Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/367

 close of the XVIth century. Early in the XIXth century it was in the possession of the Duke of Alba, and at the sale of his collection in Madrid it was purchased together with a picture by Sir Samuel Meyrick. Sir Samuel described in detail this baton, showing the useful purpose which the table of numerals served; we quote from him:

The slender form of the early XVIIth century. Metropolitan Museum, New York

A pistol attached to the haft. Probably German, second half of the XVIth century. K 60, Musée d'Artillerie, Paris

"It is of steel, hollow, to contain the muster-roll of an army, and covered outside with Arabic numerals in gold with divisions of silver on a russet ground. These are the results of calculations according to the system of warfare in the XVIth century, by which, on being turned round, the general is apprised what number of men would occupy any given space, and vice versa. They are arranged in ten columns, covering one half of the cylinder, with the continuation on the other half. The heads of these are as follows: 1st, Numero de gente, commencing at 100 and increasing by fifties till 1,000, and then by hundreds to 16,000; 2nd, Tantos por hilera; 3rd, Tantas hileras;