_THE HORN GROOVE_
The thin horn groove which the Turk wore on the thumb of his left hand
when flight-shooting is shown in fig. 8.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THE HORN GROOVE.
The bow is shown fully bent and ready for release, the point of the
arrow being drawn back for a couple of inches inside the bow.]
This ingenious contrivance enabled the archer to draw the point of his
arrow from 2 to 3 in. within the inner surface of his bent bow. He was
thus able to shoot a short and light arrow, that would fly much farther
than the considerably longer and heavier one he would have had to use
if he had shot in the ordinary manner without the grooved horn.
The groove in the horn guides the arrow in safety past the side of the
bow, when the bow-string is released by the archer.
The Turk, in fact, shot a short and light arrow from a very powerful
bow, which he bent to the same extent as if he used an arrow 3 in.
longer, with its proportionately increased size, weight, and frictional
surface to retard its flight.
In the former case it will easily be understood that a much longer
range could be achieved than in the latter.
Of this increase in length of flight conferred by the use of the
grooved horn, the following experiment is conclusive evidence.
I lately shot from a Turkish bow twelve arrows, each arrow being
three-quarters of an ounce in weight and 28½ in. in length.
These twelve arrows were individually drawn to the head and the
distance they reached averaged 275 yards.
I then reduced the same arrows to a length of 25½ in. each, and to a
weight of half an ounce each.
They were now shot from the same bow, over the same range and under the
same conditions of weather, but their points were drawn 2½ in. within
the bow along a grooved horn. The distance they then travelled averaged
360 yards.
[Page 112]
The Turk, as was the custom of Orientals, shot his arrow from the
right-hand side of his bow, as shown in fig. 8, p. 111.[46]
[46] To discharge the arrow from the left-hand side of the
bow, as is the custom in all European archery, the
leather ring and the grooved horn will have to be fitted
to the first joint of the forefinger.
The bow is here represented as fully bent, the point of the arrow being
drawn back along the groove of the horn for a couple of inches within
the bow.
The horn is attached to the thumb by a small leathern collar.
A short plaited cord of soft silk is suspended from the fore-end of the
horn and is gripped between the fingers of the archer as he holds the
bow.
This cord enables the archer to keep the horn in a level position
on his hand. It is fixed to a small strip of leather which is glued
beneath the horn.
The horn is usually of tortoiseshell, very highly polished. It is from
5 to 6 in. long, 1 in. wide, ¼ in. deep inside and 1/16 in. thick.
It is slightly sloped from its centre of length to each of its ends, so
that when the arrow is projected it touches the hard and smooth surface
of the horn very lightly, and with, therefore, the least possible
friction to retard its flight.
As the horn groove is only one-sixteenth of an inch thick, the arrow,
as it is drawn back or shot forward, may be said to fit close against
the side of the bow.