2()0 TIIK I'nlXT HAKRDW KSKIMO. 



Tin- first mention ol'tlif Kskiniobow with sinew liMckin.u- will be found 

 in Fiobislit'i-'.s account of his visit to Mcta Incn-niia in b"»77:' "Their 

 bowcs are of wood of a yard Ions, sinewed "" "i'' '''"k with stronj;- 



sinewes, not ;L;lned t lint fast .girded and tyedoii. Tiieir bowe striugs 



are likewise sinewes." 



Of the liow used at the straits (if Fnry and Ileela we have a most 

 e\e.-llent tij;ure in Parry's Second Voya-e (I'l. opposite ],. .-..-.( », Fi-. 2L'), 



faet, as exact a descripti«ai as could lie made from an' external examina- 

 ti,,nofIhe bow. From the li-ure the bow apiiears to have been abnost 

 of the arctic ty|ie. havinu an uiiusnal number of stranils (sometimes 

 sixty, )•.. "ill) which are not. ho\vev»>r, twisted, but secured with a sjiiral 

 wrai>pinji-,as()n soul hern liows. The backin.ii' is stoiijied to theliandle, 

 hut not otherwise seized. It ajijiears to have been rather a larj;e bow, 

 as I'arry i;ives the length of one of their best Iiows, made of ii single 

 piece of lir, as ■• 1 feet S inches" (p. ."ilO). "A bow of One piece is, 

 however, \'i'r\- rare; they neiH'rally consist of from two to five pieces 

 of hone of uneipud lengths, fastened together by rivets and treenails" 

 (p. .".II). I'arry also speaks of the use <,f wedges for tightening tlie 

 backing. Schwatka' sjieaks of the Netyillk of King Williams Land as 

 using l)ows of spliced jueces of mnsk-ox horn or driftwood, but gives 

 no further description of tliem. Ellis^ describes the bow in use at Hud- 

 .son's ytrait in 1740 as follows: 



Tlii'ir Kreatest Iiif;i-niiity is sli.uvn in tlio .Strmturp oftlicir I'.nws. m.iilo commonlv 

 artli.coric,vsor\V,KKl. ,-;i,1m,i ^ l,, ■ ., ,,,,i ..(>]„ .:,uu- a,-.],. ,rv, in.rlv.-UHl.-xiictly 



.jcincl t..-..tl,l-r. Tl.ryalv ,,,::: :,! , ,,, |.;,,,1,. ulurl, ll„. Kll^l'isl, t ll.TC rail 



.lm,ilM.,-.:„Hlastlus«a„I.S,,,. ^i', unM.l.^inMN. 11,,^ su|,pl> Ih.iI, l.yl.rariui^tlie 

 liack.it'tlu. How Witt, a kih.l ,.i li,,, ,,,!„. Lun- i,.a,l.- „r tlic .Siu.-w .U thi-ir Deer, .aud 

 the liowstriu^'oftlir saiiir matirial. To make them draw more stiffly, they (lip them 

 into Water, which ^au^,■^ l.,,tli tlic- liack of the Bow aud the String to contract, and 



Ellis's figure (plate opposite p. 132) shows a bow of the Tatar shape, 

 lint gives no details of the backing, except that the latter appears to be 



twisted. 



We have no |iuhlished descri]itions of the bows used in other regions. 



As f-ar as I have heeii al.le to ascertain, the practice of backing the 

 bow with cords of sinew is peculiar to the Eskimo, though some Ameri- 

 can In.hans stiffen the liow by gluing flat pieces of sinew upon the 



One tribe of Indians, the '-Loucheux" of the Mackenzie district, 

 however, used bows like those of the Eskimo.s, l)ut Sir Alexamler Mac- 

 kenzie' expressly states tliat these were obtained from the Eskimo. 



' riatsluyt's Voyivgcia. 1589, p. 62«. 



^SciiMi.-o, vol. 4, 98, p. 543. 



' Voy.-i^'f to Iludsou'a Hay, p. 138. 



•CoMiparo what I hav,. alntaily s.iid ahnut tl„. l,a.kin<' bcin^' p.it on wet 



•Voyages from Montreal . . . to tht- l.-n,.ou and Pacific^Ocoans, p. 48. 



