G A N G E T I C H I N D O O S T A N. 363 



tain they have artillery, and are very fkilful in the ufe of it. 

 E}?iir Jumla carried away numbers of cannon on his return 

 from his invafion oi AJfam ; but I have little doubt, but the art 

 of cafting or making them origiiiated in Europe-. They might Antient Ar. 

 have learned it early from the Portuguefe renegadoes. The in- 

 vention has alfo been attributed to the Cbinefe-, but Du Halde, i. 

 262, fairly confeffes it to have been of modern date; He tells 

 us, indeed, that at the gates of Nanking, \\\^xt are three or' 

 four thick and fliort bombards which were never ufed,'and^ 

 only fliewn as curiofities. The Chineje have not even fkill 

 enough to make ufe of the few patteraroes they have on board 

 their fliips. 



Another argument for the knowlegefof' fire arms among 

 the Indians, is drawn from the C^«/05:code>iaf Jaws, fee p. liii. 

 of the learned introduction by Mr. Halb£d, in which the ufe of 

 fuch pernicious weapons is prohibited; The word ufed in that " 

 code is Agnee-ajiery or weapons of fire. By this can' be in- agn-ee-aster. 

 tended only war rockets and lire arrows. The firft are i dread- 

 ful, they are carried by a particular body of men, called Rocket 

 men, and are flung chiefly among the bodies of the enemies 

 cavalry ; they burft like hand grenadoes, and make great havoke. 

 The rocket con lifts of a tube of iron about eight inches long, Rockets. 

 and an inch and a half in diameter, and clofed at one end ; it 

 is filled with powder like the common rocket, and fattened to a 

 pipce of bamboo four feet long, pointed with iron. Near the 

 open end is a match, wliich is fired before it is flung; fee the 

 Sketches, &:c. fof the Hindoos, by ^ Cra-ivjurd, Eiq. a neceflary 

 attendant on this work to fnpply its many deficiencies. It is a 



3 A 2 per- 



