The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1878-09-20
THE BOW AND ARROW,
WHAT DOCTOR CARVER, THE GREAT RIFLE
SHOT, KNOWS OF ARCHERY.

." You see," said DR.. Carver, as he depos-
tied whole sheaf Of brightly feathered ar
rows on the table, took off his umbraeeons
| felU and drew up chair, II must be shoot
ing something or other all the time. IF if
| lsn't Winchester it's a bow and arrow.
Pretty they are, but not too fins. Fancy
things, these arrows, for handsome yoano
ladies' to shoot on grass plats at straw tar
gets Now an Indian arrow is a good bit
longer, maybe SO inches, and when a Sioux
dIaWs 1t choek up to the bow it fairly huns
when be let's it fly. An Indian arrow has
grooves cut i'll it behind the barb, that is to
say the one they use in hunting, SO that the
blood can flow, otherwise the wood would
spoil and swell. The fighting arrows are
nasty things. The barb is put on the
sha1t 50 that when it hits yon the ssee stsel, l,tqa
go to pull out the arrow. Dear sakes
what ugly wounds have seen them make.
An Indian boy begins to handle light bow
when he toddles, maybe four or five years.
His bow is taller than he is. He shoots at
most anything around the camp. When
he is twelve he uses sharp arrows. A boy
must be strong at Is to use a mans bow.
Now, white man who takes an Indian
bow for the first time has all he can do to
bend it. 1t wants some strength but more
knack. The bow is made straight. When
it is strung the cord, even when in tenson,
almost touches the bow. It is thick, some
q to feet long, that is their hunting bow,
and has extra stifening by having sinews
pasted on it. / have seen We-shessa-has
ka, that's the long man, and he was the
best of the Ogalla Sioux, kill an antelope
with his arrow at 125 yards. We-shessa-
has-ka was nearly seven feet tall and good
Indian. On horseback, broadside to buff
falo, | have more than once known that III
dian to send an arrow through big COW.
The arrow hung out on the other side The |
bow for horseback and for war is a trife
shorter and may be suffer. You do not
draw the arrow to the eye. but catch aim |
as do when shooting from the hip. That |
can only be acquired by long practice. The
string is drawn by the clutch of the whole |
fingers, though some of the tribes use the |
thumb and three fingers. The long man |
could shoot an arrow in the air out of !
sight, and SO can (the doctor pointed to |
an arrow buried up to the feathers in the
ceiling Of our office, his own peculiar orna-
mentation of the Forest and Stream sane |
tum.)
81 think that in a couple of months |
could get into perfect practice, for used |
to hold my own with any Indian ON the
plains. Sometimes after had been shoot |
ing with my Winchester, and Indian would |
come up and show his bow, and tell me his
bow vas muehee goed;' but then I used |
to take his own bow and beat him at it. To |
PASS away the time when I was at the |
Brooklyn Driving Park I bought an Eng
lish bow and arrows Of Holberton, and soon
got into the trick Of it. I hit blocks OF |
wood thrown into the air quite as often as
| missed them. The English bows and az
rows are fancy but coed. | would rather
have an old Sioux one, made Of hickory or
ash, h"t the boss bow | ever owned was
made OF buffalo ribs. An Indian carries
his culver of arrows oyel lis right shoulder
SO that he can get his % ows Quickly.
When he has diFeIjala,e u e4-e arrow (the
Doctor pronounces arrow with q single let
ter; be calls it an r., with the same motion
as he uses in pulling the string he clutches
another arrow. IF he shoots 100 yards he
has three or four arrows in the air, all GO
ing at the same time. It's great fun shoot
ing at bird with long tail that flies over
The prairie. Knock out his tail and his
steering apparatus is gone. have knock
I'd the tail out of many one and SO caught
him in my hands when he tumbled. See,
acre. Talking about these things just
makes me long to be back again on the
plains. New York is a mighty good place,
ind | have made lots of friends; but some
how want a horse and a big field, with
niles On miles before me to gallop 00over
md buffalo just a showing on the divide"
And here Doctor Carver shut his eyes and
seemed lost for while in the visions Of
'olling prairies in the far-off Western will
lerness.
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