Bowheight is a reckoning of a stead's whereabouts on the husk of the Earth, and tells of one's farness from the midring. It is reckoned from zero notches, at the midring, to ninety notches, at each pole. Lands with low bowheights, such as Africa, are hot and get much sunlight, while lands with high bowhights, such as Siberia, are cold and dark.
Bowheight is easy to reckon, for the height at which the pole star is fastened in the sky is the same as the onlooker's bowheight. Together with the bowlength, which is harder to reckon, bowheight tells in full the whereabouts of a stead on Earth.