326 Sir Ralph Paym-Gallivey, Bart., [May 29, 



a stag, for instance, could not lift its heavy antlers from the ground 

 after feeding or drinking. 



The reflex shape of these bows is another great cause of their 

 strength. 



Take an ordinary English long-bow, and it is merely bent, when 

 it is strung, out of a straight line. On the other hand, a reflex bow 

 is bent, when strung, from a sharp reverse curve. The result in the 

 latter case is, that when the bow is strung for use it is all the time 

 striving to re-attain its reflex shape. 



Hence its bow-string is much more strained, and the weapon 

 is therefore a much more elastic and powerful one than could ever 

 be a long-bow, that merely returns to a straight line when it is 

 unstrung. I have shot at a mediaeval breast -plate with 



both a powerful long-bow and an Oriental bow, at a range of 

 50 yards. The heavy arrow of the former slightly perforated the 

 metal plate, but the lighter arrow of the Oriental \veapon passed clean 

 through it, and into tlie ground l^eyond. 



It is, of course, the high velocity of an arrow, and not its weight, 

 that gives penetration. An example of this is to be found in the 

 writings of Prescott, who describes how the reed-arrows, with small 

 metal heads, used by the Mexicans from very powerful bows, pierced 

 through and through the coats of mail worn by the Spanish 

 soldiers. 



Another feature of Oriental composite bows, in contrast to 

 ordinary bows of wood, is their indestructibility. They cannot be 

 broken by fair means. 



I have obtained several from Turkey, Persia and India, that were 

 as sound and efficient as when they were made nearly a couple of 

 centuries ago, though they had probably lain neglected for over a 

 hundred years. I may add that the dates of bows of this kind, with 

 the names of their makers, are nearly always to be found painted in 

 small letters near their extremities. 



Of all Oriental bows those made by the Turks were the best 

 and most efficient, though they were so short, being only from 

 3 feet 8 J inches to 3 feet 10 inches at most, if measured round the 

 curve with a tape from one point of the bow to the other. 



No other nation constructed them of such marvellous power, and 

 at the same time so elegant in shape and decoration, or so compact 

 and light. 



The w^eight of a Turkish bow seldom exceeded half-a-pound, 

 while a long-bow weighed from one and a half to two pounds ! 



Nor did any other people, not even the Persians, excel the Turks 

 in dexterity as archers — a dexterity that was beyond anything that 

 English or Continental bowmen were capable of. 



It is beyond question, and is recorded in many Oriental books 

 and manuscripts that can be fully relied on, as well as on the 

 celebrated marble pillars that stood on the old archery ground near 



