NORTH AMERICAN BOWS, ARROWS, AXl) (,)ITIVI:rs. 



By Otis Titfton Mason. 



" If the canopy of Heaven wero a bow, and the earth were the curd tldereoC; and if cilani- 

 ities were the arrows, and mankind the marks fur those arrows; a;id if Ahnighty (iod, tlie 

 tremendous and the glorious, were the unerring archer, to who:ii ( oiild the sons of Adam tiee 

 for protection f The sons of Adam must flee unto the Lord." — 7V))ii/r« InsHtutes. p. xlviii. 



Ill iio series of museum specimens is the natural liistory of linma]i 

 invention better exemplified than in the apparatus of war and the 

 chase. The history of wartare especially involves the right understand- 

 ing of two words — oftense and defense. The perfecting of defensive 

 apparatus has been stimulated by the perfecting of weapons of offense, 

 and on the contrary the ingenuity of the human mind has been taxed 

 to make the offensive implement of war more i)Owerfiil than the defen- 

 sive.* Protection of the body is secured by what is generally termed 

 armor. The protection of the family, the tribe, the army corps, is 

 achieved by fortification of some kind. 



In the modern art of war this conflict of defense against ofiense 

 reaches its climax in the built-up steel rifle-cannon and the nickel and 

 steel Harveyized armor i)]ating. One of the modern guns will send its 

 shot (juite through a plate 20 inches thick. Now the primitive form of 

 this terrible piojectile was the arrow, and of the steel i)late the ances- 

 tor was the trifiing hide and stick armor of savagery. 



Offensive implements in all ages and stages of culture are for three 

 purposes — to bruise, to slash, and to pierce the body of the victim. 



Bruising weapons are found everywhere, but were highly develoi)ed 

 in the Polynesian area, because there abundance of hard wood exists 

 and little stone with conchoidal fracture for chipping. 



Among the African savages, l)ecause they possess iron which may 

 be worked from the ore, edge or slashing wea]>ons have been espe- 

 cially elaborated. 



Among the American aborigines, where obsidian, Jasper in all its 

 varieties, chert, fpiartz, and other siliceous stcnies al)ound, i)iercing 

 weapons seem to have been the favorite class. 



* These two subjects as developed by the Aiiiericau aborigines will be treated 

 subsequently. Shields and armor will lie (b'scribed by 'Sir. Walter Hmmh. 



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