Arizona republican., 1896-03-31
WEAPONS OF INDIANS.
Modern Fire arms Have Displaced
 the Bow and Arrow.
The Tomahawk and War Club Are Now Almost ObsoIete-Skill of the Red men in the Use of Their
 Primitive Weapons.

The Indian of to-day has discarded his primitive weapons of war and adopted the white mans. An Indian can reload an empty rifle or revolver shell as well as a white man. How he does it is mystery, for the white man needs special set of tools for the pur- pose, and the Indian has none that are not improvised. The fact remains, how ever. and was so well known to Gen. Miles that, when campaigning after Geronimo in 1886, he published an order directing that soldiers should turn over to their officers all empty shells, in order that they might not be left on the ground and utilized by the Apaches.
 The bow is used in war when stealthy attack is meditated, and quite gen. orally in hunting, for there it answers as well and is more economical. The degree of skill attained by the Indian in archery is truly astonishing, but it is the result of long and constant prac- tice. The Indian boys first lesson is to shoot with small bow and blunt ar row. Finally he receives the strong bow, and with it fits himself for war.
 These latter are powerful weapons. One that an Indian would, with the greatest ease, draw to the arrows head, could scarcely be bent four inches by white man. They will send an arrow five hundred yards, and put it through a board an inch thick.
 On one occasion a mans skull was found transfxed to tree by an arrow, which had gone completely through the bones and imbedded itself so deeply in the wood as to sustain the weight of the head. He had probably been tied up to tree and shot.
 The Sioux make the best bows. Cedar and hickory are favorite woods. The wood is carefully seasoned by being hung, sometimes for months, just out of reach Of the flames of the tepee fire. The bow is four feet long and an inch thick in the niddle. A warrior, with sharp knife and file, will take week to make bow, which will sell for about three dollars in trade.
 The crows make bows of elk horn, each bow requiring four pieces, nicely fitted to each other and spliced and wrapped together. When ornamented, carved and painted, these bows are beautiful. and readily sell for twenty five or fifty dollars. It takes an In dian about three months to make one.
 Before they came much in contact with the whites the Indians frequently used poisoned arrowheads. The Sho- shones made their poison of ants, dried and powdered and mixed with the spleen of some animal. The mixture was then placed in the sun and allowed to decay. The result was such deadly poison that if the arrow ever broke a persons skin it was sure to produce death.
 Arrows are made very carefully, for upon their construction depends the bowman's success. Three or four are the limit of days work, even when the rough material is at hand. The branches from which they are made are cut in the fall, when the sap is not running, and are tied up in bundles, so they will not warp. They are then hung up in the tepee, in similar manner to the bow wood. The shaft is usually chan neled, or grooved, so as to allow the flow of blood from the wound. Arrows pertaining to different tribes may be distinguished by the expert after ex- animation of the feathering, painting or carving. Indeed, it is said that in dividuals of the same tribe eau tell each others arrows in the same way.
 The tomahawk and war club are hardly used at all. Their place has been taken by the knife, one or more being always carried by wild Indian in sheath attached to his belt. Used principally for sllinning game, these knives are nevertheless, at close quar- ters, deadly weapons of attack or de- fense. They are also used for scalping.