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

Thumb-rings of silver or of agate were often permanently worn by Turkish archers of position, both for ornament and for use.

These rings were finely polished and frequently inlaid with gold.

Fig. 10.

Fig. 11.

Fig. 12.

The Turkish Thumb-ring and its Manipulation.

[Fig. 10]. The position of the hand when the arrow is first fitted to the bow-string, the latter being hitched behind the lip of the thumb-ring. The nock of the arrow should be close against the lip of the ring, and hence within about an eighth of an inch of the angle formed in the bow-string when it is fully drawn, as shown in [fig. 12].