GUN. 
with them ; the whole refembling a rough circular fibres of the metal diftin&ly vifible, in whatever direc- 
cake of iron. This is put into the fire until it has, ac- tion they run. 
quired a white heat; when it is hammered, either by The Spanifli fowling-pieces have alw-ays been held in 
the ftrength of the arm, or by the force of machinery, Threat eftcem, as well on account of the quality of the 
until it coalesces, and becomes one folic, mafs of irpn: iron, which is'generally co'nfidered as the belt in Eu- 
the hoop is then removed, and the heatings and ham-, -rope, as becaufe they pqflefs the reputation of being 
merings repeated until the iron, by being thus wrought forged and bored more perfectly than any others. It 
and kneaded, is fpecd from every impurity, and render- Ihould be obferved, however, that of the Sbanilh bar¬ 
ed very tough, and cloietn the grain; the workman 
then proceeds to draw it out into pieces of about twen¬ 
ty-four inches in length, half an ihch or more in breadth, 
and half an inch in thicknefs. 
Thefe pieces, lictw,fever, are not all of the fame thick¬ 
nefs ; fo.i.e being-more and others lefs than what we 
have mentioned, according to the propofed thicknefs of 
the barrel, or that part of it which -the piece is in¬ 
tended to form. One of thefe pieces, being heated red- 
hot for five or fix inches, i^ turned like a cork-fcfew, 
without any other tools than the anvil and hammer. 
'.The remaining portions are fuccefiively treated in the 
fame manner ; until the whole piece is turned into a fpi- 
ral, forming a tube whole diameter correfponds with 
that of the intended barrel. Four of thefe are generally 
fufficient to form a barrel of the‘ordinary length, which 
is from thirty-two to thirty-eight inches ; and the two 
which form the breech, or reinforced part, are confider- 
ably thicker than thofe which conftitute the. fore.part-, 
or muzzle of the. barrel. The workman fir It welds one 
of thefe tubes to a part of an old barrel, which ferves 
as a handle. He then proceeds to unite the turns of 
the fpiral to each ofher, by heating the tube two or 
three inches at a time, to a bright white heat, and link¬ 
ing the end of it feyeral times again!! the anvil, in a ho¬ 
rizontal diredlion, and with conllderable force: this is 
termed jumping the barrel; and the heats ,given for 
the purpofe are called jumping-heats. A mandril is 
then introduced into the cavity; and the heated portion 
is hammered lightly, to flatten'the ridges or burrs railed 
by the jumping at the place where the fpiials are join¬ 
ed. As foon as one piece is jumped its whole length, 
another is welded to it, and treated in the fame manner, 
until the four pieces are united; when the part of the 
old barrel, being no longer necelfary, is cut.off. The 
welding the turns of the fpiral. is performed exadtly in 
the fame manner, as before deferibed, and isjepeated 
three times. The barrel is afterwards finilhed in the 
fame way as a common one. Stub-iron is alfo wrought 
into plain barrels, which, Us they require a great deal 
lefs labour, are only half the price of the twilted 
ones. 
The canons a rubans, or ribbon-barrels , of the French, 
very much refemble the Englilh twilled barrels. The 
procefs purfued in their formation is confiderably more 
operole than that juft deferibed, but feems to be far 
from poflqifing. any advantage over it. The acknow¬ 
ledged fuperiority. of twilled and ribbon barrels over 
plain ones, has induced fome perfons to counterfeit 
them, by colouring plain barrels fo. as to fliew a fpiral 
line running from one end to the othqi:. This is done 
by winding a thread ; or firing in a fpiral direction round 
a plaip barrel, and then wetting the firing with di¬ 
luted aqua-fortis, or fpirit of fait, fo that a coat of ruft 
may be formed where the firing touches : when the acid 
is applied the fecond time over the whole barrel, the part 
over which the firing was applied, by being more rutt¬ 
ed than the reft, fhews a dark line winding round.the 
barrel, and renders it, when finilhed, fcarcely diftin- 
guifhable from a twilled or ribbon barrel. Other bar¬ 
rels are, by the fame means, clouded in an irregular 
manner, fo as to refemble thofe formed of Hub-iron. 
