102 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be done in an open fire. Pots of this kind are, however, not much 

 used in Damaraland, iron pots of European manufacture being pre- 

 ferred. Other vessels than cooking-vessels being made of wood, the 

 potter's industry of the country is in a course of rapid extinction. 



Iron and copper were the only metals known to the natives before 

 the arrival of the Europeans, and they were both called in the Herero 

 language by the same name. The civilized Hereros now use foreign 

 words for copper, silver, and gold, while lead has received its name 

 from the bullets into which it is cast. The pastoral tribes of the He- 

 reros and Ovambandierus have but few smiths of their own, but are 

 served by itinerant smiths from other tribes, who wander around, 

 working in small companies, among the chiefs, till they have earned 

 enough cattle to justify them in returning to their homes. Sometimes 

 they are political refuge.es who have excited the anger or jealousy of 

 their chiefs in Ovamboland, and are compelled to turn their backs 

 upon their homes till a change of dynasty takes place. These Ovam- 

 bo smiths brought iron from their native country, where the art of ex- 

 tracting that metal and copper from the ores is understood, and rich 

 ores are found. Iron could formei'ly be got in Ovamboland only at 

 the cost of great labor, and the smith then had to carry his store on 

 his back some fifteen or twenty days' journey. The metal, there- 

 fore, commanded a very high price. As late as about 1840, a simple 

 bracelet of iron wire was an adeqiiate guest's present, and a large fat 

 wether could easily be bought with a span of the old hoop-iron with 

 which trunks were bound. The natives were greatly astonished at 

 seeing the costly metal wasted by the Europeans in boot-nails. Iron 

 had thus the value of a precious metal, and, rusting and changing but 

 little in the dry climate, was worn in ornaments by the Hereros, while 

 other tribes preferred copper and brass. The native smiths now use 

 European iron, and seek out good steel, such as is found in files and 

 bayonets. But iron forged in the old-fashioned way into ornaments 

 and weapons has still considerable value. 



A smith's bellows common to all the Bantu peoples consists of two 

 wooden vessels, out of which the air is jDumped into the fire through 

 the long, straight horns of the African gemsbok. The Hottentot bel- 

 lows, which is more generally used in Damaraland, is a long bag, 

 usually made from the whole hide of a goat, at the middle and the 

 end of which is an air-valve. The fore half of the skin is held to the 

 gi'ound and weighted with a stone to press upon the air, which is 

 pumped in by means of the alternate compression and expansion of 

 the rear half. From the point of the bellows, or neck-end of the hide- 

 bag, the air is conducted through a clay pipe or a gemsbok-horn, or, 

 in later times, a gun-barrel, to the fire. It is obvious that only light 

 work can be done with such a bellows ; at most, bringing a small 

 piece of iron to a red heat. For tongs, the smiths generally use a 

 bullet-mold, while they formerly took two straight pieces of iron, or. 



