Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-01-30
USEFUL AS THE FINGERS.
The Toes, II They be Decentralization
Draw Their Bows with The Feet.

1t is astonishing. says the st. Louis
Republic, to what uses the feet and toes
could be put IL necessity arose for a
full development of their powers.
There is a way OF educating the foot,
as well as the hand or tie eyes, and
there is no telling what an educated
foot eau be made To do. In the time
Of Alexander the Great warriors were
taught to draw their bows with their
feet. as we'll as their hands; and this
is done at The present time by the Rock
Veddahs Of Ceylon.
Nearly all aborigines can turn their
toes, not only 10 good but to bad ac-
counts. This Is especially true of the
natives of Australia. who, while they
are c%unningly diverting your attention
with their hands. are busily engaged
committing robberies with their toes,
with which they pick up small arti-
cles as an elephant would with his
trunk.
So. also. the Hindoo makes his toes
work ut the leon. using them in his
weaving operations with almost as
much dexterity as he does his fingers.
The Chinese carpenter when he is
planning a piece of wood always holds
1t with his feet. He also turns a grind.
stone and does other kind of work in
the anne manner.
The Banaka tribe. the most famous
canoemen on the West African coast,
will impel their light canoes with great
velocity over the waves. and at the
same time use the feet To bail out the
water that happens to be dashed over
the sides of the light craft. IL from
any "a a Banaka breaks or loses his
oars he throws his legs over the sides
Of tho boat and propels it almost as
fast with his feet as he could with the
paddles.
Nj. Ducornet. who died in France ia
1862. was born without arms or hands.
He had the eye of an artist, and not
outstanding his great misfortune actu-
ally studied painting and exhibited
many fine productions wholly executed
with his toes.
The feet Of Thomas Roberts, the
.armless huntsman. once in the employ
OF Sir George Barlow. were made to
serve in the place Of hands. Roberts
manufactured most of the instruments
which he used while on the chase, aud
could shoot or throw with as much
precision as the average hunter in pos
session of both arms and hands.
The same may be said of William
Kinstone, an Englishman who kept
his w accounts. shaved and dressed
himself, saddled aud bridled his horse,
threw sledgc hammers and did other
seemingly impossible things with his
toes.
As to national chara cteristics in feet,
it may be said that the French foot is
narrow and long; the Spanish foot Is
small and elegantly curved-thauks To
its Moorish blood-corresponding to
the C%astilian's pride of being high in
the instep."
The Arabs foot is proverbial for its
high arch. Tho Koran says that a
stream of water can run under the true
Arabs foot without touching il. The
foot o! the Scotch is high and thick.
that OF the Irish fiat aud square; the
English, short aud fleshy.
When Athens was in her zenith the
Greek foot was the most perfectly
formed and exactly proportioned OF
that OF any OF the human race. Swedes,
Norwegiaus and Germans have the
largest feet; Americans the smallest.
Russian toes are ''webbedm to the first
joint; Tartarian toes are all the same
length.