owder 1
Powder for the mortar 2-1/2

_Aigrettes._

Mortars to throw aigrettes are generally made of pasteboard, of the
same thickness as balloon mortars, and two diameters and a half long
in the inside from the top of the foot: the foot must be made of elm
without a chamber, but flat at top, and in the same proportions as
those for balloon mortars; these mortars must also be bound round with
a cord: sometimes eight or nine of these mortars, of about three or
four inches diameter, are bound all together, so as to appear but one;
but when they are made for this purpose, the bottom of the foot must
be of the same diameter as the mortars, and only half a diameter high.
The mortars being bound well together, fix them on a heavy solid block
of wood. To load these mortars, first put on the inside bottom of each
a piece of paper, and on it spread one ounce and a half of meal and
corn-powder mixed; then tie the serpents up in parcels with
quick-match, and put them in the mortar with their mouths downwards;
but take care the parcels do not fit too tight in the mortars, and
that all the serpents have been well primed with powder wetted with
spirit of wine. On the top of the serpents in each mortar lay some
paper or tow; then carry a leader from one mortar to the other all
round, and then from all the outside mortars into that in the middle:
these leaders must be put between the cases and the sides of the
mortar, down to the powder at bottom: in the centre of the middle
mortar fix a fire-pump, or brilliant fountain, which must be open at
bottom, and long enough to project out of the mouth of the mortar;
then paste papers on the tops of all the mortars.

Mortars thus prepared are called a _nest of serpents_. When these
mortars are to be fired, light the fire-pump, which when consumed will
communicate to all the mortars at once by means of the leaders. For
mortars of 8, 9, or 10 inches diameter, the serpents should be made in
one and two-ounce cases, six or seven inches long, and fired by a
leader brought out of the mouth of the mortar, and turned down on the
outside, and the end of it covered with paper, to prevent the sparks
of the other works from setting it on fire. For a six-inch mortar, let
the quantity of powder for firing be two ounces; for an eight-inch,
two ounces and three-quarters; and for a ten-inch, three ounces and
three-quarters. Care must be taken in these, as well as small mortars,
not to