This book is included in the Self Reliance Firearms & Weaponry section.
Salem, Massachusetts: PEABODY MUSEUM. 1922.
Printed by:
The Nichols Press
113 Market St., Lynn. Mass.
In 1885 I published, in the Proceedings of the Essex Institute, a paper entitled
"Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow Release." From the difficulty I found in
ascertaining the various attitudes of the hand in drawing the bow I began to
realize that no one had made a study of the subject and that I had made a
discovery. Prof. E. B. Tylor, the distinguised author of "Prehistoric Times," in
acknowledging the receipt of a copy of my paper, wrote me as follows:
"It is wonderful how much there is to be learned by close examination into points that at first sight do not seem as if they wanted any. I had no idea till I looked at your sketches that there were systematic differences among peoples in their way of discharging their arrows."
The main facts, with their illustrations, quickly appeared in Russian, German,
Dutch and French reviews and were republished in England and started a number of
investigators on the subject. In the Memoir, which has been out of print for
some years I asked for information on the subject particularly concerning savage
people, as I regarded my work as only a preliminary outline of the subject. As a
result of this appeal I received many items and sketches from all parts of the
world and now, nearly thirty-five years after, I have compiled this information
and the present paper is the result.
Before proceeding further I venture at this point to republish a few figures
illustrating the five forms of arrow release given in my first paper on the
subject which has long been out of print.
I found the simplest form of release was that which the children
of all nations use the world over: that is in grasping the arrow with
the thumb and bent forefinger. I have seen the children of Americans,
Indians, Chinese, Japanese and Negroes play with a toy bow and
arrow and they all invariably grasp the arrow with the thumb and
bent forefinger. It was interesting to discover that some of the lower
savage races, like the Ainu, practice this release. The arrow accompanying
this release is generally knobbed at the nock end and is
gashed or roughened to secure a firmer pinch on the arrow. This I
termed the primary release.
In another and higher group of savages such as the Pueblo Indians, the arrow is
not only grasped by the thumb and bent forefinger but the second and third
fingers are brought to bear upon the string, thus enabling the archer to use a
stronger bow. This I termed the secondary release.
A third form of release I determined through the courtesy of Mr. Le Flesche, an
educated Omaha Indian. This release consisted in holding the forefinger nearly
straight and not bent as in the primary and secondary releases and with the tips
of this finger and the tips of the second and third fingers pulling the string,
the arrow being held between the tips of the thumb and forefinger. This form I
termed the tertiary release and found it wide spread. From the testimony of
Lieut. Vogdes, U. S. A. and Col. James Stephenson, this was the form of release
used by the Sioux, Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Assiniboins, Comanches, Blackfeet and
Navahoes and doubtless other North American tribes.
C. J. Longman, Esq., in his interesting and valuable contributions to the
Archery volume of the Badminton Library Series, does not recognize this release
and classifies it with the secondary form and says, "It seems doubtful, however
whether there is sufficient distinction between the secondary and tertiary
looses to justify their separation, and all finger and thumb looses, when the
tips of the fingers assist in drawing the string will be classed here as
secondary." I cannot agree with my distinguished friend, for further study shows
that it is a marked North American method. A study of West Coast Indians,
Mexican tribes, Surinam Indians, and even the figures in ancient Mexican
codices, tracings of which I have received from that eminent scholar Mrs. Zelia
Nuttall, convinces me that the tertiary release was employed by these ancient
people. It is found sporadically in other parts of the world.
The archers of Europe shooting only for sport use a release that I have named
the Mediterranean release because I discovered that the Mediterranean nations —
the Caucasians of Blumenbach — for nearly 2000 years have used this release.*
Even the ancient relatives of this race, the Hill tribes of India, practice it.
It consists in drawing the string with the tips of the first, second and third
fingers; the thumb is inert and the little finger is rarely used. Pictures and
engravings of the 17th century and before depict the archer as using the first
and second finger only. This indicates either greater strength or a lighter bow.
This release, as practiced today requires either a glove or finger tips of
leather to protect the ends of the fingers.
