Here is a russian buildalong from a few years back detailing the construction of a two wood bow made from spruce compression wood with a birch back. Glued with fish glue and waterproofed with birch bark.
You can download the PDF from here.
https://vk.com/doc85016760_187383081The paper also documents hunting for birds and other uses of the bow. Should you wish to help with the translation to English, any additions would be appreciated. The translation below is from Google Translate, made from a post in Russian at PP by sergeym. I have another translation to edit from. It is a work in progress
BOW OF THE VAKHOVSKY OSTYAKOV AND HUNTING WITH HIM
(Translation to metric measures).
The Vakhov ostyak had to live a lot of time and watch a lot before his irreplaceable hunting weapon of antiquity - a bow with arrows - from a simple wood stick with a belt or a wood bowstring and an indecoated arrow with a tip from the bone or beak of the loon became what it is now. And even today, his more convenient modern hunting weapon - a gun - cannot be completely replaced.
There are two types of onions: the simplest type is a guard onion, made from one piece of the Kremlin *, with a simple rope bowstring, with a simple but witty guarding system; another, more complex form - a combat or hunting bow. First, consider the second type of bow and hunt with it.
This bow, sometimes a fathom length (2.13 m), sometimes less, and of varying thickness and shape in its parts, is remarkably tightly glued with fish glue from parts of three tree species: the inside, to the bowstring, from spruce or cedar Kremlin; on it - the same, only of smaller thickness, from birch; at the two ends, one as it were, a finger with a notch - from bird cherry. The surface of the glued onion is pasted over with a thin birch bark film.
To better imagine the arrangement of onions, follow the Ostyak hunter who needed to make a bow.
His first concern is to find a suitable tree; he goes to the "mainland", covered with mixed forest. Temen forest; he climbs into the depths of it, into the depths of some “saime” **: there are thinner and straighter trees; they tend to escape from the darkness; they stretch upward, scattering little branches below, but then with a dark and thick hat unfold their top.
In the forest, the ostyak walks for a long time, stopping before the firs, slightly curved of medium thickness and height, to a considerable extent clear of knots, and trying them: he knows that there is a Kremlin over the entire length of the hump, i.e., the longitudinal bulge, but not everywhere he is the same. Ostyak needs the Kremlin layers to be even and that he is not brittle, that is, not very sulphurous. When trying, the ostyak cuts a notch: otherwise you will not know the location of the layers; he splits off a sliver, bending which recognizes the flexibility of the Kremlin. [photo number 1]
After trying several trees, the ostyak finds a suitable one and cuts it down near the root, because the closer to the root, the better the Kremlin. From the cut down forest, from its lower part, he cuts a chock into a fathom (2.13 m) long, from which the entire concave side, which contains little and poor quality Kremlin, is squeezed, and the blanks of one half of the onion begin to be squeezed out of the remaining hump, apex (4.44 cm) approximately thick and apex 2 (8.89 cm) wide [photo No. 3]
Having finished with the Kremlin part, the ostyak searches for a medium-thick birch, also for a considerable length without knots, slightly and evenly curved, splits a narrow and long sliver from it and tries its flexibility. [photo No. 2] Cutting down and separating the same part as from the spruce tree, he squeezes out of its lateral part, avoiding the core, the same, only smaller thickness, of the blanks of the second half of the onion. Now his affairs in the mainland are over; you need to go to a mixed mane, or going from the mainland and almost in a circle, covering the approached curia, or to the island: there, near the water, there is a lot of bird cherry trees, in the mainland it is rare and bad. In the cherry root, an ostyak carves two, a quarter and a half lengths (26.67 cm) and a tip 1 1/2 (6.67 cm) thick, a piece of bird cherry on the fingers to the onion, cleans them of bark and leaves for home.
* Sulfurous, hard part of coniferous tree. ** Buerak with a stream running in the depths of it.
