EXPLANATION OF PLATE XL VI I. 

 SiouAX Arrows, Nebraska and Dakota. 



Fig. 1. Shaft, of osier. The shaftment is ilecorated with alternate hands of red, 

 hlue, and yellow. The shaftmont is cut away at the outer end so as to 

 leave the nock a projecting cylinder and give a better grip to the fingers 

 in discharging the arrow. Notch, U-shaped. The head, a slender blade 

 of iron let into a "saw cut" in the end of the shaft, the two lips of this cut 

 being shaved down neatly so as to form no impediment to the progress of 

 the arrow. This is a very delicate and effective weapon. The iron blade 

 is slightly barbed at the base. Length of shaft, 26 inches. 



Cat. No. 76831, V. S. N. M. Sioux Indians, ^Nebraska. Collected by Governor 

 Furness. 



Fig. 2. Shaft, of hard wood. Shaftment ornamented with yellow and red bands. 

 Feathers, seized with sinew, held on spirally, and glued to the shaftment. 

 It is difficult to say whether this spiral arrangement was designed to make 

 the arrow spin through the air. Authorities differ on this point, and the 

 object of direct flight at close range would be more than canceled by the 

 disadvantage ofuutangling a revolving arrowhead in the hair of the buffalo 

 or deer. The nock is bulbous; notch, angular. Head, a diamond-shajjed 

 blade of sheet iron, inserted into the end of the shaft, and seized with sinew. 

 Length of feathers, 7-k inches ; total length of shaft, 26 inches. 

 Cat. No. 131356, V. S. N. M. Collected by lilis. A. C. Jackson. 



Fig. '.^. Shaft, of hard wood; point of iron, long triangle, inserted into the saw cut in 

 the head and seized with sinew. Feathers, three, glued on, seized at the 

 ends with sinew aud trimmed down. The shaftment is ornamented with 

 a blue band. The nock is fish-tail pattern. Shaft streaks sinuous. Other 

 arrows from this same tribe have different colored bands in the shaftment. 

 Length of shaft, 2 feet 3 inches. 



Cat. No. 8418, U. S. N. M. Gros Ventres, Siouau stock. Collected by L)r. Matthews, 

 F. S. Army. 



Fig. 4. Blood streaks, quite straight. Feathers, three, glued to the shaft, and seized 

 with sinew. The strips of sinew Avith Avhich the Sioux Indians lash their 

 featherings are much broader than those used by the West Coast ludians, 

 and very often are laid on like an open spiral or coil. The feathers are 

 .shorn. Nock, spreading; notch, shallow. Head, diamond-shaped, the mar- 

 gins of the inner half being filed like a saw. The head is inserted in the 

 end of the shaft and seized with sinew. Total length of shaft, 25 inches. 



Cat. No. 23736, U. S. N. M. Sioux Indians, Devil's Lake. Collected by Paul Beck- 

 witb. 



FlG. r>. Example of arrows from the Sioux Indians by the I^. S. "Weather Bureau. 

 This large number of arrows promiscuously gathered affords an excellent 

 opportunity for studying the lines within which the bands aud tribes of 

 the same family vary their arrows. The shafts are all slender, made of 

 Lard wood. Some have shaft streaks, others none. They vary also in the 

 number of streaks on the shaft and their form, whether straight, sinuous, 

 or zigzag. These arrows differ also in the length and form of the points, 

 in the length, attachment, and ornamentation of the feather, Imt all have 

 the wide lish-tail nock, and this seems to be an unvarying (iiuxlity in Sioux 

 arrows. 



Cat. No. 154016, TT. S. N. M. Sioux Indians, Siouan stock. Collected by M. M. 

 Hazen. 



