MURDOCH.) ARROWS. 201 
Arrows.—With these bows were used arrows of various patterns 
adapted for different kinds of game. There are in the collection fifty-one 
arrows, which are all about the same length, 25 to 30 inches. In describ- 
ing these arrows I shall employ the terms used in modern archery ! for 
the parts of the arrow. The greatest variation is in the shape and size 
of the pile. The stele is almost always a straight cylindrical rod, 
almost invariably 0-4 inch in diameter, and ranging in length from 20 
to 28 inches. Twenty-five inches is the commonest length, and the 
short steles, when not intended for a boy’s bow, are generally fitted 
with an unusually long pile. From the beginning of the feathering the 
stele is gradually flattened above and below to the nock, which is a 
simple notch almost always 0-2 inch wide and of the same depth. The 
stele is sometimes slightly widened just in front of the nock to give a 
better hold for the fingers. The feathering is 6 or 7 inches long, con- 
sisting of two, or less often, three feathers. (The set of sixteen arrows 
from Sidaru, two from Nuwik, and one from Utkiaywin, have three 
feathers. The rest of the fifty-one have two.) The shaft of the feather 
is split and the web is cut nar- 
row, and tapered off to a point 
ateachend(Fig.181). Theends © 
of the feathers are fastened to 
the stele with whippings of fine Fig. 181.—Feathering of the Eskimo arrow. 
sinew, the small end of the feather which, of course, comes at the nock, 
being often wedged into a slit in the wood (with a special tool to be 
described below), or else doubled back over a few turns of the whip- 
ping and lashed down with the rest. The small end of the feather is 
almost always twisted about one turn, evidently to make the arrow 
revolve in flight, like a rifle ball. Generally, if not universally, the 
feathering was made of the feathers of some bird of prey, falcon, eagle, 
or raven, probably with some notion of giving to the arrow the death- 
dealing quality of the bird. Out of the fifty-one arrows in the collec- 
tion, only nine are feathered with gull’s feathers, and of these all but 
two are new, or newly feathered for sale to us.2. Dr. Simpson’ says that 
in his time ‘feathers for arrows and head-dresses,” probably the eagles’ 
feathers previously mentioned, were obtained in trade from the ‘‘ Nuna- 
tanmiun.” 
Four kinds of arrows were used: the bear arrow, of which there were 
three varieties, the deer arrow, the arrow for geese, gulls, and other large 
fowl, and the blunt headed arrow for killing small birds without man- 
gling them. 
1 Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition, article Archery. 
2On this subject of using the feathers of birds of prey for arrows, compare Crantz, History of Green. 
land, i, p.146, “the arrow . . . winged behind with a couple of raven’s feathers.” Bessels, 
Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p.869 (the three arrows at Ita had raven's feathers). Parry, 2d Voyage, p. 
511, ** Toward the opposite end of the arrow are two feathers, generally of the spotted owl, not very 
neatly lashed on;"’ and Kumlien, Contributions, p.37, ‘* The feather-vanes were nearly always made 
from the primaries of Striz seandiaca or Graculus carbo.” The lastis the only mention I find of using 
any feathers except those of birds of prey. 
3 Op. cit., p. 266, 