Parts of the onion must be allowed to dry for 2-3 days, depending on the weather. Then the Kremlin and birch parts are again trimmed with an ax: the Kremlin — the tip is 1 1/2 (6.7 cm) wide and almost the top (4.445 cm) thick in the middle, gradually thinning to the ends to 1/4 the tip (1.11 cm); birch - the same width, the thickness in the middle is up to 1/2 tip (2.22 cm), to the ends - up to 1/4 tip (1.11 cm); after that they begin to be edged on the knee with a homemade knife. [photo number 4]
The Kremlin part, finally planed, has the shape of a bar, one of the planes of which is rounded up to 2 1/2 arsh. (177.75 cm) long, 1/2 tip (2.22 cm) thick and middle in width. The thickness from the middle of the rounded side gradually becomes thinner towards the ends and reaches 1/8 tip (0.556 cm). As for the width, each half of the plank, at a distance of 1/2 tip (2.22 cm) from the middle of the plank, is gradually expanded, and having reached the greatest width - one tip (4.44 cm) - in its middle, then gradually narrowed towards the end up to 3/4 point (3.33cm). The birch part takes the same shape, but only smaller, up to 1/4 tip (1.11 cm) in the middle and 1/8 tip (0.556 cm) to the ends, thickness, with even planes on both sides. Having done away with these parts, the ostyak cuts out a quarter-length fingers (17.78 cm) from the cherry. Each finger has a notch for the ears of the bowstring at one end, with a thickness of about 4.45 cm, a ledge almost in the middle of its length - a ledge, 1/4 point (1.11 cm) high, from which it is beveled to its other end, like a wedge. [photo number 5]
The Kremlin part must be curved, starting from the middle to the ends; the ostyak makes a bend: it squeezes on one side the same length as the Kremlin part, and a tip 2 (8.88 cm) thick poles, starting from the middle obliquely to both ends, and at the very ends it makes steeper, to the opposite side, the slopes and to the resulting plane attracts the “sargami” * the Kremlin part, with the plane down. [photo number 6]
In order to fix the shape attached to the Kremlin (the Kremlin part), the Kremlin needs to be impregnated with cedar sulfur on the die. Ostyak makes a small fire, heats the open, external part of the kremlina in any one place above him and, not allowing her to cool, rubs finely powdered sulfur into it with a chip **, melting easily on a hot tree and soaking in. Noticing that sulfur freezes, the ostyak again heats the Kremlin, in the same part, over the fire and rubbing sulfur again until the tree is saturated, that is, it ceases to accept sulfur. [Photo No. 7, 8] So gradually impregnation occurs along the entire length of the Kremlin. Then the Ostyak unfastens the Kremlin from the perishing, turns it over, puts it with the other, impregnated plane on the perishing plane, and binds them together only in the middle, the ends and the middle of each half of the Kremlin, already curved and fixed on one side, rise above the perishing. Ostyak also impregnates the new outer side of the kremlina with sulfur and at the same time further increases its curvature, placing wooden struts between it and the perishing, starting from the ends and as it is soaked. Having given the Kremlin enough curvature, the ostyak unfastens it from perishing and cleanses not absorbed sulfur with a knife. [photo No. 9] Then he puts together the Kremlin and birch parts together with completely flat sides, and tightly bandages them in the middle. Without being bent, the birch part, when its middle is drawn to the Kremlin, adheres tightly to it throughout its sides, it turns out to be one arched tree, with the Kremlin side at the top of the arch and the birch at the bottom.
Now Ostyak proceeds to gluing parts. The glue is already warming up in front of the fire, in a birch bark “plague” on the stamen. Ostyak unclenches from one end two closed ch-
* Sarga - cedar root used as dressing instead of, for example, bast, twine, etc. ** Chip - small wood shavings used instead of wiping rags
If you stick the fingers of one hand between them, the other quickly lubricates the diverging planes with glue, slightly warms them over the fire and, taking your fingers off, from which the planes close again, tightly wraps them along the entire hitch. [photo No. 10] Then he unties the middle, quickly spreads and lubricates the planes of the middle and the other half, heats and, having closed, pulls the hank. In order for the sergians to pull together the bow parts even more tightly, between them and the parts, on one side, he knocks thin, long wedges with the knife knife. [photo No. 11] The glued two parts are dried throughout the day, then to the ends of them, freed from the serg, over the birch side, the ostyak sticks with a thin end on the finger. The thick end of the finger becomes the end of the onion, the end closes the end of the glued parts, and the lower, thin end of the finger fits snugly on the birch part and, as it were, merges flush with it. [Photo No. 12] The glued parts are attracted by the haggons so that they adhere more firmly, and finally the glued onion is again put to dry for the whole day. The glued fingers increase by 1/4 point (1.11 cm) the thickness of the ends of the onions and, making up with these ends as if in one piece, increase the length of each end of the onions by two (8.88 cm).
