THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
287 
Valliere's time.* The trunnion holes were cut over the central point 
between the bed and fore transoms, about § of the distance between the 
shoulder and breast of the carriage in front of the shoulder, and iron cap- 
squares were in use. The gun was elevated by coins resting on the coin 
transom. The wheelsf were half the length of the piece in diameter as a 
general rule, but T Vth to Jth more was allowed for the smaller pieces. The 
nave of the wheel was 3 calibres in diameter and 3 J calibres long, and there 
were 12 “spoakes or rayes.” The felloes were six in number, and were 
secured with tires, their section being a square of one calibre in side. The 
avantrine (limber) J was little more than an “axtree (axletree) and a payre 
of wheeles to draw the Peece into the field,” the wheels being generally of 
less diameter than those of the gun. The ammunition was conveyed on 
small carts, or in wheelbarrows, or on men’s backs. The gunners of course 
walked on foot beside their gun, much as they do at the present time in 
the field batteries, and partly from this cause, partly also from the weight 
of - the gun and the unwieldy structure of the carriage, the field artillery 
can scarcely be said to have possessed in any appreciable degree the most 
important attribute of that service—mobility. 
* Faye’s “ Hist, et Tactique des trois Armes,” p. 112. See Fig. 3. 
f See Fig. 4. X See Fig. 5. 
