Indian Archery : Page 425

A flight arrow weighing 310 grains was used in this test.As a comparison, the same arrow was shot with an Englishtype yew bow weighing 75 lbs. which shot a distance of 250yards. A modern flight bow will shoot a 31 o grain arrow wellover 400 yards.

INDIAN ARROWS

The Indian reached a high degree of finesse in makingarrows. He, of course, had no scales to weigh them or a spinetesting device to determine stiffness. He did recognize thevalue of comparative measurement both for length and di-ameter. Again, the natural products of his region were thematerials he used in making his arrows. Sprouts of trees suchas sourwood and witchhazel were used. In regions whereforms of cane grew, he used reeds. These reeds and sproutswere gathered and seasoned; they were then matched for sizeand straightened by heating; they were often footed with atougher wood. The footer was attached with resin or glueafter a tapered hole had been drilled in the shaft with a bonedrill and the foreshaft had been shaped to fit. The shaftswere then sanded to shape and size with sandstone. TheIndian apparently had not learned the value of self arrowsrived from the bole of a tree or they did not have the neces-sary tools to produce shafts in this manner.