PART VI
THE THUMB-RING.
The Turk pulled his bow-string with a ring of ivory, or of other hard material, fitted on his right thumb. ([Fig 9], p. 113.) Its manipulation is shown on [p. 114].
It might be supposed that the strain of the bow-string on the ivory ring would cause the edges of the latter to injure the flesh and sinews of the thumb; this is not, however, the case in the least.
I find I can bend a strong bow much easier and draw it a great deal farther with the Turkish thumb-ring than I can with the ordinary European finger-grip.
The release to the bow-string which is bestowed by the small and smooth point [in Turkish “lip”] of the thumb-ring, is as quick and clean as the snap of a gunlock when a trigger is pulled, and very different in feeling and effect from the comparatively slow and dragging action that occurs when the release takes place in the modern way from the leather-covered tips of three fingers.
The range of a flight arrow when shot from a bow by means of a thumb-ring is always much beyond that of an arrow shot with the three fingers in the usual manner.
With the thumb-ring the feathers of an arrow can be placed close to its nock, as the usual space of about 1½ in. need not be left on the shaft at the butt-end lest the fingers holding the bow-string should crush the feathers of the arrow—a precaution that is necessary in all European archery.
There is no doubt that the closer to the nock the feathers of an arrow can be fixed, the farther and steadier it will travel.
The handle of an English bow, or of any other bow that is loosed with the fingers, is placed below its centre so that the arrow can be fitted to the middle of the bow-string, a point which is just above the hand of the archer as he grasps the bow.
A bow held below its centre can never be pulled really true, the limb below the handle being shorter than the one above it.