It was a short, flat piece of mountain
juniper backed with sinew. The length was forty-two inches, or, as he
measured it, from the horizontally extended hand to the opposite hip.
It was broadest at the center of each limb, approximately two inches,
and half an inch thick. The cross-section of this part was elliptical.
At the center of the bow the handgrip was about an inch and a quarter
wide by three-quarters thick, a cross-section being ovoid. At the tips
it was curved gently backward and measured at the nocks three-quarters
by one-half an inch. The nock itself was square shouldered and
terminated in a pin half an inch in diameter and an inch long.
The wood was obtained by splitting a limb from a tree and utilizing the
outer layers, including the sap wood. By scraping and rubbing on
sandstone, he shaped and finished it. The recurved tips of the bow he
made by bending the wood backward over a heated stone. Held in shape by
cords and binding to another piece of wood, he let his bow season in a
dark, dry place. Here it remained from a few months to years, according
to his needs. After being seasoned he backed it with sinew.
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