286 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



these specimens are from the Emmons Collection, 

 bladed dagger with goat-horn handle. 



Fig. 108^ is a steel- 



fiw 



Fig. 108/. 



Ivory Guard for Dagger 

 Point. 



(Tlingits. Emmons Collection. ) 



Fig. 108g. 



Ivory Guaku for 

 Dagger. 



Bows and arrows. — In 

 course of trade 

 many of the Eski- 

 mo types of bows 

 and arrows have 

 found their way 

 south amongstthe 

 Indians, particu- 

 larly amongst the 

 Yakutat and other 

 northern Tlingit. 

 With the Eskimo 

 and Aleut the bow 

 and arrow is, 

 equally with the 



the 



harpoon, a weapon of the greatest importance, and a high 

 type of each has been developed. The backing of sinew 

 on the bow is occasionally found amongst the Tlingit, but 

 not so skillfully applied as in the north (see Smithsonian 

 Keport, 1884, "A Study of the Eskimo Bows in the U. S. 

 National Museum," by Mr. John Murdoch). Amongst the 

 Indians of the northwest coast the bow and arrow is and 

 always has been only an auxiliary hunting implement, 

 although a very important one, in the capture of sea-otter. 

 To-day the bow and arrow survives only as a means of 

 despatching wounded game to save powder and ball. The 

 two types of coast Indian bows, the broad and narrow, 

 are shown in Plate xxvi. The narrow type (Figs. 109, 110, 

 and 115) is principally confined to the Tlingit, whereas the 

 broader one (Figs. Ill, 112, and 114) is found amongst not 

 only the Tlingit, but the Haida and Tlingit as well. In 

 Fig. 112 the peculiar groove down the inside of the bow 

 is shown. The device in Fig. 115 to protect the thumb 

 from the snap of the bow-string consists of a wooden 

 bridge lashed to the inner side of the bow at the middle. 

 This is a willow bow of the type found in the interior 

 amongst the Tinne, and either copied from their type or obtained by 

 trade from them. Cedar and yew are the principal woods used by 

 the coast Indians for bows, the strings being of hide or sinew. Few 

 bows are now seen amongst these Indians except as toys for the chil- 

 dren. 



Arrows.— Before the introduction of iron, arrow-heads were of bone, 

 flint, shell, or copper. The copper and later iron heads were of the 

 shape shown in Fig. 133a or 134a, Plate xxix, fitting into an ivory or 



Fig. 108h. 



Steel- BLADED 

 Dagger. 



(Tlingit. Emmons 

 Collection. ) 



