was given originally by burning a small quantity of powder in an instrument constructed for the purpose, called a "flash-pan." It consisted of a stock and lock similar to a pocket pistol, but instead of the pan, which, in a pistol, contained the priming, was a hollow space, which was filled with powder ; this was set fire to by a spark, in the same way as the priming was fired in a flint lock. In the latter days of smuggling, however, when a greater amount of secrecy was required, another mode of signalling a boat away was adopted, and this was by striking sparks with the ordinary " flint and steel," such as were used by our grandfathers and grandmothers before the age of lucifer matches.
The sparks struck by a flint and steel would be easily seen in a dark night by the crew of a boat a little way out at sea, when looking in the right direction, but would not easily be perceived by any one else unless very close at hand. The flash from the flash pan, on the other hand, would be seen some distance on each side of the spot ; this mode was consequently abandoned when smuggling required more caution than it did in the time of the Custom-house officers.
In the latter days of smuggling, so keen was the watch kept by the Coast-guard, that the "look-out men " had to be very careful ere they allowed a cargo of goods to come ashore. The plan of the boat, coming in at the time agreed -
