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Description

Bow made of ?yew wood with seal gut bowstring. [CAK 21/05/2010]

Longer Description

Bow made of ?yew wood with seal gut bowstring. One side is smooth and curved, while the other side has a rib running down the centre of the stave. The bow flares on either side of the centre point, before narrowing again at the outer tips. There are shouldered nocks at each tip and the remains of a broken bowstring. [CAK 21/05/2010]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - N. AMERICA, CANADA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, HAIDA TRIBE. Light coloured wooden self bow. The back is curved. The belly has an unusual groove down the centre of the stave. There are shouldered nocks at each tip and the remains of a broken bow-string, which appears to be made of sinew. A similar specimen is illustrated in an account of a survey undertaken in 1885-1887 (see Ensign A. P. Niblack, U.S. Navy "The Coast Indians of S. Alaska and N. British Columbia" Plate XXVI no. 112). The survey report states (page 286) that this type of bow was to be found amongst the Tlingit as well as the Haida and that the coast Indians used cedar and yew as the principal woods for the bow staves. Bow-strings being made of hide or sinew. Niblack states that few bows were to be seen amongst the Indians, except as toys for children. Maximum L. 130.1 cm.

There is no further information on the catalogue card. [CW 11 6 98]

Written on object - HAIDA [MJD 08/05/2009]

Written on object - OLD No 9 N. AMER [in pencil] [MJD 08/05/2009]

Related Documents File - The Haida Project Related Documents File contains video of research sessions and interviews with Haida delegates from September 2009 as part of the project ‘Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge'. It also includes post-visit communications that discuss object provenance. For extensive photographic, video, and textual records documenting the Haida research visit as a whole, including but not limited to preparations of objects for handling, travel logistics, British Museum participation, transcribed notes from research sessions and associated public events held at PRM, see the Haida Project Digital Archive, stored with the Accessions Registers. Original hand-written notes taken during research sessions have been accessioned into the Manuscripts collection, in addition to select other materials. [CAK 02/06/2010]

Research Notes

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum's collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This bow was viewed alongside other weapons on Monday Sept 14, 2009. Delegates commented on the manufacture of Haida bows, explaining that Haidas would carve all the sapwood off of the bow, in contrast to English bows where the sapwood is left on. The ribbing was explained as keeping the bow from busting or breaking. It was further explained that Haidas held their bows horizontally, not vertically. Christian White offered that bows were used for hunting seals, and reported that he has his own arrow and harpoon head with a metal tip and barbed yew wood shaft. Some delegates thought the bowstring was made from sinew or hide, while Christian White and Gaahlaay (Lonnie Young) identified it more specifically as seal gut, which does not stretch. Gaahlaay and Christian agreed that the bow would be carved from the outer part of a lower limb from a yew tree. Christian noted that in the Haida language, the words for bow and yew wood are the same: hlgiid. Ruth Gladstone Davies thought this was a big bow, and Gaahlaay said he had seen smaller bows, approximately 1 meter in length. Jaalen Edenshaw took tracings of the bow and detailed measurements with calipers. He has seen four or five similar bows like this one before. He noted that the bow would be soaked before being used to make it springy. The rib down the centre would assist in the springiness of the bow, as well as increase its overall strength. He thought the bow was quite short and proposed that it was for use while in a canoe. Jaalen thought the wood was cedar and the string sinew.
It was reported that women archers in other Northwest Coast communities had been known to remove one breast to improve their skills with the bow. [CAK 21/05/2010]

Item History

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