The drying is over, the onions are freed from the serg, they are finally trimmed with a knife and they begin to paste them with thin birch bark, which protects the onions from dampness. Birch bark is removed from the non-knotted part of the average thickness of the birch, growing in a strong, high place, not flooded with water. On such a birch, birch bark is white, soft, clean, without crevices and lichens. Ostyak with a knife makes a vertical cut about a quarter or one and a half length on the planned surface of the trunk, passing not deep into the wood itself, but to the inner, light green bark. From the ends of the vertical section of the outer cortex to any one side, the ostyak makes small horizontal sections of the same depth; then, with the end of the knife, carefully separates the outer bark of the birch bark towards horizontal sections from the internal bark throughout the entire vertical section. After that, he begins to tear off birch bark with his hands in the same direction, helping her to separate better in places where the almost imperceptible rudiments of the branches hold her. Birch bark easily falls behind, and soon a piece of it is separated, wide in the space between horizontal sections. As you know, birch bark, i.e., the outer layer of the birch bark, consists of many thinly clinging to each other, but without much difficulty, separated thin layers that are unequal in color. These layers separate and select thinner, predominantly inner plates; the upper, outer layer of birch bark, white, is thrown as unsuitable. [photo number 13]
The selected birch bark is still rough and does not have sufficient softness; it needs to be "boiled". Having curled up a birch bark, the ostyak puts it in a teapot or a boiler filled with water, covers it from above and begins to cook over low heat, preventing the water from boiling. Cooked in this way for almost an hour, bark has been ready for use. The kettle is removed from the heat and allowed to cool slightly and water and birch bark. The ostyak takes the cooled birch bark out of the water, takes the plate it needs, aligns its width a little more than the circumference of the place of the onion that he will glue, and, putting the oars on the blade, smooths the birch bark with his hand, driving off excess water from it; [photo No. 14)] then he lubricates one side of it with glue, heats it over the fire and quickly sticks it on the bow starting from the birch side, so that the length of the plate falls in the middle along the length of the bow, and the seam is formed on the Kremlin side. The second plate is also quickly glued further along the length of the onion, slightly covering with its end the end of the first, third, etc., to the end. [photo number 15]
The glued plates are wiped off by the ostyak from above, first with a wet warm chip, so that the glue is better dispersed, then with a dry one to take an excess of water, and pasting is over. The onions are again put to dry for 5 hours. The peculiarity of dried and loose onions is that
the bending of its sides, starting from the middle to the fingers, back to the one that it receives when it is pulled. From this, its great elasticity is obtained.
A thin bowstring with ears at the ends is necessary for the bow. It is twisted from two strands or bought hemp tow, or from a tow of its own production, that is, nettle. Ostyak sits with his legs twisted beneath him, wags his fingers in the usual way, like twining twine from a tow into two strands. [photo number 16]
When a strand becomes thinner or ends already, the ostyak lays tows, so that the strands become the same thickness. Twisting the twine up to 2 quarters (35.56 cm) long and very thin towards the end, the ostyak doubles the twine, and its four ends consisting of four strands are folded into two strands, and the twisting continues. It turns out in this way a loop - the “ear” of a bowstring.
New strands are added to the two strands, increasing their thickness, and the bowstring itself gradually twists; it is the same thickness as the ear cord. The bowstrings are arranged as follows: the finely twisted end of the twine is twisted into it, bending the loop and skipping the end between the twisted strands, spreading them apart. The length of the woven bowstring along with the ears is a quarter to one and a half (13.33 cm) less than the length of the bow.
The ostyak soaks the bowstring in the water, draws out wood stumps, stretched over it, and in this position it dries; soaked dried again, but already in hot glue, and again stretches and dries. The length of such an elongated bowstring is less than the length of the bow by almost a quarter (17.78 cm). The bowstring is put on a bent bow and is also pasted over with boiled birch bark, but finer than that which goes for pasting the onion. The ostyak divides the plate into two layers and tears each of them into narrow, 1/4 points (1.11 cm) widths of tape. He smears these tapes on one side with glue and, starting from the root of the ears, wraps the bowstring like a bandage. [photo No. 17] He wipes the glued string on top with a wet and dry chip, and, having dried, such a bowstring will no longer “hand over”, that is, it will not stretch and will not rot.
