80 DETONATING SYSTEM. 



fire after being long in the damp and particularly when 

 shooting on salt water. I am inclined to account for it 

 by the following comparison : Take a piece of biscuit, 

 or (what would answer the proof much better) crisp 

 gingerbread ; dip it in water for a short time, and it 

 will nevertheless remain hard enough to crack before it 

 will bend. But, on the other hand, if you lay it in a 

 damp cellar all night, it will not be found crisp in the 

 morning. So it is with detonating powder ; by long- 

 continued damp it loses its crispness, and then, of course, 

 will no longer crack, or, in other words, fire by percus- 

 sion. 



One of the recipes for making detonating powder is : 



One ounce of oxymuriate of potash, 

 One-eighth of an ounce of superfine charcoal, 

 One-sixteenth of an ounce of sulphur, 



Mixed with gum-arabic water, and then dried. It should be mixed 

 up in wood, for fear of accident. 



Another, and, I am told, a far better proportion, is : 



Five of oxymuriate ; 

 Two of sulphur ; and 

 One of charcoal. 



I merely give the recipe, in case a sportsman should 

 be in a place where he cannot buy the composition, as 

 I presume, that no one in his senses would run the risk 

 of being blown up, in order to make, perhaps indif- 

 ferently, what he could so cheaply purchase in per- 

 fection. But why should I dwell for a moment on 

 this now$ when there is scarcely a shop in any country 

 town but can serve you with caps which are, at all 

 events, equal to home-made ones. 



The foregoing directions are, I trust, sufficient ; and 



