434 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



distances and does not burst when overcharged. The nipples, to-be- 

 sure, will sometimes fly out, and the locks now and then get out of 

 order; but these trifling inconveniences can soon be rectified by 

 application to the gunsmith, village blacksmith, or perhaps by the 

 shooter's own ready genius. Notwithstanding these occasional 

 mishaps, the gun is pronounced a "good one," and no thought is 

 had of any thing superior, although many a fine day's sport has 

 been interrupted by these " little annoyances" that cannot be 

 helped. The luxury of a superior gun, if we may so speak, is 

 never dreamed of by these people ; and they cannot conceive the 

 possibility of shooting for years with the same fowling-piece witl> 

 out once seeing it the least out of order. A weapon so dangerous 

 as a gun, even in the hands of the most careful, should certainly 

 be of excellent quality, and all its parts made of such materials as 

 to insure its safety at all times, under judicious management, and 

 leave no room for those melancholy accidents that so often occur 

 from the bursting and going oft 7 of inferior guns when least ex- 

 pected, owing to impurity of metal or the imperfect structure of 

 the locks or other portions of the machinery. 



We do not intend to occupy, or rather lore, the reader with a 

 long scientific dissertation upon gun-making, but merely wish to 

 direct his attention to the subject in such a way that he will gain 

 in a few pages all the practical information in reference to a gun 

 that will be necessary to make him familiar with its history, 

 manufacture, and construction. 



Before the introduction of guns into England, the longbow and 

 crossbow were the weapons mostly employed in war, as well as for 

 the chase. The latter instrument was most in favor with sports- 

 men, owing to the greater strength and certainty with which it 

 threw its arrows. Although the use of fire-arms, as before stated, 

 was somewhat known during the reign of Elizabeth, as well as that 

 of her predecessor, Henry the Eighth, and even as far back as 

 Edward the Third, (1327,) who is said to have first used a species 

 of mortar for the purpose of ejecting large stones against the Scots 

 when bombarding them in their native fastnesses, still, these rude 



