1908] on Ancient and MedicBval Weapons. 325 



owing to its small size and light weight, but it far excelled in power 

 and convenience the largest and strongest English or Continental 

 long-bow. The origin of these bows is lost in antiquity. We only 

 know that they are depicted in sculpture long before Christ, and that 

 they were used with deadly effect by Turkish horsemen during the 

 Crusades. 



Most people are acquainted with the contour of the bow wielded 

 by Cupid, as depicted in paintings and sculptures. 



Many oriental bows were made precisely of this shape, or hke the 

 outhne of the mouth of a beautiful female face, a resemblance which 

 has given rise to the saying " a mouth like Cupid's bow." 



The component parts of these bows consist of three substances. 

 First, a curved and very thin lath of wood, averaging about an inch 

 in width, and a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch in thickness. This 

 lath gives no actual strength, but forms the mould or foundation of 

 the bow. On one side of the lath of wood, two thin pieces of horn 

 are glued longitudinally. The pieces of horn meet at the centre of 

 the bow, and form its inside surface when it is strung, or that surface 

 which is next the archer when he draws his bow. To the other side 

 of the lath of wood, or on the inside curve of the bow when it is in 

 an unstrung state, a continuous strip of animal sinew was moulded, 

 and then attached by glue. Though these three strips, con- 



sisting of horn, wood and sinew represent the vital construction of the 

 bow, they entailed the greatest care and accuracy in fitting together, 

 so as to form the finished article. 



It is now a mystery how the i)arts of the Oriental bow were so 

 firmly attached, how the sinew, Avhich gave the bow its strength 

 and elasticity, was treated, and especially how the glue was prepared 

 which had to withstand so great a strain when the bow was in use. 

 The thick elastic lacquer, of an almost imperishable nature, with 

 which the outside of the bow was coated as a protection from interior 

 damp and decay, and which did not crack even when the bow was 

 fully bent, is another puzzle. Its composition is unknown, as is that 

 of various other old mixtures, such as violin varnish, monkish ink 

 and Roman cement. 



The cleverest artificer could not now construct one of these bows, 

 nor have any of them been made in Persia or Turkey for the past 

 120 to 130 years, though very large and rough weapons, of a some- 

 what similar but very inferior kind, are still manufactured in remote 

 parts of China. 



The chief power of a Persian, an Indian or a Turkish bow was 

 chiefly derived from the strip of elastic sinew which formed its 

 outside surface when it was strung. 



This sinew was ingeniously utilised for their bows by the Orientals, 

 and was taken from the neck tendon of some large animal. 



In life, it contracted or expanded as the animal raised or lowered 

 its head. Without the assistance of this powerful and elastic ligament, 