The Asiatic races employ a method far removed from those forms already
mentioned. The string is drawn back by the thumb which is sharply bent over it,
while the forefinger is bent over the tip of the thumb to aid in holding it. The
arrow is held in the junction of the forefinger and thumb. This method of
release necessitates the wearing of a stout thumb-ring made of bone, horn, jade
or metal, the edge of the ring engaging the string. All the Asiatic races
without exception use this realese; the Mongols, Manchus, Tibetans, Koreans and
Turks use this release with various forms of thurrb rings, the Japanese using a
glove with a grooved thumb. Even the Persians, who are not Mongoloid, have
acquired this release from being interposed between Mongoloid people on the east
and west.
In attempting to make out from ancient drawings, such as those on Greek vases,
the attitude of the hand in drawing the bow the great difficulty arises from the
fact that in many cases the artist was not an archer, and, furthermore, so long
as the bow was stretched no attention was paid to the attitude of the hand in
stretching it. When I began the study I was amazed at the inability of travelers
to recall the method of arrow release, though they admitted they had seen the
savages shoot a hundred times. I recall a striking illustration of this in the
case of my friend, Frank Hamilton Gushing, who had lived among the Zuni Indians
for several years. He brought to Boston many years ago a number of Zuni Indians
who were hospitably entertained by Mrs. Mary Hemenway at her summer home in
Manchester. I was invited to spend the day with them. I asked Mr. Gushing the
method the Zuni used in shooting the arrow. He looked at me vaguely and said,
"Why, I have shot with them a thousand times, isn't it this way?" pushing a lead
pencil between the thumb and bent forefinger. I told him that was the lowest
form of release and as the Zuni are Pueblo Indians I thought they must use the
secondary release, that is beside the thumb and bent forefinger on the arrow,
the second and third finger assisted in drawing the string. He immediately
constructed a bow from a stick, made a rude arrow, strung the stick and invited
one of the chiefs to illustrate the Zuni method of drawing the bow. We eagerly
watched the hand as he drew the string and the attitude of his fingers was
precisely as I had predicted. Mr. Gushing gave me a hearty slap on the shoulder
while ejaculating "Spl — endid!" Nowhere was an acute observer who had lived and
shot with the Zuni and yet had failed to observe the simple attitude of the hand
in shooting. What must it have been with the ancient artists and sculptors, many
of whom had never shot an arrow! The infinite variety of drawings on Greek vases
of archers drawing the bow is sufficient evidence of their incompetency in
regard to portraying the attitude of the hand in archery. In ancient rock
sculpture
the wear and tear of age render the details indistinct, the position of the
fingers on the bow string is often obscure. These conditions coupled with the
inaccuracy of the sculptor render these details unreliable. The general attitude
of the hand, however, can be recognized. In all the releases except the
Mongolian the attitude of the hand as a whole can usually be seen and it assumes
the form of a more or less closed fist. In the Mongolian release, however, the
attitude of the hand is with fingers bending downward at right angles to the
back of the hand which is uppermost.
In my first memoir I expressed the belief that the different releases
characterized different races and that is more or less true. I find that these
lines are not hard and fast, however, as I had at first supposed but that here
and there savage people the world over practice a release which I associated
with the higher races, namely, the Mediterranean. Even the Mongolian release,
the most exclusive of them all, is found m Africa in which not only the
thumb-ring is used but also an extraordinary device in the form of a yoke of
wood grasped in the hand and first described by Dr. Felix von Luschan. Further
reference to his discovery will be made.
In my first paper I tried in vain to find the method of release among the
Indians who were common in New England in the early part of the seventeenth
century. I had secured the Penobscot and Micmac release and this was the primary
form. In 1865 the Prince Society of Boston reproduced a rare book entitled
"Wood's New-England's Prospect," by William Wood, published in London in 1634,
copies of which are of great rarity. In the Prince Society reproduction the
quaint and original spelling is carefully preserved. William Wood was evidently
a gentleman and a scholar, Latin phrases often occur. The author was a keen
observer. He notices what few travelers do, the attitude of the hand of the
savage in drawing the bow. The following extract describes very clearly that the
Indians in New England employed the primary release. "For
their shooting they be most desperate marksmen for a point blancke object, and
if it may bee possible Cornicum oculos configere they will doe it: such is their
celerity and dexterity in Artillerie, that they can smite the swift running
Hinde and nimble winked Pigeon without a standing pause or left eyed blinking;
they draw their Arrowes between the forefingers and the thumbe; their bowes be
quicke, but not very strong, not killing above six or seven score", (p.
97)
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