252 THE INDIAN BOW. 



the other standing is a half breed, an employee 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company ; his father was a 

 French Canadian, his mother a Cree squaw. 



The illustration in which there are three figures 

 represents three Spokan Indians;* one, the figure 

 to the left, has a stone celt, which I obtained ; it 

 is now in the British Museum collection, and 

 deemed the finest specimen they possess. There 

 was no record as to how it became his property, 

 all I could glean respecting its history was that 

 for a long period it had been handed down from 

 father to son as a valuable heirloom ; hereditary 

 inheritance I find with Indians, as with whites, is 

 weak to resist the all-potent dollar. The centre 

 figure holds a rifle, which was not his own, but 

 borrowed from Macdonald, the chief trader, for the 

 occasion. The figure 011 the right has a bow and 

 arrow, both of which were also purchased. The 

 Indian bow is a masterpiece of skilful manufac- 

 ture ; its elasticity does not in any way depend 

 on the wood used in its construction, but 011 the 

 elastic ligament, procured from the fore leg of 

 the elk ; this is affixed to the wooden framework 

 of the bow by a kind of glue made from the skin 

 of the ' white ' salmon, a glue when hardened 

 resisting the influence of wet to redissolve it. 



* Vide illustration : Three Spokan Indians. 



