The evening times., 1899-04-08
AFRICAN IRON WORKS.
a Native Plant Unlike in, B~,onx-
ing to Carnegie.
From Cashiers Masian..4

tfIoh 'as-iirt dSslAHe.I
On nearing the village little 4relks of
smoke could be seen. and the 'tinkls, t.nale
OF hammers could be heard, accompanied
by humdrum song. On approaching,
every inhabitant seemed to be a b ack-
smith; children carrying charco,i; elder
children. men. and women, Blowing the
bellows. accompanying and timing the
stroke with measured chant and much ap-
parent banter: but, whether smelling iIol
or forging hoes or other simple agricu'tur-
al implements. fishinghooks, arrowheads.
or knives, the stock in trade was essen
TALLY the same.
The bellows looked like two large. rude
golf sticks. secured together. the stick
proper being about three inches in dame
ter, and the striking end about ten inches
in diameter by eight inches deep. A b, tier
comparison might be imagined II two banjo
heads were knocked TO one side one TO the
right and the other to the left of the fin
board, and strapped together. The
blast hole one inch in diameter ran up the
length OF the fingerb board, and the open
end of the banjo head had loose. soft pig
skin strapped around it to give il lift Of
six inches or thereabouts. there being a
centre knob to hold on by rude inlet
valve, consisting OF square frame and
soft leather facing was at the outsr RIM
and a like outlet valve at the bellows ends
of the finger board. Each stroke gave an
effective air flow of about 400 cubic inches
and each blower made from thirty to sixty
strokes per minute.
These bellows betokened probably the
improvements of some half-caste Portu-
guese, as other bellows have no valves
but blow into an enlarged funnel shaped
tuyere. drawing the air up and down the
tube alternately. These latter are most
and ipoficjant taf
says he never saw any other bellows than
the latter, and he Identifies them with the
bellows of the ancient Egyptians.
The fireplace was, in all cases, q simple
cavity. scooped out OF the ground and the
fuel was charred wood. The smoke, no.
ticed in approaching the village. came from
burning wood heaps. Knives and spear
or arrowheads were encased in clay cases.
containing charcoal and some substance-I
could not learn what-and baked in the
fire for number Of days. and then the
fire was allowed to gradually die out. Un-
questionably. therefore. the natives must
have had some knowledge of cementa-
ton process, or an approach to it. for the
improvement in the quality of their iron.
Final tempering was effected by INNER
sion in palm oil. Whether swelling or
forging. the furnace was the same viz,
hole scooped out Of the ground, charcoal
used as fuel. and a mixture of clay added
as fiux for smelling The heaviest
smeltings l saw in block were not more
than four or five pounds in weight but
much heavier ones were occasionally un-
dertaken. as the heavier anvils were ap-
parently smeltings run into molds. and
were afterward bedded into blocks of hard
wood. weighing about twenty-eight
pounds.
Malleable iron was derived from the cast
ings by repeated smeltings, and finally by
heating and reheating to a spongy mass and
working under the hammer l did not see
this process carried through, but it must
be slow, tedious one, as I saw no native
malleable iron Jumps of any appreciable
weight. l was surprised to find such a re-
semblance between the mechanism Of our
own fire tongs and those used By the iron.
workers in Cazengo. but one of The Roman
Catholic priests of Ambaca, whose ac-
quaintance made. assured me that they
were entirely Of native origin. In heavy
smeltings a number Of bellows surrounded
the fireplace, and led into Its own tuyere,
and every three bellows leading Into a CEN
trail tuyere. 20 .