The author

By Derek Nourse

When analyzing the history of archery it is interesting to note that bows and arrows are found in practically every part of the world. A notable exception is Australia where everything developed very differently when compared to neighbouring continents which in many respects still seems to be the trend today! Another exception was Ireland, where the bow was not readily adopted. But then the Irish do try to be different from all other peoples and for all that succeed admirably! From the Arctic to the jungles, from here to semi-desert environments, the bow and arrow were used.

Interestingly, also in each climatic area, development of the bow suited the local conditions, both in climate and raw materials. For example in very dry desert type conditions where the humidity is always low, bows were long and deflexed so that very little energy was stored at brace height. The long length ensured that stress levels in the bow were kept low to counter brittleness in wood, induced by low humidity. In very humid areas where high rainfall occurred, no sinew backings are found, since hide glue used in bonding sinew to the bow is not water- proof and could not be adequately waterproofed either. In other words, the bowyers' skills developed to the extent that enabled a bow to be produced from local raw materials that would perform acceptably in that particular climate.

A very important link with the past came about in August 1911, especially for archery but also for other reasons. This was the introduction to the modern world of Ishi, the last living member of the Yana Indians, who lived in the Mount Lassen area of Northern California. They were a stone-age people who resolutely maintained their identity against all odds created by the ever-expanding tide of settler populations moving into and through traditional Yana Indian territory. The story of Ishi is a very interesting one, one that has been well documented in a book written by Theodora Kroeber but cannot be followed in this article. However, the aspect that is of interest now is the methods Ishi used for making his archery equipment. Fortunately Ishi was placed in the care of Dr Saxton Pope, a notable bowhunter of his day, which was most fortuitous, since he was able to document everything shown to him. Archery, being the common factor, allowed Ishi to disclose all the Yana methods of making their bows and arrows as well as how they hunted, thus giving the world a first-hand insight into the skills of a truly stone-age people.

The workmanship of Ishi was apparently amongst the best of Indian peoples in America when compared to the vast number of museum specimens. His bow was a short flatbow of mountain juniper, backed with sinew and 42 inches long. It was 2,5 inches wide at the centre of each limb and the tips recurved or reflexed slightly. Pins for the string loops were cut into the tips. Drawn to 26 inches, the length of the arrow excluding the foreshaft, it pulled 45 pounds and could shoot an arrow about 200 yards. Arrows were made of witch hazel shoots and footed with a 6-inch length of mountain mahogany into which the obsidian point was bound. Three four-inch feather fletches were used. Blunt points made of wood for small game and birdpoints were also employed. The Yana shooting style employed the Mongolian or thumb release, which necessitated the arrow being on the right hand side of the bow, which was held in the left hand. To draw the bow, the left hand was extended while pulling the right hand toward the chest, where the anchor point was the top of the breastbone. The preferred shooting position was squatting or kneeling. And so Dr Pope was able to obtain first-hand and therefore a very accurate insight into a culture that had not changed much for some 3 000 to 4 000 years, which was the time period estimates for the Yana Indian presence in California.

Today, some 25 years after the compound bow burst upon the archery scene and practically caused the demise of traditional bows, these bows are once again gaining acceptance, so much so that the following is now greater than it ever was in the past. Another interesting aspect is that primitive archery, i.e. all wood or self bows, is also gaining a remarkable following, so much so that there is now a number of people in South Africa making these bows.

All this has led to some long held beliefs or dogmas, such as methods for curing wood and suitability of different wood types for bow manufacture to name but two of them, being overturned irrevocably. Great strides in so-called new designs were being made until the 1940 era, when the discovery of fibreglass for use in bow making caused an upheaval of monumental proportions amongst bowyers. In the non-compound world at that time, fibreglass revolutionised bowmaking in that it was suddenly possible to build a bow with predictable poundage, so making mass production possible. Imagine trying to make compound bow links out of wood only! To say that it would have caused difficulties is an understatement. Today's equipment difficulties would have been insignificant by comparison.

The selfbow, like the composite bow 30 years later on, nearly died because of fibreglass, but in the case of the composite bow it was fibreglass in the form of a compound bow. This near death caused all the innovations to practically die as well. As a great self bow protagonist put it: "The fibreglass virus induced a coma that practically wiped out self bow innovations and construction!" Fortunately though the self bowbuilding torch was kept alight by a few die-hards, as was the case with the composite bow. They have managed to pass on the craft, so that currently great designs are once again being devised. But as Glen St Charles (considered one of the fathers of modem archery) has stated: “For longbows and recurves, all the latest designs were discovered long ago, by so-called primitive peoples.” However, in a way it is a real discovery now, for those bowmaking skills that were once widespread, have had to be rediscovered in the modern world. Firearms in fact induced a virus far worse than fibreglass and well before that invention anyway. Fortunately though, as with all viruses, a few strong individuals survived. And thus did a few Toxophiles, together with their accumulated knowledge, survive for the benefit of all erstwhile Toxophiles.

Derek Nourse may be contacted at +27 31 9041173.