Yahi Archery

Archery is nearly a lost art. Among civilized peoples it survives only as a game. It is well known, however, that^even as late as two centuries ago the bow was a vigorous competitor with the flintlock in warfare. Benjamin Franklin at the beginning of the Revolution seriously considered the possibility of arming the American troops with the longbow, as a cheaper and more effective weapon than the flintlock 1 musket. That the archery even of the American Indian was, during the early periods of occupation, substantially as effective as the musketry of the period is attested in the historic records of some of the explorers. Such aboriginal archery has, of course, undergone a great decadence since the rifle has supplanted the bow. It is now