die; this is let down, and the bars are adjusted to those of its mate, and then we have a mould for this particular plate. In this way any required curve can be given with a single pair of dies by adjusting the bars in the proper position. The plate, which has been for two hours in the furnace, has become thoroughly heated to a cherry red, in which state it is apparently almost as ductile as lead, and is ready for bending. A sort of three-fingered iron hand has been resting under it. A crane mounted on a truck moving upon rails is wheeled up, the chain attached to the hand, the plate withdrawn from the furnace, wheeled to the press, and swung between the dies. The upper one, which has been raised a yard or so, is let go, and comes down with a rush, and the softened plate is bent nearly to the form of the dies at once. There are also a set of screws along the sides for tightening the dies where necessary. The foreman glances along the plate, and if any part has not come down the screws at the place are tightened by means of a wrench turned by two stalwart men; the perspiration, forced out by the heat from the glowing plate and their own exertions, streams from every pore; but slowly and surely the screws are tightened, and the plate is brought exactly to the required sweep. The whole operation of bending, after the plate has once been put in the press, hardly occupies five minutes. It is then swung out by the crane, and deposited upon a truck to be wheeled away and suffered to cool. Our plate is now finished, and will fit to its required place on the ship's side as closely as a coat made by the most accomplished master of the sartorial art. We will now follow our plate to the Navyyard, in Brooklyn, where it is to be fitted to our ship, the Roanoke, which lies in the dry dock, waiting for us. On the way, however, we stop at the "Continental Works," to observe the process of building the new Monitors, for so we must designate them until they have received their appropriate names. There are three of them in different stages of construction; so that we can take in at a glance the different processes of constructing the hulls of an iron vessel. In our Magazine for April of the present year we described minutely the processes of building a wooden ship. All the preliminaries are the same for an iron vessel. The model, plans, and working drawings are made in precisely the same manner. But they are to be wrought out in iron instead of wood, which requires a great deviation in details. In place of large oaken "knees" and "futtocks," we have slender-looking "ribs" of iron; instead of thick planks for the "skin," we have iron plates of less than an inch in thickness. If we conceive an Indian canoe enlarged to the size of a man-of-war, we shall have an almost perfectly accurate idea of the hull of an iron vessel, as we see it in process of construction, bearing in mind only that the birch-bark sides and slender ashen supports are replaced by iron plates and ribs. These plates and ribs are riveted together in the most elaborate manner, and this constitutes the chief apparent work of building an iron hull. Plates and ribs have been bent each to its exact shape, and the countless holes have been punched, every one being to a hair's-breadth in its appropriate place, before the pieces are brought to the stocks where they are to be built up. Upon each vessel are a hundred or two of workmen, seeming to cling like bees to its sides. Little portable furnaces at short intervals are heating the rivets, which boys are carrying around to the places where they are wanted. The riveter takes one of these, red-hot, and thrusts it through the hole; another workman, on the other side, holds a heavy iron bar against the end; the first workman, or, more likely, two of them-for the work must be done while the rivet is hot-hammers it home. A head is thus formed upon each side, and the rivet contracting in cooling binds the plates together, making a water-tight and air-tight joint. They have to work in almost every conceivable position; hammering upward, downward, and sideways. Sometimes we sec them flat upon their backs, like miners in narrow It is scams of coal veins, striking upward. So plate | anoke armor, as we have seen, is of solid plates; by plate the hull is built up, from keel to deck. As we look upon her the first impression is one of extreme fragility. If we cut an egg-shell lengthwise through the centre, one half of it would present an appearance not unlike, in shape and the comparative thickness of structure, our iron hull, which is to float the defensive armor and aggressive turret of our new Monitor. In fact if it were to be exposed to a cannon-ball, it would be pierced as easily as an egg-shell would be by a pistol-bullet. But it is to be exposed to no such hazard. It is to be protected by a shield which, in a general way, we may consider impregnable. Whether any thickness of armor can be absolutely impregnable may be a matter of doubt. There is an old paradox of the schoolmen which runs in this form: "We can conceive of an irresistible force and also of an immovable body. Now suppose this irresistible force meets that immovable body what will be the