The bow is ready, but for shooting from it it is necessary on the left hand, at the thumb, which has a bone overlay on the bottom side of the groove, apex 2 (8.88 cm) long, apex (4.44 cm) wide. This patch is thin on the sides, in the middle has two holes - for straps that tie it to the brush; the groove from one end is made deeper so that the bone is denser against the hidden joint of the thumb. This bone pad protects the hand from being hit by a bowstring during firing.
For a bow you need a whole set of feathered arrows 4-5 quarters long (71.12-88.9 cm) with a shaft thickness of about 1/4 tip (1.11 cm), evenly planed from a spruce tree. [photo number 18)] Many arrows have iron tips fitted to the shaft, of various shapes, hammered on the axle of an ax from pieces of iron, heated at the stake with hand-made leather fur and honed with a file. [photo No. 19] In other arrows, instead of iron tips, blunt wooden thickenings, which have the appearance of an inverted truncated cone at the pole. Sometimes they are set on top by a bone; sometimes in such a thickening made comparatively thinner a small iron tip is inserted. And that is, arrows with an ovoid thickening with sharp ends, empty inside, with two holes on the sides, one against the other; such arrows must whistle when flying. Thus, there are three types of arrows: arrows with iron tips, arrows with wooden blunt ends, and arrows with the same, but pointed ends, empty inside. An arrow having an iron tip is done like this. Out of a fairly thick block chopped off with an ax, the ostyak cuts a round stick with a knife on the knee of a leg the thickness of an adult’s finger and 4-6 quarters long (71.12-106.68 cm). Having driven this end to one end of its tip, he sticks it on his knees with a knife plow already in a shaft of ordinary thickness. [Photo No. 20, 21] Then he takes it out of the shaft.
tip, fills its nest with sulfur, heats the end of the tip on fire and inserts it back. The end enters its place, melting sulfur, and cools with it; frozen, sulfur holds him tight. The junction of the tip with the shaft is entwined for the fortress in one row with a thread, sometimes still pasted over with a thin birch bark film. At the other end of the shaft, the ostyak with the end of the knife chooses arched ears at 1/4 point (11.1 mm) deep, which, also for strength, wraps a thread at the base and also sometimes paste over with birch bark film. Plumage is made near the ears. The feathers are predominantly eagle feathers, tail and wing, for lack of eagles - hawks. At the pen, on each side of the stem shaft, the ostyak peels off the fan along with a thin outer core layer, smears the layer in the torn place with glue and attaches along the shaft so that the slope of the barbs is pointed towards the ears and one end does not reach its base slightly, leaving a place for fingers, which, pulling the bowstring, capture the arrow placed on it. Parallel to the first fan, at a distance of 1/3 of the circumference of the shaft, another is glued, parallel to this second, at the same distance from it - the third. The ostyak aligns the height of the glued-on fans by a knife, but to the ears they are cut at an angle of 45 degrees. The fan is attached to the boom during flight in a helical motion, like helical rifling of the barrel of a gun bullet, and prevents it from changing its direction.
An arrow with a blunt wooden end is trimmed with a knife all from one spruce stick, the thickness of this arrow end.First, the tip of the end is made with a knife, from it the stick is cone-shaped, throughout the top, they are cut with a knife almost to the usual thickness of the shaft, then first with a knife and then with a knife plow the shaft itself is also trimmed.
An arrow with a sharp, empty inside bulge at the end is arranged in two parts - this thickened end itself and the shaft. At first it is extracted - for the most part from aspen - ingots of the end; they split it, hollow it out, make holes and glue it at the place of the split, and then already in its elongated end, after final finishing, the feathered shaft is glued. The plumage of these arrows of two types is arranged in the same way as the first.
