[Fig. 11]. View of the thumb, with the ring, A, in position preparatory to closing the forefinger and thumb.
[B. Section of the bow-string as hitched behind the projecting lip of the ring.
C. The base of the forefinger, or the part of it which presses tightly over the sloping surface of the lip of the ring, in front of the bow-string, when the bow is being bent.]
[Fig. 12]. The base of the forefinger pressed against the ring, the hand closed, and the bow-string and arrow being drawn back by the thumb-ring.
It should be noted that no part of the hand is utilised in holding the ring and in drawing the bow-string, except the thumb and the base of the forefinger.
When the pressure of the forefinger is taken off the ring (by separating this finger and the thumb) the bow-string instantly pulls the lip of the ring slightly forward, and at the same moment slips off it with a sharp ‘click.’
The archers of other Oriental nations besides the Turks employed thumb-rings of various shapes and dimensions to suit the construction of their bows, bow-strings and arrows. All thumb-rings were, however, more or less similar, and were all used in the manner I have described.
It is, indeed, impossible to shoot an arrow by means of a thumb-ring except as I have shown, and as a very short practical trial will prove.
If the ring is applied in any other way it either flies off the hand when the bow-string is released; the thumb is injured; or the bow-string escapes from its hold when only partially drawn.
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