Evening star., 1901-12-14

its mission by the expansion OF q gas-ths
human breath-in the tube. and by another
gas, produced by the explosion OF the gum
powder. in the 1rearm. No historic proof
survives, however, that any collusion exist
ed The perfection OF the self-bow was
reached in England, as everybody knows
who has read Roger Ascham's ''ToNophi-
lus" or Conan Doyle's white Company"
or who has heard of Robin Hood. said TO
have been able TO shoot a flight arrow the
distance OF a mile.
The BuiIt-Up Bow.
On the Pacific coast OF America. In the
interior basin. among the Eskimo. and
throughout Asia, the self-bow gives place
to the compound or the built-up bow. In a
few areas the ingenuity Of man has had TO
contend against terrible odds, which, how
ever, have Quickened his intellect to pro-
duce on Hudson bay a sorry bow In three
pieces, a grip and wings OF bone lashed to-
gether; or on the treeless regions OF the
Missouri horn bow.
But the tribes of California and Utah
knew how to make a broad bow of yew or
other wood, to shred sinew from the shoul-
ders, legs and tails of animals until II was
as fine as gossamer, to mix it up with glue
and to plaster IL on the back OF the bow to
look very much like smooth bark.
Herein was realized the climax of bow
making, to secure rigid support on the
belly and the maximum of elasticity on
the back But the most ingenious inven-
tion Of savage man is the sinew- backed
bow of the Alaskan Eskimo. He has no
timber. only drift wood. but it will do for
the columnar strain. After shaping this
with broad wings and round grip, he
makes a hundred yards or so of the best
sinew twine or sennit. about the size of
wrapping twine. This is laid on the back
of the bow from mock to mock and caught
by half bitches over various parts OF the
wings forming one or two cables along the
grip. These cables are often so related
that they may be wound up to increase the
thh -srs., Il, a
the tendency of the drift wood to snap is
overcome by the many little sinew fingers
grasping the wood and taking the strain.
To put the question to the Eskimo in reg
ular form 1t would read: Given some drift
WOOD about as elastic as a pipe stem and
sinew cord, having no rigidity, to construct
one OF the best bows in the world. Result,
the slnew-backed bow. l 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
best
The arrow has kept pace with the bow in
calling forth the utmost ingenuity of man,
both in its construction and use. Its SIM
pleSt form is without separate parts. Ii is
javelin, a spear or harpoon discharged
from bow. Its working end is a repetition
of these. To give 1t drectness and dis
tance in its flight, shafts with two specific
gravities and feathers have been invented.
the effect Of which is somewhat like the
resistance used by the Peruvians in steer
ing their balsas.
Completing the GeneaIogy.
Who first thought to set a bow on the
end of a stick and thus form a crossbow
L have been unable to find out. The Chi
nese have powerful one for killing tigers
which is made up of plates. like carriage
spring. The Latin name is arcus balistar-
ius, whence arbalest. The first mention in
England is about the time OF the Norman
conquest and the weapon was popular dur
IN
arbalesters were the Genoese, 1900 of
whom were in battle of Cressy u346).
F'roisSart tells us that the rain one morn
ing had wet the cross bow cords and rem
dered the weapons useless. But the Eng
lish bowmen had kept their bows in their
cases and Were able utterly to rout the
Genoese. Pope Innocent ii forbade the use
of this weapon on Christians as deadly
and hateful to God" The arblest 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 string
ing, inventors busted themselves in the CEN
turies 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 a lever; ''arbalete
a tour set by means of a windlaSs or
mouinet, and "arbalete a erie" set with
an arrangement of cogs. The killing power
of these weapons is put all the way from
forty to 100 yards. Only two bolts could be
shot in minute, while archer would
discharge a dozen. The inventors of gum
powder substituted the elasticity of a gas
for that of wood or horn or steel. and a
tube for groove. They also cut the shalt
from the arrow. The trigger and nut re-
manned and in a mysterious way the
spark released the invisible spring.
The Chinese may have made firecrackers
before the Christian era, the Byzantine en-
perors may have thrown Greek fire thirteen
hundred years ago, Bacon and Schwartz
may have concocted real gunpowder a hum
dred years later, but Edward III was the
flrSt TO iSlE n fsa h
of war in his conflict with the Scotch in
132I Cannon We're not born until twenty
years later. Small arms Of any serious ac-
count began with the culverin. requiring
two persons to manipulate ii. These were
in vogue when Columbus discovered Ameri-
ca. The arquebus was the Improvement on
the culverin. The outfit of its owner con-
sisted 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 tsiXteenth century,, flint lock 1922
lS42), percussion caps, modern cartridges
and magazine. breech-loading rifles The
genealogy of the rifle is complete from the
primitive bow to the latest arm. There were
great Jealousies between the three branches
of this family three hundred years ago. Will
liam de Beilay (loN9) said of the crossbows:
Il would recommend them before the har-
quebuSse, 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 159O) ayers that the change
from the long bow to firearms was lowing
to the youth, inexperience and vanity OF
some men," assigning eight reasons for abol-
ishing the musketeer. N. Philips de
Confines, one hundred years earlier wrote,
Mon advis est que lie souverrain chose du
monde pour les battailles sont des archiers."
Just wait minute" said the mother.
Il have arranged for you a thorough course
in roastology, boiloogy. stitchology, darn
ology, pathology and general domesticol-
ogy. Now, put on your apron and pluck
that chicken Tit Rits