1872.] Medieval and Modern Ordnance. 337 
second gateway of the fortress on Mont St. Michel. Pro- 
fessor Pole took great trouble in measuring these guns and 
the granite cannon balls he found within them in 1863. He 
estimates the weight of the larger gun at about 54 tons, and 
that of the smaller at 3} tons. He says the largest gun is 
1g inches in calibre, and 12 feet in total length, of which 
the chamber composes more than one-fourth; the granite 
balls are about 18 inches in diameter; the smaller gun is 
15 inches in calibre, and 11 feet g inches in total length. 
The construction of the barrels is clearly visible; they are 
formed of wrought-iron, being made up of longitudinal bars, 
each about 2% inches wide by 1 inch thick, and round the 
outside are seen the lines of hoops, each about 2% inches 
wide placed quite close to each other. It is not possible to 
discover whether the hooping is single or in several layers. 
The exterior of the breech or powder chamber consists not 
of hoops but of longitudinal bars, their flat surfaces giving to 
it the section of a polygon. The next gun in point of age is 
the far-famed “‘ Dulle Griete,” the great bombard of Ghent, 
which dates about 1430. This enormous wrought-iron piece 
is calculated to weigh 13 tons, and has a bore of 25 inches in 
diameter. Professor Pole estimates the weight of the granite 
ball, 24 inches in diameter, to be about 700 lbs. The next 
on General Lefroy’s list is that ‘‘mickle-mouthed murtherer,” 
Mons Meg,* the ancient bombard preserved at Edinburgh 
Castle, which is supposed to have been built previous to 
1460. She weighs 5 tons, and the diameter of her’ bore, 
according to Lieut. Bingham’st drawing, is 20 inches. Mr. 
Hewitt mentions the mode of construction of this Scottish 
gun as being plainly shown at the point where it 
has been ‘‘viven.” Longitudinal strips of iron are ranged 
like the staves of a cask and welded together; and then a 
number of rings or hoops, also of wrought-iron, are driven 
tightly over them. The thickness of the bars is 23 inches ; 
that of the hoops 3} inches. There is no core beneath the 
strips, as in some of the early bar and hoop guns; but the 
welded staves themselves form the cylinder. The magnitude 
of this engine, the contrivance of its parts, and the nice 
proportions of its outline, show that it is by no means one 
of the earliest efforts of the gunsmith’s art.” ‘‘The name 
of Mons borne by this bombard is generally attributed to its 
* Mons Meg was brought into action at the siege of Dumbarton, 1489, and 
at Norham, 1497, in the reign of James IV. of Scotland, and Henry VII. of 
England. 
+ The late Col. Charles Bingham, R.A., Deputy Adjutant-General, Royal 
Artillery. 
WO t1-\(N.S.) 2% 