They shoot from a bow and from the ground, standing on their feet or on one knee, and from the region, standing or sitting in it. [photo number 22,23,24]
When shooting, the Ostyak takes a bow in the middle, in a narrow part, in his left hand; holding the bow almost horizontally, puts an arrow on it with his right hand, ears on the bowstring in the middle, with a continuation of the shaft - on the bow tree, next to the thumb of the left hand; the left hand holding the bow bends slightly from the bowstring, and with two fingers, the right, middle and forefinger, covers the bowstring from below along with the arrow ears so that the ears fall between them and pulls it; having outlined the target on the arrow shaft, between the feathers on the tip, lowers the bowstring. The arrow flies and spins quickly, making a melodious sound, fading away in the distance as it is removed.
Each arrow, in accordance with the device of its tip, is used in one way or another. An arrow with a fork-like iron tip is used on a strong waterfowl, the neck of a careful loon hiding its torso in the water will not jump out of the forks with its tips, and the cunning molting duck, which stretches along the water surface and is proud mighty swan. On young ducks, and especially on their uterus, they use an arrow that has a sophisticated wooden end with a similar iron tip, but only a smaller tip.
To better imagine the picture of hunting with such an arrow, we follow the Ostyak hunter. He found a brood of ducks. A mother duck flies off and sat nearby, flapping its wings on the water, drowning in the waves and splashes that it lifts. Hearing
call-out cry, ducklings do not swim with a squeak, but run to it in the water, leaving behind them long, diverging furrows. Everyone gathered, only one or two behind, but still in a hurry. Here is one of them, as it were, jumping up and down, pitifully eating and picking up spray, he rushed to his mother. Mother fluttered to him. Breast flies and leads behind him, looking back at the distant. Ostyak calmly fires an arrow, with an inclination towards water, in their direction. The arrow will fly, hit the water, slip, hit again - and it will rush over the surface, uplifting the end of the spray, as if the duckling was in a hurry to mother. And the mother rushes to this duckling, flies and dies with her breast.
For ducks flying above the water, an arrow is used with a thickening at the end that is empty inside; it is a “hawk-arrow”, “whistle-arrow”, the most witty of the arrows for bird hunting. She is allowed in front of a flying herd, above him; she flies and whistles, resembling a characteristic whistle in the air from a hawk when he rushes to prey. The herd pours rain into the water, dives. One by one the ducks appear on the surface, but they are afraid to rise, because it is worth flipping one - the ostyak launches a new "hawk", and the fluttering one again falls into the water, hoping to find salvation in it; but here it is silently struck by the forks of the duck arrow. A similar fate awaits the rest.
The same arrow is indispensable when hunting for a hare. She flies and whistles over him, rushing headlong. The hawk appears in the hare's view, and he fearfully clogs under the first cocoon that comes across, where he comes close to him.
The arrow on the fish is similar to the first, but larger, longer, with the same fork-shaped, but large tip. Let's go for the Ostyak. He drove into petty smoke. The bottom is visible. A large floating fish is visible - pike, ide, which have come here for food. The ostyak cautiously rises to his feet and quietly moves forward along the mirror surface, pushing himself with an oar, which he works with one hand, and in the other a bow with a long arrow. Moves and peers into the water. There was a pike hiding in the sedge, slowly raising its fins - a predator, looking for prey, not thinking about danger: who can resist it in a small influx of the northern river. But the two-legged predator is already pulling the bow, and the less cunning predator with the crossed vertebra settles, wriggles, raising waves and spattering the spray with its strong tail, and floats to the surface.
With an iron tip, an arrow can ruin a small skin of squirrel or sit high in a forest; a heavy capercaillie, falling, will break it either about twigs, or about the earth. To avoid this, in such cases an arrow is used with a blunt, thick end, wood or bone, which does not prick from constant blows to tree branches.
Still, you need to study the flight of a particular arrow well, you need to have the usual hands, a hard, trained eye and a quick quick wit
Still, you need to study the flight of a particular arrow well, you need to have the usual hands, a hard, trained eye and quick wits to shoot well from a bow; that’s why there are so few good shooters. The former shooters developed the ability to shoot long-term exercises, often arranged in the form of competitions, the remnants of which, which went into the children's game, have survived to this day. They play one on one. [photo No. 25] Two planks are stuck into the ground at the apex (4.44 cm) wide, a quarter wide (17.78 cm) long, at a distance from one another for good shooters - 10-15 bows, for bad shooters - 5-7 bows. The number of arrows is divided equally, one becomes near the plank of the enemy, the other - near his plank; someone is starting to shoot at his tablet. If he flings himself, his opponent takes an arrow to himself; if it hits, the enemy gives this arrow to him. He measures one bow from the enemy’s plaque closer to his own and begins to shoot from here, etc. When he shoots all his arrows, his opponent also starts shooting, but with twice as many arrows. Whoever first shoots the distance of all bows to his plank is considered to have won the game, and he is given the right to start a new one with the whole number of arrows,
even if his opponent hadn’t shot them.
