[originaltext] Bows and arrows are one of the man’s oldest weapons. They gav

Bows and arrows are one of the man’s oldest weapons. They gave early man an effective weapon to kill his enemies. The ordinary bow or short bow was used by nearly all early people. These bows had limited power or short range. However, man overcame these faults by learning to track his target at close range. The long bow was most likely discovered when someone found out that a five-foot piece wood made a better bow than a three-foot piece. Hundreds of thousands of these bows were made and used for three hundred years. However, not one is known to survive today. We believe that force of one hundred pounds was needed to pull the string all the way back on the long bow. For a long time, the bow was just a bent stick and a string. In fact, more changes have taken place in the bow in the past 25 years than in the last 7 centuries. Today’s bow is forceful. It is as exact as a gun. In addition, it requires little strength to draw the string. Modem bows also have precise aiming devices. In indoor contests, perfect scores from 40 yards are common. The invention of the bow itself ranks with the discovery of fire and the wheel. It was a great step forward for man.