6()8 NORTH AMERICAN BOWS, ARROWS, AND QUIVERS. 



"The quiver of tlie Blackfeet was made from the cougar .skiu and was 

 frequently valued at one liorse." * 



Throughout the area of fur-bearing animals the pelt of any one of 

 them of sufficient size served as a ([uiver or arrow bag. These are, for 

 the most i:)art, slovenly in ai)pearance. But the Blackfeet and other 

 Plains tribes formerly made up their bow cases and quivers from large 

 skins. In later times leather and cow's hide with the hair on were sub- 

 stituted. The elaborate make-up was preserved. 



" The Yurok quiver was made of the skin of the raccoon or marten 

 turned wrongside out and suspended by a string-. In the lower end 

 moss was stufl'ed as a cushion for the arrow-heads, t The bow was 

 stuffed into this bag' with the arrows and the wonder is how a man 

 could keej) the bow from destroying the arrows. In traveling, however, 

 the bow was held in the left hand. 



NOTES ON THE BOWS, ARROWS, AND QTTIVERS OF VARIOUS TRIBES. 



Baegert says that the shafts of the iSoutliern California arrows consist 

 of reeds, Avhicli they straighten ])y the fire. They are above (> spans 

 long, and have, at the lower end, a notch to catch the string, and 3 or 4 

 feathers about a finger long, not nnich projecting, and let into slits made 

 for that purpose. At the ni)i)er end of the shaft a pointed piece of heavy 

 wood, a si)aii and a half long, is inserted, bearing usually at its extrem- 

 ity a Hint of a triangular shape, almost resembling a serpent's tongue 

 and indented like the edge of a saw. The Oalifornians carry their bows 

 and arrows always with them, and as they conunence at an early age 

 to use these weapons many of them become skillful archers. | (Plate xci, 



XCII.) 



The arms of the Apaches according to Pike are the bow and arrow. 

 Their bow forms two demicircles, with a shoulder in the middle; the 

 back of it is entirely covered with sinews, which are laid on in so nice 

 a manner by the use of some glutinous substance as to be almost 

 imperceptible; this gives great elasticity to the weapon. Their arrow 

 is more than the "cloth yard" of the English, being 3^ feet long, the 

 upper part consisting of some light rush or cane, into which is inserted 

 a shaft of about 1 foot made of some hard, seasoned light wood; the 

 point is of iron, bone, or stone, and Avhen the arrow enters the body, in 

 attempting to extract it the shaft [foreshaft] comes out of its socket 

 and the point remains in the wound. With this weapon they shoot 

 with such force as to go through the body of a man at a distance of 

 100 yards. § 



"The Apache arrow was composed of three distinct parts — the reed, 

 the stem, and the barb; the last affixed to the stem, and the stem, of 



* Maximilian, Traveh, etc., 257. 

 tPowera, C'ont. to N. A. Ethnoh, vol. iii, p. 18. 



t Baegert, Jacoh. Aboriginal fiiliahiianls of ('alifoniian Peninsula, Sm. lit})., 1S63, 

 p. 362. 



^Pike's Expedition, I'hila., ISIO, 10, Appendix to Part iii. 



