Sketches From Oldest America 



For the horn arrow-heads, deer horns were 

 immersed in hot water, then straightened and 

 shaped with stone knives. Two pieces of feather, 

 properly bound at the lower end of the shaft, gave 

 the arrow a rotary motion as it passed through the 

 air, and insured a greater accuracy. It is a principle 

 that has been adopted by manufacturers of modern 

 rifle guns to impart to the projectile a spinning 

 motion in its flight. 



The first guns introduced among the Inupash 

 were the old flintlocks, although this was probably 

 not over thirty-five or forty years ago; they must 

 have been the flintlocks left over with some trading 

 company, after the introduction of the percussion 

 caps, that had found their way this long distance 

 across the country. 



"Koonooya" is the name of the villager who 

 was the first to own a double-barreled shotgun; 

 previous to that he had killed fourteen white, and 

 two brown bears with his bow and arrow. The 

 older people laugh as they relate how those stand- 

 ing near the man firing would place their hands 

 over their ears to deaden the sound, while the 

 little girls cried, declaring the big noise hurt their ears. 



The first knives were of flint, jade and slate; the 

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