1859.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 181 



" In the proceedings at the February meeting, as published in the 

 newspapers, it is stated that the two wooden guns now before the 

 meeting were presented by me to the Society on behalf of Col. 

 Rowcroft. This is a mistake, arising probably from Col. Rowcroft 

 having last year made me the medium of presenting a chair of state, 

 and other articles, which he had captured at Suttasee in Goruckpore. 



" These wooden guns were taken by the force under Col. Dunsford 

 at Berhampore, a place on the road between Buxar and Arrah, 

 where the rebels where signally defeated towards the end of October 

 last. They had no carriages, and were simply laid on raised beds of 

 earth, and pointed over a low wall so as to command the road up 

 which it was supposed our troops would advance. 



" The maker, a Nepnlese, it is understood, had guaranteed that 

 they should stand three discharges without bursting; but in fact 

 they both burst at the very first discharge. A large piece was blown 

 out of the side of one, which is said to have killed a sepoy in the firing, 

 and the others fairly broke into two pieces. 



" These were the only two wooden guns which the rebels ever 

 finished, but several others were found in course of construction at 

 Jugdispore, when the place was captured. The mode of construction 

 was peculiar. The guus, it will be observed, are fashioned out of 

 solid blocks of saul timber, and in order to facilitate the labour of 

 boring and get rid of the sawdust, the blocks were suspended from 

 one end, and allowed to rest on the point of the augur, which was 

 worked from beneath by means of the common native bow. The 

 guns were about six feet in length, and were bored to about two- 

 thirds of their length. A copper cylinder was then inserted as a 

 lining, but it appears to have had no base, and this was probably 

 the chief cause of the destruction of the gun, as the powder must 

 have got in behind the cylinder, and forced the copper forward in a 

 crumpled state when the gun was fired. The diameter of the bore 

 is 4i inches, and of the block from 9 inches at the muzzle to 12 

 inches at the breech. It was bouud with stout hoops of iron at 

 distances of a few inches apart, and with rope between the hoops. 

 The whole was covered with leather, which, however, had disappeared 

 before the guns came into my possession. 



" I have ouly to add that after the battle of Berhampore the guns 



