Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/170

159 ,1.,, '., ■ / BOWS SUPERTOR TO GONS. 159 Each carried his faithful bow, and mind you, this was no plaything, for Castaneda records seeing "a Teyas shoot a bull right through both shoulders with an arrow, which would be a good shot for a musket." Those who have Watched the youih of the west, real- ize how wild the average boy is oVer his first "twenty- two," and then he is crazy to hunt and shoot, and is not happy save when he has the gun in his hands. - So it was with the Indian chUd, who began in childhood to acquire the art. Is it any wonder, then, that the Indians were proficient? Be^nning at eight years of age and continuing till twenty, they would get twelve years of practice. "As there was no school to attend, theirs was the school of necessity. They were com- pelled to acquire proficiency in hunting instead di learning; and hunting meant the use of the bow and arrow. That they ware experts is frequently attested, by t'i3 Spmiards, for you will recall tha incident, whoii Vc certain ofiicer lifted his visor how an arrow tlia': moment pierced his brain. ITow something about the bow and arrov/. Fifty arrows were considered a good supply, and hei:e is a description of them takea from the great work here- tofore mentioned: They are twenty-two to twenty- three inches long without the head; they were made of some light Wood, cedar preferably; the feathers at the neck are glued on, (the natives early knew of glue from the feet of the buffalo and deer,) after hav- ing* the quill part stripped off, and were about four inches in length, and were tied with fine Binew!i-4o keep them in place. The heads of tOie arrows were Upp^A inth fttnt. There was a notch of oouk^c et tits