1876.] R. Maclagan — On ~Early Asiatic Mre Weapons. 67 



Froissart mentions Greek Fire used with modern artillery by the English at 

 the siege of the castle of Eomorantin in 1356. " Si ordonnerent a apporter 

 canons avant et a, traire carreaux et feu gregeois dedans la basse cour.' 

 " Adonc fut le feu apporte avant, et trait par bombardes et par canons en 

 la basse cour."* In their contests with the Moors in Granada, in 1485, 

 the Spaniards threw from their engines large globular masses composed of 

 certain inflammable ingredients mixed with gunpowder, which, " scattering 

 long trains of light", caused much dismay.f The earlier cannon, M. Viol- 

 let le Due says, in his work on the Military Architecture of the Middle 

 Ages, " appear to have been often used, not only for hurling round stones 

 as bombs, like the engines which worked by counterpoise, but likewise for 

 throwing small barrels containing an inflammable and detonating composition 

 such as the Greek Fire described by Joinville, and known to the Arabs from 

 the twelfth century. "J This application of Greek Fire, or some of these 

 other compositions, is the device which the experienced campaigner, Ritt- 

 master Dugald Dalgetty, brought to the notice of Sir Duncan Campbell of 

 Ardenvohr — " Still however the Captain insisted, notwithstanding the 

 triumphant air with which Sir Duncan pointed out his defences, that a 

 sconce should be erected on Drumsnab, the round eminence to the east of 

 the castle, in respect the house might be annoyed from thence by burning 

 bullets full of fire, shot out of cannon, according to the curious invention 

 of Stephen Bathian, king of Poland, whereby that Prince utterly ruined the 

 great Muscovite city of Moscow. This invention, Captain Dalgetty owned, 

 he had not yet witnessed, but observed that it would give him particular 

 delectation to witness the same put to the proof against Ardenvohr, or any 

 other castle of similar strength ; observing that so curious an experiment 

 could not but afford the greatest delight to all admirers of the military 

 art."§ The event which the Captain referred to belongs to the latter half 

 of the sixteenth century. In 1582, this Stephen Bathian or Bathony, king 

 of Poland, made peace with Russia under Ivan II. 



We are generally accustomed, now-a-days, to look upon the practical 

 application of any kind of Greek Fire to hostile or incendiary purposes as 

 a thing of the past and only of historical interest. But the extraordinary 

 abundance of the petroleum with which the world is now supplied has fur- 



* Froissart, I, 2, 26, quoted by Reinaud and lave, 223 ; and Lalanne, Feu Gregeois, 61. 



f Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella, I, 211. The Catalogue of Arabic Military Works 

 before referred to speaks of the use of cotton dipped in oil, with daqq-al-harrdqat, 

 which may mean fire-powder ; the burning power of fire arrows being strengthened 

 by the addition of some gunpowder composition of the earlier kind used for fire-works. 

 Fihrist $c., p. 64. 



% Translation by M. Maedermott, p. 170. 



§ Legend of Montrose, Chap. X, 



I 



M 



