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The Turkish Bow - Its Range
in excess of the distance any arrow has been shot from a bow since the
oft-quoted feat of Mahmoud Effendi in 1795, p. 19.
Full corroboration of the wonderful flight-shooting of the Turks may
be found in some treatises on Ottoman archery which have been translated
into German by Baron Hammer-Purgstall (Vienna, 1851).
In his directions concerning the selection of suitable bows and arrows
for the sport, one of the Turkish authors quoted by Purgstall writes: '
The thinnest
Turkish Cavalry Soldiers with Their Bows.
From an illuminated Turkish MS. in the Sloane Collection,
B.M. dated 1621, No. 5258. These reproductions plainly show how small was
the size of the bow formerly used in warfare by Turkish soldiers.
and longest flying arrow has white swan feathers shaped like leaves,1
and this arrow, with a good shot, carries from 1,000 to 1,200 paces.'
The orthodox length of a pace is thirty inches, and thus even 1,000
paces, or the lesser range mentioned, would exceed 800 English yards.
Augier Ghislen de Busbecq (1522-1592), a Belgian author and diplomatist,
describes the Turkish archery he witnessed when ambassador to the court
of Solyman, and the well-nigh incredible distances to which he saw arrows
propelled.
1 Anglice, Balloon feathers.
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