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To: Gauguin who wrote (49796)	5/1/2000 12:12:00 PM
From: Crocodile	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

Glad you brought up the topic of the Pilgrims... I feel like adding a point or two here. When they came to North America, it can't have been too... civilized... developed... do you think? And yet, the way they seem to be dressed... Well, it's wussy! Nobody would last a day out in the bush or plowing fields in that kind of get up... With those squarish-toed shoes with clunky heels... and a big foppy hat with a belt and buckle on it... and kneesocks and knickers... I'm telling you...one day out in the fields and those kneesocks would be all ripped to hell and full of burrs... The felt hat would be sweat-soaked and soggy... and would probably have been tossed off into the dirt by the person who got tired of trying to work while wearing it... And those clunky big high-heels... Well, they would have been lopped off with an axe within the first hour behind a walking plow... I dunno... I don't buy it... Or else maybe they were just nuts... :-]

To: Gauguin who wrote (49796)	5/1/2000 5:21:00 PM
From: haqihana	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71178

Gauguin, Those guns were called "blunderbusses". Sounds appropriate, doesn't it? They were the forerunner of the present day shotgun but, not nearly as accurate. I read somewhere, that they sprayed numerous pellets in a pattern, which quite often killed, or at least wounded, game enough for it to be caught and finished off. I think the pilgrims soon found out that the arrow from an Indian's bow was much more accurate and effective. As for the belts on the hats, you're on your own. Maybe the Puritanical brain was so inflated that it needed to be belted in place to prevent exploding. I don't know, they just look silly to me. ~H~

To: Gauguin who wrote (49796)	5/4/2000 3:49:00 PM
From: nihil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

You really need expert advice. The same principle applies to the blunderbuss and the pilgrim's hat. The bell shape of the muzzle of the blunderbuss has nothing to do with shot pattern. Any one can see that the muzzle is for pouring shot in, rather than shaping the shot pattern coming out. The blunderbuss had what the scatter gun people call "an open choke" which didn't knock the outer shot back into the center of the pattern like a tight "full choke" would do. The belt around the pilgrim's hat was to keep the hat from slipping down over the pilgrim's eyes which would actually be quite dangerous since they were armed mit blunderbusen. Everymorning before they went hunting turkeys (which actually, it seems, are late model dinosaurs (I'm not making this up!)), Mrs. Pilgrim would put her husband's hat (they only came in one size -- "too big" on his head and tie a belt around the crown, and pull it very tight until his eyes bugged out enough to correct the myopia induced by too much bible study.) Mr. Pigrim would pour a shot-glass full of black powder (that's where "shot-glass" came from) down the blunderbuss muzzle, and then a shot glass of shot (or black-eyed peas) down the muzzle, and then (holding the gun pointing up) go a-hunting.