in the paintings of the tombs of the kings; and in some instances a piece of leather or wood was attached to or let into it, above and below the centre. In stringing it, the Egyptians fixed the lower point in the ground, and, standing or seated, the knee pressed against the inner side of the bow, they bent it with one hand, and then passed the string with the other into the notch at the upper extremity; and one instance occurs of a man rest No. 27. Mode of stringing the bow. Thebes and Beni Hassan. VOL. I. X ing the bow on his shoulder, and bracing it in that position. While shooting, they frequently No. 28. Stringing a bow. Beni Hassan. wore a guard on the left arm, to prevent its receiving an injury from the string; and this was not only fastened round the wrist, but was secured by a thong tied above the elbow. Sometimes a groove No. 29. A guard worn on the wrist. Thebes. of metal was fixed upon the fore knuckle, in which the arrow rested and ran when discharged; and the chasseur, whose bow appears to have been less powerful than those used in war, occasionally held spare arrows in his right hand, while he pulled the string.† Their mode of drawing it was either with the forefinger and thumb, or the two forefingers; and though in the chase they sometimes brought the arrow merely to the breast, instances of which occur in the two preceding wood-cuts, their custom in war, as with the old English archers, was to carry * I found an instance of this in a tomb at Thebes; the person was a chasseur. I regret my being unable to give a copy of it, having mislaid the drawing. + This is rare; I have only met with it twice so represented. it to the ear, the shaft of the arrow passing very nearly in a line with the eye. The ancient Greeks, on the contrary, adopted the less perfect mode of placing the bow immediately before them, and drawing the string to the body *; whence the Amazonian women are reported to have cut off the right breast, lest it should be an impediment in its use. And if the Greeks, in later times, abandoned that inefficient method, and handled the bow in the same manner as the Egyptians, they never did attach much importance to it†, and few only excelled in archery, with the exception of the Cretans, who, from their skill, were supposed by some to have been the original inventors of the bow. The Scythians, Persians, and other oriental nations, also placed their principal reliance on this arm, whose power was often severely felt by the disciplined troops of Greece and Rome; and our own history furnishes ample testimony to the advantages it presented throughout the whole course of a battle, and in every species of conflict. The Egyptian bow-string was of hide‡, catgut, or string; and so great was their confidence in the strength of it and of the bow, that an archer from his car sometimes used them to entangle his opponent, whilst he smote him with a sword. Their arrows varied from twenty-two to thirtyfour inches in length; some were of wood, others * Conf. Hom. Il. d, 123. Νευρην μεν μαζῳ πελασεν,” Thus Homer says: “ Οξεσι δη πελεκεσσι και αξίνησι μαχοντο, Και ξίφεσιν μεγαλοισι, και εγχεσιν αμφιγνοισι.” II. ο, 711. Conf. Hom. Il. è, 122. νευρα βοεια.” 66 No. 31. Arrows made of reed. Thebes glued longitudinally, and at equal distances, upon the other end of the shaft, as on our own arrows, Sometimes, instead of the metal head, a piece of hard wood was inserted into the reed, which terminated in a long tapering point; but these were of too light and powerless a nature to be employed in war, and could only have been intended for the chase; in others, the place of the metal was supplied by a small piece of flint, or other *Vide wood-cuts, Nos. 31. and 32. Vide wood-cut, No. 30. p. 307. of reed*; frequently tipped with a metal head, and winged with three feathers †, |