The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-07-22
Bows and Arrows.

lyon see, said DIR. Carver, as he de-
posted whole sheath of brightly-feath
cred arrows on a table, took off his UNI
brageous felt, and drew up q chair, II
must be shooting something or other all
the time. If it isn't Winchester, it's
bow and arrow. Pretty, they are, but
most too finel Fancy things, these ar
rows, for handsome young ladies to
shoot on grass plots at straw targets.
Now an Indian arrow is a good bit
longer-maybe thirty-two inches-and
when Sioux draws 1t chock up TO the
bow it fairly huns when he lets 1t fly.
An Indian arrow has grooves cut in 1t
behind the barb-that Is 10 say the ones
they use in hunting-so that the blood
can flow; otherwise the wound would
swell and spoil. The fighting arrows are
nasty things. The barb is so put on the
shaft that when it hits you the steel (old
hoop from stays in the flesh when you go
to pull out the arrow. Dear sakes, what
ugly wounds [ have seen them makei
An Indian boy begins to handle light
bow when he toddles, maybe at four or
five years. His bow is taller than he Is.
He shoots at everything around the
camp. When he is twelve he uses sharp
arrows. A boy must be strong at eigh-
teen to use n mans bow. Now, white
man who takes an Indian bow for the
first time has all he can do to bend it.
1t needs some strength but more knack.
The bow is made straight. When 1t Is
strung the cord, even when In tension,
almost touches the bow. 1t is thick,
some four and half or five feet long
that is their hunting bow-and has extra
stiffness by having sinews pasted on 1t.
have seen We-shessa- has-k a-that Is,
the long man-and he was the best of
the Ogalalia Sioux, kill an antelope with
his arrow at l25 measured yards. We
shessa-has -ka was nearly seven feet tall
and good Indian. On horseback,
broadside to buffalo, / have more than
once known that Indian TO send an mr.
row through big COW. The arrow
hung out on the other side. The bow
/ for horseback and for war is tritie
shorter, and maybe sitter. You do not
draw the arrow to the eye, but catch ann
as l do, when shooting from the hlp.
/ That can be acquired only by long prac-
tice. The string is drawn 10y 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 l (the
doctor pointed to an arrow buried up to
the feathers in the ceiling OF our office,
! his Own peculiar characterization OI the
/ Forest and Stream sanctum). | think
+ that in a couple of months | could get
/ into perfect practice, for L used to hold
! my own with any Indian on the plains.
1 Sometimes after / had been shoot
/ ing with my Winchester an Indian
would come up and show his bow, and
/ tell me his bow was 'muchee good, but
I then ] used to take his own bow and
beat him at it. To pass away the time
when / was at the Brooklyn Driving
/ Park. 1 bought an English bow and ar
rows of Robertson, and soon got into
/ the trick of it. ] hit blocks of wood
thrown into the air quite as often as l
/ missed them The English bows and
+ arrows are fancy, but good. / would
I rather have an old Sioux one, made OF
+ hickory or ash, but the boss bow L ever
owned was made of buffalo ribs. An
/ Indian carries his culver of arrows over
/ his right shoulder. so that he can get his
arrows quickly. When he has discharged
/ one arrow. with the same motion he
uses in pulling the string he clutches
another arrow If he shoots one hun
dred wards he has three or four arrows in
/ the air all going Mt the same time. It's
/ great fun shooting Mt bird with a long
/ tail that flies over the prairie. Knock
out his tail and his steering apparatus Is
gone. l have knocked the tail from
many a one, and so caught him III my
hands when he tumbled. Forest and
/ Stream