Note 48 — Chapter XVII
Reading edition
This is the manner in which West African savages usually fire, and it is dictated by motives of sound prudence, for the Birmingham muskets with which they are supplied by British traders are so unsafe (the barrel not uncommonly being made of old iron piping), and the charges of powder used are so immense, that the bursting of a piece is looked upon as an ordinary occurrence; and when firing they like to keep their muskets as far removed from their bodies as possible. The majority of the mutineers fired in this manner, because, having been less than three weeks in the regiment, they had not yet been drilled with arms.