. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 286 SAVAGE WEAPONS AT THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. the third kind (Fig. 136), each having a handle, so that it looked like a bat. Such a shield is 24 by 10 inches, and is made by shrinking bark into a curved shape by water and heat and stiffening it with a cross stick. The wooden shield of Western Australia is shown in Smith's The shield of the North American In- dian is made of buffalo hide. In making it, a piece of bull-buffalo ski
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 286 SAVAGE WEAPONS AT THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. the third kind (Fig. 136), each having a handle, so that it looked like a bat. Such a shield is 24 by 10 inches, and is made by shrinking bark into a curved shape by water and heat and stiffening it with a cross stick. The wooden shield of Western Australia is shown in Smith's The shield of the North American In- dian is made of buffalo hide. In making it, a piece of bull-buffalo skin is selected, twice as large as the shield required. A hole is dug in the ground, as large as the future shield, and a smudge of smoke of rotten wood is made under the skin, which is pegged above. As the skin is heated, a glue made of the horns and hoofs is rubbed in hot, which causes the skin to contract, and the pegs are regularly loosened to al- lowit to shrink, at the same time keeping- it stretched. When it has imbibed the necessary quantity of glue, and has reached the dimensions of the hole, being twice as thick as in its natural condition, it is ready for the trimming and dressing which complete it as a shield The Uaupe Indians of the Amazon210 use shields of wicker-work, sometimes g covered with tapir skin. Sometimes the hide of the vaca marina or sea cow is used by the Amazon Indians for making shields; it is the largest animal ac- cessible, and its skin fills the place occupied by the rhinoceros, hippo- potamus, and elephant hide in the torrid regions of Africa. VI.—BOWS AND ARROWS. The use of poison upon arrows by savages is very ancient, and is yet found in many distant parts of the world. The very name tor "poison" in Greek (toacicon)—and tin' Latin is similar—is derived from the word equivalent to "; Commencing our notice of bows and arrows with South Africa, the first example we find is the poisoned arrow of the bosjesman, or bus
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