result?" The answer is, that the irresistible force will be resisted, and the immovable body will be moved. A question not unlike this is presented to artillerists and naval constructors of our day: "Can a gun be constructed which will send a ball through any armor that can be made? and can an armor be constructed which will resist a ball from any possible gun?" Theoretically, we must answer both of these questions in the affirmative, and so give the paradox: "We can make armor which will resist any shot, and can make guns that will penetrate any armor." Practically-the vaunted English experiments of Sir William Armstrong to the contrary notwithstanding-we think the advantage lies on the side of the armor. We believe that our new Monitors will be, for all practical purposes, impregnable. We think the chances are a hundred to one that the turrets which we have described would not be injured by any gun yet constructed; and that if additional strength should be required to repel an additional projectile force, that the thickness of armor can be increased more easily than the projectile force. Theoretically, there is no limit to either. Practically, there is a limit to both; and this, we think, will be reached in the case of the cannon sooner than in that of the armor. that of the new Monitors is to be of a series of The pro We note in leaving the "Continental" that they are "putting up" the turrets. cess is the same as that which we saw at the "Novelty," with the exception that the plates are bent heated instead of cold; and so the powerful hydraulic press is dispensed with. A plate, after being brought to a red heat, is brought to a mould of the required curvature. One edge is fixed under a stationary clamp; a movable clamp is screwed down upon the other edge, and thus the plate is bent to the shape of the mould, the operation being aided by hammering down the plates with heavy wooden beetles. The result is the same in both cases: the plates take the required form. Which mode is better is purely a question of economy and time. In the one case the work is done by costly machinery, without heating and by few men; in the other, by simple and inexpensive machinery, but with a larger force of workmen. The description of the armament of these vessels-that is, of their offensive power-does not come properly within the scope of this paper. Let us now look at the means which were taken to render the hulls of our new Monitors impregnable. The thin shells which we have seen building are to be placed beyond the reach of the shot of the enemy, which would pierce them as if they were parchment. About five feet from the top of our hull an iron shelf, strong-We merely say in passing that the revolving turly braced, projects about four feet from the side. The width of this shelf is filled up first to the thickness of more than three feet with blocks of solid oak, all around the vessel. Outside of this solid mass of wood, braced with iron, are bolted the armor plates. It is yet a moot question whether a given thickness of iron possesses more resisting power if composed of one solid plate or of a series of thinner plates. Our Ro ret of Mr. Ericsson-one of the two most striking features of the Monitor-is designed simply as a means of always keeping an enemy before her guns; as they command the whole range of the horizon, no manoeuvring can elude them. They can be pointed in an instant in any direction. The two guns are thus rendered equal in effective force to at least eight mounted on stationary carriages. of inclination to two of height-is a vastly stronger pro- stern. Its lower slope is plated with iron 3 inches thick to a depth of four feet below the fighting line. From the outer corner of this side protection the shot-proof casement or main armor proceeds, upward and inward, at an angle of one vertical to two horizontal, to a height of 28 feet from the bottom of the ship, and 54 feet from the fighting line, where it is covered by a flat shot-proof deck. The main armor extends only over the engine's boilers, blowing and pumping machinery, that is 107 feet forward and 74 feet aft the centre. Its ends slope upward and inward at a similar angle, from the 21 feet deck, which is shot-proof, and which extends forward and aft the armor to the extreme bow and stern. The inclined armor, or casemate, is composed of 6 inches of iron plates, backed by 14 inches of locust timber, in which are imbedded six-inch wrought-collision; 3d, Increasing the immersed beam, and the iron girders two feet apart. The whole is lined with halfinch plate iron. It is supported by the engine frames, by heavy braces, and girders between the boilers, and by the frames and sides of the ship. The horizontal shot-proof decks are composed of 14 inches of iron plates, resting on 6-inch wrought-iron girders, filled in with locust timber and backed with half-inch iron plate THE ARMAMENT. consequent stability of the ship when fighting; and, lastly, adding in a very great degree to the horizontal and vertical strength and stiffness of the vessel. Third. The immense power of the engines and the fine lines guarantee a much higher speed than has been attained by any sea-going war or commercial