796 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Dec. 20, 1913. 
ROTM&ST 
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M- 
Forest and Stream is the official organ of the National Archery Association 
Making Indian Arrow Heads 
A FTER reading my recent article in Forest 
and Stream on the subject of Ishi, Dr. El¬ 
mer wrote asking me to give a minute de¬ 
scription of Ishi’s method of making arrow heads. 
Since there does seem to be a confusion of 
ideas on the subject, and since the art of making 
arrow heads is almost a lost one, I will gladly 
tell just how a real Indian really makes them. 
Not all Indians can make arrow heads. This 
art was the special function of the older and more 
skillful men. Ishi seems to have been closely 
associated with the Medicine Man of his tribe; 
besides the usual customs, he preserves many of 
the more highly developed arts and crafts. 
In the manufacture of arrow heads, flint 
and obsidian were used by the Yanas. 
Obsidian is volcanic glass, occurring in various 
parts of California in the shape of dark opaque 
boulders of small size. When splintered either 
by stone mallets or by another rock it appears 
as brownish or dark gray glass, uneven in color. 
Ishi breaks these boulders by hitting them 
with another rock, but he recognizes the danger 
of flying glass, and dislikes the job. Having ob¬ 
tained fragments varying from 2 to 4 inches long, 
1 to 1V2 inches wide, and about a quarter of an 
inch thick, he is prepared to flake his haka or 
heads. 
Sitting down with his elbows steadied on his 
knees and the palm of his left hand protected 
by a doubled piece of buckskin or leather, ne 
holds the obsidian pressed between the fingers 
and palm in supination. Then with a piece of 
deer or elk horn filed or rubbed to a flat point 
he presses upon the lower edge of the obsidian, 
evenly and with increasing force, downward and 
outward until a fracture of the glass occurs. 
These fractures take a semi-lunar shape, thinning 
to a fine edge, and vary in size from a sixteenth 
to a half an inch in their greatest diameter. The 
first flakes are large and freely made, calculating 
to give by wide transverse lines of cleavage, and 
to establish the fundamental outlines of the point. 
Later these flakes are smaller and more like 
finishing touches. As he flakes, he turns the 
stone from side to side, working the opposite 
faces alternately, all the time keeping a sharp eye 
for nicety of form and taking advantage of the 
natural shape. The flaking tool he now uses is 
not horn but iron or soft steel. Hard steel is no 
good. He uses quarter-inch galvanized wire, a 
piece a foot long, bound with cloth two inches 
from the point, to form a handle. This large 
tool he rests under his forearm, deriving leverage 
thereby, and uses it to flake the hardest portions 
of his stone. 
Smaller tools are made of wire nails driven 
into wooden handles six inches long. All of 
these are filed to a flat rounded point, something 
like a blunt screw-driver. 
In working the obsidian this edge is held 
vertical to the stone and the shaft of the flaking 
tool in the plane of the left palm. Apparently 
By SAXTON T. POPE 
the soft metal permits the glass to make a small 
dent in it which engages the two and allows 
pressure being applied to the edge to be flaked. 
As Ishi develops the form of his arrow head 
to a graceful acute angle, he changes to a finer 
flaking tool and resting the stone on his pro¬ 
tected thumb, he then makes the little indenta¬ 
tions near the base, which permit the sinew to 
The points, at the bottom of the picture, are made from 
plate glass. As he flakes, he carefully collects the chips 
in a piece of skin or paper. Neatness is one of his prime 
characteristics. 
hold the head of the arrow. Never once during 
this process does he hit or beat the obsidian. 
No rough force is required, just patient, artful 
dexterity and strength of fingers. 
Ishi has hands like a Japanese: perfect fin¬ 
gers, clean, well-formed nails and a pliant palm, 
all rather small for his size. By working steadi¬ 
ly, he can easily make one arrow head an hour. 
But the work is fatiguing. 
As an experiment Dr. Kroeber, who is cura¬ 
tor of the Anthropologic Museum to which Ishi 
is attached, gave the Indian plate glass to flake. 
Of this material Ishi makes beautiful points, but 
they are more brittle than obsidian. 
These heads of course are not used for small 
game, but for deer, elk, and in combat. 
They vary in length from one to three inches, 
depending upon their proposed use. When fin¬ 
ished the head is set in a shallow notch on the 
end of the arrow, fixed with rosin, and bound 
across with deer sinew. This sinew is chewed 
in the mou'th till it is soft and as thin as strips 
of paper. It sticks without glue. 
Small arrow heads are used as charms, hung 
about the neck of men and boys. They are also 
used by the Medicine Men for venesection. 
Blood letting was used before hunting trips, 
to strengthen the arms and legs of the hunters, 
as well as in some cases of sickness. 
The small chips of glass that result from the 
flaking process, Ishi says, were sometimes used 
by bad Indians as poison, mixed with food or 
put in the mouth of a sleeping person. 
They were also useful to the Medicine Men 
who pretended to suck them from the diseased 
or painful regions of his patients. After locat¬ 
ing the trouble, the Ku wee would suck vigor¬ 
ously over the spot, then by a bit of magic would 
spit out the supposed offender. 
If by chance a small piece of glass should 
fly in the eye during the making of these arrow 
heads, Ishi has a speedy and certain method of 
relief. He pulls down the lower eyelid with the 
left forefinger, while with the other hand he 
slaps vigorously on the top of his head, which of 
course must dislodge the foreign body. 
Dr. Kroeber, who has charge of Ishi, does 
not permit him to sell any of his handiwork, be¬ 
cause unpleasant features might easily result 
from an abuse of this custom. In all ways Ishi 
has been guarded as far as possible from the 
harmful effects of civilization. 
He receives a small salary for his services 
as janitor, and is learning the value of money. 
He now buys his own clothes and refuses to wear 
moccasins, preferring shoes, even if they do hurt 
his perfect feet. 
His one reckless extravagance is going to 
the moving picture shows. He calls them “lopa 
picta” or rope pictures, because of the shape of 
the films. 
He is quite an expert on pose and light, when 
it comes to photography. 
He has been Kodaked so often he has become 
an authority. 
Trunk manufacturers in Colorado are aban¬ 
doning the usual basswood and cottonwood for 
the trunk box, and are turning to Engelmann 
spruce, which combines lightness, strength, and 
ease of working. 
Once having tasted the benefits of advertis¬ 
ing, the advertiser will not think of doing with¬ 
out this modern business stimulation. 
