Hunting with the Bow and Arrow

Saxton Pope

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• Publié par: thaen
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 21
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope
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Title: Hunting with the Bow and Arrow
Author: Saxton Pope
Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8084]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on June 13, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING WITH THE BOW AND ARROW ***
Produced by Eric Eldred, Marvin A. Hodges, Tonya Allen, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
HUNTING with the BOW &
ARROW
BySaxton Pope
With 48 Illustrations
DEDICATED TO
ROBIN HOOD
A SPIRIT THAT AT SOME TIME DWELLS IN THE
HEART OF EVERY YOUTH
CONTENTS
I.--THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN.
II.--ISHI'S BOW AND ARROW.
III.--ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING.
IV.--ARCHERY IN GENERAL.
V.--HOW TO MAKE A BOW.
VI.--HOW TO MAKE AN ARROW.
VII.--ARCHERY EQUIPMENT.
VIII.--HOW TO SHOOT.
IX.--THE PRINCIPLES OF HUNTING.
X.--THE RACCOON, WILDCAT, FOX, COON, CAT, AND WOLF.
XI.--DEER HUNTING.
XII.--BEAR HUNTING.
XIII.--MOUNTAIN LIONS.
XIV.--GRIZZLY BEAR.
XV.--ALASKAN ADVENTURES.
A CHAPTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT BY STEWART EDWARD
WHITE.
THE UPSHOT.
ILLUSTRATIONSTHE SHADES OF SHERWOOD FOREST
A DEATH MASK OF ISHI
ISHI AND APPERSON
CALLING GAME IN AMBUSH
THE INDIAN'S FAVORITE SHOOTING POSITION
CHOPPING OUT A JUNIPER BOW
OUR CARAVAN LEAVING DEER CREEK CANYON
ISHI FLAKING AN OBSIDIAN ARROW HEAD
THE INDIAN AND A DEER
THREE TYPES OF HUNTING ARROWS
A BLUNT ARROW SHOT THROUGH AN INCH BOARD
"BRER" FOX UP A TREE
ART YOUNG SHOOTS FISH
DETAILS OF BOW CONSTRUCTION
SEVERAL STEPS IN ARROW MAKING
ARROW HEADS OF VARIOUS SORTS USED IN HUNTING
NECESSARY ARCHERY EQUIPMENT
AN ARCHER'S MEASURE, A FISTMELE
THE ENGLISH METHOD OF DRAWING THE ARROW
NOCKING THE SHAFT ON THE STRING
THE LONG BOW FULL DRAWN
WILL AND MAURICE THOMPSON, AS THEY APPEARED IN 1878
SHOOTING BRUSH RABBITS
ARCHERS IN AMBUSH
ISHI RIDING A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME
A REST AT NOON
A LYNX THAT MET AN ARCHER
THE CHIEF LOOKING OVER GOOD DEER COUNTRY
MR. COON BROUGHT INTO CAMP
A PRETTY PAIR OF WINGS
JUST A LITTLE HUNT BEFORE BREAKFASTYOUNG AND COMPTON WITH A QUAIL APIECE
WOODCHUCKS GALORE!
PORCUPINE QUILLS TO DECORATE A QUIVER
A FATAL ARROW AT 65 YARDS
THE CHIEF AND ART GET A BUCK AT 85 YARDS
TOM MURPHY WITH HIS TWO BEST DOGS, BUTTON AND
BALDY
YOUNG AND I ARE VERY PROUD OF OUR MAIDEN BEAR
ARTHUR YOUNG AND HIS COUGAR
OUR FIRST MOUNTAIN LION
WE PACK THE PANTHER TO CAMP
CAMP AT SQUAW LAKE, WYOMING
THE RESULT OF OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH GRIZZLY
BEAR
BRINGING HOME THE TROPHIES
LOOKING FOR GRIZZLIES ON CUB CREEK
THE TREE THAT NED FROST CLIMBED TO ESCAPE DEATH
MY FEMALE GRIZZLY AND THE ARROW THAT KILLED HER
ARTHUR YOUNG SLAYS THE MONARCH OF THE MOUNTAINS
BULL MOOSE BAGGED ON THE KENAI PENINSULA
THE GREAT KADIAC BEAR BROUGHT LOW
ARTHUR YOUNG OUTWITS THE ALASKA BIGHORN
Hunting with the Bow and
Arrow
I
THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN
The glory and romance of archery culminated in England before the
discovery of America. There, no doubt, the bow was used to itsgreatest perfection, and it decided the fate of nations. The crossbow
and the matchlock had supplanted the longbow when Columbus
sailed for the New World.
