certain pieces of ice of two feet thick and six feet high set up,
which rank of ice was as long as the stage of poles; and as soon as
the Emperor's Majesty came into the field, the arquebusiers went
upon the stage of poles, where they settled themselves in order.
And when the Emperor's Majesty was settled where he would be, and
where he might see all the ordnance discharged and shot off, the
arquebusiers began to shoot off at the bank of ice as though it had
been in any skirmish or battle, who ceased not shooting until they
had beaten all the ice flat on the ground.

After the hand-guns, they shot off their wild fire up into the air,
which was a goodly sight to behold. And after this they began to
discharge the small pieces of brass, beginning with the smallest,
and so orderly bigger and bigger, until the last and biggest. When
they had shot them all off, they began to charge them again, and so
shot them all off three times after the first order, beginning with
the smallest and ending with the greatest. And note that before
they had ended their shooting, the two houses that they shot unto
were beaten in pieces, and yet they were very strongly made of wood
and filled with earth, being at the least thirty feet thick. This
triumph being ended, the Emperor departed and rode home in the same
order that he came forth into the field. The ordnance is discharged
every year in the month of December, according to the order before
mentioned.

On Christmas Day we were all willed to dine with the Emperor's
Majesty, where for bread, meat, and drink we were served as at other
times before. But for goodly and rich plate we never saw the like
or so much before. There dined that day in the Emperor's presence
above 500 strangers and 200 Russians, and all they were served in