MURDOCH.] BOWS. 199 



from the Kaviak peninsula to the Mackenzie and Anderson rivers; and 

 III. The Western type, confined to St. Lawreuee Island and the main 

 land of Siberia. 



I have shown how these three types differ from each other and from 

 the original type, and have expressed the opinion that these differences 

 result from the different resources at the command of the people, of dif 

 ferent regions. I have also endeavored to account for the fact that we 

 find sporadic examples of the Arctic type, for instance as far south as 

 the Yukon, by the well knowii habits of the Eskimo in regard to trad 

 ing expeditions. 



Outside of the region treated in my paper above referred to, there 

 is very little material for a comparative study of Eskimo bows, either 

 in the Museum or in the writings of travelers. .Most writers have con 

 tented themselves with a casual reference to some of the more, salient 

 peculiarities of the weapon without giving any detailed information. 

 Beginning at the extreme north of Greenland, we find that the so-called 

 &quot;Arctic Highlanders&quot; have hardly any knowledge of the bow. Dr. 

 Kane saw none during his intercourse with them, but Dr. Bessels 1 men 

 tions seeing one bow, made of pieces of antler spliced together, in the 

 possession of a man at Ita. In Danish Greenland, the use of the bow 

 has been abandoned for many years. When Crantz 2 wrote it had already 

 gone out of use, though in KgedeV time it was still employed. It ap 

 pears to have been longer than the other Eskimo bows. Nordenskidld 

 reproduces a picture of a group of Greenlanders from an old painting 

 of the date of 1(!54 in the Ethnographical Museum of Copenhagen. The 

 man holds in his left hand a straight bow, which appears to have the 

 backing reaching only part way to the ends like a western bow without 

 the end cables, and yet twisted into two cables. If this representation 

 be a correct one, this arrangement of the backing, taken in connection 

 with what Crantz and Egede say of the great length of the bow, would 

 be an argument in favor of my theory that the St. Lawrence Island 

 bow was developed from the primitive form by lengthening the ends of 

 the bow without lengthening the backing. The addition of the end 

 cables would then be an after invention, peculiar to the western bow. 

 In Baffin Land the bow is very rudely made, and approaches very closely 

 to my supposed primitive form. Owing to the scarcity of wood in this 

 region the bow was frequently made of reindeer antler, a substance still 

 more unsuitable for the purpose than the soft coniferous woods used 

 elsewVre. There are in the Museum three specimens of such antler 

 bows, brought from Cumberland Gulf by Mr. Kumlien. 



Naturalist, vol 8, No. 9, p. 800. 



3 &quot;III former times they made use of bows for land game; they were made of soft Jir. a fathom in 

 length, and to make it the still er it was bound round with whalebone or sinews.&quot; History of Green 

 land, vol. 1, p. 140. 



3 &quot;Their How is of an ordinary Make, eoinmonly made of Fir Tree, . . . and on the Back 

 strengthened with Strings made of Sinews of Animals, twisted like Thread.&quot; The liow is a good 

 fathom long.&quot; Greenland, p. 101. 



*Voyage of the Vega, vol. 1, p. 41. 



