2l6 INDIAN BOWS AND ARROWS. 



In passing" along trails leading through the woods 

 from village to village, or as it got dusk, in camps or 

 even close to the settlements, the almost noiseless 

 "whiz" of an arrow, might at any moment during 

 disturbed times be the only warning accompanying the 

 infliction of a perhaps mortal wound dealt by an 

 unseen hand. In the early days of colonial settlement, 

 the bow and arrow was of course the only weapon 

 employed by the Indians, many of whom were exceedingly 

 skilful archers. It is said, though we ourselves believe 

 it to be an exaggeration, that in the old buffalo 

 hunting days, an Indian has been known to drive an 

 arrow right through this immense animal, and out on 

 the other side. There were two distinct kinds of arrows 

 in use by the Indians, one intended for hunting pur- 

 poses, and the other for war: that for hunting was 

 generally plain and unbarbed, and firmly fixed in its 

 shaft; while that for use in war is barbed like a fish 

 hook, so that once in, it cannot be extracted without 

 a serious surgical operation ; the head is also but lightly 

 attached to the shaft, so that if an attempt is made to 

 withdraw it, it comes off and remains in the wound. 

 These arrows therefore, as may be supposed, produce 

 deep incised wounds of a very serious, and even 

 deadly character. When the arrow inflicted mere flesh 

 wounds of the external surface, or of the extremities, 

 the method of extraction in general use among the 

 Indians was to push it entirely through the limb; the 

 head was then cut off, and the shaft thus became easily 

 withdrawn by the way it entered. 



Such were the difficulties and dangers with which 

 our first colonists in America were constantly threatened : 

 they were of a character to try men's courage to the 



