creases them. To do this, he takes an arrow-head and scores the shaft
in zigzag lines from end to end. These creases, or fluted gutters, in
the shaft are to let the blood run out when an animal is struck. The
blood flows along the little gutters in the wood and runs off the end
of the arrow. The arrow-head is made of steel or stone. It is shaped
like a heart or dart and has a stem about an inch long. The sides of
the stem are nicked or filed out like saw-teeth. Nearly all the wild
Indians now use steel arrow-heads, which are a great article of trade
among the savages. Certain firms in the East manufacture many hundreds
of thousands every year and send them to the traders who sell them to
the Indians for furs.
When the shaft is ready for the head, the warrior saws a slit with a
nicked knife in the end opposite the notch, and inserts the stem of
the arrow-head. The slit must be exactly in the center of the shaft,
and as deep as the stem is long. When properly adjusted, the teeth of
the stem show themselves on each side of the slit. Buffalo, deer, or
elk sinew is then softened in water, and the wood is wrapped firmly to
the arrowhead, taking care to fit the sinew in the teeth of the stem
to prevent the head from pulling out.
The next process is to put on the feathers. To do this properly great
care must be taken. Turkey or eagle quills are soaked in warm water to
make them split easily and uniformly. The feather is then stripped from
the quill and put on the shaft of the arrow. Three feathers are placed
on each shaft, and they are laid equi-distant along the stem. The big
end of the feather is fastened near the notch of the shaft and laid six
or eight inches straight along the wood. The feathers are glued to the
shaft and wrapped at each end with fine sinew. The arrow is next
painted, marked, dried, and is ready for use. It takes a warrior a whole
day to make an arrow, for which the trader allows him ten cents.
Arrow-heads are put up in packages of a dozen each. They cost the
trader half a cent, or six cents per package, and are sold to the
Indians at enormous profits. Thus, twelve arrow-heads will be
exchanged for a buffalo robe, worth $8 or $9, and three, for a beaver
skin, worth $4. Indians often buy arrow-heads at these enormous
prices, and then sell the arrow back to the trader at ten cents, in
exchange for goods, beads, or knives.
Travelers on the prairie have often seen the Indians throwing up
signal lights at night, and have wondered how it was done. I will tell
you all about it. They take off the head of the arrow and dip the
shaft in gunpowder, mixed with glue. This they call making
fire-arrows. The gunpowder adheres to the wood, and coats it three or
four inches from its end, to the depth of one-fourth of an inch.
Chewed bark mixed with dry gunpowder is then fastened to the stick,
and the arrow is ready for use. When it is to be fired, a warrior
places it on his bow-string and draws his bow ready to let it fly; the
point of the arrow is then lowered; another warrior lights the dry
bark, and it is shot high in the air. When it has gone up a little
distance, it bursts out into flame, and burns brightly until it falls
to the ground. Various meanings are attached to these fire-arrow
signals. Thus, one arrow meant, among the Santees, "The enemy are
about"; two arrows from the same point, "Danger"; three, "Great
danger"; many, "They are too strong, or we are falling back"; two
arrows sent up at the same moment, "We will attack"; three, "Soon";
four, "Now"; if shot diagonally, "In that direction." These signals
are constantly changed, and are always agreed upon when the party goes
out or before it separates. The Indians send their signals very
intelligently, and seldom make mistakes in telegraphing each other by
these silent monitors. The amount of information they can
communicate, by fires and burning arrows, is perfectly wonderful.
Every war party carries with it bundles of signal arrows.
The bow--the weapon so long in use among the different Indian tribes
of this continent and so typical of Indian life--is made of various
kinds of wood, and its manufacture is a work of no little labor. Even
at this day the bow is much used, and although an Indian may have a
gun, he is seldom seen without his long bow, and his quiver well
filled with arrows. The gun may get out of order, and he can not mend
it; the ammunition may become wet, and there is an end of hunting; but
the faithful bow is always in order, and its swift arrows ready to fly
in wet as well as dry weather. Thus reasons the savage, and so he
keeps his bow to fall back upon in case of accident.
Until the invention of breech-loaders, the bow was a far more deadly
weapon at close range than the best rifle. A warrior could discharge
his arrows with much greater rapidity and precision than the most
expert woodsman could charge and fire a muzzle-loading rifle.
