sides of the animals and picked up the falling darts with a dexterity and a grace that delighted all who witnessed the

scene.

Niebuhr, who visited Arabia about the end of last century, speaks in the highest terms of the skill of the Emir of Loheïa, who, at full gallop, was able to overtake the djerid, and to catch it up before it had reached the sand. The traveller adds, however, that the Arabs are not so fond of this game as the Turks, or even the Persians.

In former times the Turks always carried three of these lances placed in a sheath on the right side of their horses, and from their earliest youth trained themselves by continual and varied practice in throwing the djerid. While still children, an iron javelin, very much heavier than the ordinary weapon, was placed in their hands, and a spot of soft earth was assigned them as a target; thus they were introduced to arduous practice at once. In throwing the iron spear they rested the left hand upon the belt, and stood with their feet in line, the one behind the other. After their arms had become accustomed to this weight they were armed with a javelin of wood, much lighter than the iron one, but still much heavier than the ordinary djerid. This lance they were obliged, according to one authority (Gueri, "Mœurs et Usages des Turks," Paris, 1746), to throw and stick in the ground two thousand times in succession. This training was supposed generally to be sufficient to qualify them for the weapon they were really to use, and after they had gone through these two probationary stages successfully, the djerid was put into their hands, and it no doubt appeared to them as light as a feather in comparison with the lances they had been in the habit of using. Every Friday, on issuing from the mosque, the grandees of the

court assembled in a great square in the seraglio to throw the djerid, and on these occasions sometimes a thousand horsemen took part in the game. The Sultan himself used to mingle amongst them, and if he had the misfortune to wound any one he compensated the sufferer by a donation in money, which was given by his treasurer, who always

J

Exercise with the Javelin. (From a painted vase in the Louvre.)

accompanied him on these occasions. Sometimes the purse contained five hundred crowns, but the amount depended a good deal upon whether His Serene Highness was in a good or a bad temper.

The practice of throwing the lance dates from very ancient times. The Greek language abounds to such an extent in names for the various kinds of lances or spears that we are unable to distinguish precisely between the different varieties. The javelin was the same sort of weapon as the lance, if it was not that identical weapon. The

throwing of this projectile—which was an arm as well as an instrument of amusement-formed part of the military education, and the young men were trained in its use for a greater length of time and much more thoroughly than in any other exercise. Their arms, already strengthened by practice in throwing the ball and the quoit, derived from

Etruscan Preparing to Hurl his Javelin. (From a tomb at Chiusi.)

the practice a muscular power which showed itself on the day of combat both in attack and defence. The casting of the javelin had a beneficial influence upon the upper parts of the body by developing the thorax and the respiratory organs. For this reason it took its place in medical gymnastics, like quoit. throwing, which was recommended by physicians as of great benefit to men of plethoric temperament, and to those subject to giddiness. The attitude of the body, the movement of the arms and shoulders, and the

position of the head were not the same in throwing the javelin as in throwing the quoit. The athlete who held by the former exercise kept his body straight, with his right shoulder bent a little behind to allow of the arm being raised aloft, the eye fixed on the object aimed at, the left arm hanging free or bent at the most obtuse angle, the legs placed as in quoit throwing, the left foot generally in front, the right planted in the rear, and rising lightly when the weapon was hurled. The hand, raised to the height of the

right ear, held the javelin horizontally, and gave it a double revolving motion before it was thrown. To assist these movements, which rendered the hand flexible, and doubled the force of impulsion, the handle of the javelin, especially in the case of that employed in war, was furnished with a leather strap, which the Romans called amentum. Some hold that this apparatus not only increased the force with which the weapon was thrown, but gave a greater degree of precision.

As a weapon of offence the javelin was used in three ways. It was discharged by means of catapults or other machines of war; it was employed as a pike or lance-with it, according to Homer, Achilles killed Hector under the

walls of Troy, the Trojan hero being stabbed in the neck— and it was thrown with the hand as a dart. The warriors who made use of it in this way went to the field armed with two javelins, on the prudent principle of having two strings to one's bow. Homer's heroes never began battle without observing this precaution. When they had selected their adversary, they discharged at him either a single spear, or both, one after the other, and it was only then that they came together and engaged hand to hand in the struggle with the sword.

Examination of ancient monuments enable us to understand better the difference between the Greek javelin and the Roman pilum or spear. The latter was very strong and thick, and, like the former, it was used both as a projectile and as a stabbing weapon. It was made of dogberry-tree wood, was between seven and eight feet long, and was furnished with an iron head half the length of the entire weapon, the socket into which the shaft was inserted

reaching half way along it. We have spoken of the exploits that have been achieved in throwing the javelin, when referring to the skill of the Emperor Commodus. The people of Mauritania were famous for their skill in this art, and they were the instructors of the Romans under the Empire. The tutors of Commodus belonged to this nation, but the pupil surpassed his teachers. The Cadusians or Geles, a people of Media, were counted, after the Moors, the most adroit throwers of the dart.

The ancient warrior, however skilled in the use of the javelin, had only mastered one half of his profession; for the management of the shield was quite as important as the command of the weapon of offence, and the fate of the combatant depended in great part upon his manner of