Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-04-29


tim on the neck, the tree straighteIs
up and throws the severed head sou.c
distance and the holiday is over.
This Is the head-hunter's punishment
when a head has been taken without
good cause"
here is the curved pira Of the
Yakans and that long forked handie
IL to protect the elbow In fight.
The guns ranged from the touch
lOck--an iron club that fired once and
then was used to crush arnor; the
matchbox Of 1900 A. D.; the wheel
lock Of 1890 A. D.; the snap hannee
Of the same period; the flint1ock and
file1ock Of 1900 A. D.; the cap
lock Of 1880 and so on TO the modern
automatic.
THE first missile-throwing weapon
was the sling, a weapon not to be de-
spised,D said the captain.
A German legend tells that during
the cave man period hunter was OBJ
served TO be more lucky than his fell
lows, always bringing in plenty OF
game, which made him appear quite
q catch to the unmarried maidens.
His conirade hunters followed him
one day and observed from hiding
that the lucky hunter removed his .G'
string and placed a stone in the CEN.
ter, whirIed II around his head, let
go Of one end and the stone flew into
a flock of water birds that were too.
Tar out OF the ordinary club or stone
throwing hunter, and knocked over
several He had discovered the sling
and its use continued until only a.
couple OF hundred years ago as a
popular game ana war weapon.
'sThe next important step in missile
throwing weapons was the bow. These
same Germans invented the cross
bow, the first Of these weapons be
ine the heavy artillery Of the aneients
and threw heavy stones and great
beam spears and required a great wind
lass to set. But about 1900 A. ID. I'll
was applet to the hand weapon
Here Is a cr0ssbow OF about 1900 A.
ID Observe that the stock is straight
and has not the bend that our mod
ern guns hafe-the bend. by the way,
is an ancient German invention. 1t
was beyond the power of man TO
bend this 37-inch steel bow, so they
had to use this ingenious continuance
called the goats foot lever. Those
on the end of the cross
bow are called the stirrups, and to
set the bow you put the foot on the
stirrup, hooked belt claws, as well
as goat foot lever, and with your
arms. legs and back muscles could, L
you are strong man, tug the string
TO the catch.
rThe bow was sprung by this long
under lever and ii will drive bolt
about 500 yards. Long after gun
powder, came into Use the, crossbOw
continued to be the favorite weapon,
as Il was more accurate. noiseless and
cost less to shoot and had greater
range But Roger Bacon discovered
gun powder. and the first step towards
the modern arm was made when this
club was fixed so that you could shoot
q bolt Il the wind or rain din't put
out your match. The match was q
cotton cord that had been boiled II
spirits Of wine. This matchbox vas
the next step-just little improve
meht over the iron club by having
en- arm or hammer called the SER
penfine that held a lighted match.
and upon pulling on the little button
below the barrel the match fell on
this flash pan, lighting the powder
and discharging the piece.
Then came the filelock, which, as
you see, was fired by q spring pulling
q short file across the flash pan and