129 
moves downwards from the highest touch-hole to the lowest, un¬ 
til the shots are gradually discharged, one after the other, and in 
the same manner the valves of each touch-hole mu^i be opened. 
This instrument was very interesting to me. Mr. Ellis has also 
made an experiment of his plan for the use of American 
troops, but it seems to me that such a tube would be much too 
lofig and too heavy, and the loading would consume too much 
time, not to speak of the difficulty of drilling a man to use this 
curious weapon. This idea struck me, and my opinion was con¬ 
firmed a* soon as I tried Mr. Ellis’s gun. The experiments I 
made with it, proved to me that particular care would be neces¬ 
sary in using it without danger. A musket of this nature, con¬ 
taining five charges, fired the two first separately, and the last 
three at once! 
We also went with Mr. Tromp to several private wharves 
on the East river; the largest of these belongs to Mr. Bayard, 
my banker. On one of the wharves there was a frigate on the 
stocks, of sixty-four guns, intended for the Greeks; they worked 
very industriously, and hoped that she would depart for her des¬ 
tination next year. She was built of Carolina live oak like the 
government vessels. The advantage of this wood is said to be, 
that in addition to its durability, when balls strike it, they sim¬ 
ply make a hole, without many splinters, which latter generally 
disable more men than the shot themselves. At another wharf 
lay a frigate of sixty-eight guns, with an elliptic stern; she was 
built for the republic of Colombia, and is nearly ready for sea; 
she is built like a ship of the line. Her gun-deck was so high 
that I could stand upright in it.* On the upper deck the guns 
were disposed of in an irregular row, which gave this frigate still 
more the appearance of a ship of the line. The three masts raked 
somewhat like those of a schooner, which was said to be more 
fashionable than useful. When we came on board they were just 
finishing the officers cabins; they were built of mahogany and 
maple, roomy, and the state-rooms long, so that the officers are 
very comfortably situated. The cabins as well as the mess- 
rooms were below deck, therefore not in the way during an 
action. In the battery were only the rooms of the captain. 
There were also two other men of war on the stocks, of smaller 
dimensions, which are also said to be intended for Colombia. 
The guns of all these ships were manufactured at Mr. Campbell’s 
foundry, near West Point. 
The house of the American Bible Society, to which I was ac¬ 
companied by Mr. Eddy, was built by voluntary contributions 
* [The duke, it will be recollected, was rather above six feet in height.] 
Tuans, 
Vol. I. 17 