Children of Ostyaks close to the Russians, who already have shotguns, do not attach much importance to these activities; therefore, if you can also find archery, then in more remote places of the river. Wach and its tributaries, where onions are in great use. By such exercises, the Ostyaks still achieve that, sitting in an unstable region, they accurately beat a molting and young duck, appearing in moments, and knock down a large bird that has taken off, and this is good; to beat the bird at a long distance with cross-shootings, in which the arrow makes a high arc ending in the bird, or they cannot beat in flight; the exercises did not survive, thanks to which the Ostyaks achieved this, although many more remember such shooters. A dozen or two years will pass, hunting with a military bow will depart to the field of legends: a gun will supplant it; the guard is still bow, which does not require exercises in shooting, hopes to outlive his fellow.
The simple arrangement of this bow has already been mentioned. It is made of a piece of Kremlin into a fathom long, at the apex with a thickness in the middle, gradually thinner to the ends; A bowstring is a simple rope, without ears. Consider a way to alert him.
fig. 1
The first, most massive part of it is the onion bed (see Fig. 1). The bed is a smoothly sharpened stick or bar, semicircular on top, flat below, arsh long. 1 1/2 (106.68 cm), at the top (4.44 cm) from one end and up to 1/2 the tip (2.22 cm) to the other thickness. A ledge is made in the thick end, the length of the ledge is two points (8.88 cm) and a height of 3/4 point (3.33 cm); on the other end of the bed on the same side as the ledge, several shallow nicks were made; the end of the bed from the ledge gradually becomes thinner and narrower. The side of the bed where the ledge and notches are located is the bottom. On the upper side, near the ledge, a special notch is also made. To the bed, on the opposite side of the notches, a triangular piece of wood is loosely tied for one of the notches, the tip is 3 (13.32 cm) long, half-length (2.22 cm) at one end and 1/4 ( 1.11 cm) for the other with a thickness (see Fig. 1). How he trimmed and attached, can be seen in the figure. A semicircular recess is made at the lower, thick end, so that it can be placed on a bed; above the recess, he is attached with a rope to the bed at one of the notches. A thin arshin string is attached to the upper, narrow end of this piece of wood, at the end of which a 1/4 arshin stick (17.78 cm) long and 1/4 tip (1.11 cm) thick is tied to the middle. An onion tree is placed (see Fig. 2) on those at the same height, approximately 1 arsh. (71.12 cm) from the ground, two knots of trees standing nearby; if there are no trees, they put two sticks with knots for the same purpose.
The ledge of the bed rests in the middle of the onion tree so that the end of the latter goes up ¬ up the tree, the bow string is placed on the upper side of the bed. The other end of the bed is notched into the forks of the stick. Pull the bow, grab the bowstring from above with the thick end of the tied piece of wood and put the last notch on the bed; holding it in this position, do not allow the bowstring to break out. The farther a piece of wood is tied to the other end of the bed, the stronger the bow can be pulled (see Fig. 2).
fig. 2
At the end of the protrusion of the bed (see Fig. 3), a special lightweight plank with a longitudinal hole made in it is put on. The plate is a quarter high, apex wide, narrowed to the upper end. At the top of the hole in the plank, one end of the stick rests on the end of the string, going from the upper end of the piece of wood, the lower end of which holds the bowstring; the other end of the stick rests on the aforementioned notch adapted for this, made on top of the protrusion.
