EMPLOYMENT. 349 



as hairs and as long as possible. With the rude means at 

 their disposal it requires no little skill so to put and twist 

 these fibres together as to form a string perfectly round 

 and of precisely the same size and tension from end to end. 



The arrows require in the aggregate much more 

 labour than the bow. Any hard, tough, straight-grained 

 wood is used. It is scraped to proper size and taper, and 

 must be perfectly round. The head is either of stone or 

 iron of late years almost exclusively of iron, for stone of 

 the necessary hardness is extremely difficult to work, and 

 twenty or more stones are spoiled and broken for each 

 arrow head made. 



The Indian has not even yet the slightest practical 

 knowledge of working iron whilst hot, though almost 

 every one has seen it done in the blacksmiths' shops of 

 military posts. His idea of making anything of iron is to 

 get a piece of that metal larger than necessary, and wear 

 it down to proper size and shape by friction on a rough 

 stone. This labour has been also very greatly reduced 

 within the last few years, thin flat iron being in much 

 more general use, as hoops for barrels, binding for boxes,&c. 



Under the most favourable circumstances, however, 

 the most skilful Indian workman cannot hope to complete 

 more than a single arrow in a hard day's work. In a 

 short fight, or an exciting dash after game, he will 

 expend as many arrows as will keep him busily at work 

 for a month to replace. 



The necessity of making all his own weapons of 

 offence and defence, and of supplying himself and family 

 with food (a matter of serious difficulty and uncertainty 

 with those rude weapons), are undoubtedly the true 

 original reasons for devolving all the other labour on the 

 woman. To keep himself constantly prepared for war or 

 the chase gave the man all the work he could possibly 

 do. Naturally all domestic details, with the labour 

 necessary for their proper performance, devolved upon 

 the woman. 