The Indian boy's first lesson in life is to shoot with a bow. He is
furnished with a small bow and "beewaks", or blunt arrows, so that he
will hurt nobody, and with these he shoots at marks. By and by, when
he has acquired some skill in handling his weapon, he is given small
arrow-points, and with these he shoots birds, squirrels, and small
beasts. As he grows older he receives the long-bow, and at last the
strong-bow.
These strong-bows are powerful weapons, and I have seen them so stiff
that a white man could not bend them more than four inches, while an
Indian would, with apparent ease, draw them to the arrow's head. A
shaft fired from one of these bows will go through the body of a
buffalo, and arrow-heads have been found so firmly imbedded in the
thigh bones of a man that no force could extract them.
The parents take great pride in teaching young Indians to shoot, and
the development of the muscles and strength of their arms is watched
with much interest. A stout arm, ornamented with knots of muscles is a
great honor to an Indian, and no one but those who can handle the
strong-bow are deemed fit for war.
Of all the Indians of the West, the Sioux and Crows make the best bows.
The Sioux bow is generally four feet long, one and a half inches wide,
and an inch thick at the middle. It tapers from the center, or "grasp",
toward the ends, and is but half an inch wide and half an inch thick at
the extremities. At one end the bow-string is notched into the wood and
made permanently fast, while at the other end two notches are cut in the
wood, and the string at that end of the bow is made like a slip-knot or
loop. When the bow is to be used, the warrior sets the end to which the
string is made fast firmly on the ground, and then bends down the other
end until the loop slips into the notch. This is called "stringing" the
bow. The bow is never kept strung except when in actual use, as it would
lose its strength and elasticity by being constantly bent. When
unstrung, a good bow is perfectly straight, and, if properly made and
seasoned, will always retain its elasticity.
The wood generally used in manufacturing bows is ash, hickory,
iron-wood, elm, and cedar. No hickory grows west of the Missouri, and
it is very difficult to get; and an Indian will always pay a high
price for a piece of this wood.
When the bow is made of cedar, it need not be seasoned; but all other
woods require seasoning, and are not worked until perfectly dry. Every
teepee has its bow-wood hung up with the arrows in the smoke of the
fire well out of reach of the flames. A warrior with a sharp knife and
a sandstone, or file, can make a bow in three days if he works hard,
but it generally takes a week, and sometimes a month, to finish a
fancy bow. When done, it is worth three dollars in trade.
All the bows differ in length and strength, being gauged for the arms
of those who are to use them; but a white man would, until he learned
the trick of it, find himself unable to bend even the weakest war-bow.
This has given rise to the impression that the Indians are stronger
than white men, which is an error; for, although only a slight man
myself, I learned, after some practice, to bend the strongest bow, and
could send a shaft as far or as deep as any savage. On one occasion I
shot an arrow, while running, into a buffalo so that the point came
out on the opposite side; another arrow disappeared in the buffalo,
not even the notch being visible. I have seen a bow throw an arrow
five hundred yards, and have myself often discharged one entirely
through a board one inch thick. Once I found a man's skull transfixed
to a tree by an arrow which had gone completely through the bones, and
imbedded itself so deep in the wood as to sustain the weight of the
head. He had probably been tied up to the tree and shot.
The surface of the bow is made perfectly flat, then roughened with a
file or stone, the sinew being dipped in hot glue and laid on the
wood. The sinew is then lapped at the ends and on the middle or grasp
of the bow. The string is attached while green, twisted, and left to
dry on the bow. The whole outside of the wood and sinew is now covered
with a thick solution of glue, and the bow is done. Rough bows look
like hickory limbs with the bark on, but some of them are beautifully
painted and ornamented. I once knew a trader to glue some red velvet
on a bow, and the Indians paid him an immense price for it, thinking
it very wonderful.
In traveling, the bow is carried in a sheath attached to the arrow
quiver, and the whole is slung to the back by a belt of elk or
buckskin, which passes diagonally across the breast, and is fastened
to the ends of the quiver. The quiver and bow-sheath is generally made
of the skin of an ox or some wild animal, and is tanned with the hair
on. The quiver is ornamented with tassels or fringe of buckskin, and
the belt across the breast is painted or worked with beads. Each
Indian has his sign or name on his belt, bow, sheath, or arrow quiver.
