RED INDIAN ARCHERS. 2 19 



think it will be perhaps both interesting and desirable to 

 recount the history of one of these great battues, from the 

 pen of the late Mr. George Catlin, the well-known writer 

 upon, and painter of, Indian life and scenery. This 

 incident occurred in 1832, while he was with the 

 Sioux tribes, in days when the Indians had not yet 

 generally obtained possession of firearms ; the weapons 

 used were therefore the time-honoured national ones 

 of their own manufacture, namely the bow and arrow, 

 and the lance. 



The historic Indian bow and arrow merit a short 

 description, which forms a suitable introduction to 

 the grand melee which follows : 



"The bow," says Mr. Catlin, "with which they are armed 

 is small, and apparently an insignificant weapon, though one 

 of great and almost incredible power in the hands of its 

 owner, whose sinews have been from childhood habituated to 

 its use. Its length is generally about three feet, and some- 

 times not more than two feet six inches. The greatest num- 

 ber are made of ash, or of bois-d'arc, lined with sinews, 

 which give them great elasticity. One of these little weapons 

 in the hands of an Indian, is a most effective and powerful 

 one on the open plains. The horse is trained to approach 

 on the right side, enabling the rider to throw his arrow to 

 the left. It brings the rider within three or four paces from 

 the animal, when the arrow is thrown with great ease and 

 certainty to the heart ' and instances sometimes occur 

 "where the arrow passes entirely through the animal's body. 

 An Indian therefore, on a fleet, well-trained horse, with his 

 bow and quiver containing a hundred arrows of which he 

 can throw (discharge) fifteen or twenty a minute, is a formidable 

 and dangerous enemy. No one can easily credit the force 

 with which the missiles are thrown and the sanguinary effects 

 produced by them, until he has ridden with a party of Indians 



