NORTH AMERICAN BOWS, ARROWS, AND QUIVERS. 643 



The horn bow was not coiiflned to the parts of America inhabited by 

 the great ruinitiants. Pandarus' bow is thus described by Homer — 



'Twas foimfd of liorn, and smoothed with artful toil, 



A mountain goat desigut'd the shining spoil, 



Who pierced long since, beneath his arrows bled, 



The stately quarry on the cliffs lay dead. 



And sixteen palms his brows large honors spread. 



The workmen joined and shaped the bended horns, 



And beaten gold each taper point adorns. 



(Balfour in the work quoted has exhausted this theme.) 



(3) The sinew-lined how area. — By sinew lined bow is meant one in 

 which finely shredded sinew is mixed with giue and laid on so that it 

 resembles bark. This area extends up and down the Sierras in the 

 western TJnited States and British Columbia, on both slopes, and 

 reaches as far north as the headwaters of the Mjickenzie. (Plate LXi.) 



The occurrence of hard wood in the Great Interior Basin and of yew 

 and other soft woods on the western slopes gives rise to the wide, thin 

 bow in the latter, and the long, ovate, sectioned bow in the basin. 



The Shoshonean or narrow bow occupies the interior basin, and is 

 found also in the hands of Athapascans in Canada, and Apache, 

 Navajo, and Pueblo tribes farther south. Its chief characteristic, in 

 addition to the ovate section, is that in many examj)les, at intervals of 

 a few inches, after the back was laid on, it was wrapped with narrow 

 bands of sinew. These hold the backing to the wood and prevent split- 

 ting (Pi. LXi), This device seems necessary with these narrow exam- 

 l^les. Scarcely one may be found an inch across the back, affording not 

 enough sticking space for the glue. With the broad California bows it 

 was different. 



(4) The sinew-corded bow area. — Where the bow has a backing made 

 up of a long string or braid of sinew, i^assing to and fro along the back. 

 This has been carefully studied and described by Murdoch.* 



He divides the bows into classes, and shows how each of these 

 classes originated, partly by the resources and exigencies of the 

 environment and partly throngh outside influences. There are practi- 

 cally four classes of this corded or laced pattern, to wit: 



(a) The Cumberland Gnlfti/pe. — In these the sinew cord, or yarn, is 

 made fast to one nock, and passed backward and forward along the 

 back of the compound bow forty or fifty times. In addition to this, 

 additional strength is given by half turns and short excursions to and 

 fro on the back of the grip, Mr. Murdoch considers this the primitive 

 type of the sinew-backed bow, (Plates lxiv, lxv.) 



{b) The iSouth AJaslan type. — The bow is of wood, broad, flat, and 

 straight, but narrowed and thickened at the grip. The back is flat, 

 and the belly often keeled, and fre(inently a stiffener of wood or ivory 

 occurs under the sinew lining. There is a subtype of this bow from 



' Report of U. S. National Museum, 1884, p. 307-316. Plates I-XII. 



