William wrote:
> I have high arches, and notice that walking barefoot 
> comfortably requires  
> putting the weight down on the ball of the foot with each 
> step. No stress.  
> Might even prevent or reduce flat feet.

This reminds me of something I've come across in the past: toes-first or
ball-first walking (instead of heel-first). I saw a detective movie set in
the present where an American Indian / Native American looks at some tracks
and says that an Indian made them. The white guy asks how he knows and the
Indian says that the tracks shoe toes-first walking. I searched this on the
Net and I think I found one or two references to toes/ball-first walking by
Am. Indians. 

I've seen Am. Indians use toes/ball-first walking in pow-wow dances, and I
know that in some of the dances Indians were demonstrating how they hunted
an animal. So I know that toes-first walking was probably used in hunting,
as well as dancing, but I wonder if it really is an everyday way of walking
for Indians, or whether that line in the movie was bogus. Also, did other
traditional peoples use toes-first walking? If so, could it be a better way
to walk, or just a quieter way?