demolition, and an expert gunner
could cut out a section of stone wall with these guns in short order.

As the fierce falcon hawk gave its name to the falcon and falconet, so
the saker was named for the saker hawk; rabinet, meaning "rooster,"
was therefore a suitable name for the falcon's small-bore cousin. The
9-pounder saker served well in any military enterprise, and the
_moyana_ (or the French _moyenne_, "middle-sized"), being a shorter
gun of saker caliber, was a good naval piece. The most powerful of the
smaller pieces, however, was the _pasavolante_, distinguishable by its
great length. It was between 40 and 44 calibers long! In addition, it
had thicker walls than any other small caliber gun, and the
combination of length and weight permitted an unusually heavy
charge--as much powder as the ball weighed. A 6-pound lead ball was
what the typical _pasavolante_ fired; another gun of the same caliber
firing an iron ball would be a 4-pounder. The point-blank range of
this Spanish gun was a football field's length farther than either the
falcon or demisaker.

In today's Spanish, _pasavolante_ means "fast action," a phrase
suggestive of the vicious impetuosity to be expected from such a small
but powerful cannon. Sometimes it was termed a _drajon_, the English
equivalent of which may be the drake, meaning "dragon"; but perhaps
its most popular name in the early days was _cerbatana_, from Cerebus,
the fierce three-headed dog of mythology. Strange things happen to
words: a _cerbatana_ in modern Spanish is a pea shooter.

_Sixteenth century Spanish cannon of the second class_

Spanish name Weight of ball Translation
(pounds)

Quarto canon 9 to 12 Quarter-cannon.
Tercio canon 16 Third-cannon.
Medio canon 24 Demicannon.
Canon de abatir 32 Siege cannon.
Doble canon 48 Double cannon.
Canon de bateria 60 Battering cannon.
Serpentino Serpentine.
Quebrantamuro or lombarda 70 to 90 Wallbreaker or lombard.
Basilisco 80 and up Basilisk.

The second class of guns were the only ones properly called "cannon"
in this early period. They were siege and battering pieces, and in
some few respects were similar to the howitzers of later yea