which had never reached the Age of Iron. At the Ethnological Museum, in Amsterdam, I learned that the Javanese practice the tertiary release using the index finger only, a weak method and implying the use of the lightest of bows. The nock of the arrow is very deep and narrow indicating a light string. The bow had a heavy thickening in the middle, deeply grooved for four fingers, and was covered with black velvet; an effeminate bow and probably used by women. In the Copenhagen Museum I saw an arrow from Java with nock shallow and flaring. 17 In 1889 I met at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Lieut. WissMANN and Dr. Ludwig Wolf, recently returned from the interior of Africa with valuable collections of ethnological material and they assured me that the Bakuta people and the Basonge people, in Cen- tral Africa used a release, which represented a slight modification of the tertiary release. The bow is held vertical, the forefinger presses Fig. 17 Bororo, Brazil the arrow against the bow, the arrow being on the right side of the bow. The bow is strong and the arrow beautifully made having three barbs. Lieut. Wissmann told me that in shooting, the archer first points the arrow to the ground in drawing, and then quickly raises and discharges it. The Baluba tribe in Africa uses the Mediterranean release, two-fingered. The bow resembles that of the ancient Egyptian. 18 It would be an interesting path of inquiry to trace the origin of the Mediterranean release. Did it first arise among the Aryan people in Central Asia and if so was the release transmitted to the Eskimo? It is a curious fact that the Eskimo savages ranging from the east to the west coasts of North America practice the Mediterranean release to the exclusion of all other forms. The Mediterranean release occurs sporadically the world over. Furthermore the Eskimo are the only people who have ever devised a special form of arrow, flattened at the nock end to more easily facilitate the discharge of the arrow, it would be almost impossible to use this form of arrow in other releases. We have seen that in prehistoric times the Danes and the inhabitants of Schleswig practiced the primary release and probably the method of other European races. Mr. John Murdock, who made an ethnological journey to Point Barrow in Alaska, and lived with the Eskimo for two years believed in Scandinavian influences among the Eskimo. my In a letter to me he says, "You are quite at liberty to allude to ideas of Scandinavian influence among the Eskimo. I have not studied up the the Scandinavian side of the question thoroughly enough to make any formal statement on the subject." Mr. Murdcx:k gave particular attention to Eskimo arts and customs in a report published by the Smithsonian Institution. In this report he is strongly inclined to the belief that several customs extending from Greenland to and across Bering Straits are derived from Scandinavian colonists in Greenland. These are "the method of arrow release, the size of the oars as well as paddles, a custom as far as I know, unparalleled among savages, and the method of slinging the oar in thongs instead of using rowlocks. The sail of the Umiak is also strikingly like those in the Norse ships." We have seen that the early Scandinavian release was primary, is it unreasonable to suggest that the Mediterranean release may have been first practiced by the Eskimo and from this race the races to the south acquired it? If in paleochrystic ice or prehistoric Eskimo deposits we could find the flattened nock end of an arrow it might set- tle the question. 19 Fig. 18 Seri Gulf of California 20 It is a curious fact that the release universally practiced by the Mediterranean nations, and a release which I thought was associated with the higher races is also seen among the lowest savage races today, namely, the Andaman Islanders, the Pygmy negritos of the Philippine Islands, the Veddahs of Ceylon, the Botocudo Indians of Brazil and other low savage peoples. On an island in the Gulf of California is found the remnant of a tribe known as the Seri Indians. A volum- inous report of these Indians was published in the 17th Annual Report of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, by Dr. Wm. McGee. Major Pow- ell, as Chief of the Bureau, in an introductory note to the Report says, "Among these aborigines known to Caucasians the Seri Indians Fig. 19 Apache appear to stand nearly or quite at the bottom of the scale. They are without agricultural or other organized industries: they still haunt their primeval shorelands, and their fisheries are crude and simple, while their water-craft (in which their culture culminates) are practically individual in design, manufacture and function; and their social organization is of peculiarly significant simplicity." In this report one figure is given of a Seri warrior in the attitude of shoot- A ing the bow. perfect Mediterranean release is shown. (Fig. 18). Dr. Ten Kate sent me a photograph of an Apache warrior from San Carlos, Arizona. He is in the act of shooting the bow. (Fig. 19). The release is clearly Mediterranean using three fingers. Dr. Bovallius, of Stockholm, described to me a release which may have been identical to that described by Dr. Steinen, namely, 21 a two-fingered Mediterranean. This was practiced by a tribe of Indians on the south-eastern coast of Costa Rica known as the Tala- manca Indians, Bribri tribe. He was sure of the release as he had often shot with them. They use this release in shooting fish in the water. The arrow is six feet long and without barbs, and is held between the tips of the first and second fingers, the thumb is held at the butt of the arrow which is truncate. The end of the arrow is slightly thickened with gum and cord so as to give a firmer hold. The bow is held nearly horizontal. (Fig. 20). Despite the statement of Dr. Bovallius as to Fig.