The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1881-09-09
Bows and Arrows.


"You see, said Dr Carver, MS he de-
posted a whole sheath Of brightly-feath-
cred arrows on table, took of his UNI
brageous felt, and drew up chair, II
must be shooting somethingor or other all
the time. If it isn't Winchester, it's a
bow and arrow. Pretty, they are, but
most too fine! Fancy things, these ar
rows, for handsome young ladies TO
shoot on grass plots Mt straw targets
Now an Indian arrow is n good bit
loager maybe tlirty-two inches-and
when n Sioux draws it chock up TO the
bow it fairly huns when lie lets it fly.
An Indian arrow has grooves cut in 1T
behind the barb--that is to say the ones
they use in limiting 80 that the blood
cau 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 Gold
hoop iron) stays in the flesh when you 60
to pull out the arrow Dear sakes, what
ugly wounds have seen them makel
An Indian boy begins 10 handle n 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 mans bow. Now, white
man who takes an Indian bow for the
first time has all he can do to bend IT,
II needs some strength but more knack
The bow is made straight When it is
strung the cord, even when in tension,
almost touches the bow 1t is thick,
some four and half or five feet long
that il their hunting bow---and has extra
stiffness by having sinews pasted on it.
! have seen We-shessa-h -has-ka that is,
the long man-and he was the best Of
the Ogalalla Sioux, kill an antelope with
his arrow at 125 measured yards. We
shessa-has -ka was nearly seven feet tall
and good Indian. On horseback,
broadside toa buffalo, / have more than
once known that Indian to send m ar
row through big COW. The arrow
hung out on the other side. The bow
for horseback and for war is II triile
shorter, and maybe stiffer. You do not
draw the arrow to tho eye, but catch aim
as / do, when shooting from the hip.
That can be acquired only by long prac-
tice. The string is drawn by the clutch
Of the whole fingers, though some OF tho
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 ornamentation OF the
| Forest and Stream sanctum). ! think
| that in couple of months | could get
into perfect practice, for / 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
! then | used to take his own bow and
! beat him at it, To pass away the time
when | was at the Brooklyn Driving
Park, l bought an English bow and mr.
rows of Robertson, and soon got int
the trick Of it. hit blocks of wooo
thrown into the air quite as often as !
missed Them The English bows aud
arrows are fancy, but good. / would
rather have an old Sioux one, made d
hickory or ash, but the boss bow ! ever
owned was made of buffalo ribs. An
Indian carries his quiver Of arrows ovei
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 yards he has three or four arrows il
the air all going at the same time. III
great fun shooting at bird with a lonf
tail that flies over the prairie. Knocl
out his tail ana his steering apparatus j
gone | have knocked the tail fron
many a one, and so caught him in m.
hands when he tumbled Forest an,
| .Styen{l