Compared with the Egyptian, and with the bows used by the archers of the middle ages, they were short, the greatest length of the strung bow being about four feet.
They seem to have been made of a single piece of wood, which in the angular bow was nearly of the same thickness throughout, but in the curved one tapered gradually towards the two extremities.

At either end was a small knob or button, in the later times often carved into the representation of a duck's head.

[PLATE CIII, Fig.

3.] Close above this was a notch or groove, whereby the string was held in place.

The mode of stringing was one still frequently practised in the East.