‘The Toxophilites wished to see the powers of the Turkish bow, and the Turk was asked to shoot one of his flight arrows. He shot four or five, and the best flight was very carefully measured at the time. It was 482 yards. The Toxophilites were astonished, I can tell you. ‘Waring said the furthest distance attained with an English flight arrow, of which he had ever heard, was 335 yards, and that Lord Aylesford had once shot one, with a slight wind in his favour, 330 yards. Waring told me that he himself, in all his life, had never been able to send a flight arrow above 283 yards. ‘The Turk was not satisfied with his performance, but declared that he and his bow were stiff and out of condition, and that with some practice he could shoot very much further than he had just done. ‘He said, however, that he never was a first-class bowman, even when in his best practice, but that the present Grand Seigneur was very fond of the exercise and a very strong man, there being only two men in the whole Turkish army who could shoot an arrow as far as he could. ‘The Turk said he had seen the Grand Seigneur send a flight arrow 800 yards. ‘I asked Waring to what he attributed the Turk’s great superiority over our English bowmen; whether to his bow or not. Waring replied he did not consider it was so much the result of the Turk’s bow, but rather of his strength and skill, combined with the short light arrows he used, and his method of shooting them along the grooved horn attached to his hand. ‘Neither Waring nor any of the Toxophilites present (and many tried) could bend the bow as the Turk did when he used it. ‘So much for the triumph of the Infidels and the humiliation of Christendom. ‘Yours aff., ‘W. FRANKLAND. ‘To Sir Thos. Frankland, Bt., M.P. ‘Thirkleby Park.’ [53] T. Waring, author of a _Treatise on Archery_, 1st ed. 1814, last ed. 1832. Waring was an accomplished archer and a well-known manufacturer of bows and arrows. [54] Mahmoud Effendi. [Page 124] I found the following records in a manuscript notebook of 1798, describing feats and incidents of archery collected by the recipient of the letter I have given. ‘_Records of Turkish archery procured in 1797 from Constantinople by Sir Robert Ainslie, at the request of Sir Joseph Banks, and translated by Sir Robert Ainslie’s interpreter._ ‘The Turks still have detachments of archers in their armies so as not to deviate from ancient custom, for in Turkey archery is now merely regarded as an amusing exercise that is to this day practised by all ranks of the people.