The difference between the two is well illustrated by the methods of practising with them. In learning to work a gun the gunners fire at a vertical target just as those of you who practise shooting at a miniature range fire at a target of paper placed vertically against a wall. The target for howitzer practice, on the other hand, is a square marked out on the level ground, and the object of the gunners is to see how great a proportion of a given number of shots they can drop inside that square. Of course, being so much shorter the howitzers cannot throw a shell so far or at such a high velocity as the naval guns, but that can to a certain extent be compensated for by using a higher explosive for the propellant. That, however, involves greater stresses in the tube when firing takes place and also calls for stronger foundations in order that the aim may be steady. A great part, too, of the velocity of a naval shell is required for the penetration of the armour, whereas against forts or earthworks it is sufficient if the shell "gets there." Moreover, generally speaking, it is possible to get much nearer to a fortress or entrenched position for the purpose of attacking it than it is to an enemy ship on the sea. Except for the occasional help of a mist there is no "cover" to be obtained at sea, while on land the ground must be very flat indeed if there is no low hill or undulation behind which a gun can be set up unnoticed. The Austrians cherish a piece of steelwork from one of the forts of Antwerp which they smashed with a shell from one of their big howitzers at a range of seven miles. They evidently were able to get their big howitzers within that comparatively short distance of the Antwerp fortifications without being molested. [Illustration: A GERMAN AUTOMATIC PISTOL. The action is fully described on the illustration.] In this connection one often hears the word mortar used, and just a reference to that will be appropriate here. Many years ago short guns which threw their balls very high were in use, and because of their resemblance to the mortar which is used for pounding up things with the aid of a pestle these were termed mortars. Later a man named Howitzer introduced a type of gun which was something of a compromise between the long thin gun and the short stubby mortar. As time has gone on, however, the mortars have grown in length while the howitzers have shortened, until to-day the two names are used almost indiscriminately to denote the same thing. Hence the giant howitzers of the Austrians are often spoken of as the "Skoda" mortars, Skoda being the name of the factory where they were made.