Hunting with the Bow and Arrow | Page 6

being seasoned he backed it with
sinew. First he made a glue by boiling salmon skin and applying it to
the roughened back of the bow. When it was dry he laid on long strips
of deer sinew obtained from the leg tendons. By chewing these tendons
and separating their fibers, they became soft and adhesive. Carefully

overlapping the ends of the numerous fibers he covered the entire back
very thickly. At the nocks he surrounded the wood completely and
added a circular binding about the bow.
During the process of drying he bound the sinew tightly to the bow
with long, thin strips of willow bark. After several days he removed
this bandage and smoothed off the edges of the dry sinew, sized the
surface with more glue and rubbed everything smooth with sandstone.
Then he bound the handgrip for a space of four inches with a narrow
buckskin thong.
In his native state he seems never to have greased his bow nor protected
it from moisture, except by his bow case, which was made of the skin
from a cougar's tail. But while with us he used shellac to protect the
glue and wood. Other savages use buck fat or bear grease.
The bowstring he made of the finer tendons from the deer's shank.
These he chewed until soft, then twisted them tightly into a cord having
a permanent loop at one end and a buckskin strand at the other. While
wet the string was tied between two twigs and rubbed smooth with
spittle. Its diameter was one-eighth of an inch, its length about
forty-eight inches. When dry the loop was applied to the upper nock of
his bow while he bent the bow over his knee and wound the opposite
end of the string about the lower nock. The buckskin thong terminating
this portion of the string made it easier to tie in several half hitches.
When braced properly the bowstring was about five inches from the
belly of the bow. And when not in use and unstrung the upper loop was
slipped entirely off the nock, but held from falling away from the bow
by a second small loop of buckskin.
Drawn to the full length of an arrow, which was about twenty-six
inches, exclusive of the foreshaft, his bow bent in a perfect arc slightly
flattened at the handle. Its pull was about forty-five pounds, and it
could shoot an arrow about two hundred yards.
This is not the most powerful type of weapon known to Indians, and
even Ishi did make stronger bows when he pleased; but this seemed to
be the ideal weight for hunting, and it certainly was adequate in his
hands.
According to English standards, it was very short; but for hunting in the
brush and shooting from crouched postures, it seems better fitted for
the work than a longer weapon.

According to Ishi, a bow left strung or standing in an upright position,
gets tired and sweats. When not in use it should be lying down; no one
should step over it; no child should handle it, and no woman should
touch it. This brings bad luck and makes it shoot crooked. To expunge
such an influence it is necessary to wash the bow in sand and water.
In his judgment, a good bow made a musical note when strung and the
string is tapped with the arrow. This was man's first harp, the great
grandfather of the pianoforte.
By placing one end of his bow at the corner of his open mouth and
tapping the string with an arrow, the Yana could make sweet music. It
sounded like an Aeolian harp. To this accompaniment Ishi sang a
folk-song telling of a great warrior whose bow was so strong that,
dipping his arrow first in fire, then in the ocean, he shot at the sun. As
swift as the wind, his arrow flew straight in the round open door of the
sun and put out its light. Darkness fell upon the earth and men shivered
with cold. To prevent themselves from freezing they grew feathers, and
thus our brothers, the birds, were born.
Ishi called an arrow sa wa.
In making arrows the first thing is to get the shafts. Ishi used many
woods, but he preferred witch hazel. The long, straight stems of this
shrub he cut in lengths of thirty-two inches, having a diameter of
three-eighths of an inch at the base when peeled of bark.
He bound a number of these together and put them away in a shady
place to dry. After a week or more, preferably several months, he
selected the best shafts and straightened them. This he accomplished by
holding the concave surface near a small heap of hot embers and when
warm he either pressed