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period, its system of ignition being so slow and primitive.
The utmost the crossbowman could do was to lodge a bolt, often, in foreign
countries, a poisoned one,1 in the head or heart of a deer,
bear, or wolf, standing, or passing slowly within about sixty paces ; or
else, perhaps, tumble over a crane or heron perched on the top of a tree.
In the time of crossbows, and early handguns, it should
be remembered that deer and other animals were tame and easily stalked,
and that wildfowl and game-birds were chiefly taken in nets and snares,
and with trained hawks.
1 From the practice of formerly steeping the
heads of crossbow bolts in the juice of a poisonous herb the white hellebore
is to this day known in parts of the country districts of Spain as ' the
crossbowman's plant.'
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