The bowstring pulls at the recess of the end of a piece of wood, but cannot turn it over, and therefore cannot break out, because the tree holds tightly to the twine attached to the stick and the hole in the board; but it is only necessary to pull forward (see Fig. 3), in the direction of the end of the ledge, for the upper end of the plank, like a stick, and together with it and a piece of wood lose their fulcrum - the bowstring pops up and the bow comes down.
fig. 3
An arrow with ears is placed on the bow on the bow near the bed near the notch of a piece of wood. To give the end of the arrow the desired direction, the rear end of the bed is raised or lowered, raising or lowering the stick supporting it with forks (see Fig. 2 and 3). The point at which the arrow is directed depends on the height of the heart region of the beast at which the arrow must fall; this point is measured by a special wooden measure, similar in appearance to a straight children's pipe of medium size. A large indentation has been made at the bottom of its wide end so that when it is placed on this end it can stand firmer on a flat surface, and a round hole is drilled through the narrow one; notches were made along its length: the first - at a distance of three points from the base of the wide end, the second - four and the third - five points. When installing the bow, this measure is put with the wide end in place of the alleged beast, put with a long stick, passing its end into the hole of the measure; this is done in order not to inherit the beast on the road, because, sensing a trace, the beast will turn away from it. If the bow is guarded on an otter, the end of the arrow goes to the first, that is, the lower, point, if to the hare - to the second, to the fox - to the third; when the onion is guarded, a stick is put in place of the bear instead of the measurement, with a notch on it at a height of three quarters from the ground; an arrow goes to this notch. By aiming the arrow, the measure or stick is removed.
From the end of the plank, located at the end of the ledge of the bed, in the direction of the arrow, they pass through the animal path “Sinka” - thread, in winter - white, in summer - black, with a stick attached to the middle at the other end. With this stick, the end of the blue is fixed on the other side of the trail, on the ground or in the snow, depending on the season. Having touched the thread, the beast thereby pulls the board forward and lowers the arrow into itself. [photo number 26, 27]
Sinca, pulling, is transferred through the animal trail also with the help of a stick, out of fear to inherit on the trail. First, the arrow is temporarily removed from the bow so that it does not fly away to a directional point if the bowstring were lowered by some careless movement: then, due to necessity, we would have to go after the arrow. Then they take a long light stick with a fork at the end, grab a blue stick of the bluey with a fork and strengthen it on the other side of the path, as far as possible.
The height of the blue from the surface of the path is almost the same as the height of the point at which the arrow is directed; the degree of its tension, which plays an important role, depends on what the beast touches for it - head or legs, and at the same time - on the length of its body and speed of running. A sink is set on a hare at a height of slightly less than four points, on a fox - five and stretched tight so that it could not “pass”, as they touch it with its legs, while at the same time greatly compressing the length of its body, from which the arrow can fly behind them. A sink is placed on an otter at a height of three points and stretched medium: the otter, although it strikes with its feet, but its running is not fast, and the body has a considerable length; the bear is another matter: the Sink, being at a height of almost three quarters from the surface of the path, stretches weakly; the bear touches the head behind it, and it is necessary that the sync could freely pass about a quarter and lower the arrow when the heart region of the beast is in place of the point at which the arrow is intended; otherwise, the arrow can glide over the bones of the skull or hit the humerus and not cause much harm.
The bow is either guarded by a natural animal trail, or ambushed by which the beast must go. The easiest thing is to put the bow on the trodden path along which the beast runs without fear, if it does not smell the human footprint; but it’s much more difficult to make an ambush, for example, in winter in clean litter for a sly fox. A clean place makes it possible to turn in any direction and not go along the previously planned path; but the fox fears traces of not only the legs, but also the skis, and this is used to ambush.
fig. 4
From the beaten secular road, the ostyak goes to the side, goes around a wide semicircle and again approaches it already at a decent distance from the place of departure; without going to it, he again sets off forward, gradually deviating from the secular road, forming a gradually expanding curia between her and his “skier” (see Fig. 4). Then, in his wake, he returns, goes onto the secular road, and at the place where he was approaching it, getting off the road a little so that there is an untouched space in the length of a blue, the bow is guarded. It turns out a trap that is clear from the picture:
fig. 5
The fox runs into a made-up place, accidentally stumbles on one of the roads, jumps to the side and goes forward again, approaching the place where the bow is alert.
In one direction she rushes - the road, in the other - the road, she’s afraid to run across the road, to go back far, and there is no desire: she was already there - involuntarily sets off along a narrow snowy strip in front of which there is a wide clear space, unlimited on both sides, and comes across an arrow.
