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Oriental Bows - The Thumb
Ring
Fig. 12. The base of the forefinger pressed against the ring, the hand
closed, and the bow-string and arrow being drawn back by the thumb-ring.
It should be noted that no part of the hand is utilised in holding the
ring and in drawing the bow-string, except the thumb and the base of the
forefinger.
When the pressure of the forefinger is taken off the ring (by separating
this finger and the thumb) the bow-string instantly pulls the lip of the
ring slightly forward, and at the same moment slips off it with a sharp
' click.'
The archers of other Oriental nations besides the Turks employed thumb-rings
of various shapes and dimensions to suit the construction of their bows,
bow-strings and arrows. All thumb-rings were, however, more or less similar,
and were all used in the manner I have described.
It is, indeed, impossible to shoot an arrow by means of a thumb-ring
except as I have shown, and as a very short practical trial will prove.
If the ring is applied in any other way it either flies off the hand
when the bow-string is released ; the thumb is injured ; or the bow-string
escapes from its hold when only partially drawn.
In one of the Turkish manuals on Archery translated by Baron Purgstall
(p. 22), many illustrations are given of the construction of the Turkish
composite bow, but, unfortunately, minor details are omitted, though doubtless
they were common knowledge when the Ottoman author wrote.
Without these details the correct formation of the bow cannot be ascertained.
The chief omissions are (1) The composition of the very strong and elastic
glue with which the parts of the bow were so securely joined, (2) The treatment
of the flexible sinew which formed the back of the bow - whether, for instance,
it was glued on in short shredded lengths or was attached in one solid
strip.
All we know is that the sinew was taken from the Ligamentum Colli of
an ox or stag, a very powerful and elastic tendon which contracts or expands
as the. animal raises or lowers its head to feed or drink.
When the sinew which comprises the back, or outside when it is strung,
of a Turkish bow - however old it be - is dissolved in hot water, it disintegrates
into hundreds of short pieces of from 2 to 3 in. long and about 1/8
in. in diameter, each as ductile as India rubber and almost unbreakable
by hand.
The component parts of a Turkish bow, consisting of a thin strip of
horn, one of wood and another of sinew (fig. 3, p. 6), are so pliable when
separated that they can almost be coiled round the fingers, though if the
same pieces are glued together they form a bow of unrivalled strength and
elasticity. |
