023v - - - - - [continued]
Figure at left middle margin
powder. When the sausage is filled, dip it gently in two parts vinegar and one of spirits, to moisten the canvas but not the powder. Next, leave the aforesaid canvas to dry completely, and then you need to attach to the sausage a long string or cord twice as long as the sausage, but you must not tie it to the sausage but make it touch the two ends and sew it to the sausage in a few places in the middle. Next you need to smear all of the sausage with very good turpentine, and at one end, where you will want to join to the mortar’s fuse for firing, you can sew or tightly attach with a selvage of canvas as large as one empan which should also be well soaked in turpentine, and this selvage should be cut in the middle so that it can be fastened and wrapped around the mortar, and you must attach it so that the tip of the sausage that is open will be joined to the fuse of the mortar. Then you need to place a lot of tightly—packed powder onto the fuse of the mortar. And next, the person outside of the ditch should draw the small string and cord that is joined to the sausage so that it is extended mid—way, but not so much that it is detached. And if there is water in the ditch, it will be necessary to support the sausage with a fork. Then, having placed himself and others in safety, the person who holds the tip of the sausage will be able to fire.
Mortars that one wants to fix on doors or iron gates are sufficient if they weigh 40 or 50 lb. For the rest, for its charge, cannonball, and process, you need to do all just as was already said before concerning the one of 3 quintals. One man can carry it.
The cannonball needs to be be round on one side and flat on the other like a half of a cut cannonball. The cross also needs to stick to the ball — the latter melting if it is made with metal — and is enveloped in the middle of the cross.