164 : The Atlantic 



so that when the trigger was pulled the match came in contact with 

 the powder. Though difficult to load and to keep in operation, this 

 was a weapon that could be fired with one hand, leaving one hand 

 free for other duties. It was thus the first weapon that could be used 

 on horseback or while steering a boat or performing other duties. 



Before the close of the fourteenth century, fire-sticks had been in- 

 vented. These were simply long metal barrels that would receive a 

 charge of powder and a lead ball. At the closed end they terminated 

 in one or two prongs that could be driven into a rough billet of 

 wood. As in the case of the early pistols, they were drilled at the 

 inner and upper part of the barrel with a touchhole to receive a prim- 

 ing charge of powder and were fired with a match. When the 

 weapon was about to be discharged, the marksman placed the billet 

 of wood under his right armpit and clamped the end between his 

 body and the inner side of his upper arm with all the power that he 

 could command. Then he had to swing his body to aim the gun and 

 apply the match with his left hand. 



After a time it occurred to somebody that the wood block might 

 be dropped at an angle and permanently attached to the barrel. This 

 permitted the gun to be fired from the shoulder and the first crude 

 muskets made their appearance. As in the case of the pistol, they were 

 first fired by matchlocks then flintlocks and went through other 

 developments. 



Crude as these devices were, they were probably the greatest single 

 determining factor in the spread of European people about the 

 world. In their conquest and colonization of great areas in North, 

 Central and South America, the Spaniards were assisted by the use 

 of horses. It is doubtful, however, if the use of horses alone would 

 have made them victorious over the Indians, for the natives often 

 outnumbered them many times over. It was the use of firearms 

 joined with the use of horses and superior ships that gave them the 

 victory. 



Between the year 1000, when the Norse made several attempts at 

 colonization of the North American continent, and 1492, firearms 

 were discovered and developed in Europe. The Norse discoverers of 

 North America were just as brave and just as eager to settle in Vine- 

 land as the Iberian discoverers were to settle in Central and South 

 America. The Spaniards and Portuguese succeeded and the Norse 

 failed largely because the former had firearms and the latter did 

 not. Karlsefni and his companions remained on the American con- 

 tinent for at least three years in a determined effort to establish a per- 



