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Collection: Books and Periodicals
Three Years in California by John D. Borthwick (1857)(LoC) (423 pages)
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Page: of 423
Ly ae iL
INDIAN BOWS AND ARROWS. 131
into a paste, very much of the colour and consistency of opium. Such horrid-looking stuff it is, that
I never ventured to taste it ; but I believe that
the bitter and astringent taste of the raw material
is in no way modified by the process of manufacture.
As is the case with most savages, the digger Indians
show remarkable instances of ingenuity in some of
their contrivances, and great skill in the manufacture
of their weapons. Their bows and arrows are very
good specimens of workmanship. The former are
shorter than the bows used in this country, but resemble them in every other particular, even in the
shape of the pieces of horn at the ends. The head of
the arrow is of the orthodox cut, the three feathers
being placed in the usual position ; the point, however, is the most elaborate part. About three inches
of the end is of a heavier wood than the rest of the
arrow, being very neatly spliced on with thin tendons.
The point itself is a piece of tlint chipped down into
a flat diamond shape, about the size of a diamond on
a playing-card ; the edges are very sharp, and are
notched to receive the tendons with which it is firmly
secured to the arrow.
a conical form, so closely woven as to be perfectly
water-tight, and in these they have an ingenious
method of boiling water, by heating a number of
.
i
The women make a kind of wicker-work basket of
.
stones in the fire, and throwing a succession of them
into the water till the temperature is raised to boiling
.
! point.
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