+-----------------+------------+------------+------------+ | | _Whole | _Half | _Quarter | | | Barrels._ | Barrels._ | Barrels._ | | +------------+------------+------------+ | |_Ft._ _In._|_Ft._ _In._|_Ft._ _In._| +-----------------+------------+------------+------------+ |Depth | 1 9.61 | 1 5.13 | 1 2.25 | |Diameter at top | 1 3.61 | 1 0.37 | 9.35 | |Diameter at bulge| 1 5.36 | 1 2. | 10.71 | |Diameter at bot’m| 1 3.51 | 1 0.31 | 9.41 | +-----------------+------------+------------+------------+ The whole barrels are made to contain 100 pounds, and the half barrels 50 pounds of powder; but of late only 90 pounds have been put into the barrels, and 45 into the half barrels; which, by leaving the powder room to be shifted, preserves it the better. _Budge_ BARRELS, hold from 40 to 60 pounds of powder; at one end is fixed a leather bag with brass nails: they are used in actual service on the batteries, to keep the powder from firing by accident, for loading the guns and mortars. _Budge-Barrels_ contain 38 lbs. Weight of barrel--copper hooped--10 lbs. Weight of barrel--hazle hooped--6lbs. Length of barrel--hazle hooped--10¹⁄₂ inches. Diameter of barrel--hazle hooped--1 foot 1 inch. BARRICADE. To barricade is to fortify with trees, or branches of trees, cut down for that purpose, the brushy ends towards the enemy. Carts, waggons, &c. are sometimes made use of for the same purpose, viz. to keep back both horse and foot for some time. ABATIS. BARRIER, in a general sense means any fortification, or strong place on the frontiers of a country. It is likewise a kind of fence composed of stakes, and transums, as overthwart rafters, erected to defend the entrance of a passage, retrenchment, or the like. In the middle of the barrier is a moveable bar of wood, which is opened and shut at pleasure. It also implies a gate made of wooden bars, about 5 feet long, perpendicular to the horizon, and kept together by two long bars going across, and another crossing diagonally: Barriers are used to stop the cut made through the esplanade before the gate of a town. BARRIER-_Towns_, in military history, were Menin, Dendermond, Ypres, Tournay, Mons, Namur, and Maestricht. These towns were formerly garrisoned half by French or Imperial, and half by Dutch troops. BARM, _or_ BERM. See BERM. BASCULE, _Fr._ a counterpoise which serves to lift up the draw bridge of a town. Likewise a term used in fortification to express a door that shuts and opens like a trap door. BASE, _or_ BASIS, in fortification, the exterior part or side of a polygon, or that imaginary line which is drawn from the flanked angle of a bastion to the angle opposite to it.