ESKIMO BOWS. 309 



1. A broad and flat bow tapering to the nocks, wliicli are formed by 

 8imi)le rounded knobs, and narrowed and thickened at the handh' so 

 as to be half as wide and twice as thick as the broadest part ot tlje 

 bow. The back is flat and the belly often keeled from end to end, and 

 this keel is sometimes deeply furrowed for its whole length; the*ed<;:es 

 are generally square and sometimes grooved longitudinally. (Figs. 2, 3 

 and 4 show the general pattern of this type.) The bow when unstrung 

 is either straight, slightly sprung toward the back, or, rarely, arched, 

 and is sometimes stitiened along the back with an extra rib of wood or 

 ivory. The backing is occasionally tightened -with wedges Its length 

 is from 50 inches to 5 feet, averaging about 55 inches, with its greatest 

 breath about 2 inches (rarely 2^ to 2i inches). 



2. A bow of essentially the same size and outline as the first form, 

 but with about one foot of each end bent up toward the back so as to 

 lie parallel to the string when the bow is strung, as in the Tatar bow, 

 with the backing generally stretched over bridges at the bends. (Fig. 

 5. Ko. 3G028, from the mouth of the Kuskoquim Eiver, collected by E. 

 W. Nelson.) 



The backing starts in the ordinary way and consists wholly of straight 

 parallel strands passing round the nocks, or secured by pairs of half- 

 hitches at various points on the bow. The last strand is wrapped 

 spirally round the others to keep them from spreading apart, thougli 

 occasionallj' one end of the cable is wrapped with a separate piece, and 

 very rarely the whole wrapping is separate from the rest. A separate 

 piece of twine, thong, or withe serves to stop the backing down to the 

 handle, and there are sometimes other separate stops on the broad part 

 of the bow (as in Fig. 2). The whole of the broad part of the bow is 

 occasionally seized down with spaced spiral turns of twine (Fig. 4, No. 

 7972, from Bristol Bay, collected by Dr. j\Iinor), which, in one case at 

 least, are made by the end of the last strand. The strands of the back- 

 ing vary in number from 11 to 37 (usually about 25). They are some- 

 times all of the same length, in which case the outer strands are hitched 

 round the bow a short distance from the nocks instead of passing round 

 the latter (Fig. 2, back and side view, and Fig. 2 a, one end of No. 30032, 

 from near Cape EomanzoflF, collected by E. W. Nelson). More commonly 

 4-22, usually 6 or 7 strands are shorter than the rest and only extend 

 from the broadest part of one end to the corresi^onding point at the 

 other (Fig. 3, No. 72408, from Bristol Bay, collected by the late C. L. 

 McKay. Fig. 3 a, the broadest part of the same bow, to show the attach- 

 ment of the short strands), thus giving special strength and elasticity 

 to the middle of the bow. 



These shorter strands are sometimes the outer ones of the backing, 

 but more commonly about the middle of it. Rarely, as in the case of 

 one bow from the island of Nunivak (Fig. 6, No. 15G51, collected by W. 

 H. Dall. This is an unusually large and stout bow, with 37 strands in 



