make are of buffalo neck. The skin is soaked and hardened with a
glue extracted from the hoofs. The shields are arrow-proof, and will
throw off a rifle shot if held obliquely, and this the Indian can do
with great skill. Since there is no war or the occasion for the use of
these arms, except in games of practice, many of the Indians, for a few
bottles of "fire water," have sold their best shields, and now they are
seen scattered over the country, preserved as curios.

It is folly to assume that the Indians have wholly or partly done away
with their barbaric customs. In their celebrations it is their great joy
to cast off their clothing and to paint their bodies all colors of the
rainbow, wear horns on their heads and make themselves look as hideous
as possible. The arrow game is introduced--never are there
demonstrations with the modern weapons--and the man is esteemed above
all others who can throw the greatest number of arrows in the sky before
the first one falls. In hunting, the Sioux kill muskrats with spears, as
they did in early days spear the buffaloes, managing to get close to
them by being dressed in wolf skin, and going on all fours. There are
Indians who would, on horseback, attack and kill a bear with a lance,
but are afraid to molest the animal unless they have the Indian pony as
a means of escape.

The arrow-heads of chert used for hunting are peculiarly fastened, in
order to make the arrow revolve. The Indian feathers the arrow for the
same purpose, and also carves the arrow shaft with a spiral groove. This
is not, as has been supposed, to let the blood out of the wound, but to
make the arrow carry.

Every tribe has its own arrow. It is claimed that the Pawnees are the
best manufacturers. The Comanches feather their arrows with two
feathers; the Navajos, Utes and all Apaches, except the Tontos, have
three feathers--the Tontos using four feathers for each shaft. The bird
arrow is the very smallest made.

"I have practiced" says one traveler, "for hours with the Utes,
uselessly trying to blame the twist of the feathered arrow for my bad
shots. The Indians say the carving and feathers are so arranged as to
give the arrow the correct motion, and one old chief on seeing the twist
in the rifle barrel by which the ball is made to revolve in the same
manner, claimed that the white man stole his idea from the Indian."

Stones, with grooves around their greatest circumference, are secured to
a handle by a wi