NELSON] BOWS AND ARROWS 157 



curve about fifteen inches from each end. It has a single cable of 

 sinew as a backing 1 , held in position by numerous cross lashings, and a 

 long strip of ivory along the middle, under the backing, to give addi 

 tional strength. 



Figure 9, plate LX, is a broad, thin bow from Eazbinsky, with a raw 

 hide string and a sinew cable as backing, fastened by numerous cross- 

 lashings; there is a double curve about a quarter of the distance from 

 each end, in which is set a short, triangular wooden pin, having a 

 broad base, and notched above to receive the backing. A strip of wood 

 is inserted under the backing as a streugthener. 



Figure 26, plate LXI &, from the lower Yukon, represents a strip of 

 bone, flat on one side and grooved on the other. It is intended for use 

 as a streugthener to be inserted under the sinew backing of a bow. 



Figure 2, plate LI, is a small bow from St Michael, with a sinew 

 backing, fastened by a number of cross lashings at short intervals. 

 Attached to the bow by means of long sinew cords are two slender 

 bone arrows about nine inches long, with barbed points. This imple 

 ment is used for killing muskrats. The hunter, having found a hole of 

 these animals in the ground, or at the entrance of their house, sits 

 quietly down in front of it, with one of these arrows fitted on the string 

 ready to shoot. The moment the head of the muskrat is seen at the 

 mouth of the hole the arrow is loosed and the barb point entering the 

 animal prevents its escape, while the cord that attaches the arrow to 

 the bow enables the hunter to drag it out of its burrow. 



ARROWS 

 , ARROWS FOR LARGE GAME 



Several forms of arrows are used in different parts of the Alaskan 

 mainland and on the adjacent islands. Among those collected the most 

 important were the arrows used for hunting large game and in war. 

 These consist of a straight wooden shaft, sometimes terminating in a 

 foreshat t of bone or of ivory, with a stone or metal point set in a slot 

 in the end. Others have a long point of bone or ivory with a sharp 

 edge, either notched or smooth. 



Figure o, plate LXI a, represents an arrow from Cape Darby, having 

 a straight bone tip, suboval in cross section, with three notches on one 

 side, and shaped to a sharp point. The shaft has a notch for the bow 

 string, but it is not feathered. 



Figure 9, plate LXI ., shows a deer arrow from Big lake, having a long- 

 bone point with four notches along each side, and a narrow, flattened 

 base inserted in the split end of the shaft and firmly lashed to it by a 

 sinew cord. At the butt of the arrow are three feathers with one side 

 of the plume removed, the tips being inserted in little slits near the 

 end of the shaft, and the butts, which point forward, being held in 

 position by a sinew lashing. This is the method commonly adopted on 

 the Alaskan mainland for attaching feathers to arrows. 



