Note 33 — A JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA IN 1497-99.
Ernest Georg Ravenstein translation
Bombardas, originally catapults, subsequently any piece of ordnance from which stone balls were thrown. In the north of Europe the term was restricted to mortars. Gama, however, carried breech-loading guns, with movable cameras or chambers. (See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 226, note and Introduction.)