The celebrated Sioux chief, Spotted Tail, or "Sin-ta Gallessca", had
his bow-sheath made from the skin of a spotted ox he had killed in a
train his warriors captured, and as the tail was left dangling at the
end of the sheath, the Indians ever afterward called him Spotted Tail,
or "The man with the Spotted Tail". You may be curious to know what
this Indian's name was before he was called Spotted Tail, and I must
tell you many Indians never have a name, while others have half a
dozen. Some act of bravery, or an article of clothing, generally fixes
an Indian's name, but a new deed, or a new head-dress, may change it.
To shoot with the bow properly, it must be held firmly in three
fingers of the right hand; the arrow is fixed on the bow-string with
the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, and the other three fingers
are used to pull the string. The shaft of the arrow lays between the
thumb and forefinger of the right hand, which rest over the grasp of
the bow. To shoot, the bow is turned slightly, so that one end is
higher than the other, and the arrow is then launched.
--_From "Belden the White Chief"._
CAN YOU UNDERSTAND RELATIONSHIP?
This drill will test your ability to recognize easily relationships
between words. Beginning on the first line, write the figures 1 to 10.
In each group of words below, the first two words have a certain
connection in meaning. When you discover this relationship between the
first two words, you can find among the five words that follow, two
other words that bear the same relationship. For example, in group
one, the TIRE is made of RUBBER. Now if you look among the words that
follow, you will easily see that the words HOUSE and BRICKS are
related in the same way. (The HOUSE is made of BRICKS.) Write these
four words after figure 1 on your paper:
1. TIRE RUBBER house bricks
Look at group two. We can easily see that just as the TAILOR makes
CLOTHES so the BAKER makes BREAD. So you will write these four words
after figure 2 on your paper:
2. TAILOR CLOTHES baker bread
Complete the exercise by selecting the two words in each remaining group
that are related in meaning in the same way that the given words are
related in meaning. When you have finished, wait quietly for the others.
1. TIRE, RUBBER (wagon, circle, house, brush, bricks).
2. TAILOR, CLOTHES (baker, store, city, ship, bread).
3. FIRE, HEAT (knife, candle, burn, light, wood).
4. SAILOR, SEA (book, sing, soldier, fight, land).
5. GUN, BULLET (bow, horse, shoot, arrow, fly).
6. YOUNG, QUICK (old, fast, grow, father, slow).
7. APPLE, TREE (oranges, south, grape, vine, sweet).
8. CEILING, FLOOR (sky, attic, stair, earth, high).
9. WINDOW, GLASS (silk, knife, book, steel, pencil).
10. SQUIRREL, CHATTERS (bird, tree, sings, fly, nuts).
OPENING THE GREAT WEST
Here is a picture of the work of the army of the United States in
opening the great prairie country of the West. Today we get
immense quantities of our food from the states between the
Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Seventy years ago the
most of this territory, now the richest farming country in the
United States, was inhabited chiefly by roving tribes of Indians
who lived mainly by hunting the buffalo.
You will notice many details that show that the story was written
many years ago. For instance, the soldiers are spoken of as "blue
jackets". Make a list of these points as you read.
Read the selection as rapidly as you can without overlooking
important details. When the majority of the class has finished,
your teacher will ask you in turn to stand before the class and
recite on the topics given at the end. You should try to make your
recitation interesting by giving details that will help your
hearers to see what the author has described.
As soon as the traveler crosses the Missouri, and enters the
territories, he begins to find the blue jackets, and the farther west
he goes the more numerous they become. It is only just to the army to
say that it has ever been the pioneer of civilization in America. Ever
since Washington crossed the Alleghanies, and, with his brave
Virginians, pushed to the Ohio, the work has been steadily going on.
From Pittsburgh, the army led far down the Ohio to the Mississippi,
and thence along the Father of Waters to New Orleans; next west to the
Miami, and far up the lakes; then to the Missouri, and so on for
thousands of miles until the other ocean was reached through Oregon
and California. A line of forts is pushed out into the new and
uninhabited country, and presently people come in and settle near the
posts. A few years elapse, and there are hundreds of citizens in all
directions. Then the forts are sold or pulled down, and the troops
march farther west to new posts.
