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Florida native weapons
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121
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Laudonniere says: "They make the string of their bow of the gut of the stag, or of a stag's skin, which they know how to dress as well as any man in France, and with as different sorts of colors. They head their arrows with the teeth of fishes, which they work very finely and handsomely."8 Ribault states that the shafts of their arrows were of reed.7 Spark is considerably more detailed: "In their warres they vse bowes and arrowes, whereof their bowes are made of a kind of Yew, but blacker than ours, and for the most part passing the strength of the Negros or Indians, for it is not greatly inferior to ours: their arrowes are also of a great length, but yet of reeds like other Indians, but varying in two points, both in length and also for nocks and feathers, which the other lacke, whereby they shoot very stedy: the heads of the same are vipers teeth, bones of fishes, flint stones, piked points of knives, which they hauing gotten of the French men, broke the same, & put the points of them in their arrowes heads: some of them haue their heads of siluer, othersome that haue want of these, put in a kind of hard wood, notched, which pierceth as farre as any of the rest. In their fight, being in the woods, they vse a maruellous pollicie for their owne safegard, which is by clasping a tree in their armes, and yet shooting notwithstanding: this policy they vsed with the French men in their fight, whereby it appeareth that they are people of some policy."1 Commenting on the weapons of the Timucua farther west, Elvas says: "Their bows are very perfect; the arrows are made of certain canes, like reeds, very heavy, and so stiff that one of them, when sharpened, will pass through a target. Some are pointed with the bone of a fish, sharp, and like a chisel; others with some stone like a point of diamond; of such the greater number, when they strike upon armor, break at the place the parts are put together; those of cane split, and will enter a shirt of mail, doing more injury than when armed."2 Le Moyne speaks of arrows with gold heads sent in by one of the Frenchmen from the western Timucua, but these were probably copper.3 Their arrows were not poisoned.4 Quivers were made of skins, but from Le Challeux it appears that their hair was impressed into service as a natural receptacle for arrows (see p. 347). He adds: "It is wonderful how suddenly they take them in their hands in order to shoot to a distance and as straight as possible."5 A wrist guard made from bark is described and figured by Le Moyne.8 (Swanton)
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