Note 277 — Chapter VI · THE HINDUS
Reading edition
Elliot, v. 131-2. Babar’s ironical description of the Bengalis as gunners is taken quite seriously by some writers: “The Bengalis are famous for their skill in Artillery.... They do not direct their fire against a particular point, but discharge at random,” Elliot, iv. 285. Such a procedure is not altogether unknown in Europe. When shooting, Mr. Tracy Tupman was wont to shut his eyes firmly and fire in the air.
Were these gunners friendly Bengalis employed by Babar, or hostile Bengalis working their own guns? If the latter, their guns were probably made by Portuguese deserters. We know that two artisans deserted in 1503 to the Zamorin of Calicut, for whom they offered to make guns of the same nature as the Portuguese, “which they afterwards did.” Castenheda in Kerr’s “Collection of Voyages,” ii. 454, quoted in Elliot, vi. 467.