that the Americans bought a number of very bad bows about that time from inferior makers in England. Whenever chrysals appear they must be carefully watched, and, as has already been said, if they become serious, a new belly must be added. This will not be a serious disfigurement, even to a self-yew bow. A splinter should be glued and lapped at once, but no one nowadays seems to care to have the covering patch painted as formerly, to represent as nearly as possible the colours of the different parts of the bow. Care should be taken not to stab the belly of the bow with the point of the arrow when nocking it; and the dents in the back of the bow made with the arrow as it is carelessly pulled out of the target should be avoided. A glove-button will often injure the back of the bow whilst it is being strung. As other ornaments-buttons, buckles, &c.—may also inflict disfigurements, it is better to avoid their presence as far as possible. Breakages from a bad style of drawing, or from dwelling too long on the aim, can only be avoided by adopting a better and more rational method. In order to avoid fracture through the breaking of strings, any string that shows signs of failure from too much wear or otherwise should be discarded; and strings that are too stiff, too hard, and too thin should be avoided. If a string break when the arrow is fully or almost drawn, there is but little hope for the bow; but if it break in the recoil after the arrow is shot, which fortunately is more frequently the case, the bow will seldom suffer. Yet if after the bow is strung the archer should observe that the string is no longer trustworthy, and decide to discard it, he should on no account cut it whilst the bow is braced, as the result of so doing will be an almost certain fracture. If the string be looped at both ends and the loop at either end be made too large, so that it slip off the nock in stringing, the bow may break, so that an archer who makes his own loops at the lower end of the string must be careful not to make them too loose. Breakage from damp is little to be feared in self-bows, except in localities where it

is exceptionally moist, or, after long neglect, when damp has taken possession of the joint in the handle. In these cases. single staves only are safe. Amongst backed bows there is much mortality from this cause. Commonly, it will be the lower limb that will fail, as that is most exposed to damp, arising either from the ground whilst shooting, or from the floor when put away. If the bow has been used in damp weather it should be carefully dried and rubbed with waxed flannel or cloth. A waterproof case, an Ascham' raised an inch or so above the floor in a dry room, and the bow hung up, not resting on its lower horn, are the best-known precautions. Half an inch of lapping, glued and varnished, above and below the joint of the horn is also a safe precaution against damp; also an occasional narrow lap in the course of the limb will assist to fast bind, fast find.' As regards the danger of carelessness, bows have been broken through attempts to string them the wrong way, or by using them upside down; and thoughtlessness will lead the inexperienced to attempt to bring a bow that follows the string upright, to its infinite peril. In such cases the verdict of Serve him right' should be brought against the offender if he be the owner. In weighing a bow on the steelyard care must be taken to see that the peg indicating the length to be drawn be at the right point; otherwise a lady's bow, for instance, may be destroyed in the mistaken attempt to pull it up twenty-eight inches, or three inches too much.

It has already been stated that a belly much injured by chrysals may be replaced by a new belly; any incurable failure of the back may also be cured by its renewal. A weak bow or limb may also be strengthened by these means. Also, if either limb be broken or irretrievably damaged, and the remaining one be sound, and worth the expense, another limb may be successfully grafted on to the old one. If possible, let this be an old limb also, as the combination of new and old wood is not always satisfactory; the former (though well seasoned,

being unseasoned by use), being more yielding, is apt after a little use to lose its relative strength, and so spoil the proper balance of the bow. This grafting of one broken limb upon another may be carried to the length of grafting together two limbs of different sorts. Mr. P. Muir, who was as good a bowyer as he was an accurate shot, had a favourite bow, that did him good service in 1865 at Clifton, when he took the third place at the Grand National Archery Meeting. This bow in one limb was yew-backed yew, and in the other lance backed with hickory. A bow that is weak in the centre, and not sufficiently strong to allow of the ends being further reduced, may be brought to the required shape, and strengthened by the addition of a short belly.

With regard to unstringing the bow during the shooting, say, of a York Round of 144 arrows, at the three distances, a good bow will not need it, if the shooting be moderately quick, excepting at the end of each of the distances. If there happen to be many shooters, or very slow ones, it may be unstrung after every three or four double ends; and of course it should be unstrung whenever an interruption of the shooting may occur from rain, or any other cause; but it certainly appears unnecessary to unstring the bow after each three shots, as this is an equally uncalled-for strain upon the muscles of the archer and relief to the grain of the wood. In a discussion on this subject, however, between Mr. James Spedding and Mr. P. Muir, the latter maintained that to be unstrung at each end was as agreeable to the bow as to rest on a camp-stool was to the archer. Some archers contend that it is better to have the bow strung some few minutes before the commencement of the shooting.

All that has been said respecting men's bows, with the exception of strength and length, applies equally to those used by ladies. The usual strength of these latter varies from 24 lbs. to 30 lbs. In length they should not be less than five feet. The usual length of a lady's arrow being twenty-five inches,

whilst that of a gentleman is twenty-eight inches, it appears that, when fully drawn, a lady's bow must be bent more in proportion to its length than that of a gentleman. The proportion between the bows being as 5 to 6, whilst that of the arrows is as 6 to 7; yet ladies' bows appear to be quite capable of bearing this extra strain safely.

As bows of three pieces are seldom to be met with manufactured for the use of ladies, their choice of weapons is limited to self-yews, yew-backed yews, yew backed with hickory, and lance backed with hickory; also self-lance bows for beginners, &c. Ladies' bows of snake and other hard woods are still to be met with; but they are so vastly inferior to those above-mentioned that it is scarcely necessary to refer to them.

It is too common a practice amongst archers to throw the consequences of their own faults upon the bowmakers, accusing the weapon of being the cause of their failures, instead of blaming their own carelessness or want of skill. But, before this can be justly done, let each be quite certain that he has chosen his bow with care, and kept it with care; if otherwise, any accidents occurring are, ten to one, more likely to be the result of his own fault than that of the bowmaker.

27

CHAPTER III.

OF THE ARROW

THE arrow is perhaps the most important of all the implements of the archer, and requires the greatest nicety of make and excellence of materials; for, though he may get on without absolute failure with an inferior bow or other tackle, unless the arrow be of the best Robin Hood himself would have aimed in vain. Two things are essential to a good arrow, namely, perfect straightness, and a stiffness or rigidity sufficient to stand in the bow, i.e. to receive the force of the bow as delivered by the string without flirting or gadding; for a weak or supple is even worse than a crooked arrow-and it need hardly be said how little conducive to shooting straight is the latter. The straightness of the arrow is easily tested by the following simple process. Place the extremities of the nails of the thumb and middle finger of the left hand so as just to touch each other, and with the thumb and same finger of the right hand spin the arrow upon the nails at about the arrow's balancing-point; if it revolve truly and steadily, keeping in close and smooth contact with the nails, it is straight; but if it jump in the very least the contrary is the case. In order to test its strength or stiffness the arrow must be held by the nock, with its pile placed on some solid substance. The hand at liberty should now be pressed downwards on the middle of the arrow. A very little experience as to whether the arrow offer efficient resistance to this pressure will suffice to satisfy the archer about its stiffness. An arrow that is weaker on one side than on the other should also be rejected.