196 THE POINT HARROW ESKIMO. 



the Eskimo carried to its highest degree of efficiency. It was of what 

 I have called the &quot;Arctic, type,&quot; namely, a rather short bow of spruce, 

 from 43 to 52 inches in length, nearly elliptical in section, but flatter on 

 the back than on the belly, and slightly narrowed and thickened at the 

 handle. The greatest breadth was usually about 1J inches and the 

 thickness at the handle about three-fourths of an inch. The ends were 

 often bent up as in the Tatar bow, and were sometimes separate pieces 

 mortised on. Strength and elasticity was given to the brittle spruce 

 by applying a number of strands of sinew to the back of the bow in 

 such a way that drawing the bowstring stretched all these elastic cords, 

 thus adding their elasticity to that of the wood. This backing was 

 always a continuous piece of a three-ply braid of sinew, about the size 

 of stout pack thread, and on a large bow often 40 or 50 yards long. It 

 began, as on all Eskimo bows which I have been able to examine (ex- 





5 



FIG. 177. Boy s bow from Utkiavwln. 



cept those from St. Lawrence Island and the mainland of Siberia 

 my &quot;western type&quot;), with an eye at one end of the cord looped over 

 one nock of the bow, usually the upper. The cord was then laid on the 

 back of the bow in long strands running up and down and round the 

 nocks, as usual on the other types of bow, but after putting on a num 

 ber of these, began running backward and forward between the bends 

 (if the bow was of the Tatar shape), or between corresponding points 

 on a straight bow, where they were fastened with complicated hitches 

 around the bow in such a way that the shortest strands came to the 

 top of the backing, which was thus made to grow thicker gradually 

 toward the middle of the bow, where the greatest strength and elas 

 ticity were needed. When, enough strands had been laid on they 

 were divided into two equal parcels and twisted from the middle into 

 two tight cables, thus greatly increasing the tension to be overcome in 

 drawing the bow. These cables being secured to the handle of the 

 bow, the end of the cord was used to seize the whole securely to the 

 bow. 



This seizing and the hitches already mentioned served to incorporate 

 the backing very thoroughly with the bow, thus equalizing the strain 

 and preventing the bow from cracking. This made a very stiff and 

 powerful bow, capable of sending an arrow with great force. We were 

 told by a reliable native that a stone-headed arrow was often driven by 



Seo the writer s paper on the subject of Eskimo bows in the Smithsonian Roport for 1884, Part II, 

 pp. M7-;il6. 



