THE IRON-ORE SUPPLIES OF THE WORLD 381 



substituted for the inferior metals copper and bronze, it will be 

 recognised that the world at large owes a deep debt of gratitude 

 to the primitive indigenous population of the Dark Continent. 



" In Egypt, the natural link between ' Savage ' Africa and the 

 Mediterranean, the early history of iron-working is obscure. 

 Iron has been found in deposits reputed to belong to the 

 sixth dynasty {c. 4000 B.C.) and even to the fourth d3^nasty 

 {c. 4600 B.C.). In the Egyptian paintings of early Mycenaean times 

 iron is represented in blue to distinguish it from copper and 

 bronze (red and yellow). Still, the evidence of the commence- 

 ment of the iron-using period in Egypt is very incomplete and 

 fresh investigations will be required ere this point is cleared up. 



" In Europe, as Dr. von Luschau urges, the Iron Age began 

 at a comparatively late date, probably not earlier than 900 b.c. 

 Hence it is improbable that Egypt received the idea of iron- 

 working from Europe. For the same reason it is unlikely that 

 inspiration was derived from Assyria and Babylonia, whose Iron 

 Age does not appear to have commenced prior to 1000 b.c. In 

 India, too, it was a development of comparatively late date. If 

 we exclude the north and the east, there remains only the south 

 (for the west may be disregarded) as a possible source whence 

 Egypt, and through her Europe, acquired the art of manu- 

 facturing iron, unless we assume that in Egypt itself is to be 

 found the fountain-head of the industry. 



" A study of the present conditions obtaining amongst the 

 native African iron-workers tells us several things of interest 

 which bear upon this problem. First, we find that many of the 

 native iron ores are produced with little trouble and are easily 

 reducible at a relatively low temperature. From hematite, for 

 example, malleable iron which can be forged into bars can be 

 extracted by heating in a charcoal fire for a few hours with the 

 help of bellows. The ease with which native ores are reduced 

 renders it possible, if not probable, that the process of extraction 

 of iron from the ore may have been accidently hit upon by a 

 primitive people through pieces of the ore becoming repeatedly, 

 though unintentionally, mixed up with the ordinary domestic 

 fires. Some suggestive evidence is, moreover, acquired from a 

 comparative study of the primitive methods employed by the 

 natives in reducing the ore, more especially in Equatorial Africa. 

 In some districts a very rudimentary process still prevails, the 

 broken ore and charcoal being merely heaped up upon the 

 ground. After the requisite heat has been raised with the help 

 of bellows, the extracted iron falls to the bottom of the mass and 

 is collected. As a slight improvement, in some districts the fire 

 is built over a shallow pit or depression in which the iron 

 collects. Elsewhere, again, the mass of charcoal and ore is 

 bounded with lumps of clay, which form an incomplete confin- 

 ing wall. From this stage may have been evolved the idea of 



