EASTERN AND WESTERN VIEWS OF MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY. 441 
in the weights of the packs is in fact a wide one, and very materially 
affects both the mobility of the battery, the power of the fire, and the 
ammunition supply—if not in number of rounds, at least in weight of 
projectile, for the number of rounds per gun can seldom vary much 
from 100. 
Now with on the one hand the gunners mounted with a light gun, 
and on the other hand gunners dismounted and a heavier gun, each 
country on service must in its selection be governed by the conditions 
which are likely to predominate in war. 
Now in the United States in the most important operations on her 
N.W. Frontier, against the Indian tribes, the most formidable portion 
of whom are mounted, the Cavalry or Mounted Rifles has always been 
the most important arm. In the British service, whether in the 
mountains of our Indian frontiers, the jungles of Burmah, the desert 
of the Soudan, or the bush of Ashanti, the Infantry has always been 
the most important arm, and attention has been directed towards 
providing two different pieces, organized however on much the same 
lines, for the following conditions of service :— 
(a) Long range fire with as powerful a piece as is compatible with 
a certain fixed limit of pack-animals for its transport. 
(b) Curved fire with a heavy projectile at shorter ranges, under 
circumstances when the minimum number of animals may 
be slightly exceeded. 
The 2°5" screw gun and the 4” jointed howitzer are the most modern 
representative pieces of these two desiderata. Batteries are only 
equipped with the former, the double shell of the small 7-pounder 
200 lbs. gun inefficiently fulfilling the requirements of (b) at present 
in the equipment of a few batteries. 
Personally I believe in a general service gun for our Mountain 
Artillery ; that is, one with a slightly lower velocity than the 2-5" 
gun, but with a lighter projectile than that of the 4” howitzer. In 
other words, a gun in two portions that will throw the same projectile 
as our Horse Artillery gun with a muzzle velocity of 1300 f.s., and a 
limit of effective range 3500 yards. 
Captain Schenck believes that with the improvement in the construc- 
tion of guns and their greatly increased ballistic powers, it would appear 
reasonable to be able to secure a sufficiently powerful mountain gun 
and an adequate ammunition supply with such pack-loads as to permit 
of service with the cavalry when necessary, by providing mounts for 
the gunners, and at the same time to possess a gun whose power of 
fire will prove ample for any demands when serving with the Infantry. 
Indeed for reasons economical as well as of expediency, the United 
States he says must adhere to a single gun and equipment for all 
Mountain Artillery. 
That this may be possible, necessitates a proper relationship between 
the pack-loads of the battery and the loads carried by the cavalry 
horse, and ordinary cavalry pack-train, the degree of mobility, z.e. 
weight of pack-loads being suited to the movements of the Cavalry 
rather than to the foot-pace of the Infantry. At the same time 
50 