You can make many similar chickens for a fox by going from one place (see Fig. 5), but it already depends on many years of experience which place to grab by these curies so that the fox does not understand that they are intended for her.
On a hungry, more forced to the extreme fox guards bow on their own skier. Having come up to the fox’s footprint, the ostyak leaves from it, rubbing his hair slightly behind him *, and, having thus traveled a sufficient distance, turns back the other way, parallel to the first, approaches it and guards the bow. Having approached a similar path, the fox first walks around, but hearing that it continues to smell edible, he walks on it and picks up the scattered porse, roaming back and forth until it hits the arrow. The arrows of the guard bow, as well as the archery, are made different, according to the type of fishing. The arrow on the fox and on the hare is the same as on the strong waterfowl, only with a thicker and less fork-shaped tip. The arrow on the bear with a spear-shaped tip, capable of entering its thick body, the arrow on the otter is specially designed, probably after repeated bitter experience. The otter spends most of the winter time under the ice, hunting for fish and living in empty coastal spaces formed between the shore, ice and water, after its decline. The otter changes its place of fishing infrequently. She has known exits to the surface of ice and earth: either a cleft in the ice littered with a snowdrift, or wormwood. Wormwood is inhaled by ice during severe frosts, but the cleft remains free. Through this crevice, the otter exits for bowel movements, and always to the same place, so it tramps along a rather solid road. Here, on the road, a bow is guarding her. If you alert this bow by using an arrow with an ordinary tip already known to us, it will yell at the beast and even pass through it, but it will not always be able to hold it. A living animal will reach the crevice and will dive under the ice, from where it, although dead, cannot be reached. Therefore, the tip of the otter boom, having the shape of a cone, with a stinging departure of the sides, has a hole in it, into which a thin cord is inserted at one end and fixed. At the other end, the cord runs along the arrow shaft and attaches to the bow. The cord is long and does not interfere with the flight of the boom. Once in an otter, such an arrow will not be pulled back easily: it will not let the sides fly away, and the otter remains as if attached. The cord is tied to a bow, which the otter can pull away; therefore, it would seem better to tie it to something else - motionless, but it could be - and it happened - not reaching the goal: the otter can break the cord or, in spite of pain, tear off the tip; dragging the bow to the crevice and rushing into the water, she
slurping, not being able either to break, since there is nothing to rest against, nor to pull the bow into the hole.
In former times, for a long time already, onions were guarded both on columns, and on ermines; but over time, they changed the shape of the guard bow, forming from it a new tool - Cherkan, more convenient for this kind of fishing. Some more time will pass, and the watch bow, along with the Ostyaks, will disappear, and the old hunts with these bows will be forgotten, indicating the subtle observation and ingenuity of the representatives of this endangered tribe. S. Laryakskoe. August 1914 Notes:
1. Published by publication in ETGM, 1915, no. XXIV, p. 1-22. The location of the manuscript has not been established.
2. Kurya - a narrow drainage river channel
3. The drawings for the essay were allegedly made by G. M. Dmitriev-Sadovnikov.
Photo 1. Chopping hell into a bow.
Photo 2. At a birch on a bow.
Photo 3. Scraps spruce for onions.
Photo 4. He puts away with a knife the birch part of the onion.
Photo 5. Cuts fingers from a bird cherry to a bow.
Photo 6. Onion on the "doom."
Photo 7. Heats the onion over the fire.
Photo 8. Rubs sulfur chip.
Photo 9. Scraps off excess sulfur.
Photo 10. Glues onions.
Photo 11. Drives in wedges under the root of the serg.
Photo 12. Glue a “finger” to the bow.
Photo 13. Tear off a birch bark from a birch.
Photo 14. Spreads a layer of birch bark and spreads with glue.
Photo 15. Wraps onion with birch bark.
Photo 16. Weaves a bowstring.
Photo 17. Tape with a birch bark.
Photo 18. Arrows from the river Vakh.
Photo 19. Forging the tip to the arrow.
Photo 20. Hones the arrowhead.
Photo 21. Guards the arrow with a knife plow.
Photo 22. Shoots from a bow.
Photo 23. Shot from a bow.
Photo 24. Shoots from the cloud.
Photo 25. Ostyak children playing archery.
Photo 26. Watchtower - alert.
Photo 27. The guard bow is lowered.B
