Bow -Shooting. 877 



To Make a Good Arrow. — Make the shaft as directed in the 

 previous article ; peel off the skin or outer covering of the broad side 

 of a goose-feather with the vane or plume on the skin, or rather peel 

 three feathers thus and glue the strips on the shaft as therein 

 described. These vanes may, if necessary, be held to their places 

 till the glue is hard by a wrapping of fine thread. The nock must 

 be deep and smooth, and large enough to receive the string freely. 

 The heads of target-shafts can be made by any smith. They consist 

 of light, pointed iron or steel thimbles made to fit over the ends of 

 the arrows ; or you can make excellent heads by boring out bits of 

 pointed horn and using them in the place of the steel heads. The 

 steel points for the shafts used in hunting large game I have already 

 described. By referring to the detail cuts there given any good 

 blacksmith can make them. They should not weigh over a half- 

 ounce. A good arrow-head for bird-shooting is made by pour- 

 ing melted hard pewter over the end of the shaft and keeping it to 

 its place, till cooled, by a cup of stiff writing-paper. To do this, cut 

 a shoulder one inch or less from the extremity of the shaft, and 

 slightly lessen the wood for that distance ; then roll the paper round 

 the shaft, and tie it so as to leave room for the pewter to fill in round 

 the shoulder between the wood and the paper. This will form a 

 smooth, bright ferrule. Some sharp spiral notches cut in the wood 

 where the pewter goes will serve to hold it firmly to its place when 

 it cools. Ladies' arrows may be from twenty-three to twenty-seven 

 inches long, and highly colored with gilt and gay paints to suit the 

 taste or whim of the archer. 



How to Shoot. — Your bow being first strung or braced, hold it 

 horizontally before you, i. e., with the bow at right angles with your 

 body, your left hand firmly grasping the handle ; slip an arrow under 

 the string and over the bow at the right edge of your left hand and 

 touching the left forefinger knuckle ; place the arrow-nock well on 

 the string ; turn the palm of your right hand up, placing the first 

 three fingers thereof under the string, hooking their tips round it 

 with the arrow between the first and second, and the thumb extended 

 along the shaft near the nock. Now, keeping all holds thus, turn the 

 bow till it stands vertically before you, your arrow resting against and 

 above your left forefinger knuckles ; turn your left side to the target, 

 fix your eye steadily on the center of the bull's-eye, draw the string 



