Opposed to the guard proper is the bow or counterguard (_la contregarde_, _l’elsa_, _la contraguardia_, _der Bügel_). It is of two chief kinds. In the first the quillons are recurved towards the pommel: the second is a bar or system of bars connecting the pommel with the quillons (fig. 108). The former defends the fingers, the latter serves to protect, especially from the cut, the back of the hand and the outer wrist. This modification, unknown to the ancients of Europe, became a favourite in the sixteenth century, and it is still found in most of our actual hilts. Another product of the early modern age is the _pas d’âne_.[433] At the end of the fourteenth century it was composed of two circular or oval-shaped bars, disposed on both sides of, and partly over, the fort of the blade. In the sixteenth century it was generally adopted, and became a complicated and highly-decorated adjunct to the handle. The _pas d’âne_ is now almost obsolete: a relic remains in our army-claymore.[434] [Illustration: FIG. 107.—_a._ POMMEL; _b._ QUILLONS; _c._ PAS D’ÂNE.] [Illustration: FIG. 108.—DOUBLE GUARD (GUARD AND COUNTERGUARD).] [Illustration: FIG. 109.—STRAIGHT QUILLONS AND LOOPS.] [Illustration: FIG. 110.—FANTASTIC FORM.] We may divide the shapes of blade into two typical forms with their minor varieties: I. The curved blade (sabre, shable, broadsword, backsword, cutlass, hanger, scymitar,[435] Düsack, Yataghan, Flissa, &c.) is _a._ Edged on both sides (Abyssinian). _b._ „ concave side (old Greek, Kukkri). _c._ „ convex (common sabre). II. The straight blade (Espadon, Flammberg, Stoccado, Braquemart, rapier, claymore, skeyne, tuck, small-sword, &c.): the varieties are: _a._ The cut-and-thrust, one- or two-handed. _b._ The broad and unpointed (headman’s instrument). _c._ The narrow, used only for the point. It is hardly advisable to make a third type of the half-curved blade, adapted equally for _tac et taille_ (cutting and thrusting), which we find in ancient Assyria, in India, and in Japan. It evidently connects both shapes. The following diagram shows the three forms:[436] [Illustration: FIG. 111.] I have given precedence to the curved blade because cutting is more familiar to man than thrusting. Human nature strikes ‘rounders’ until severe training teaches it to hit out straight from the shoulder. Again, the sabre-form would naturally be assumed by the sharpened club during the wooden age of imperfect edges; and the penetrating power would be weak and almost _nil_ when the point was merely a fire-hardened stick. [Heading: _CUT AND THRUST._]