The Chinese record
given in detail by Pauthier is to the like effect, except as to the Kaan's
narrow escape, of which it says nothing.
As regards the Fire-Pao (the latter word seems to have been applied to
military machines formerly, and now to artillery), I must refer to Fave
and Reinaud's very curious and interesting treatise on the Greek fire (du
Feu Gregeois). They do not seem to assent to the view that the arms of
this description which are mentioned in the Mongol wars were cannon, but
rather of the nature of rockets.
[Dr. G. Schlegel (T'oung Pao, No. 1, 1902), in a paper entitled, On the
Invention and Use of Fire-Arms and Gunpowder in China, prior to the
Arrival of Europeans, says that "now, notwithstanding all what has been
alleged by different European authors against the use of gunpowder and
fire-arms in China, I maintain that not only the Mongols in 1293 had
cannon, but that they were already acquainted with them in 1232." Among
his many examples, we quote the following from the Books of the Ming
Dynasty: "What were anciently called P'ao were all machines for hurling
stones. In the beginning of the Mongol Dynasty (A.D. 1260), p'ao
(catapults) of the Western regions were procured. In the siege [in 1233]
of the city of Ts'ai chow of the Kin (Tatars), fire was for the first
time employed (in these p'ao), but the art of making them was not handed
down, and they were afterwards seldom used." - H. C.]
CHAPTER V.
