298 Natural Magic k. Voo^ 12.

this into a-hollow cane, and fill it full of gunpowder: or take one part refined salt-peter , brimstone half as much, andlec it boyl in anew earthen pot, withoyloflinseed : put in your Match, and wet them well all over with that liquor , take themaway and dry them in the Sut But if you will make

ii .

, l JhUnes under the Water,

use this rare invention: You shall make your Mines wheretlpe enemies Galleys orShips come to ride ; you snail upon a plain place fit many beams, or pieces of tim-ber, fastned cross-wise, and thrust through, or like nets ; according to the quantityin the divisions, you shall make fit circles of wood, and fallen them,and fill them withgunpowder ;the beams mull be made hollow, and be filled with match and powder,that you may set fire to the round circles: with great diligence and cunning, smecrover the circles and the beams with pitch, and cover them well with it, that thewater may not enter, and the powder take wet (for so your labour will be lost) andyou must leave a place to put fire in; then sink your engine with weights to the bot-tom of the water , and cover it with stones, mud and weeds , a little before theenemy come. Let a Scout keep watch, that when their Ships or Galleys rideover the place, that the inare is laid ; for fire being put to it, the sea will part, andbe cast up into the air, and drown d the Ships, or will tear them in a thousand pieces,that there is nothing more wonderful to be seen or done. I have tried this in wa-ters and ponds, and it performed more then 1 imagined it would.

Chap. IX.

What things are goad ts extinguish the fire*

I Have spoken of kindling fires, but now I shall shew how to quench them - and bythe way, what things obnoxious to the fire, will endure it and remain. But firstI will relate what our Ancestours have left concerning this business. Fitmvim faith.That the Larch-tree-wood will not burn, or kindle by it self, but like a stone in thefurnace, will make no coles, but burn very slowly. He faith the reason is, Thatthere is in it very little air or fire , but much water and earth, and that it is verysolid, and hath no pores that the fire can enter at. He relates how this is known.When Cafar commanded the Citizens about the Alps , to bring him in provision,those that were secure in a Castle of wood, refused to obey his commands: Cafarbade make bundles of wood, and to light torches, and lay these to the Castle : whenthe matter tockfire, the flame flew exceeding high, and he supposed the Castlewould have fallen down ; but when all was burnt , the Castle was not touched*Whence Pliny writes, The Larch-tree will neither burn to coles,nori? otherwise con-firmed by fire, then stones are. But this is most false: For feeing it is rosiny andoyly, it presently takes fire and bums ; and being one fired,is hard to put out. Where-fore I admire , that this error should spread so far, and that ihe TownLarignum, socalled from the abundance of Larch-wood, compassed about with fire, should sufferno hurt. Moreover. I read that liquid Alom, as the Ancients report, will standoutagainst site: For wood fmeered with Alom, and Verdigrease, whether they be postsor beam«, so they have a crust made about them , will cot burn with fire. Arehe -the General , for Mtthridates made trial of it in a wooden Tower against Sylia,which he attempted in vain to set on fire : which I find observed by Quadrigarttu ,in his Annals. But this liquid Alom is yet unknown to many learned men: ourAlum wants this property. But many fay, that vinegar prevails against fire. Plu-tarch faith,T hat nothing will sooner quench fire then vinegartfor of all things, it mostputs our the flame, by its exircamity of cold. ‘Teliamu reports, rlthenales, when hewa besieged by his enemies, poured out of brazen vessels, melted lead upon theengines, that were set to scale the place,and by this were the engines dissolved ; butthe enemies poured vinegar upon it, and by that they. quenched the lead, andallthings else that fell from the walls s and so they found vinegar to be the fittest toquench fire , and an excellent experiment, if things be wet with it. prayr