NORTH AMERICAN BOWS, ARROWS, AND QUIVERS'. 657 



(2) The making- of blanks on the spot. 



(3) The finishing- by the processes named. 



The arrow-maker among the Virginia Indians, foi- making his 

 shafts, used a knife Avith a bhide of beaver tooth set in a wooden lian- 

 dle. This served him for saw, knife, and chisel. John Smith tells us 

 that he made the uotcli in his^rrow-shaft by grating with, this knife. 

 For chipping his arrow-heads of stone he used "a little bone, "which 

 he ever weareth at his bracer, or any splint of a stone or glasse in the 

 forme of a hart." The arrow-head -was fastened to tlie shaft -with deer 

 sinew, held firm by mean.s of a glue made of the tops of deer horns 

 boiled to a jelly. This method is not unlike that of the Apache, Utes, 

 and other tribes of the great interior basin.* 



This is a charming connecting link between the prehistoric and the 

 historic. The knife with a blade of beaver tooth may at this very day 

 be seen in the hands of the Eskimos about the Yukon mouth. One 

 could say that a grip or handle of wood or antler had a groove sunk 

 into one end, the root of the tooth was laid in this, and the two lashed 

 with wet rawhide. At present the Eskimos use their beaver-tooth knife 

 to put a fine edge on their blades of steel. The front enamel of the 

 tooth is so much harder than the rear that it makes a perfect chisel, and 

 would act well for knife or saw. " The little bone that he weareth at his 

 bracer" for flaking his arrow-heads one miglit see any day in the hands 

 of a Ute warrior a few years ago, and Maj. Powell collected and depos- 

 ited several in the National Museum. This is simply a little bit of the 

 fibula of the deer. On the west coast and in Eskimo-land this tool has 

 its grip and its working part distinct. Finally, in the administration of 

 the sinew for seizing, and the glne for binding all tight, one had only 

 to watch the Apache Indian described in this text. 



The arrows {qaqdjung) of the central Eskimos are made of round 

 pieces of wood, generally tapering a little toward the lower end, to 

 which two feathers of an owl or some other bird are attached. The 

 bone heads of these arrows are Joined to the shaft, as represented in 

 Boas's fig. 443, p. 501. The difference in the methods used l^y the Mac- 

 kenzie and the central tribes in fastening the point to the shaft is very 

 striking. The arrow tang of the former and of the western tribes is 

 pointed and inserted in the shaft (Boas's fig. 444:, p. 51).")), wliile that of 

 the latter is always beveled and lashed to it (Boas's figs. 442 and 443, 

 p. 504). The direction of the bevel is either parallel or vertical to the 

 edge {id. fig. 445, p. 505). Other forms of arrows are shown in id. fig. 

 446, p. 506. A similar difference between the fastenings of the foreshaft 

 to the spear handle exists in the two I alities. Western tribes give its 

 base the form of a wedge {id. fig. 447, p. 506), which is inserted in the 

 shaft, M'hile the central Eskimos use a mortise. (Plates lii-lx.) 



Formerly slate heads were in general use {id. fig. 448, p. 500) ; now the 

 heads are almost everywhere made of iron or tin, riveted or tied to the 



* Eng. Scholar's Library. Capt. J. Smith's works, No. 16, }). 68. 

 SM 93 42 



