Like Simon De
Montfort's It Had A Tender Name; It Was Called "The Bride." (Elliot, I.
120.)
Before quitting this subject, I will quote a curious passage from the
History of the Sung Dynasty, contributed to the work of Reinaud and Fave
by M. Stanislas Julien:
"In the 9th year of the period Hien-shun (A.D.
1273) the frontier cities had fallen into the hands of the enemy
(Tartars). The Pao (or engines for shooting) of the Bwei-Hwei
(Mahomedans) were imitated, but in imitating them very ingenious
improvements were introduced, and pao of a different and very superior
kind were constructed. Moreover, an extraordinary method was invented of
neutralising the effects of the enemy's pao. Ropes were made of
rice-straw 4 inches thick, and 34 feet in length. Twenty such ropes were
joined, applied to the tops of buildings, and covered with clay. In this
manner the fire-arrows, fire-pao, and even the pao casting stones of 100
Lbs. weight, could cause no damage to the towers or houses." (Ib. 196; also
for previous parts of this note, Visdelou, 188; Gaubil, 34, 155 seqq.
and 70; De Mailla, 329; Pauthier in loco and Introduction; D'Ohsson,
II. 35, and 391; Notes by Mr. Edward Thomas, F.R.S.; Q. Rashid., pp.
132, 136.) [See I. p. 342.]
[Captain Gill writes (River of Golden Sand, I. p. 148): "The word 'P'ao'
which now means 'cannon,' was, it was asserted, found in old Chinese books
of a date anterior to that in which gunpowder was first known to
Europeans; hence the deduction was drawn that the Chinese were acquainted
with gunpowder before it was used in the West.
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