In the 416th chhand, we have: “The zambúr lodged in his breast and he fainted away: thus fell Ráí Govind, the strength of Dehlí.”

Zambúr is used in this and in the preceding extract. It is now usually applied to a camel-swivel. It used also to be applied to an arrow, and like musquet, baston, bombarde, and some other words, continued to signify an offensive weapon introduced under the new system of artillery, which followed the invention of gunpowder. The use of the word, therefore, is equivocal, and cannot be pro­nounced decidedly to mean a fire-arm; though, to be sure, if an arrow were meant, there was no occasion to resort to a foreign word. In other respects, the passage is not open to suspicion.

Wild fire was used against Changíz Khán at Bámián,* and the Jahán-kushá tells us, that in his siege of Khwárizm, Changíz Khán was compelled to use the wood of the top.*

In A.D. 1258, we find the wazír of the King of Dehlí going out to meet an ambassador from Hulákú, the grandson of Changíz Khán, with 3000 carriages of fireworks.* The same word, Átish-bází, being applied to pyrotechnic displays, as well as artillery, leaves the meaning of the passage ambiguous.

Khusrú, who died in 1315 A.D., is full of illustrations, and leaves no manner of doubt that nothing like gunpowder was known to him; though there is an attempt in the háshiya of the Kiránu-s Sa'dain (p. 49), to make out garárá to be a cannon ball.

In A.D. 1368, we have seen (suprà, p. 230) Muhammad Sháh Bahmaní I. possessing himself, amongst other spoil, of 300 gun-carriages, upon which the translator of Firishta observes in a note, as follows:

“If any reliance is to be placed on Moolla Daud Bidury, the author of the Tohfutu-s Sulatín, guns were used at this time by the Hindús, and in a subsequent passage it is remarked that the Muhammadans used them for the first time during the next campaign. But I am disposed to doubt the validity of both these statements. From the latter passage it seems possible, indeed, that the Muhamma-dans might have procured guns from the west in 1368, because they are said to have been used eighteen years previously by Edward III. at the battle of Cressy, though it is very improbable; and Firishta, in stating it to be the first time the Muhammadans employed them, also observes, that Turks and Europeans skilled in gunnery worked the artillery. That guns were in common use before the arrival of the Portuguese in India in 1498, seems certain, from the mention made of them by Faria-e-Souza.”*

In the same author we find a manjaník used for a horrible purpose in A.D. 1371.*

It is remarkable that 'Abdu-r Razzák gives no hint of gunpowder at Bíjanagar; there the pyrotechnists are naphtha-throwers. This would seem to show that gunpowder must have been subsequent to his time. The Matla'u-s Sa'dain, however, in one passage speaks of múshksáz (squib-making).

The testimony as to the skill of the natives in the use of fire­arms, upon the first arrival of the Portuguese, is somewhat con­tradictory. * Maffei, who may be considered an abridger of Juan de Barros, says that the Indians far excelled the Portuguese.* He also states that “Bador,” at the siege of Chitor, had four balistas of so large a size that each was drawn by 100 yoke of oxen, so that the ground trembled beneath them. Another author, quoted by Bohlen, speaks of a certain Indian king being in the habit of placing several pieces of brass ordnance in front of his army.*

There is certain testimony to the use of cannon in Gujarát before the arrival of the Portuguese; which is easily accounted for by the constant communication at that time with the Turks of Egypt and Arabia.* In A.D. 1482, Mahmúd Sháh I. of Gujarát is mentioned as fitting out a fleet against the pirates of Bulsar, on board of which he embarked gunners and musketeers from Kambay. Two years after, we find him using cannon to breach the walls of Champanír. and even firing shells at the palace of the Rájá. It is curious that one of the first applications of gunpowder amongst Muhammadan Indians was in the manufacture of shells. A few years later, Sher Sháh met his death by the explosion of one in his own batteries, when besieging Kálinjar.

Castanheda, in describing Vasco de Gama's entrance into Calicut in 1498, says, “The procession again set out, preceded by many trumpets and sacbuts sounding all the way; and one of the Nayres carried a caliver, which he fired off at intervals.”* Two years after­wards the Zamorin cannonaded the Portuguese vessels.* In Castan-heda's work, two Milanese lapidaries are said to have deserted, in 1503, to the Zamorin, for whom they offered to make ordnance, resembling that of the Portuguese, “which they afterwards did, as will appear in the sequel of this history, and for which service they were highly rewarded.”* “This caymal had a force of 3000 Nayres, 700 of whom were archers, and forty were armed with matchlocks. He had likewise several paraws provided with ordnance, with which he was supplied by the Zamorin.”*

Vertomann says that the Portuguese who entered into the service of the native princes taught them the art of using cannon.*

Faria-e-Souza speaks of a Gujarát vessel in A.D. 1500 firing several guns at the Portuguese;* of the Indians of Calicut using fire-vessels in 1502; and of the Zamorin's fleet carrying in the next year 380 guns.*

In 1511, the Portuguese are opposed at Malacca by a people using cannon, who defend their streets by mining with gunpowder. At sea, they employed floats of wild fire. Muhammad, King of Java, brought 3000 guns to bear, out of the 8000 which he pos­sessed. *

If we come to later times, we find Bábar mentioning that the soldiers in Bengal were expert artillerists; for which of course they were indebted to the Portuguese. He himself had in his own camp large cannon, which fired huge stones, and took a long time to load. He had also several pieces which he styled Feringís, showing their European origin.* Arrows were also used in this action. In another part of his Memoirs, Bábar speaks of cannon being cast at the capital in his days; but the fact of the welding system being adopted at Dacca in the days of Sháh Jahán, does not say much for the efficiency of Bengal artillery a century previous.* At the battle of Pánípat also, A.D. 1526, Bábar had used artillery, “chained together according to the custom of Rúm, with twisted bull-hides.”* He alludes no doubt to the victory gained by Salím over Sháh Ism'áíl in 1514, in which this method had been found very effective. Bábar appears to have had no light pieces, for here also arrows were used in skirmishes.* Between every two gun-carriages were six or seven túbras,* or movable breast-works. The matchlock-men stood behind these guns and túbras, and discharged their matchlocks.*

Shortly after this, we begin to have frequent mention of the use of rockets. Indeed, there is much reason to suppose, that as in the west, so in the east, rockets preceded cannon: yet it is strange that they should now be regarded in Europe as the most recent inven­tion of artillery. Under the Emperor Leo the philosopher, who lived at the close of the ninth century, the soldiers of the lower empire used to carry within their shields light tubes (<greek>), which were filled with artificial fire, and rushed through the air with extreme velocity. These were made under Leo's own directions.*

In A.D. 1232, the Chinese defended themselves against the Tartars by the use of rockets.*

In modern Europe there are proofs of their use as early as A.D. 1380.* Bombshells also appear early in Europe. Stowe's Chronicle says that Peter von Collet, in the year 1543, “made certaine hollow shot of cast yron, to be stuffed with fire-werke,” etc.*

Yet we are informed by the best authorities,* that rockets were first used in warfare at the siege of Copenhagen in 1807. Even in the modern history of India, we cannot fail to be struck with the frequent mention of rockets. Every page of the native histo­rians abounds with notices of their use from Akbar to Sháh 'Álam.* The iron work of one has been found to weigh thirty pounds.*