The knapsacks are packed, the cavalry are mounted, and we are ready to
occupy a new line of country. "Head of column west, forward, march!"
and away we go. What an outfit! The long lines of cavalry wind over
the hills, and then follows the compact column of infantry. Then come
a few pieces of artillery and the train. What a sight! Hundreds of
wagons, filled with every conceivable article of food and implement of
labor: steam-engines, saw-mills, picks, shovels, hoes, masses of iron,
piles of lumber, tons of pork, hard bread, flour, rice, sugar, coffee,
tea, and potatoes, all drawn in huge wagons. Six mules or ten oxen are
seen tugging the monster wheeled machines along. The train is
generally preceded by a score or two of carriages, ambulances, and
light wagons, containing the families of officers, women, children,
and laundresses. Behind the wagon train are driven the herds of cattle
and sheep, and, last of all, comes a company of infantry, and,
perhaps, one of cavalry.
Day after day the living, moving mass toils on toward the setting sun.
Bridges are built, gulleys filled, hill-sides dug down, and roads cut
along precipices. We wonder how the pioneer corps can keep out of our
way; but each day we go steadily forward, seeing only their work,
never overtaking them. A ride to the front will show us how this is
done. It is mid-day, and a company is going out to relieve the
pioneers. The knapsacks are lightened, and off we go at a quick pace.
At sundown we come upon the pioneers, and find some building a bridge,
while others cut down the hill so the wagons can pass. We relieve them
of their shovels, picks, and axes, and one-half of the company goes
into camp, and the other half goes to work. At midnight we are aroused
by the beating of the drum, and the half of the company that is in
camp goes out to relieve the working party. At daylight we are
relieved in turn; the work goes on day and night, and that is the way
the pioneers keep ahead of the train.
Let us return to the column. It is near sunset, the bugles sound the
halt, and the columns file off into camp. The cavalry horses are sent
out to graze, the tents put up, fires lighted and the suppers put on to
cook. The white canvas gleams in the setting sun, and the camp resounds
with mirth and laughter. Water is brought from the brook, and soap and
towels are in great demand to remove the dust and stains of travel.
Folding chairs, tables, beds, mattresses, are opened out, and carpets
spread on the ground. The butchers have slaughtered a beef or two, and
the fresh meat is brought in for distribution. The commissary wagons are
opened, and sugar, coffee, rice, hominy, and canned fruits dealt out. In
an hour we sit down to a smoking hot dinner and supper of roast beef,
hot coffee, fried potatoes, fresh biscuit, and canned peaches. If the
air is cool the little peaked Sibley stoves are put up, and the evening
is spent in telling stories, playing cards, and singing songs. Here is
heard the thrumming of a guitar; there are a lot of officers playing
euchre, and yonder a group of soldiers gathered about their camp-fire
telling tales of how they campaigned in Oregon, or fought the Comanches
and Apaches in Texas and New Mexico twenty years ago.
The bugles sound tattoo, the rolls are called, taps blow, the lights
are put out, and the busy camp sinks into stillness. Only here and
there a light is left burning, where the quartermaster in his tent is
busy over his papers, the adjutant making the orders for the morrow's
march, or a noisy trio of officers continuing to a late hour their
jests and songs. No soldier is allowed to have his light burning after
taps, but the officers can do as they please.
Every one sleeps soundly, for each knows he is well guarded. It is
near midnight, and, if you like, we will walk about the camp a little.
Here is the officer of the day, and we will accompany him. We go out
to the edge of the camp, where a large group of men are gathered about
a blazing fire. "Who comes there?" rings out upon the still night air.
"Friends," is answered back. "Advance one and be recognized." This is
done, and then comes the cry of "Officer of day, turn out the guard".
There is a rattling of muskets, a hurrying and bustling to and fro,
and the guard falls into line and is inspected--so far as to ascertain
that all are present and every thing right. Frequently an officer, but
most generally a sergeant of experience, commands the guard, and all
the sentinels are posted according to the directions of the officer of
the day, who receives his instructions from the commanding officer.
