Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-02
INDIAN BOW AND ARROW.
Materials From Which They Were
Made.


From Forest and Stream
The bows Of the North American In
dams We're made of wood. bone or horn.
Sometimes the bow was made OF a single
piece of wood, sometimes of several pieces:
perhaps it was of wood alone, or 1t might
be backed by sinew or by the skin of some
animal. The material for the weapon
was gathered whenever it was possible.
and man might have in his lodge num-
Der OF sticks each OF which he intended
ultimately to fashion into bow. or If he
did not live long enough for this the bow
would descend to his heirs. AS the most
important implements Of. hunters or war
rior the bow was highly valued.
Bows of bone were made sometimes OF
sections of the rib of large animals.
spltced and glued together. and were
usually backed by sinew. Those of the
antler of the elk were sometimes in a
single piece and at other times In sec
tons beveled at the ends and neatly
glued and spliced. Bows of horn We're
often made of several pieces similarly
glued and spliced, but the horns Of the
mountain sheep were sometimes cut into
long and slender rods which were laid to-
gether, glued and backed by sinew.
Another type of sheep horn bow was In
a single piece. the horn being cut in
spiral from base Of horn to point, this
spiral being steamed or boiled and then
Strengthened and caused to dry straight.
Bows such as these were unusual: but
they were also very powerful and never
wore out. On the other hand. 1t Is said,
that bows made of bone or of aatler were
more for show than for use. They Were
good to look at and for a time were eff
fectve, but after few years became dry
and brittle.
Next to the bow, and. in fact, so much
a part of 1t that it cannot be separated
from it, is the arrow. complex !mple-
ment the development of which we may
imagine to have been very slow. and
which no doubt was well advanced toward
its present form before the bow was
thought of. We may fancy the arrow to
be the outgrowth of a simple stabbing in
strument, which developed into a dart
to be thrown, similar to certain toys still
in use among the children of our plains,
Indians.
The arrow consisted of three essential
parts, the head. the shaft and the feath-
ers. Sometimes the shaft was compound.
consisting of more than one piece OF
wood. The primitive head was very va
rious. The feathering Is comparatively
modern invention. SO much so that to-
day traditions exist as to it's development
and the various steps toward the I'M
proved feathering of modern times are
given. Even within the last forty or
fifty years the children among our wilder
tribes have employed very primitive forms
Of arrows, using in their hunting OF little
birds arrows without heads and having
merely a sharpened fre-hardened point.
arrows without feathers and again arrows
feathered after an earlier method. of
which. as practiced by adults. we know
only by tradition.
The bowstring was usually made of
twisted snew, sometimes put on the bow
green and allowed to dry there. In the
southwest, however. the string was some
times made of vegetable fiber. In other
sections It might be made OF strips of raw
hide or intestines of animals.