It was, therefore, a distinct surprise to the first explorers of America
that the natives used the bow and arrow so effectively. In fact, the
sword and the horse, combined with the white man's superlative self-
assurance, won the contest over the aborigines more than the
primitive blunderbuss of the times. The bow and arrow was still more
deadly than the gun.
With the gradual extermination of the American Indian, the westward
march of civilization, and the improvement in firearms, this contest
became more and more unequal, and the bow disappeared from the
land. The last primitive Indian archer was discovered in California in
the year 1911.
When the white pioneers of California descended through the
northern part of that State by the Lassen trail, they met with a tribe of
Indians known as the Yana, or Yahi. That is the name they called
themselves. Their neighbors called them the Nozi, and the white men
called them the Deer Creek or Mill Creek Indians. Different from the
other tribes of this territory, the Yana would not submit without a
struggle to the white man's conquest of their lands.
The Yana were hunters and warriors. The usual California natives
were yellow in color, fat and inclined to be peaceable. The Yana
were smaller of stature, lithe, of reddish bronze complexion, and
instead of being diggers of roots, they lived by the salmon spear and
the bow. Their range extended over an area south of Mount Lassen,
east of the Sacramento River, for a distance of fifty miles.
From the earliest settlement of the whites, hostilities existed between
them. This resulted in definitely organized expeditions against these
Indians, and the annual slaughter of hundreds.
The last big round-up of Mill Creek Indians occurred in 1872, when
their tribe was surprised at its seasonal harvest of acorns. Upon this
occasion a posse of whites killed such a number of natives that it is
said the creek was damned with dead bodies. An accurate account of
these days may be obtained from Watterman's paper on the Yana
Indians. [Footnote: Vol. 13, No. 2, Am. Archaeology and Ethnology.]
During one of the final raids upon the Yana, a little band of Indian
women and children hid in a cave. Here they were discovered and
murdered in cold blood. One of the white scouting party laconically
stated that he used his revolver to blow out their brains because the
rifle spattered up the cave too much.
So it came to pass, that from two or three thousand people, the Yana
were reduced to less than a dozen who escaped extermination.
These were mainly women, old men and children. This tribal remnant
sought the refuge of the impenetrable brush and volcanic rocks of
Deer Creek Canyon. Here they lived by stealth and cunning. Like
wild creatures, they kept from sight until the whites quite forgot their
existence.
It became almost a legend that wild Indians lived in the Mount Lassen
district. From time to time ranchers or sheep herders reported thattheir flocks had been molested, that signs of Indians had been found
or that arrowheads were discovered in their sheep. But little credence
was given these rumors until the year 1908, when an electric power
company undertook to run a survey line across Deer Creek Canyon
with the object of constructing a dam.
One evening, as a party of linemen stood on a log at the edge of the
deep swift stream debating the best place to ford, a naked Indian rose
up before them, giving a savage snarl and brandishing a spear. In an
instant the survey party disbanded, fell from the log, and crossed the
stream in record-breaking time. When they stopped to get their
breath, the Indian had disappeared. This was the first appearance of
Ishi, [Footnote: Ishi is pronounced "E-she."] the Yana.
Next morning an exploring expedition set out to verify the excited
report of the night before. The popular opinion was that no such
wildman existed, and that the linemen had been seeing things. One
of the group offered to bet that no signs of Indians would be found.
As the explorers reached the slide of volcanic boulders where the
apparition of the day before had disappeared, two arrows flew past
them. They made a run for the top of the slide and reached it just in
time to see two Indians vanish in the brush. They left behind them an
old white-haired squaw, whom they had been carrying. She was
partially paralyzed, and her legs were bound in swaths of willow bark,
seemingly in an effort to strengthen them.
The old squaw was wrinkled with age, her hair was cropped short as
a sign of mourning, and she trembled with fear. The white men
approached and spoke kindly to her in Spanish. But she seemed not
to understand their words, and apparently expected only death, for in
the past to meet a white man was to die. They gave her water to
drink, and tried to make her call back her companions, but without
avail.
Further search disclosed two small brush huts hidden among the
laurel trees. So cleverly conc