A summary of the history, construction and effects in warfare of the projectile-throwing engines of the ancients, with a treatise on the structure, power and management of Turkish and other Oriental bows of mediæval and later times

by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey

II. Section of bow at half-way between the centre of its handle and one of its ends.

III. Section of bow at the centre of its handle, which is here thickly covered with sinew.

IV. Longitudinal section of bow at half-way between the centre of its handle and one of its ends.

Light shading, AAAA. The compressed sinew forming the back of the bow when it is strung.

Dark shading, BBBB. The horn forming the inner surface of the bow when it is strung.

Lined centres. The thin lath of wood to which the horn and sinew parts of the bow are moulded and fixed.

The thin wooden lath, in places only ⅛ in. thick, bestowed no strength on the bow, as it was merely its heart or core to which the two curved strips of horn and the long band of sinew were glued. ([Fig. 3], p. 106.)

As it would have been very difficult and tedious to shape so fragile a lath in one length to suit the outline of the finished bow, this lath was always made in three pieces, which were fitted together at their joints and then secured with glue. ([Fig. 3].)

The middle piece formed the core of the handle of the bow and the other pieces the core of its limbs. ([Fig. 3].)

The extremities of the two outer pieces of the core were enlarged to form the strong projecting points of the bow in which the nocks for the bow-string were cut. (CC [fig. 3].)