Bow - Shooting. 855 



exhaustion and depression consequent to the civilized methods of 

 self-destruction called business. 



I wish by this paper to show that if the long-bow were adopted 

 as the sporting weapon of the world, game would increase every- 

 where, while expert sportsmen would get all that they could desire 

 from their favorite pastime, as regards both mental and physical 

 recreation and a goodly weight in the game-bag. I speak con- 

 fidently on this subject, having fifteen years of happy experience in 

 archery to draw from. 



I was yet in my teens when I was taught the use of the long-bow 

 by Thomas Williams, a sort of hermit, whose cabin stood in the 

 midst of a vast pine forest that bordered my father's plantation in the 

 beautiful Cherokee country of North Georgia. My brother and I 

 had, in a boyish way, been practicing archery for some years before 

 Williams gave us lessons ; but, though we had of our own efforts be- 

 come expert in the making and use of our weapons, we found, to our 

 chagrin, that before we could dare call ourselves bowmen all we had 

 learned must go for naught, and an art must be mastered, the difficul- 

 ties of which at first seemed insurmountable. Williams was a better 

 archer than either of us can ever hope to be ; but he was ashamed 

 for any man to see him out with his bow and quiver. 



Before entering upon the subject of using the bow and arrows, 

 let us examine the weapons and their necessary accompaniments, so 

 that we may clearly understand the few technicalities connected with 

 a discussion of archery. 



Figure 1 of the diagram on the opposite page is a good representa- 

 tion of a long-bow after the best English model. It is six feet from 

 tip to tip, as it lies unstrung, and is made of lemon-wood, lance-wood, 

 or yew. Figure 2 shows the weapon strung ready for use, which 

 shortens it three or three and a half inches. This bow is the kind I 

 have used for years. It has a plush handle and horn nock-tips. Its 

 wood is yellow as gold, straight-grained, waxy in appearance, heavy, 

 springy as steel and flexible as whalebone. It was made by Philip 

 Highfield, London. The string is of the best white hemp, slack 

 twisted, stiffly waxed, and whipped with silk at the ends and middle. 

 By referring to the detail drawings and examining the cross-section 

 and representation of the nocks and the handle, any one possessed 

 of ordinary mechanical skill can, from a well-seasoned billet of common 



