There is a remarkable gun near the palace of the Nawab of Moorshedabad, which measures 17ft. 8in. in length, 5ft. in circumference at the smallest part near the muzzle, while it is only 6in. in the diameter of the bore, and the foresight is at least four or five inches above the muzzle. After the battle of Khallissie, which was fought about 25 miles from here, it is supposed to have been buried under a tree. The tree, having grown since then, has forced the gun above the ground about three feet, where it now remains, partly encircled by the roots and trunk. It has no name; the natives call it “the gun in the tree.” It is made of cast iron, and is evidently of Indian manufacture, having Hindostanee inscriptions engraved on it, but no date. ~Size and expense of cannon, 1688.~ Bishop Wilkins says, “These Gunpowder instruments are extremely expensive, as a whole cannon commonly weighs 8000lbs., requiring 90 men, or 16 horses, with a charge of 40lbs. of powder, and a ball weighing 64lbs”. ~Length and weight gradually reduced.~ The length and diameter of cannon became gradually much reduced, experience having determined how much they might be diminished in weight without injury to their safety, or to the effects they were intended to produce. ~Horse artillery by Frederick the Great.~ Frederick the Great of Prussia made some improvements with regard to the calibre of field guns, and to him may be given the credit of the introduction of Horse Artillery. ~Guns bored.~ Guns, at this period, were cast hollow by means of a core, which was kept suspended in the centre of the mould, while the metal was being run in. Owing, however, to the great difficulty experienced in keeping this core in a perfectly true position, several artillerists deliberated whether guns, cast hollow or solid, had the preference, and investigations took place as to the possibility of boring the latter, the result of which was, that Maritz, who had a foundry at Geneva, informed the Court of France, in 1739, that he had discovered a method of boring guns and mortars which had been cast solid. He was at once invited to France, where, first at Lyons, and afterwards at Strasbourg, he secretly worked at boring pieces of ordnance, which, on trial, proved perfectly satisfactory. ~Guns of ice.~ In the year 1740, a curious experiment in artillery was made at St. Petersburgh, where guns were cut out of solid ice, from which balls of the same substance were fired repeatedly, without bursting. ~Improvements.~ ~Axle-trees.~ ~High limbers.~ ~Reduction of windage.~