420 • lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



companies to whom this important duty is confided ; but we 

 wish to inform our readers that large quantities of barrels are 

 palmed off" on the public, and particularly on the American 

 public, having all the insignia of the London and Birmingham 

 proof-houses, that never at any time were across the threshold 

 of either establishment. 



This is accomplished by forging the marks of these com- 

 panies, and the deception is carried on to a very great extent; 

 and our readers, therefore, will see at once how much reliance 

 can be placed on these marks when pointed out to them by the 

 regular dealers, as tests of the goodness of suspicious-looking 

 guns. 



The proving of gun-barrels was first introduced, according 

 to writers, about the twelfth century, and originated with the 

 company of Gun-makers themselves; the enactments respecting 

 the department, however, after a while became null and void, 

 from a want of adequate means and a proper disposition on the 

 part of the manufacturers to enforce them. Public attention, 

 however, vras again aroused to the importance of this matter 

 early in the present century, owing to the discredit that had 

 fallen on all English hand-arms, insomuch that Sportsmen were 

 obliged to seek their guns in other quarters than their own 

 country, and considerable numbers were purchased in Spain 

 and France for their use. In 1815, further legislation upon 

 this subject made it obligatory upon all manufacturers to send 

 their gun-barrels either to the London or Birmingham proof- 

 houses to be tested, under a penalty of £20 for every infraction 

 of this ordinance; and the same fine was attached to the forging 

 of the proof-marks of these companies. Previous to these 

 enactments, thousands of guns were manufactured for the foreign 

 trade, that were perfectly good for nothing, and the dealers them- 

 selves in these "sham-guns, sham-dam, park-palings," as they 

 were termed, knew full well that they would most likely burst 

 under the first explosion of a moderate-sized charge of powder 

 and shot. Large numbers of these dangerous weapons were 

 sent to this country, but tliey were furnished in far greater 

 numbers to the slave-dealers for their nefarious and inhuman 

 traffic on the coast of Africa. One of these worthless instru- 

 ments, costing but a few shillings, was the usual price at that 



