The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-26


IS. and presented the unhappy couple
with palace, furnished from attic to
cellar-but the building and all in II
was ice. After banquet and ball,
which must have been uncommonly
chilly. bride and bridegroom were un-
dressed and laid upon nuptial bed OF
ice, while the four guns and two NOR
tars outside. also of ice. discharged
salvoes. So they remained shut In, till
morning. The Jest proved killing TO
both But terra Gotta, as material Tor
cannon, is almost as strange as Ice 1t
has been used, nevertheless. though not
exactly for warlike purposes. Some
fifty years ago number of terra Gotta
guns, with a store of terra Gotta balls.
were found in a tomb upon the island
of Chimal, in Southern Mexico. They
were good limitations of Spanish pieces
in the time of the Conquest. nearly
Eve feet long. 1t is suggested that the
Indians made them after Cortez had
passed through the country, hoping,
perhaps, that when they had cannon
like his in appearance, by some mystic
kill people. OF golden artillery there
are several examples The Gaekwar of
Baroda has two, which would not be
ineffective, probably, for they are lined
with steel, but the castings of gold are
substantial enough to be valued at TO-
600 pounds each. Devout Mahrattas
travel far to do poojah" before these
precious engines. We never heard of
wooden guns, excepting dummies"
such as the Chinese Government mount
ed on the walls of Picking. But Carlyle
mentions a project for manufacturing
them, submitted to the Committee de
SaIut Public: zone citizen has wrought
out the scherce of a wooden cannon,
which France shall exclusively profit
4,aet To 70 kA
made OF slaves by the coopers-of al
most boundless calibre, but uncertain
as to strength"
The knights of Malta invented a spe-
cies of artillery all their own. We
have a pleasant description of 1t in
"BrydOnes Travels" book deservedly
renowned in its day, not yet universal
ly forgotten. He saw Malta when the
rule of the knights was just coming to
an end, and very curious are his obser-
vations. Upon the top OF the clin,
wherever an enemy might land, the en-
gineers sank holes in the living rock
gigantic mortars, as 1t. were. In some
cases the diameter was as much as six
feet, and the smallest held a barrel of
gunpowder. Upon the charge lay a
wooden cover, exactly fitting, on which
were placed stones. cannon balls and
fragments of metal, the whole rammed
tight. The biggest would discharge
forty tons of these miscellaneous pro-
jectiles in a shower, covering a space
of 200 or 300 yards. The crew of the
stoutest ironclad would be very uncom-
Portable when that shower of powders
descended froA the sky like a volcanic
eruption, even If the vessel were not
seriously damaged But the contriv-
a1Ice was never tested. apparently. We
recall the invention of Napier of Mer-
chiston, which was guaranteed to clear
- e.
annihilating all objects thereon above
twelve inches high. Sir Thomas Urqu-
hart says that IL was rashly tried on
a large plain, when many sheep and
cattle were blown into space" But 1t
is not made clear that Urduhart saw
the wonder with his own eyes, which is
pretty strong evidence that ne did not
According to Napiers own descrip-
ton. 1t was a shot which ranged
abroad within the whole appointed
space, not departing forth till it had
executed it's whole strength by destroy
ing those that be within the bounds of
the said place" The discoverer of log
arithms was a most responsible person
age whose assertions are not to be
lightly dismissed but we really cannot
accept this. Another invention was a
mirror like that of Archimedes. but
improved to reflect artificial fire." A
third was a closed and fortified car
rage to bring arquebusiers into the
midst OF the enemy. Yet another was
"a device for sailing under water" but
perhaps he did not complete this. which
is numbered among the "strategems
for harming the enemy which by the
grace of God and the work of expert
craftsmen, hope TO perform" On his
deathbed, however. Merchiston refused
to tell the secret of these machines
saying that too many devices for the
4 L \ -
framed already" This was the last
year OF the sixteenth century. Two OF