658 NORTH AMERICAN BOWS, ARROWS, AND QUIVERS. 



point {id. tig. 4:4r), p. 50(1). In aueient j;Taves fliut heads are frequently 

 found, some of wliich are represented in id. tig. 449, p.. 507. On Soutli- 

 ampton Island stone heads are in nse even at the i)resent time. Fig. 

 423, p. 491, probably shows how they were attached to the shank.* 



The Panamint arrows are made from the stems of the reed {Phragmi- 

 tcs vulgaris) and from willow shoots. The shafts are about 3^ feet 

 long. jS^early mature, but still green, reeds are cut, their leaves removed, 

 and the stems dried and straightened in the hands before a fire. Use 

 is also made of a small stone, across the face of which have T)een cut 

 two grooves large enough to admit an arrow shaft. This stone is 

 heated, and a portion of the crude arrow is laid iu one of the grooves 

 until it is hot. The cane is then straightened by holding it crosswise 

 lu the teeth and drawing the end downward. By repeating this pro- 

 cess throughout the whole length of the shaft a marvelously straight 

 arrow is produced. The head of the arrow is a pin of very hard wood 

 taken from some species of greasewood {iStrij)Iex). It is about 5 inches 

 long, and tapers evenly to a blunt j)oint. The base of the head is 

 inserted about three-fourths of an inch into the hollow of the reed, 

 and rests against the uppermost joint. It is bound in place by a thin 

 band of sinew. Al each joint of the arrow shaft is burned a ring of 

 diagonal lines. The base of the shaft is notched to receive the bow- 

 string, and feathered with three half feathers, bound on with sinews 

 and twisted so as to give to the arrow a rotary motion. t (I'l. xli, fig. 1.) 



" The Spokane Indians laid a i)iece of buckskin on the hand, and from 

 a flint pressed off flakes with a piece of deer's horn," These Indians 

 belongto theSalishan family, and it is easy by means of the old material 

 in the Museum to rehabilitate this ancient arrowmaker of Washington 

 State. His process of flaking is that marked 4 in Plate i. The material 

 on which he worked was incom])arable, and his handiwork now forms 

 the treasures of the Museum. 



"At the base of Mount Uncle Sam" says Dulog, "on the west of Clear 

 Lake, California, there is a tract 2 or 3 miles in extent covered with 

 fragments of obsidian. 



"With material so plentiful, the surrounding Indians are careful to 

 choose only those pieces best shaped by nature for their purpose; but 

 at places distant from the source of supply, the obsidian, which is often 

 brought.] n large blocks, is chipped off in flakes from around a central 

 core by blows of a rock. 



" The old exi)ert put on his left hand a i^iece of buckskin, with a hole 

 cut in it to let the thumb pass through, something like the 'palm' 

 used by sailmakers. This was of course to protect his hand Avhile at 

 work. In his right hand he took a tool of bone ground down to a 

 blunt point. These tools, made often from the leg bone of a deer, are 

 assorted in sizes, large ones being used for coarse work and small ones 

 for fine work. 



"A piece of obsidian of the right size was held in the left hand, theu 

 the right thumb was pressed on the top of the stone, while the point of 



* Franz Boas. The Central Eskimo, VI Rep. Bur. Ethnol., pp. 504-508. 

 tCoville, Jim. Anthrop., 1892, vol. v, p. 360. 