To'prove, whether qr not a barrel is really what it ap¬ 
pears to be, we need only fix upon any part on the un- 
der^fide, that is covered by theltock, and having cleared 
it, if,necelfary, with a fine, file, apply a feather dipped 
in agua-fortis, which, in a little time, will render the 
rels, thofe only that are made in the capital, are account¬ 
ed truly valuable; in . confequence oi which a great 
many have been made at other places, efpecially in Cata¬ 
lonia and Bifcay, with the names and marks of the Ma¬ 
drid gunfmiths : they are alfo counterfeited at Liege, 
Prague, Munich, &c. and a perfon mull be a very good 
judge not to be deceived by thefe fpurious barrels. 
NotwithHanding, there have always been excellent 
gunfmiths -at Madrid, yet the barrels which bear the 
higheft price, and are the molt fought after by the cu¬ 
rious in this way, are thofe made by artifts who have: 
been dead for many years; though perhaps this prefer¬ 
ence has no better foundation than the common preju¬ 
dice in favour ot tilings that are the productions of re¬ 
mote ages qr diftant countries: Major e Itngmquo reveren- 
tia. Such are the barrels of Nicolas Biz, who was fa¬ 
mous at Madrid in the beginning of the lalt century, and 
died in-1724: thofe he made in the former part of his 
life are the 1110ft eftcemed. The barrels of Juan Belen, 
and Juan Fernandez, cotemporaries of Nicolas Biz, are 
not lels prized; and in France all of them fell for one 
thoufand livres, or forty-three pounds fifteen (hillings 
fterling. Thofe of Diego Efquibel, Alonzo Martinez,. 
Gabriel Agora, Agoltin Ortiz, Mathias Vaera, Luis 
Santos, Juan Santos, Franciifco Garcia, Francifeo Tar- 
garone, J olepji Cano, and .N. Zelaya, all of them cele¬ 
brated workmen, who fucceeded thofe already mention¬ 
ed, in the order qf their names, are alfo in great requeft. 
Ot the artifts now or lately living at Madrid, the 1110ft 
celebrated-are, Francifco Lopes, Salvador Cenarro, and 
Miguel Zeguarro, gunfmiths to the king : Ilidoro So- 
ler,. and Juan de Soto,.have alfo great reputation. The 
barrels of thofe living workmen fell for three hundred 
French livres, or fomewhat more thaifithirteen pounds 
fterling, which is the price paid for thofe made for the 
king and royal.family. They are proved with a treble 
charge of the belt powder, and a quadruple one of fwair 
or deer Ihot. At Madrid, find throughout all Spain, 
the manufacture of barrels is not, as in this and molt, 
other countries, a feparate branch of tfie gun-making 
bufinefs; but the fame lyprkinan/makes and finilhes 
every part of the piece,. 
After the barrels of Madrid, jtli’ofe of Buftindui and 
St. Olabe at Placentia in Bifcay and of Jean and Cle¬ 
ment Pedroefteva, Eudal Pous, and Martin Marechal, 
at Barcelona, are the moll eite.emed ; thefe ufually fell 
in France for eighty French livres, or three pounds ten 
{hillings,fterling. Almoft all tjie fowling-piece barrels 
made at Madrid are compofed of the old flioes of horfes 
and mules, colleCled for the purpofe. They are all 
welded longitudinally but, inllead of being forged in 
one plate or piece, as in other countries, they are made, 
like the Englilh twilled barrels, in five or fix- detached 
portions-, which are afterwards welded one to the end 
of another, two ol them forming the breech,for rein¬ 
forced part of the barrel. We may form fome idea of 
the very great purity to which the iron is brought in 
the courfe of the operation, when we are told, that to 
make a barrel, which, rough from the forge, weighs 
only fix or. feven pounds, they employ a mafs of mule- 
fliofe iron weighing from forty to forty-five pounds; fo 
that from' thirty-four to thirty-eight pounds are loft in 
the heatings and hammerings, it is made to undergo be¬ 
fore it is forged into a barrel. 
• Notwithftanding the great reputation of the Spanifli 
barrels, however, they are little ufed in France, and 
ftill lefs in E'ngland; their aukward form, and their 
great 
