404: lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



called Oxydracae, this ancient authority remarks : " These truly 

 wise men dwelt between the rivers Hyphasis and Ganges ; 

 their country Alexander the Great never entered, deterred, not 

 by fear of the inhabitants, but, as I suppose, by religious consi- 

 derations ; for, had he passed the Hyphasis, he might doubtless 

 have made himself master of the country all around them ; but 

 their cities he never could have taken, though he had led a 

 thousand as brave as Achilles or three thousand such as Ajax, 

 to the assault, for they come not out into the field to fight 

 those who attack them, but these holy men, beloved by the 

 Gods, overthrow their enemies by tempests and thunderbolts 

 shot from the walls. It is said that the Egyptian Hercules and 

 Bacchus, when they overran India, avoided this people also, 

 and having prepared warlike engines, attempted to conquer 

 them. They made no show of resistance, but upon the ene- 

 my's near approach to their cities, they were repulsed with 

 storms of lightning and thunderbolts hurled upon them from 

 above." 



In the Opus Majus of Friar Bacon, who died about 1294, may 

 be found a particular description of the effects of a certain com- 

 pound composed of saltpetre and other ingredients, which, when 

 ignited, gave results analogous to those of thunder and light- 

 nino- ; and, furthermore, it is stated that when these elements 

 are rightly amalgamated and properly applied, the force of the 

 explosion would be sufficiently powerful to destroy not only an 

 army, but even overturn an entire city. 



These remarks, together with some others even still more 

 perspicuous on this head, have led most inquirers to conclude 

 that the learned Friar was at least well acquainted with the 

 components and effects, if not well versed in the precise com- 

 position and application of gunpowder. 



This information, it may very justly be presumed, was not 

 orio-inal with himself, but rather that he obtained a knowledge 

 of it from the others of his brotherhood, the Monks, who had 

 learned of its existence among the Chinese, as well as seen its 

 operations during theii- missions in those far distant regions, 

 from whence they had then lately returned. 



Some writers go so far as to suppose that the pious but wily 

 Monk was well acquainted with the composition of gunpowder, 



