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described below. Before giving an account of the method of manu- 

 facture of spear and knife blades some details of the tools used in 

 the work may not be out of place, so as to give an idea of the very 

 simple means by which quite complicated results are obtained. 

 The smith's forge consists of a circular semi-open hearth of ha;i^d 

 dried mud, built under a slight shed. On one side of this hearth 

 is a horizontal box-bellows of Chinese type, which is about 5 feet 

 long. The blast from the bellows passes through an iron pipe' in 

 the side of the box, the outlet of which is in the centre of the hearth 

 a. little below the level of the fire, there being a grating of iron rods 

 covering the top of the short passage leading from the hearth centre 

 to the entrance of the pipe in order to prevent either of these 

 becoming choked by ashes. The fire, the fuel for which is chai'coal, 

 is protected by mud walls about Ih feet high, except at the front and 

 back, the former being open and the lattei- closed by a small sheet 

 of iron or an old changkul (native hoe) blade. The smith's tools and 

 apparatus consist of a small anvil made from a block of iron set in the 

 top of a large wooden post, a couple of pairs of i-oughly made but 

 effective pincers, two hammers, one or two short cold chisels lashed at 

 right angles with hide or rattan binding into a wooden haft about 2| 

 feet long, the top of which is split to receive the iron, a set of files, a 

 pump drill with a cord of bullock hide, and a small moveable 

 vice, the last-named as well as the files being of foreign manufacture. 

 Small gouges and chisels for cutting ornamental grooves in spear or 

 kris l)lades are also used, but are generally made as occasion requires. 

 In addition to these the smith has a small grindstone or emery wheel 

 which is fitted on one side with a wood-covered spindle. When in 

 use the wheel is pivoted between two upright posts and is worked 

 by alternately pulling and releasing a cord which is wound I'ound the 

 spindle and attached to it at the end fai'thest from the stone. This 

 operation is performed by an assistant and the blade being ground is 

 only applied to the stone when its revolution is away fi'om the 

 grinder. The specimens of work which wei-e obtained from the 

 smith, and are now in the Perak Museum, consist of a knife, 

 with < shaped damascening, of the type usually called tumbuk lada 

 (the pepper crusher) but by the smith hadek Patani, a damas- 

 cened spear blade and a set of pieces illustrating the manufacture 

 of the lattei'. In making the spear blade a number of pieces of 

 ii'on and steel are cut and forged down until they form plates of 

 roughly the following dimensions : length 105 mm., breadth 20 mm., 

 tliickness 3 mm. Tlie piece selected to form the central layei' of the 

 spear is slightly thicker than the others and is of steel (besi baja), 

 on either side of this are placed a plate of steel (besi pedang) made 

 from an old scythe blade, and outside each of these again a plate of 

 besi Tiurai, iron or steel of unknow"n composition, which the smith 

 said he obtained from the Patani States. Theie are also two 

 other plates, one on each side, composed of old Government 

 elephant chain {besi rantai), but these only form a guard over 



