hoffman] BOWS AND BOWSTRINGS 275 



for the manufacture of bows. The limb was cut to the required length 

 by pounding and cutting with a stone ax; then the wood was heated 

 on both sides, near the fire, thus softening it sufficiently to admit of 

 being scraped down to the desired breadth and thickness. Bow-mak- 

 ing was tedious work. The sinew was generally made from the liga- 

 ments obtained from each side of the vertebrte of the moose. The 

 ligament was split, scraped, and twisted into a cord by rolling the 

 fibers between the palm of the right hand and the thigh, and with the 

 left hand drawing it away as completed. 



Bows and arrows are now used only by the younger members of the 

 tribe, who employ them in killing birds and in target shooting, when a 

 trilling wager is sometimes staked by the participants. Bows are some- 

 times made of ash, and cedar and ash combined, but hickory is gener- 

 ally used for this purpose, as the bows are not so elaborately and 

 carefully made as formerly. A typical bow, made by an old expert, 

 measures 40 inches in length, three-fourths of an inch in thickness at 

 the center, and an inch and a quarter in width, narrowing down toward 

 each end to five-eighths of an inch. The ends of the bow are some- 

 what thinner than the middle. The notches for the bowstring are cut 

 about an inch from the end. Frequently one edge of the bow is orna- 

 mented by allowing projections of the original surface of the wood to 

 remain to the height of nearly half an inch, these projections being as 

 broad lengthwise as they are high, and serrated at the top. These ser- 

 rations are subsequently colored red, blue, or some other tint, accord- 

 ing to the fancy of the owner. The projections noted are scattered 

 along the left edge at intervals of 4 inches, the intervening surface of 

 that edge of the bow being of a different color to that selected for the 

 tops of the projections, a pleasing contrast thus being presented. 



The bowstring was made of sinew, as among all the tribes of the 

 great lakes. One end of the string was secured by knotting; the other 

 end was looped, in order that the bow might be quickly strung. 



ARROW-MAKING 



Having studied the process of arrow-making among quite a number 

 of tribes, including the Chemehuevi and Coyotero Apache, at a time 

 when jasper, obsidian, and bottle-glass arrowheads were still manu- 

 factured, I shall describe somewhat in detail the process employed 

 by the Menomini. Among these people the stone weapon, as before 

 remarked, is now almost a thing of tradition, and there are at this day 

 but two classes of arrows found, and one of these only at rare intervals. 

 The first class is the game arrow with the iron point; the second is that 

 designated as monoxylic, 1 i. e., made of a single piece of wood and used 

 chiefly by boys in shooting birds and for practice or play. 



The wood intended for shafts is gathered late in the autumn, cut in 

 lengths exceeding 2 feet, tied in bundles of several dozen shafts each 



1 Prof. O. T. Mason iu Smithsonian Report for 189:i, Washington, 1894, p. 654. 



