Yahi archery

UC-NRLF 99 SEfi14 517B PUBLICATIONSOF CALIFORNIA AND ETHNOLOGYARCHAEOLOGYAMERICAN March 191821-37 6,Vol. No. 3, platespp. 103-152,13, ARCHERYYAHI SAXTON T. POPE OF CALIFORNIA PRESSUNIVERSITY BERKELEYOF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONSUNIVERSITY IN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGYAMERICAN 21-37 March 1918Vol. No. 6,13, 3, pp. 103-152, plates YAHI ARCHERY BY SAXTON POPET. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 103 Technical terms 105 The bow 105 The arrow .. 110 Manufacture of arrow 116points The 118quiver the bow 119Handling Ishi s records with the bow _ 123 methods 126Hunting of 132Explanation plates INTRODUCTION is a lost art. civilized it survivesArchery nearly Among peoples as a It is well as late as twoonly game. known, however, that^even centuries the bow was a with the flintlockago vigorous competitor in warfare. Franklin at the of the RevolutionBenjamin beginning considered the of the Americanseriously possibility arming troops with the as a and more effective than thelongbow, cheaper weapon 1 flintlock musket. even of American IndianThat the thearchery was, asthe of as effectiveduring early periods occupation, substantially in the historic of somethe of the is attested recordsmusketry period 2 of the Such ofarchery has, course, undergoneexplorers. aboriginal bow. It is nowa decadence since the rifle has thesupplantedgreat 1 in of theSee letter from Franklin to MemoirsLee,Benjamin Major-General late Charles second in command in the service of the United States of AmericaLee, of America the revolution. . . 240.during London, 1792, p. 2 for narrative of Cabeza de Vaca the IndiansSee, theexample, concerning of in Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza deFlorida, Buckingham Smith, Vaca, New 30.York, 1871, p. 434000104 Publications in Am. Arcli. and Ethn. 13of Californiapniversity [Vol. almost extinct. As a matter of we have little accuratefact, very information as to how the Indians used their and still lessweapons, as to how made them. The is an tothey present paper attempt the facts the of one the Yahi orpresent concerning archery tribe, Deer Creek Indians of north- central the mostCalifornia, southerly 3 division of the Yanan as in the of its laststock, represented person who lived from 1911 to 1916 at the of Calisurvivor, Ishi, University fornia. The will deal first with the methodspaper very interesting of the Yahi for the manufacture of the ofimplements archery, and, their ofsecond, style shooting. It must be remembered that the of civilizedperformances archers,) Avho with the bow as a far those of Itpractice sport, surpass savages. is a curiojiSufact was to after thethafe-^rcjjery brought perfection only how became obsolete as a serious It isweapon. interesting, therefore, to the Yahi with that of the more skilful archerscompare "style" who follow the rules of the modern game. the native informant for the comes of aIshi, tribepresent paper, famous for its The lived,-to a considerablefighting qualities. group extent on wild and the bow was their and theirgame, glory delight. We have no reason to believe that their skill or the of theirstrength was inferior to that of the American Conweapons average savage. the informant the be said :cerning himself, following might Ishi 1overHiis e inloved else hisbow__ag_h nothing possession. He knew what hea but had never shot one until aftergun was, 1911 when he entered civilization. The bow he had used ever since boyhood.^JWhen he had no a bow andcaptured weapons, though arrows were taken from his those who first discoveredmany lodge by the where the remnant of his were Some of thesecamp people living. arrows we later some the of the findersrecovered, through generosity and some but his bow isby purchase, original missing. What the writer knows of Ishi s is based threearchery upon years association with him. In this hours were in makperiod many spent in inbows and abouting arrows, talking shooting, target practice, in in woods.and the fields and the 1913hunting trips During years and 1914 there was for two extended in the mounopportunity trips tains in his Dr. J. V. Cooke and the writer tookpresentcompany. the of in 1912 under Ishi s at firstup practice archery guidance, to the Indian s own later we followed theaccording methods, though At first Ishi was our master in but atEnglish style. marksmanship, 3 Edward has Yana in-volume 9 of the series.Sapir published Myftis- presentYahi 10oPope: Archery1918] to outdo him andof a few months we were ablethe end at_target_wprk, inThis jdoes notto anyequaTTiis" performances ^ame.in_shootin^ r to the