ARCH - book questions

[Sluggy]

Greetings, fellow quill-lobbers!

I have heard occasional references to "Toxophilus, or the Schole of
Shootynge" by Roger Ascham, described as being written during the reign
of King Henry VIII, but another book dating from about the same period
has come into my possesion. 

Arab Archery "A Book on the Excellence of the Bow and Arrow and the
Description Thereof", 1945 Princeton University Press, is an English
translation of an Arabic manuscript from about 1500 A.D. It is
fascinating reading thus far. The voice is delightful and it is full of
information, not only about all things archery, but about Arabic
language, mathematics, culture, and the arts of war.

Often, elements are counted in groups of four components. The four
pillars of shooting are speed, strength, accuracy and care in
self-defense. There are four kinds of Arab bow. The four parts of a
composite bow are compared to the four parts of man.

	"The composite bow is of elaborate make and careful 
	workmanship. Its construction parallels the make-up 
	of living things. Just as man is made of four 
	component parts (bone, flesh, arteries and blood) so 
	is the bow made of four component parts. The wood in 
	the bow corresponds to the skeleton in man, the horn 
	to the 	flesh, the sinews to the arteries, and the 
	glue to the blood. Similarly, a human being has a 
	belly and a back, and so has a 	bow. And just as a 
	man can bend inward upon his belly without any harm, 
	but may be injured if he bends outward upon his back,
	so it is with a bow. It can be bent inward upon its 
	belly but will break if it be bent upon its back."

In thumbing through it, I see that the book goes into deep detail about
posture, hand positions, methods of release, how to shoot a horseman,
how to shoot from a horse, the effect of string length in bow design,
how to make arrows, tie knots... lots of stuff!

The translators provide copious footnotes and appendices and a few
photographs and drawings illustrating important issues.

In all, a wonderful book!

Sluggy!









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Why Windows NT Server 4.0 continues to exist in the enterprise
would be a topic appropriate for an investigative report in the
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