The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-15

taking the strain. To put the question to
the Eskimo in regular form. il would read:
Given some driftwood about as elastic as a
pipe-stem. and sinew cord. having no rigid
ity, 10 construct one Of the best bows in the
wOrlu Result. the sinew-backed bow. 1
am not going to say that the Eskimo had
no teaching from Asia. where in Japan,
China and in the southwestern lands the
compound bow OF wood, rawhide. horn. etc,
attained its best.
The arrow has kept pace with the bow in
calling forth the utmost ingenuity of man,
both in its construction and use It's sim
plest form is without separate parts. 1t is
a javelin. a spear. or a harpoon discharged
from a bow. Its working end is repetition
Of these. To give it directness and distance
in its flight. shafts with two specific CRAWL
ties and feathers have been invented, the
effect of which is somewhat like the resist
ance used by the Peruvians i'm steering their
baisas.
THE CROSSBOW.
Who first thought to set a bow on the
end of "A stick and thus form a crossbow
/ have been unable TO find out The Chi
nese have powerful one for killing tigers.
which is made up of plates. like a carriage
SpTHB- Inc 1dllu name Is ARGUS DdlS-
tarius, whence arbaIest. The first mention
in England is about the time of the Nor
man conquest and the weapon was popu-
lar during five hundred years. Among the
most skillful of arbalesters were the Geno-
csc, 5000 of whom were in the battle of
Cressy Q346). Froissart tells us that the
rain one morning had wet the crossbow
cords and rendered the weapons useless.
But the English bowmen had kept their
bows in their cases and were able to utterly
route the Genoese. Pope Innocent III for
babe the use of this weapon on Christians
deadly and hateful to God" The
arbalest consists of stock bow. groove for
the bolt. cord. nut or catch to arrest the
cord, and trigger for release. According TO
the manner of stringng, inventors busted
themselves in the centuries to improve the
implement The order of their production
may have been thus-crossbOw, set with
both hands; arbalete a pied-de- biche, set
with lever; arbalete a tour. set by means
of MINDLESS moulinet, and arbalete a
eric, set with an arrangement of cogs. The
killing power of these weapons is put all
the way from forty to one hundred yards.
Only two bolts could be shot in a minute,
while archer would discharge a dozen.
The inventors of gunpowder substituted the
elasticity of gas for that of wood or horn
or steel. and a tube for a groove. They
also cut the shaft from the arrow The
| trigger and nut remained, and in mys-
teriOus way the spark released the invisible
spring. The Chinese may have made fire
crackers before the Christian era, the
Byzantine emperors may have thrown
Greek thirteen 20
con and Schwartz may have concocted
real gunpowder a hundred years later: but
Edward III was the first to risk his life on
his 'crakeys (Greeks) of war" in his con-
fict with the Scotch in 1927 Cannon were
not born until twenty years later. Small
arms of any serious account began with the
culverin, requiring two persons to rnanip-
ulate it. These were in vogue when Column
bus discovered America. The arquebus was
the Improvement on the culverin. The out
fit of its owner consisted of powder. flask
! touch box. bullet bag. musket rest and
| burning match. 1t is then an easy road
through file and pyrites, wheel and flint
| sixteenth century,; flintIock Q625-1S42) per-
cussion caps; modern cartridges and maya
zine, breech-loading rifles The genealogy
of the rife is complete from the primitive
| bow TO the latest arm. There were great
| tealousies between the three branches OF
this family 300 years ago. William de Bellay
Q5S9 said OF the crossbows, Il would rec
ommend them before the harquebusse, as
well for their readiness in shooting which
Is much more quicker, as also for sureness
of their shot. which is never in wayne
AS TO the long bow while Sir John Smith
! Q59O AYERS that the change from the long
! bow to firearms was lowing to the youth
inexperience and vanity of some men," as.
| signing eight reasons for abolishing the
musketeer, Phillips de Confines, 100 years
earlier, wrote, Mon advis est que lie sou.
verrain chose du monde pour les battailles
| sont des archiers."
| Washington, D. c.