steamer. This vessel will have the entire horse-power of the Great Eastern with about one-third of her resistance, or twice the horse-power of any war-vessel. The sharpness of her lines is unprecedented in any government practice, and in any except the latest and most successful commercial This consists of five 15-inch guns, weighing 25 tons each and capable of throwing round shot of 425 pounds in weight, and two 10-inch rifled guns. The guns rest on wrought-practice. iron shot-proof carriages, of which the recoil is taken up by India-rubber springs, the carriages are situated on top of the casemates, and are trained by steam-power by means of a shaft passing through the gun-deck to within the caseEach gun is loaded with celerity by being pointed to a hole in the deck protected by a shot-proof hood, below which is a steam-cylinder of which the piston-rod is the ramrod of the gun. All the machinery and men for work ing the guns are thus within the shot-proof armor. The guns are protected by a covering of wrought-iron armor in addition to their own immense thickness-sixteen and a half inches maximum-outside the bore. mate. THE UPPER WORKS, ETC. Fourth. The ability of the vessel to turn rapidly round on her own centre, without making headway, by means of two screws, instead of occupying the time and making the circuit required by all other war-vessels, will give her remarkable and important facilities for manoeuvring when in action. In connection with her great speed, it will enable her to overhaul one after another of the enemy's fleet within a very short time, to run close alongside an enemy, to present herself for action in the most effective position, to bring her broadside to bear in any direction, to turn round in narrow channels, and, when necessary, to retreat in any direction with facility. of Fifth. The employment of two entirely distinct means propulsion-the two screws and their respective sets of engines-will enable her to be steered in case of accident to the rudder, and will afford just double the ordinary amount of security against breakage of machinery in fighting or cruising. Sixth. The employment of barbette guns, or on the top of the casemate instead of within it, gives all of the entire range of the horizon. Three guns can be fired at a time in line with the keel, forward or aft. By setting the guns-by a graduated index-plate within the casemate-gr that they shall point at the proper relative angles, and then placing the vessel, either by turning her on her centre or by going ahead or astern, so that one gun bears upon the object to be hit, the fire of all the guns may be instantly concentrated upon that object without losing time in training each gun. The twenty-one feet shot-proof deck, fore and aft the central armor or casemate, affords ample accommodation for men and officers. Above this deck, and flush with the twenty-eight feet gun-deck which forms the top of the casemate, is a light deck, extending at the sides of the casemate, and forward and aft from stem to stern. The entire twenty-eight feet, or gun-deck, is thus level (excepting the usual camber), and unincumbered over the whole vessel. Only the part of it that forms the top of the casemate is shot-proof. Above the twenty-eight feet deck are flying bulwarks to be turned down in time of action. The height of the bulwarks from the water at the load line will be thirteen and one half feet. The fourteen feet deck affords ample space for stores, etc., and for the salt-water tanks for settling the vessel to the fighting line. Below the fourteen feet deck, forward of the boilers, are the blowers and pumping-engines and coal-bunkers. Abaft the engines are coal-bunkers also. Capacity for coal, 1000 tons. The fresh-water for consumption on board will be condensed from the exhaust steam; besides which there will be fresh-water tanks. The vessel will be light-weight of lighter projectiles. In close quarters-a position ed with gas made on board. The ventilation of the officers' and men's quarters will be superior to that of ordinary vessels, as they will be entirely above water. In cruising and in action the entire vessel will be ventilated by the blowers. As the guns are in the open air, and the ship's company separated from them during action by a casemate, the deleterious effects of smoke and sound will be avoided. The ventilation by blowers, the freeing of the vessel from water in the manner proposed, and other operations new to the naval practice of the Government, have been successfully employed by Mr. Stevens for many years. The vessel will have two light masts for emergencies, but will not ordinarily carry sail. FIGHTING QUALITIES. First. Iron armor 64 inches thick, backed with 14 inches of the most impenetrable wood, and standing at the acute angle of one in two to the line of fire-that is, one degree Seventh. The use of the heaviest successful ordnance known not only makes the gun its own armor, but affords the following advantages in fighting the ship: The smashing effect of a single heavy projectile upon a single point on the enemy's sides is vastly greater than that of an equal the vessel is by her speed and manageableness able to assume at option--the