296
Old Calabar. Niger Coast Protectorate. Sir Ralph concurred with Mr Read's division of the cannon. By letter of 8 September 1899 Mr Read informed Sir Ralph that three of the cannon had gone to the Tower. The Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities possesses an acknowledgement from the ordnance office of the Tower of London to the Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum, dated 17 July 1899, that three guns from Benin City had been received.
NOTES
(1) Upon which cf. Robert D. Smith's "A 16th century Portuguese bronze breech-loading swivel gun," Militaria. Revista de Cultura Militar N.o 7, Madrid, 1995, pp.197-205 and my "A 16th century Portuguese swivel gun in the British Museum," Lisbon, 1995, where I identified what the writing on this piece means.
(2) Upon these cf. Howard L. Blackmore, The Armouries of the Tower of London. I. Ordnance, London, 1976, pp. 154, 170 and 171 (entries Nos 204, 238 and 239)
(3) cf. page 154; No.204 of Howard L. Blackmore's catalogue (XIX.114 in the Royal Armouries). Mr. Blackmore states that it is an iron gun 3 feet 3 inches long. He portrays it in the catalogue and believes it was made in China in the 18th or early 19th century. He notes: "An inscription in Chinese characters engraved by the trunnions refers to the weight of the gun and probably gives the names of the officials who supervised its manufacture; it is, however, too worn for accurate translation.” Often judgements of what can be read in old inscriptions are too hastily made. I do not know if that would be the case here. How this piece arrived in Benin City, and when, is presently anybody's guess.
(4) A verb in the past tense, some four letters of which I cannot read, appears to be written here.