Manchester Memoirs, Vol. I. (1906), No. 4. 9 



being bound round with rattan or split bamboo to prevent 

 its coming to pieces, owing to the extensive cracking 

 which takes place when it is in use. At the top of the 

 furnace, the walls are about 2ft. thick, but the square or 

 circular opening of 4 or 5ft. diameter gradually tapers to 

 about i^ to 2ft. at the hearth. A blast of air is supplied 

 to the furnace from two cylinders of wood fitted with 

 feather-edged pistons, to which rods are attached, and 

 which a workman operates by sitting between the 

 cylinders and working the pistons alternately up and 

 down. The blast is carried in bamboo tubes and is 

 admitted to the furnace through clay tuyers, which are 

 formed by moulding clay round small pieces of bamboo 

 and then burning the bamboo out in a fire, whereby the 

 clay is at the same time baked. 



The ore which is used consists of nodules of haematite 

 usually obtained from a river-bed, or else a clay iron stone, 

 which is surface mined. Both of these ores are roasted 

 in wood fires and are then charged into the furnace with 

 a large excess of fuel. No flux of any kind is used in the 

 charge, and as is always the case where this is not done, 

 the process is a very wasteful one since the impurities in 

 the ore are fluxed off by combination with oxide of iron 

 which otherwise would have been reduced to metal. The 

 slag is drawn off at regular intervals, and in the end a 

 spongy mass of about loolbs. of steely iron is obtained, 

 the quality of which is determined by the proportion of 

 fuel to ore in the original charge, and the temperature 

 which the furnace is allowed to acquire in working. 



The mass of iron is freed from slag by hammering, 

 but always retains some which shows itself in the form of 

 small flaws in the metal, when this is worked up. 



A plain kris is made by simple forging from the iron 

 thus obtained, but the damascened form is made by 



