Hunting with the Bow and Arrow | Page 9

luck
ritual. If by chance a bit of glass should fly in the eye, Ishi's method of
surgical relief was to hold his lower lid wide open with one finger
while he slapped himself violently on the head with the other hand. I
am inclined to ascribe the process of removal more to the hydraulic
effect of the tears thus started than to the mechanical jar of the
treatment.
He began this work by taking one chunk of obsidian and throwing it
against another; several small pieces were thus shattered off. One of
these, approximately three inches long, two inches wide and half an
inch thick, was selected as suitable for an arrowhead, or haka.
Protecting the palm of his left hand by a piece of thick buckskin, Ishi
placed a piece of obsidian flat upon it, holding it firmly with his fingers
folded over it.
In his right hand he held a short stick on the end of which was lashed a
sharp piece of deer horn. Grasping the horn firmly while the longer
extremity lay beneath his forearm, he pressed the point of the horn
against the edge of the obsidian. Without jar or blow, a flake of glass
flew off, as large as a fish scale. Repeating this process at various spots
on the intended head, turning it from side to side, first reducing one
face, then the other, he soon had a symmetrical point. In half an hour he
could make the most graceful and perfectly proportioned arrowhead
imaginable. The little notches fashioned to hold the sinew binding
below the barbs he shaped with a smaller piece of bone, while the
arrowhead was held on the ball of his thumb.
Flint, plate glass, old bottle glass, onyx--all could be worked with equal
facility. Beautiful heads were fashioned from blue bottles and beer
bottles.
The general size of these points was two inches for length,

seven-eighths for width, and one-eighth for thickness. Larger heads
were used for war and smaller ones for shooting bears.
Such a head, of course, was easily broken if the archer missed his shot.
This made him very careful about the whole affair of shooting.
When ready for use, these heads were set on the end of the shaft with
heated resin and bound in place with sinew which encircled the end of
the arrow and crossed diagonally through the barb notches with many
recurrences.
Such a point has better cutting qualities in animal tissue than has steel.
The latter is, of course, more durable. After entering civilization, Ishi
preferred to use iron or steel blades of the same general shape, or
having a short tang for insertion in the arrowhead.
Ishi carried anywhere from five to sixty arrows in a quiver made of
otter skin which hung suspended by a loop of buckskin over his left
shoulder.
His method of bracing or stringing the bow was as follows: Grasping it
with his right hand at its center, with the belly toward him, and the
lower end on his right thigh, he held the upper end with his left hand
while the loop of the string rested between his finger and thumb. By
pressing downward at the handle and pulling upward with the left hand
he so sprung the bow that the loop of the cord could be slipped over the
upper nock.
[Illustration: ISHI AND APPERSON, THE GUIDE, ONCE OLD
ENEMIES, NOW FRIENDS]
[Illustration: CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH]
[Illustration: THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION]
[Illustration: CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW]
In nocking his arrow, the bow was held diagonally across the body, its
upper end pointing to the left. It was held lightly in the palm of the left
hand so that it rested loosely in the notch of the thumb while the fingers
partially surrounded the handle. Taking an arrow from his quiver, he
laid it across the bow on its right side where it lay between the
extended fingers of his left hand. He gently slid the arrow forward until
the nock slipped over the string at its center. Here he set it properly in
place and put his right thumb under the string, hooked upward ready to
pull. At the same time he flexed his forefinger against the side of the
arrow, and the second finger was placed on the thumb nail to strengthen

the pull.
Thus he accomplished what is known as the Mongolian release.
Only a few nations ever used this type of arrow release, and the Yana
seem to have been the only American natives to do so. [2] [Footnote 2:
See Morse on Arrow Release.]
To draw his bow he extended his left arm. At the same time he pulled
his right hand toward him. The bow arm was almost in front of him,
while his right