In one of the Turkish manuals on Archery translated by Baron Purgstall, many illustrations are given of the construction of the Turkish composite bow, but, unfortunately, minor details are omitted, though doubtless they were common knowledge when the Ottoman author wrote.
Without these details the correct formation of the bow cannot be ascertained. The chief omissions are (1) the composition of the very strong and elastic glue with which the parts of the bow were so securely joined, (2) the treatment of the flexible sinew which formed the back of the bow—whether, for instance, it was glued on in short shredded lengths or was attached in one solid strip.
All we know is that the sinew was taken from the Ligamentum Colli of an ox or stag, a very powerful and elastic tendon which contracts or expands as the animal raises or lowers its head to feed or drink.
When the sinew which comprises the back, or outside when it is strung, of a Turkish bow—however old it be—is dissolved in hot water, it disintegrates into hundreds of short pieces of from 2 to 3 in. long and about ⅛ in. in diameter, each as ductile as indiarubber and almost unbreakable by hand.
The component parts of a Turkish bow, consisting of a thin strip of horn, one of wood and another of sinew ([fig. 3], p. 106), are so pliable when separated that they can almost be coiled round the fingers, though if the same pieces are glued together they form a bow of unrivalled strength and elasticity.
TARTAR, UNSTRUNG.
CHINESE, UNSTRUNG.
CHINESE, STRUNG.
Scale: One inch = one foot.
Fig. 13.
[Figs. 13], [14]. The Comparative Dimensions of the Reflex Composite Bows of various Nations.—The structure of all these bows is similar in that they are composed of sinew, wood and horn, i.e. sinew on the back of the bow, naturally curved horn on its inner face, and a thin core of wood between the horn and sinew.