velocity of a projectile, that is, its effect, would in like proportion be increased without bringing a greater strain upon the gun. It is believed that a 15-inch gun may carry an elongated projectile of half a ton weight. The smashing effect of such a missile would not only be greater than that of a lighter missile, but more destructive at a low than at a high velocity, according to the representation of military engineers. As there is no casemate over the guns the enemy can not pour shot, and shell into port-holes at close quarters; for the same reason the guns will not be limited to the few degrees of range permitted by the ports, but can sweep the horizon. The cost and weight of the casemates over the guns are dispensed with, and the seven guns thus arranged will be as formidable as a whole broadside arranged in the ordinary way; and with these remarks closes the description of this battery. OME years ago, Mr. George D. Brewerton, | revived. When this is carried into effect, the a Meanwhile, an account of a portion of his journey across the very different class of experiences. as a record worthy of preservation, we present As Independence is the eastern, so may the Mora be considered the western prairie port of the great Santa Fé trail. It is here that the returning caravans make their final preparations for the trip, and catch their last glimpse of even Mexican civilization. The Mora is therefore, during the season of travel, a halting-place of no little importance, and presents at times, when visited by the busy traders, quite a lively appearance; indeed during the summer of 1848 there was scarcely a day which did not witness the arrival or departure from this camping-ground of a fleet of those prairie ships, the unwieldy Santa Fé wagons. I have stated in my "Incidents of Travel in New Mexico," of which this article is a continuation, that I had determined to accompany one of the numerous parties then leaving for "the States." This caravan-for it may well be called so-was a large one, consisting of three trains, numbering upward of one hundred wagons in all. By thus uniting our people obtained a more per fect assurance of journeying unmolested through | barriers, the Rocky Mountains, tower aloft like the hostile Indian range than if we had pursued the gigantic coast of an inland sea; where majesour course in smaller numbers; for the Arabs tic steeps, many of them snow-capped or robed of the plains-as the Comanches may not im- in clouds, seem saying to the grassy waves which properly be styled-seldom lack caution. skirt their pine-clad bases, "So far shalt thou come, and at our feet shall thy green expanse be stayed"-it is here, I repeat, that the voyageur feels most fully that he is gazing upon an unfamiliar land, for the realization of which no previous experiences of travel could have prepared him. Our party was made up of one hundred teamsters, nearly all of whom were young Missourians. These, with sundry traders, travelers, and Mexican herdsmen (whose duty it was to keep watch and ward over an unruly drove of about five hundred loose cattle which were to follow in our wake to the frontiers), made up a force of one hundred and thirty men, the majority of whom were sturdy, athletic fellows, well armed with rifles, and though wanting discipline, very fair material for a "free fight" with a barricade of wagons between themselves and their enemies. As it was at the Mora that I received my first impressions of the Great Prairies, it may not be improper, before entering upon a narration of our adventures while in the "Buffalo Country," to attempt a description of the peculiarities of this region which I was so soon to journey through. Mere words are inadequate to picture forth the vast plains which are emphatically the "Great Prairies of the Far West." I am disposed to believe that the traveler feels this more fully in approaching them, as I did, from the westward than in the easier transition which is experienced in journeying toward them from the alternate hills and dales of the Missourian frontier, where the eye having no standard for comparison becomes familiarized to their peculiar formation, from the almost insensible change in the nature of the ground. But here where their western Clothed in the verdant livery of spring, or decked in the more luxuriant robes of early summer, they present the appearance of a sea of grass and flowers, save where some stream, fed by the mountain snows, stretches across the landscape, marked by the trees which fringe its banks and rear their wall of foliage above the otherwise almost unbroken level. Nor does a comparison between the prairies and the ocean cease with the great extent of surface presented to the eye: motion seems added to increase the delusion; each passing breeze, as it sweeps over the long grasses, gives an undulation to its ridges which is enhanced and heightened by the rapid succes sion of light and gloom derived from the shadows of flying clouds. "The clouds Sweep over with their shadows, and beneath Nor are these mighty wilds solitary or untenanted. The buffalo feed over them by thousands; the timid deer or graceful antelope meet the eye at every turn; and the Indian makes |