ing
the middle 1700's, Spaniards on a Florida river outpost kept powder in
glass bottles; earlier soldiers, fleeing into the humid forest before
Sir Francis Drake, carried powder in _peruleras_--stoppered,
narrow-necked pitchers.

As for magazines, a dry magazine was just about as important as a
shell-proof one. Charcoal and chloride of lime, hung in containers
near the ceiling, were early used as dehydrators, and in the
eighteenth century standard English practice was to build the floor 2
feet off the ground and lay stone chips or "dry sea coals" under the
flooring. Side walls had air holes for ventilation, but screened to
prevent the enemy from letting in some small animal with fire tied to
his tail. Powder casks were laid on their sides and periodically
rolled to a different position; "otherwise," explains a contemporary
expert, "the salt petre, being the heaviest ingredient, will descend
into the lower part of the barrel, and the powder above will lose much
of its goodness."

[Illustration: Figure 17--SPANISH POWDER BUCKET (c. 1750).]

In the dawn of artillery, loose powder was brought to the gun in a
covered bucket, usually made of leather. The loader scooped up the
proper amount with a ladle (fig. 44), and inserted it into the gun. He
could, by using his experienced judgment, put in just enough powder to
give him the range he wanted, much as our modern artillerymen
sometimes use only a portion of their charge. After Gustavus Adolphus
in the 1630's, however, powder bags came into wide use, although
English gunners long preferred to ladle their powder. The powder
bucket or "passing box" of course remained on the scene. It was
usually large enough to hold a pair of cartridge bags.

The root of the word cartridge seems to be "carta," meaning paper. But
paper was only one of many materials such as canvas, linen, parchment,
flannel, the "woolen stuff" of the 1860's, and even wood. Until the
advent of the silk cartridge, nothing was entirely satisfactory. The
materials did not burn completely, and after several rounds it was
mandatory to withdraw the unburnt bag ends with a wormer (fig. 44),
else they accumulated to the point where they blocked the vent or
"touch hole" by which the piece was fired. Parchment bags shriveled up
and stuck in the vent, purpling many a good gunner's face.

PRIMERS

When the powder bag came into use, the gunner had to prick the bag
open so the priming fire from the vent could reach t