Of all popular errors about the Indians, the hardest to down is the idea
that their women do all the work. They do the housework, it is true, but
all the heavy labour beyond their strength is done by the men. Examples
of this are seen in the frightful toil of hunting, canoeing, and
portaging, besides a multitude of kindred small tasks, such as making
snowshoes, bows, arrows, and canoes.
Each warrior usually makes his own bow and arrows, and if, as often
happens, one of them proves more skilful and turns out better weapons,
it is a common thing for others to offer their own specialty in
exchange.
The advantages of the bow over the gun are chiefly its noiselessness,
its cheapness, and the fact that one can make its ammunition anywhere.
As the gun chiefly used in Quonab's time was the old-fashioned,
smooth-bore flint-lock, there was not much difference in the accuracy
of the two weapons. Quonab had always made a highclass bow, as well as
high-class arrows, and was a high-class shot. He could set up ten clam
shells at ten paces and break all in ten shots. For at least half of
his hunting he preferred the bow; the gun was useful to him chiefly
when flocks of wild pigeons or ducks were about, and a single charge of
scattering shot might bring down a dozen birds.
But there is a law in all shooting--to be expert, you must practise
continually--and when Rolf saw his host shoot nearly every day at some
mark, he tried to join in the sport.
It took not many trys to show that the bow was far too strong for him
to use, and Quonab was persuaded at length to make an outfit for his
visitor.
From the dry store hole under the rock, he produced a piece of common
red cedar. Some use hickory; it is less liable to break and will stand
more abuse, but it has not the sharp, clean action of cedar. The latter
will send the arrow much farther, and so swiftly does it leave the
string that it baffles the eye. But the cedar bow must be cared for like
a delicate machine; overstring it, and it breaks; twang it without an
arrow, and it sunders the cords; scratch it, and it may splinter; wet
it, and it is dead; let it lie on the ground, even, and it is weakened.
But guard it and it will serve you as a matchless servant, and as can no
other timber in these woods.
Just where the red heart and the white sap woods join is the bowman's
choice. A piece that reached from Rolf's chin to the ground was shaved
down till it was flat on the white side and round on the red side,
tapering from the middle, where it was one inch wide and one inch thick
to the ends, where it was three fourths of an inch wide and five eighths
of an inch thick, the red and white wood equal in all parts.
The string was made of sinew from the back of a cow, split from the
long, broad sheath that lies on each side the spine, and the bow strung
for trial. Now, on drawing it (flat or white side in front), it was
found that one arm bent more than the other, so a little more scraping
was done on the strong side, till both bent alike.
Quonab's arrows would answer, but Rolf needed a supply of his own. Again
there was great choice of material. The long, straight shoots ol' the
arrowwood (Viburnuin dentatum) supplied the ancient Indians, but
Quonab had adopted a better way, since the possession of an axe made it
possible. A 25-inch block of straight-grained ash was split and split
until it yielded enough pieces. These were shaved down to one fourth of
an inch thick, round, smooth, and perfectly straight. Each was notched
deeply at one end; three pieces of split goose feather were lashed on
the notched end, and three different kinds of arrows were made. All were
alike in shaft and in feathering, but differed in the head. First, the
target arrows: these were merely sharpened, and the points hardened by
roasting to a brown colour. They would have been better with conical
points of steel, but none of these were to be had. Second, the ordinary
hunting arrows with barbed steel heads, usually bought ready-made, or
filed out of a hoop: these were for use in securing such creatures as
muskrats, ducks close at hand, or deer. Third, the bird bolts: these
were left with a large, round, wooden head. They were intended for
quail, partridges, rabbits, and squirrels, but also served very often,
and most admirably, in punishing dogs, either the Indian's own when he
was not living up to the rules and was too far off for a cuff or kick,
or a farmer's dog that was threatening an attack.
Now the outfit was complete, Rolf thought, but one other touch was
necessary. Quonab painted the feather part of the shaft bright red, and
Rolf learned why. Not for ornament, not as an owner's mark, but as a
finding mark. Many a time that brilliant red, with the white feather
next it, was the means of saving the arrow from loss. An uncoloured
arrow among the sticks and leaves of the woods was usually hidden, but
the bright-coloured shaft could catch the eye 100 yards away.
It was very necessary to keep the bow and arrows from the wet. For this,
every hunter provides a case, usually of buckskin, but failing that they
made a good quiver of birch bark laced with spruce roots for the arrows,
and for the bow itself a long cover of tarpaulin.
Now came the slow drilling in archery; the arrow held and the bow
drawn with three fingers on the cord--the thumb and little finger doing
nothing. The target was a bag of hay set at twenty feet, until the
beginner could hit it every time: then by degrees it was moved away
until at the standard distance of forty yards he could do fair shooting,
although of course he never shot as well as the Indian, who had
practised since he was a baby.
There are three different kinds of archery tests: the first for aim: Can
you shoot so truly as to hit a three-inch mark, ten times in succession,
at ten paces?
Next for speed: Can you shoot so quickly and so far up, as to have five
arrows in the air at once? If so, you are good: Can you keep up six?
Then you are very good. Seven is wonderful. The record is said to be
eight. Last for power: Can you pull so strong a bow and let the arrow go
so clean that it will fly for 250 yards or will pass through a deer at
ten paces? There is a record of a Sioux who sent an arrow through three
antelopes at one shot, and it was not unusual to pierce the huge buffalo
through and through; on one occasion a warrior with one shot pierced the
buffalo and killed her calf running at the other side.
If you excel in these three things, you can down your partridge and
squirrel every time; you can get five or six out of each flock of birds;
you can kill your deer at twenty-five yards, and so need never starve in
the woods where there is game.
Of course, Rolf was keen to go forth and try in the real chase, but it
was many a shot he missed and many an arrow lost or broken, before
he brought in even a red squirrel, and he got, at least, a higher
appreciation of the skill of those who could count on the bow for their
food.
For those, then, who think themselves hunters and woodmen, let this be
a test and standard: Can you go forth alone into the wilderness where
there is game, take only a bow and arrows for weapons, and travel afoot
250 miles, living on the country as you go?