578 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHXOLOCiY [Bull. 137 



ble," and that, -when they could not get that material, they used 

 white [red?] mulberry (Lawson, 1860, p. 163, 172). Catesby (1731- 

 43, vol. 2, p. ix) also mentions the use of wood of "the locust-tree, i. e., 

 pseudo-acacia^ it being when old a very tough and pliant wood." 

 Timberlake says of the Cherokee: 



Their bows are of several sorts of wood, dipped in bears oil, and seasoned before 

 the fire, and a twisted bear's gut for the string. (Timberlake, Williams ed., 1927, 

 pp. 85-86.) 



The [Yuchi] bow, [according to Speck], is a single almost straight stave of 

 bois d'arc {Toxylon pomiferum) or Osage Orange, about five feet in length. 

 Sassafras and hickory bows were sometimes made. No backing of sinew is 

 known to have been used. The stave is broadest in the middle, where it is 

 about one and one-half inches in width, tapering to one inch at the ends. The 

 thickness of the stave is about three-quarters of an inch. The rich dark color 

 of the wood is brought out by greasing. In section the bow is almost rectang- 

 ular. The ends are cut into little knobs of several shapes to hold the string. 

 The bow string is made of deer sinew, or strips of rawhide twisted tightly. 

 Squirrel skins are much in use for bowstrings. The skin is cut around the 

 edge spirally toward the center, thus giving a single long strip. As extra 

 strength is desired, four such strips are twisted together, forming quite a thick 

 cord. (Speck, 1909, p. 20.) 



The Taskigi Creek Indians mentioned, like the Yuchi, used the Osage 

 Orange and hickory (Speck, 1907, p. 110). Adair (1775, p. 355) 

 observed the Choctaw using hickory bows in their civil war. 



The bow seen in use by the Florida Seminole in 1880-81 by Mac- 

 Cauley was of "a single piece of mulberry or other elastic wood" and 

 "from four to six feet in length," the bowstring being "of twisted 

 deer rawhide" (MacCauley, 1887, p. 517). 



A reliable Creek informant already quoted gave me the following 

 information regarding the bows of his people : 



In their homes west of the Mississippi they used Osage orange, 

 or bois d'arc, called by them "yellow wood" (ito la' ni), but this was 

 not to be had in Alabama, where they employed black locust, sassa- 

 fras, or cedar, the woods being rated in about that order. The best 

 bowstring was of deer sinews or the sinews of other large animals, 

 which they tore apart and softened in water, after which two or three 

 strands were twisted together to make the cord. Strings made of 

 squirrel skin were excellent but not as good as the last. The squir- 

 rel skin was cut very carefully to the desired length, evidently by 

 running the point of a knife round upon it in spiral fashion, then 

 softened in warm water, after which two or three strands were twisted 

 together, as in the case of the string first-mentioned. Sometimes bow- 

 strings were made out of the entrails of a bear, but they were not 

 as good as those already described. Still another kind was cut from 

 the thick skin on a deer's neck by running the point of a knife round 

 on it spirally, the piece thus obtained being twisted carefully. They 

 never made bowstrings out of bark. 



