The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-01-10

throw yne arrows 20 the left. Bu6a1d
Bill was an adept at slzughterinQ game
ON horseback, and he won his great bet
at killing the greatest number Of but,
faloes By following the custom Of the
Indians. shooting to the left. The horse
approaches the animal, his halter hang,
ing loose upon his neck, bringing the
rider within three or four PAGES Of tho
game, when the arrow, or the rifle ball.
is sent with ease and certainty through
the heart
Indians who have the opportunity =
ride nowadays still exercise with =
lance, twelve or fifteen feet in length.
In their war games end dances they al
ways appear with this lance and shield.
The spears are modern and have .
blade of polished steel and the shields
are made of skin Those of old make
are of buffalo neck The skin IS soaked
and hardened with glue extracted
from the hoofs- The shields are arrow
proof and will throw off a rifle shot il
held obliquely, and this the Indians
can do with great skill. Since there 10
no war or occasion for the use of thesa
arms, except in games of practice,
many Of the Indians for few bottles
OF fire water" have sold their best
shields, and now they are seen scat
tered over the country. preserved q
curios.
II is folly 90 assume that the Indian
have wholly or even partly done away
with their barbaric customs. In their
celebrations ii is their great joy 20 cast
Off their clothing and paint their bod,
les all colors Of the rainbow; weal
horns on their heads and make then-
selves look as hideous as possible The
arrow game Is introdueed-never are
there demonstrations with the modern
weapons-and tho man is esteemed
above all others who can throw the
greatest number Of arrows in the sky
before the first one falls In hunting
the Sioux kill muslSrats with spears a.
they did in early days spear the buf,
falo, managing to get close 10 them by
being dressed in the VOLTS skin and
going on all fourS Ihave seen Indians
who would on horseback attack and
kill bear with a lance, but wer
afraid TO modest the animal unless thel,
had the Indian pony as . means a
escape.
The arrow heads of ebert used fos
hunting are peculiarly fastened. in orr
der to make the arrow revolve. The
Indian feathers the arrow for the same
purpose, and also carves the arrow
shaft with spiral groove. This Is not
as has been supposed. to let the blood
out of the wound, but TO make the an
row carry.
Every tribe has Its own arrow; II 10
claimed tina. the Pawnees are the
best manufacturers. The Comanchea
feather their arrows with two feathers,
the Navajoes, Utes and all Apaches
except the Tontos, have three feathers,
the Tontos using four feathers for each
shaft. The bird arrow Is the. very
smallest made.
have practiced for hours with the
Utes, uselessly trying to blame the
twist OF the fcathered arrow for my
bad shots. The Indians say that tho
carvings and feathers are so arranged
as to give the arrows the correct mos
ton, and one old chief on seeing the
twist in the rifie-barrel by which tho
ball Is made to revoive in the same
manner, claimed that the white man
stole his idea from the Indian.
Oval stones with grooves around
their greatest circumference are 80
cured to handle by withe or thong
and become war clubs. They are dans
gerous weapons in the hand of an In
dian. Tomahawks manufactured by
white men, have succeeded the wna
club in q way, as it Is claimed tho
rifle has the bow aud arrow. Recent
tomahawks taken from the Indians
bear an English trademark; they orig
inally cost perhaps fifteen ccaH
and were sold to tho Indians foS
nothing less than . horss and psrhap(
two.
Chief Wolf, an Indian croesus ana
the Vanderbilt OF the red men, though
he Is worth over half million and
drives at times IN an elegant coach,
clings closely 70 his tepec, ever demonA
strating the savage part Of his life. He
lives at Fishhools Bay, on the Snake
river, in the state OF Washington He
Is Of the Palouse Snake Indians, and
though he has a comfortable house hs
never sleeps there, but goes TO the
tepce no matter how inclement thu
weather. In the days when the buffalo
were plenty, Wolf was great hunter.
He tells tale Of driving three thou
sand bison over q bluff near the Snake
river, where they were al killed BY
the fall This is supposed TO be .rus
because until late years the plses
was mass OF bones Though he has
his guns and all the modern firearms,
both he and the children cling 10 thA
primitive weapons a war.