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175 9 . A R T I L L E R Y I N M A C A U CHAPTER 10 Earliest Arms The term “small arms” covers all weapons of individual soldiers, but it is often applied to hand firearms only and that is how it is used here. As described in the previous chapter “hand cannon” originated in China and spread to Europe. Hand cannon were fairly crude weapons with a pole-like stock that was either rested on top of the shoulder or tucked under the arm. One hand steadied the gun and the other hand was used to apply a light to some powder in the pan or touchhole. Obviously they were difficult to aim accurately. The light was usually a burning match (the match was a length of cord impregnated with saltpetre solution so that it smouldered without going out) and the use of live fire made them potentially dangerous to the user. The projectiles adopted were those used in crossbows — arrows and lead balls. Although arrow type projectiles are shown in some early illustrations, it was the lead bullet, in the form of a spherical ball, that soon became the norm and they were used until the twentieth century. A major improvement was a mechanism that held the match in a clamp and by squeezing a lever or pulling a trigger applied it to a priming charge. The mechanism was called the matchlock and it enabled the firer to aim with both hands and hence take proper aim. The first matchlocks were of a very simple form comprising an S-shaped lever pivoted to the stock. One end held the match and a spring kept it out of the pan. Pressure on the other end forced it down for firing. This was soon improved and the snap matchlock became normal. This had a spring that pressed the cock into the priming pan. It was held back by a catch that on firing was released by pressing a button, or later by pulling a trigger. The addition of the lock provided the basic firearm that we know today comprising “lock, stock and barrel”. The developments that took place over the next five hundred years were merely improvements to these elements so that a handgun progressed from an inaccurate, cumbersome arm into the sleek, efficient weapon of today. PORTUGUESE SMALL ARMS T H E D E F E N C E S O F M A C A U 176 Early Portuguese Firearms When the Portuguese first rounded the Cape of Good Hope they did not have matchlocks. Correa, in describing the voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1502, notes that he had with him “many cross-bow men, — for at that time there were not yet any firelocks”.1 However in 1524, when Vasco da Gama arrived in Goa, he had matchlock men. Firearms were not unknown there and after the city had been pacified the armouries were expanded to produce large numbers of guns to Portuguese designs. The Portuguese introduced the matchlock to other places in the Far East. It is from eastern examples, particularly the Japanese ones, that we can deduce the form of matchlock that they brought. Based on this evidence they were of the snap matchlock form with a forward-falling cock. The Portuguese are known to have bought matchlock guns from Bohemia, and Daehnhardt argues that this form originated from there.2 They introduced firearms to Japan where they were copied. Indeed the new firearms revolutionised Japanese warfare and helped to unify the country under one lord. Japan remained isolated from the outside world after 1639 and they never changed the basic design, continuing to use matchlocks into the nineteenth century. The early matchlocks were large guns that were quite cumbersome, but gradually smaller sizes were made. The names of them varied with time; at first they were all called arquebuses (in Portuguese, arcabuzes) and it was not until the middle of the sixteenth century that names appeared to distinguish the different sizes. The later names included the terms “musket” and “bastard musket” as well as arquebus. Arquebus was then the smallest of the three, the musket being quite large and often used with a forked rest to help support the weight of the barrel. The size gradually reduced and the term “musket” was adopted for the normal military long arm. (The Portuguese term for a musket is espingarda and this is also used for later military arms that are called...

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