88 ANCIENT BOWS AND ARROWS. 



in many others^ wherein the excellence of the 

 weapon, and the courage, skill, and strength, 

 of those who used it, were superior to, and 

 triumphant over, their most formidable ene- 

 mies." 



Were bows and arrows thrown aside," 

 said Harry, as soon as gunpowder was in- 

 vented?" 



No," I replied. " They continued to be 

 the favourite weapon for more than a hundred 

 years afterwards ; indeed, the guns first made 

 were so clumsy and dangerous to handle, and 

 so little serviceable, that they often scared, or 

 wounded, those whom they were intended to 

 befriend. 



" But a word or two more of the yew-tree 

 itself. It has often attained a vast magnitude 

 in Britain. One, quite hollow, in Perthshire, 

 measured fifty-six feet in circumference ; one. 