actualon our but does point clearlyway iniply gFeatef"sRriI part, of the "civilized" methods. superiority it mustIn of the of manufacture used by Ishi,speaking techniques in work. Thethat he soon civilized tools thisbe remembered adopted the ofand file the obsidian blade and scraperjackknife supplanted sandstone. He returned to his whenways requestedonly primitive show the heto processes formerly performed. HisHe was a most and finished workman. dexteritypainstaking were to watch. No better ofand ingenuity delightful specimens and bows are contained in the Museum of thearrowheads, shafts, than those made him. better ones were neverProbablyUniversity by His for form and wasmade anywhere. eye symmetry perfect. A that from theA bow has the :following back, part awayparts full a handle or handarcher a the concave when drawnside, ;; belly, the thata near the center for holding weapon; limbs,grip, portion These extremitiesbetween the handle and the extremities. usuallypart inhave or some contrivance to maintain the string position,notches, thecalled nocks. The of a bow and attaching stringprocess bending on theto ends is called it. The amount ofthe pull string,bracing itto draw an arrow a distance before dischargingnecessary proper orascertained in means of a scalefrom the be bybow, may pounds This is called the of the bow.balance. "weight" THE BOW bows of woods whileIshi called the bow man i. He made many his threeunder but an into country yearsobservation, upon expedition from which the best bows wereafter his he showed us the treecapture stave from one ofmade. It was the mountain He made ajuniper. these trees on the it was later ruined.spot, though He described another tree from which his tribe made bows, appar down the onethe incense cedar. he wassaid, chopped byently This, with ofman in his tribe who owned an iron andaxe, split wedges for his bowdeer horn into staves. To obtain the woodproper-sized he broke a limb from the which seems to have been the customtree, before the of axes.days106 Publications in Am. Arcli. and Ethn. 13University of California [Vol. The Indian with the axe seems to have been the bow maker of the He also owned a and was known asvicinity. knife,long Chunoydki, that or Hat Creek Indian. Of his with theis, Atsugewi prowess bow, Ishi told us tales.many \vood Ishi called i. Yew wood he did not seem toJuniper nogu have he knew of it and said that other tribes used it.used, though rHis name for this was i. He knew that its leaves werehulogos to eat.poisonous While with us he used tanbark red cedareucalyptus, oak, (tiyu-n i), and for his bows. All of these were of thehickory, ash, juniper, yew same and and all were withbacked sinew.general shape size, Yew, of the best His standard of measurementcourse, produced weapon. for a bow was hold staveto a across his chest withgood diagonally one end in his hand at the and the left arm extendedright hip, straight out at an of 45 from the horizontal. The distanceangle degrees between these was the for a bow. This measuredpoints proper length in his own case four feet and two inches. The wddth of the bow at the middle of each limb was three or four to whether afingers, according bow or a war bow was wanted.light hunting powerful rThe of his bow was a flat with limbs wider atshape short, stave, their center than at the sometimes recurved at their outerhandle, to small short nocks theat ends.extremity, tapering gracefully rHis w after or blocked out from aood, being split partially limb, was laid in horizontal in Herea a sheltered itposition warm, place. seasoned. But as to what time of to cut or how to seasonyear it, long Ishi seemed to have no setit, opinions. The of the bow was that of with flintprocess shaping scraping or obsidian. With infinite and care he reduced the wood topatience the dimensions. In the work he used sandstone. Theproper finishing measurements of two of his best bows are as follows : Number 1-19590. 44 inches. atLength, Diameters, handle, % by 1^ inches; at at inches. Pulls 40midlimb, %c, by 1% inches; nock, ^6 by % pounds. 1Bow in of author. Shown in use in 31. 54 inches.Length, /possession plate at at at% % 14 i/2Diameters, handle, by 1%; midlimb, by 1%; nock, by Pulls 45 pounds. He to have had no as the for theseemed great respect, English do, he thisAvhite wood of or cedar. at the backsap yew Although placed of his he did not hesitate to cut its to attain abow, through grain and as often he would most of itsymmetrical form, just scrape away, a thin stratum of white at each At the handle aleaving only edge. cross section of the bow was while a section the mid-limboval, through was much flatter.