THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
match coming into contact with the powder during" loading. In a high 
wind sparks would fly from the match, possibly reaching the powder in 
the pan and causing a premature discharge. Further, the match was 
particularly liable to take up moisture and become unserviceable till 
dried; in wet weather the gun became almost useless. The rate of fire was 
naturally very slow. In view of these drawbacks it is perhaps surprising 
that such a weapon made headway against the bow, especially as at first 
the latter had the advantage in range. We are not surprised to find that 
a great stand for the superiority of the bow was made by some experienced 
soldiers in Queen Elizabeth’s time, and that archers occasionally fought 
alongside arquebusiers and musketeers until the end of the seventeenth 
century, and that there were advocates for their revival till a much later 
date. Montaigne, who wrote in 1585, is quoted by Greener as saying that 
the effect of firearms, apart from the shock caused by the report, to which 
one does not easily get accustomed, was so insignificant that he hoped 
they would soon be discarded. The long bow in the hands of a trained man 
was effective at twelve score paces — 240 yards; it was both more rapid 
and more accurate than the early gun. In these respects it was also in 
advance of the crossbow. But to get the best results from it, it was indis- 
pensable that the shooter should have had long training and constant 
practice in its use, preferably beginning in childhood. It was no doubt this 
point which accounts for the legislative endeavours constantly insisted 
on, but not very successful, to make practice with the bow universal in 
England. 
Hunting animals with dogs dates from prehistoric times. But while 
the dog could either himself take the quarry, or enable his master to come 
up with it and use knife or spear, birds could defy the dog and all the 
weapons of man except projectiles. Arrows and other missiles propelled 
by hand were, however, of little use against them. The arts of netting, 
snaring and hawking had therefore been brought to great perfection, 
but a special field in fowling was open to the gun as the weapon par 
excellence for killing birds. Thus it is that the name fowling-piece lingers 
with us even yet, and that to this day the trade in smooth bore guns is 
known in Birmingham as the “ Birding trade.” 
The various steps of progress in the application of firearms to military 
purposes may be followed in the writings of different periods. The record 
of sporting firearms is far less complete. But it is evident that the match- 
lock as a sporting weapon can have had but a very limited scope. It would 
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