Page:The Musnud of Murshidabad (1704 - 1904).djvu/215

 turned into ready money by Meer Kasem, to help the poor of the city and to send indigent Mahomedans to Mecca.

To the east of the Old Madina, stands on two masonry pedastals 5 feet high, a big gun, called the Bachavali tope, consisting of two pieces of different diameters. The smaller portion, which is the chamber, is 3 feet and 7 inches long, with a girth of 4 feet and inches; and the larger portion, namely the barrel, is 11 feet and 6 inches long, with a girth, at the muzzle, of 7 feet and 9 inches. The diameter of the at the muzzle is 1 foot and 7 inches. The touch hole has been plugged with melted iron. Eleven rings the wrought iron barrel, the inner surface of which bears ample evidence of the gun's great antiquity. The rim round the muzzle is ornamented with petals, while one of the rings resembles a string of beads. On the upper half of the barrel surface, near the muzzle, fourteen lines, seven on each side, are inlaid with brass. Eight smaller ring's are attached, at various points. The breach plug is driven until its chamfered end dovetails and fits tightly into the chamber of the barrel, which are tied together with the rings attached to each.

The gun was made between the twelvth and the Fourteenth centuries, probably by the Mahomedan