The wagons are drawn up in long lines or semicircles, with the tongues
inward, to which are tied the mules and oxen. Sentinels pace up and down
to see that all goes right, and rouse the teamsters to tie up the mules
that are constantly getting loose. The cry of "loose mules" will bring a
dozen teamsters out of their wagons, and at least a hundred oaths before
the animal is caught and secured. The cavalry wagons are placed twenty
to thirty feet apart, and long ropes drawn through the hind wheels, to
which are picketed the horses. Guards are everywhere, and the sentinels
are keenly on the alert. Each hill-top has its silent watcher. The herds
are kept where there is as much grass as possible, and mounted herders
constantly watch them, ready for an Indian alarm or a stampede. A cry of
"Indians, Indians," produces great life and commotion among the herders,
guards, and sentinels, but the body of the camp does not deign to move
unless the firing is very heavy, and the order given to "turn out".
This is the Regular Army on the march.
When the troops enter the Indian country, and the attacks become
frequent, the column marches more compactly; the herds and wagons are
kept well up; the women and children are put among the infantry;
flankers thrown out, and a howitzer sent to the front to throw shells
and frighten off the savages. The boom of a cannon seems to be the
voice of advancing civilization, and greatly terrifies the Indians.
At last the line of country that is to be occupied has been reached,
and a fort is built. This consists of a stockade, log-houses, and
shelters for the stores. Then the troops are divided, and another fort
is built fifty or a hundred miles from the first, and so on until the
whole line is "occupied". If there is danger, earthworks are thrown
up, and one or two pieces mounted. Now begins the work in earnest;
keeping open the communication between the forts; getting up supplies
from the rear, and securing the way for immigration. The country is
mapped, the land surveyed, the streams looked up and named, and
saw-mills built. Settlers come in and open farms near the forts, and
they creep up and down the valleys, and over the hills, until they
stretch away for hundreds of miles. Meanwhile, there are Indian
battles, surprises, and massacres by scores. Hundreds lose their
lives, but the settlements go on. There is a little grocery, a rum
shop, a town, and by and by a city.
Every spring, as soon as the grass grows, the cavalry takes the field
and scours over the country for hundreds of miles. The infantry remains
in the posts, or guards trains to and fro. From April until December,
the cavalry is on the go constantly, and the officers are separated from
their families. When the snows fall they come into the forts to winter,
but are often routed out by the approach of their savage foes, and made
to march hundreds of miles when the thermometer is far below zero. It is
this that makes the troops so savage, and often causes them to slaughter
the Indians without mercy. After a long and hard summer's campaign, the
officers and men come in tired, weary, and only too glad to rejoin their
families and rest, when scarcely have they removed the saddles from
their horses' backs, when murders, robberies, and burnings announce the
approach of the fierce foe, and they are ordered out for a winter
campaign. Full of rage and chagrin, they go forth breathing vengeance on
all Indians, and after toiling a month or more, through ice and snow,
with freezing hands, feet, and ears, they overtake the savages and
punish them with terrible severity.
In this way our great western plains are opened to civilization. Every
year millions of acres are added to our national domain. The wild
prairie with its countless buffaloes and its skulking, murderous
war-parties of red men becomes the frontier; the frontier becomes the
settled farms and villages; the iron horse and the telegraph connect
it with the great East; and still the pioneer and the army push ahead
to open up still more of the richest land in the world to the
conquering axe and plow of the Anglo-Saxon.
--_From "Belden the White Chief"._
Pupils should be prepared to recite on the following topics:
1. Moving west, then moving west again.
2. What an army train carried.
3. The work of the pioneer corps.
4. An army camp at night
(_a_) Supper.
(_b_) Changing the guard.
(_c_) How the camp was protected.
5. Development of a fort into a settlement.
6. Summary.
Write answers to the following questions:
1. Who of your relations might have been one of these soldiers;
your older brother, your father, your grandfather, or your great
grandfather?
2. Name three kinds of food that we eat every day that come from
the part of the country opened as described in this selection.
3. Tell some of the sounds you might have heard if you had been
sleeping in one of the wagons when camped for the night.
TURNING OUT THE INTRUDER
Here is another exercise that will help you see how well you can
arrange words in groups. What kind of list is the first group of
words below? Do all the words under figure 1 belong in that list?
Would it be a better list without the word VELVET? Write VELVET on
the first line of your paper.
In each group of words, there is one that does not belong there.
Find the misplaced word in each group, writing one under the
other. You have now made a new list of words of one class by
taking one word out of each group. Pick out a good heading for
this new list and write it as the top.