We will now deal with its efficiency for defence against arrows, which appears to have been the chief reason for its being called into existence. These missiles would strike either upon the rouleaux or upon the bands, and would impinge either at a right angle to the plane of the surface, or at any angle less than a right angle. An arrow striking the rouleaux at right angles would endeavour to pass through (1) the thickness of a metal or leather disc; (2) the leather running through the discs; (3) the thickness of a metal or leather disc at the rear. If it struck a metal disc, however, there would be a deflective tendency either to right or left, according to the slant of the disc. An arrow striking at an acute angle upon the rouleaux would glance off if the discs slanted in its direction; if the discs sloped from it the arrow might insert itself between two of them, penetrate the band of leather running through the centres, and then endeavour to pass between two discs at the back. So tightly, however, would these discs be pressed together, by the leverage of the arrow-head itself in enlarging the opening between them in the front, that it is questionable if the inertia remaining in the arrow would enable it to overcome such resistance, remembering that the discs are firmly fixed both at the top and bottom to the leather bands. If an arrow struck upon one of the bands it would have to penetrate at least half-an-inch of leather and force apart the rouleaux firmly sewn, or affixed in other ways, to the band on either side. The specimen of banded mail constructed in accordance with the foregoing method possesses in actual practice the resisting power claimed for it; the apparent weak point is the penetrability between the discs. If, however, the rings are firmly sewn to the lateral bands the resistance to an arrow is almost if not quite equal to that of any other part of the mail; the arrow becomes firmly fixed in the discs without penetrating to the body. It is an unsettled question as to whether or not complete armour of leather discs was ever introduced into England: certain it is that the armour of William Longuespée, first Earl of Salisbury, in Salisbury Cathedral was originally painted brown, but that might signify, as we have said before, rusty chain mail and not leather; whereas upon the few sculptured effigies in banded mail preserved to us the colouring has altogether disappeared. CHAPTER VIII THE CYCLAS PERIOD, 1325-1335