The mode of shooting the arrow and bending the bow vary too with different countries. The Veddahs draw the cord lying on the back, holding the bow between the feet; the Andamanese and the Eskimo hold the bow vertically, the Omahas and the Siouans, horizontally, etc. To bend the immense Mongolian or Scythian bow it was necessary to hold it by the knees, etc. Morse[309] distinguishes five special methods of releasing the arrow. The most primitive (primary release) is that which is naturally adopted by children of every race when they attempt for the first time to draw the bow (Fig. [77], top): the arrow and the cord are held between the stretched-out thumb and the second joint of the bent forefinger (Ainus, Chippewas, Assyrians, etc.). The second method is only a variant of the first, and is widespread like the first, especially among the North American Indians. Both give but a moderate propelling power to the arrow. The third method consists in holding the arrow between the thumb and the second joint of the scarcely bent forefinger, whilst the first joint of this finger draws the string, with the help of the third finger. In this method of release it is necessary to hold the bow horizontally (Omahas, Siamese, the natives of the greater Andaman Island, the Egyptians and the Greeks of antiquity). The fourth, so-called Mediterranean, method (Fig. [77], bottom) consists in drawing the string by the first joints of all the fingers except the thumb and the little finger, the arrow being nipped between the fore and middle fingers and placed on the left of the bow; this is the method practised by European archers of all ages, as well as that of the Hindus, Arabs, Eskimo, and Veddahs. Lastly, the fifth method, known as the Mongolian method (Fig. [77], middle), is quite different from the others. The string in this case is drawn by the bent thumb, kept in this position by the forefinger; the arrow, taken in the hollow at the base of these two fingers, is placed on the right of the bow. This method has been practised from the most remote antiquity by Asiatic peoples: Mongols, Manchus, Chinese, Japanese, Turks, Persians, and was likewise practised by the ancient Scythians; in order that the hand may be protected from the recoil of the string, it is necessary to wear a special kind of ring, either of bone, horn, ivory, or metal, on the thumb, or a peculiar three-fingered glove.

Defensive Weapons.—Originally, in their simplest forms, they would not differ appreciably from offensive weapons such as tree-branches, or clubs, perhaps a little broader and flatter than those used for attack. The inhabitants of Drummond Island (Gilbert or Kingsmill archipelago, Micronesia), as well as the natives of the Samoan Islands, can ward off hostile arrows in a marvellous way with only cudgels and clubs; several other peoples (Hawaiians, Tahitians) are acquainted neither with buckler nor cuirasse, and defend themselves with clubs, their native weapons. The Dinkas of the upper White Nile, the Mundas, their neighbours on the south, as well as the Baghirmis of the Central Sudan, can turn aside the arrows of their enemies by means of sticks, either straight or bent like a bow, and somewhat thicker in the middle.

The different forms of shield are only derivatives from the primitive weapon, the club. The evolution must have been effected in various ways, according to local conditions. We may, however, distinguish two principal lines, two types, of evolution to which all the others can be referred. The first is only the development in breadth and the flattening out of the club; this is the origin of most of the long shields. The second is characterised by the presence of a piece of wood, skin, etc., applied to the club around the place where it is held by the hand; this hand-guard was the origin of the round shields and some of the long ones.

FIG. 78.—Australian shield in wood; three sides shown.

The most striking example of the first type is furnished by the shields of the Australians. Certain of them (the Tamarangs) are only clubs a little flattened out and enlarged in the middle; others (the Mulabakas) are very narrow little boards rounded towards both ends with a hilt formed by the slit made in the hinder side, which is a little bulging or ridge-like (Fig. [78]); others take the form of boards somewhat broad, oval, and sometimes ridge-like. Shields of a similar kind, with the ridge a little enlarged at both ends, are used by the Alfurus of the Southern Moluccas (Fig. [79], b). The characteristic shield of the Dyaks and other Indonesians (including those of lower Burma, see Frontispiece) is also derived from a type analogous to the Mulabaka. It is a ridge-like wooden board, sometimes adorned with human hair (Fig. [79], f).

FIG. 79.—Indonesian shields—b,
of the Alfurus of the Moluccas (wood and inlayings);
f, of the Dyaks (painted wood,
tufts of human hair). 		FIG. 80.—Shield of Zulu-Kafirs,
in ox skin, with medial club.

The second mode of development of the shield is marked by the placing on the club some sort of wooden, metal, or skin guard. The clubs or primitive shields of the Monudus are surrounded in the middle by a band of buffalo skin, under which the hand is passed to hold them. Let us suppose that some day this annular band, becoming half-detached, formed in front of the hand a bulwark, the somewhat large surface of which protected it more effectually than the primitive ring, and we understand the origin of shields formed of bits of animal skin fixed on a club, at first very small, like those of the Hottentots, then becoming enormous, like those of the Zulus (Fig. [80]). Similar, but quadrangular bucklers are found among the Shulis of the upper White Nile, the Fans of the Ogowé, etc. Among other equestrian and nomadic peoples the frequent changes of place that were rendered necessary decided the rounded, lighter form of the leather shield, the club of which has disappeared, the hand-grip being made of a thong. Such are the shields of the Bejas, the Abyssinians, the Somalis, and also those of the North American Indians.