304 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



the mumepweke or the mtata-tree, laboriously cut and 

 scraped so as to taper off towards the horns, and 

 smeared with oil or grease, otherwise it is easily sprung, 

 and it is sometimes adorned with plates of tin and zinc, 

 with copper or brass wire and tips. The string is made 

 of hide, gut, the tendons of a bullock's neck or hock, 

 and sometimes of tree-fibre ; it is nearly double the 

 bow in length, the extra portion being whipped for strength 

 as well as contingent use round the upper horn. In 

 shooting the bow is grasped with the left hand, but the 

 thumb is never extended along the back ; the string is 

 drawn with the two bent forefingers, though sometimes 

 the shaft is held after the Asiatic fashion with the 

 thumb and index. The bow is pulled with a jerk as 

 amongst the Somal, and not let fly as by Europeans 

 with a long steady loose. The best bows are made by 

 the tribes near the Rufiji River. 



The arrow is about two feet in length ; the stele or 

 shaft is made of some light wood, and often of reed. 

 Its fault is want of weight : to inflict damage upon an 

 antelope it must not be used beyond point-blank, fifteen 

 to twenty paces ; and a score will be shot into a bullock 

 before it falls. The musketeer, despising the arrow at a 

 distance, fears it at close quarters, knowing that for his 

 one shot the archer can discharge a dozen. From the 

 clays of Franklin to the era of Silistria, Citate, and Kars, 

 fancy-tacticians have advocated the substituti on of the 

 bow or the addition of it to the " queen of weapons," 

 the musket. Their reasons for a revival of the obsolete 

 arm are its lightness, its rapidity of discharge, and its 

 silent action. They forget, however, the saying of 

 Xenophon, that it is impiety in a man who has not 

 learned archery from his childhood to ask such boon of 

 the easy gods. 



