File:Illustrations of the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians - with letters and notes written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable (14780247544).jpg

Identifier: illustrationsofm01catl (find matches)
Title: Illustrations of the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians : with letters and notes written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing ; with 360 engravings, from the author's original paintings
Year: 1857 (1850s)
Authors: Catlin, George, 1796-1872. cn
Subjects: Indians of North America Indians of North America
Publisher: London : H.G. Bohn
Contributing Library: University of Pittsburgh Library System
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh Library System

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Indians, what bone they were made of?and in every instance, the answer was, Thats medicine, meaning that itwas a mystery to them, or that they did not wish to be questioned aboutthem. The bone of which they are made is certainly not the bone of anyanimal now grazing on the prairies, or in the mountains between this placeand the Pacific Ocean ; for some of these bows are three feet in length,of a solid piece of bone, and that as close-grained—as hard—as white, andas highly polished as any ivory ; it cannot, therefore be made from the elkshorn (as some have supposed), which is of a dark colour and porous : norcan it come from the buffalo. It is my opinion, therefore, that the Indianson the Pacific coast procure the bone from the jaw of the sperm whale,which is often stranded on that coast, and bringing the bone into the moun-tains, trade it to the Blackfeet and Crows, who manufacture it into tliesebows without knowing any n.ore than we do, from what source it has beenprocured. s -»
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G. y,Ui,i 14- 33 One of these little bows in the hands of an Indian, on a fleet and well-trained horse, with a quiver of arrows slung on his back, is a most effective andpowerful weapon in the open plains. No one can easily credit the force withwhich these missiles are thrown, and the sanguinary effects produced by theirwounds, until he has rode by the side of a party of Indians in chase of a herd ofbuffaloes, and witnessed the apparent ease and grace with which their supplearms have drawn the bow, and seen these huge animals tumbling down andgushing out their hearts blood from their mouths and nostrils. Their bows are often made of bone and sinews, and their arrows headed withflints or with bones, of their own construction (plate 18, c), or with steel,as they are now chiefly furnished by the Fur Traders quite to the RockyMountains (plate 18, d). The quiver, which is uniformly carried on the back,and made of the panther or otter skins (plate 18, e) is a magazine of thesedeadly weapons

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