Hunting with the Bow and Arrow | Page 8

ten inches long, he
picked up a group of feathers, stripped off the water, removed one, and
after testing its strength, folded the last two inches of bristles down on
the rib, and the rest he ruffled backward, thus leaving a free space for
later binding. He prepared all three like this.
Picking up an arrow shaft he clamped it between his left arm and chest,
holding the rear end above the shaftment in his left hand. Twirling it
slowly in this position, he applied one end of the sinew near the nock,
fixing it by overlapping. The first movements were accomplished while
holding one extremity of the sinew in his teeth; later, having applied
the feathers to the stick, he shifted the sinew to the grasp of the right
thumb and forefinger.
One by one he laid the feathers in position, binding down the last two
inches of stem and the wet barbs together. The first feather he applied
on a line perpendicular to the plane of the nock; the two others were
equidistant from this. For the space of an inch he lapped the sinew
about the feathers and arrow-shaft, slowly rotating it all the while, at
last smoothing the binding with his thumb nail.
The rear ends having been lashed in position, the arrow was set aside to
dry while the rest were prepared.
Five or ten having reached this stage and the binding being dry and

secure, he took one again between his left arm and chest, and with his
right hand drew all the feathers straight and taut, down the shaft. Here
he held them with the fingers of his left hand. Having marked a similar
place on each arrow where the sinew was to go, he cut the bristles off
the rib. At this point he started binding with another piece of wet sinew.
After a few turns he drew the feathers taut again and cut them, leaving
about a half inch of rib. This he bound down completely to the
arrow-shaft and finished all by smoothing the wet lapping with his
thumb nail.
The space between the rib and the wood he sometimes smeared with
more glue to cause the feather to adhere to the shaft, but this was not
the usual custom with him. After all was dry and firm, Ishi took the
arrow and beat it gently across his palm so that the feathers spread out
nicely.
As a rule the length of his feathers was four inches, though on
ceremonial arrows they often were as long as eight inches.
After drying, the feathers were cut with a sharp piece of obsidian, using
a straight stick as a guide and laying the arrow on a flat piece of wood.
When with us he trimmed them with scissors, making a straight cut
from the full width of the feather in back, to the height of a quarter of
an inch at the forward extremity. On his arrows he left the natural curve
of the feather at the nock, and while the rear binding started an inch or
more from the butt of the arrow, the feather drooped over the nock.
This gave a pretty effect and seemed to add to the steering qualities of
the missile.
Two kinds of points were used on Ishi's arrows. One was the simple
blunt end of the shaft bound with sinew used for killing small game and
practice shots. The other was his hunting head, made of flint or
obsidian. He preferred the latter.
Obsidian was used as money among the natives of California. A
boulder of this volcanic glass was packed from some mountainous
districts and pieces were cracked off and exchanged for dried fish,
venison, or weapons. It was a medium of barter. Although all men were
more or less expert in flaking arrowheads and knives, the better grades
of bows, arrows, and arrow points were made by the older, more expert
specialists of the tribe.
Ishi often referred to one old Indian, named _Chu no wa yahi_, who

lived at the base of a great cliff with his crazy wife. This man owned an
ax, and thus was famous for his possessions as well as his skill as a
maker of bows. From a distant mountain crest one day Ishi pointed out
to me the camp of this Indian who was long since dead. If ever Ishi
wished to refer to a hero of the bow, or having been beaten in a shot, he
always told us what Chu no wa yahi could have done.
To make arrowheads properly one should smear his face with mud and
sit out in the hot sun in a quiet secluded spot. The mud is a precaution
against harm from the flying chips of glass, possibly also a good