HANDICRAFTS 



195 



one end of a stout pliable stick, which is firmly fixed 

 at its other end in a horizontal position, the cord 

 being of such a length that the piston-head is sup- 

 ported by it near the upper end of the cylinder. 

 Two men squat upon the platform and each works 

 one pair of the cylinders, grasping a piston-rod in 

 each hand, thrusting them down alternately, and 

 allowing the elastic reaction of the supporting rods 

 above to draw them 

 up again. The 

 crucible, having been 

 brought to white heat 

 in the furnace, is 

 allowed to cool, when 

 a mass of metallic 

 iron or steel is found 

 within it. 



The forging of im- 

 plements from the 

 metal obtained is 

 effected by the aid of 

 a charcoal furnace to 

 which a blast is sup- 

 plied by the bellows 

 described above, or 

 sometimes by one con- 

 sisting of two cylinders only. Stone anvils and 

 hammers were formerly used, and may still be seen 

 in use in the far interior (Fig. 31) ; but the Kayans 

 make iron hammers and an anvil consisting of a 

 short thick bar of iron, the lower end of which is 

 fixed vertically in a large block of wood. 



The peculiarly shaped and finely tempered sword- 

 blade, malat, is the highest product of the Kayan 

 blacksmith. The smith begins his operations on a 

 bar of steel some eight inches in length. One end 

 is either grasped with pincers, or thrust firmly into 

 a block of wood that serves for a handle. The 



Fig. 31. — Stone Hammers. 



