THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 205 
It has produced in the last ten years an average of 10,116 fire-arms per 
annum. Its workmanship is described by English officers as being of 
the first class.* All the small and side-arms of the Belgian army are 
manufactured here, excepting some sabres and swords bought at Solingen. 
The materials employed are almost exclusively Belgian. It has 
happened once (in 1859) that some 12,000 muskets of the new pattern 
wanted as a reserve had to be purchased of the trade. The factory now 
occupies about 250 men on the premises, and about 300 outside, the 
latter principally barrel-makers. The whole labour is done by task- 
work, under the supervision of artillery officers, upon estimates drawn 
up by them. The workmen earn from 2 to 3 francs per day. 
The barrels are forged in the same manner as for the trade, in the 
rural water-mills. Pure charcoal iron is becoming every year more 
difficult to obtain ; and as the royal factory is obliged to purchase it 
by adjudication, an inferior material is often substituted. It is likely 
that steel will soon supersede iron for this purpose. Besides the strong 
barrel-iron, two other species are used — viz., soft tenacious iron, for the 
furniture, and tempered iron (by cementation), for several parts of the 
lock, &c. This latter iron is generally derived from Germany, the 
Belgian works not having succeeded, with it. 
The " usinage " of the barrels is all executed at the factory. The first 
operation included in the above term, that of rough boring, is effected 
by a series of quadrangular plugs of tempered steel passed through the 
barrel. It is then annealed— i.e., heated and left to cool gradually in 
order to restore its tenacity, which is impaired by the boring process. 
Then follows an external straightening with the hammer ; then a 
succession of internal fine-borings (" alesages "), alternating with seven 
internal straightenings ("dressages"). The barrel is also compassed, 
ground, and turned on a lathe. The best straighteners are those trained 
in a large factory, for the eye being the only guide, great practice is 
necessary for this work. A polished tube, when pointed towards the 
light, presents to the eye a certain number of concentric zones perfectly 
distinct from each other, in each of which any external object will be 
reflected in a corresponding number of images. If a barrel thoroughly 
accurate be turned round on its axis, these internal images will remain 
unaltered and symmetrical. The slightest inequality of the bore will 
show itself by a distortion of the image at the point, and must, when 
detected by the workman, be rectified by a blow of the hammer on the 
faulty point. After the third fine- boring, the outer surface, still rough 
and uneven, has to be brought clown to a true concentiical form by the 
compasser, who measures the thickness of the barrel, and marks the 
points where there is an excess of iron to be removed by the mill-stone 
and the lathe. 
Garnishing a barrel includes here the following operations : Forging 
* Vide " Report of Select Committee on Small Arms, 1854, " p. 261, &c. 
