shortest not over thirty-six inches. They are all roughly dressed to a round shape, and are quite devoid of ornamentation.
Miss Bird's description of their poison-arrows is so exact that I take the liberty of transcribing it entire: "The arrows are very peculiar, and are made in three pieces, the point consisting of a sharpened piece of bone with an elongated cavity on one side for the reception of the poison. The point or head is very slightly fastened by a lashing of bark to a fusiform piece of bone about four inches long, which is in turn lashed to a [reed] shaft about fourteen inches long, the other end of which is sometimes [usually] equipped with a triple feather, and sometimes is not. The poison is placed in the enlongated cavity in the head in a very soft state, and hardens afterward. In some of the arrow-heads, fully half a teaspoonful of the paste is inserted. From the nature of the very slight lashings which attach the arrow-head to the shaft, it constantly remains fixed in the slight wound that it makes, while the shaft falls off."
The exact composition of this poison is not known, I believe, but aconite (Aconitum Japonicum, a monkshood) is doubtless the principal ingredient. The Ainu claim, that a single wound kills a bear in ten minutes, seems to be well grounded, although few foreigners have ever accompanied them on their bear-hunts. They allege that the flesh is not rendered unfit for eating, though they take the precaution of cutting away a considerable quantity of it round the wound as soon as they can get at the bear.
In using the bow, it is held upright, grasped near the middle by the left hand, and held as nearly as possible at arm's length. The string and nock of the arrow are caught between the thumb and first inner joint of the forefinger of the right hand. The arrow is passed on the right-hand side of the bow and between the first and second fingers of the left hand. The pull is made toward the right ear, as in Western archery, but, owing to the stiffness of the bow and the shortness of the arrow, it is not a very long pull. That is not necessary, however, for the bow is only used at close quarters, when the aim need not be very accurate. The string was formerly made of attush, but they now use hemp or hard-twisted cotton.
