THE FOWLING PIECE. 



their safety, as evidently to shew that a barrel may bear that 

 one shock) and still be very unworthy to be put into the hands 

 of any one. The only mode of ascertaining whether a barrel 

 is perfectly secure is, by water-proving, after it returns from the 

 proof-house, and has apparently withstood that of fire. 



There are various kinds, or rather qualities, of barrels, which 

 pass under various denominations, such as twisted-stub barrels, 

 wire-twisted barrels, Damascus barrels, and common barrels. 

 Twisted-stubs are old horse -shoe nails twisted together ; there are 

 also iron-twisted^ inferior to the former. Wire-twisted are stubs 

 drawn into wire, and then twisted and formed into the barrel. 

 Damascus barrels are iron and steel curled together, which give 

 the barrel a beautiful appearance. Wire-twisted barrels are the 

 best. Damascus barrels are inferior even to common twisted 

 stubs ; though, as they bear a foreign name, and as the peculiar 

 curling of the iron and steel give them a pleasing appearance, 

 they have of late been in request ; and as the English gun- 

 makers found it inconvenient to import a sufficient number, they 

 did not hesitate to manufacture Damascus barrels, and not more 

 than one real Damascus barrel out of a hundred is to be met with. 

 Whether they are originally from Damascus, I am not certain, 

 but I am willing to believe so ; at all events, several of what were 

 called real Damascus barrels, which reached this country through 

 Russia, are much superior to the English Damascus barrels. 



