Bows.

Fig. 323.—Omaha bow (zaⁿzi-mandĕ).

Fig. 324.—Omaha bow (ʇaʞaⁿ-mandĕ)

Bows (man-dĕ) are of two kinds. One is the man-dĕ or zaⁿzi-mandĕ (bow-wood bow), having an unbroken curve past the grip to within an inch or two of each nock.[2] The other kind is the ʇaʞaⁿ-mandĕ, so called because it has deer sinew glued on its back.[3] Bows were made of hickory, ash, ironwood, or zaⁿzi, the last being greatly preferred. It is a wood resembling that of the Osage orange, with which some persons confound it; but it is black and much harder than the former, the Osage orange wood being yellow, soft, and easily cut. The zaⁿzi is probably that which Dougherty [4] called "bow-wood (Maclura aurantiaca of Nuttall)."

Bowstrings were made of the twisted sinew of the elk and buffalo, as among other tribes.

[2] This may be the "self-bow" mentioned in the American Naturalist for July, 1886, p. 675.

[3] This is the sinew-backed bow above mentioned.

[4] Long's Expedition, op. cit., vol. I, p. 290.