344 On Smelting Copper in Japan. 





wait till the whole mass is thoroughly fused ; then open the fur- 

 nace, and entirely remove the ignited coal and earthy slag, after 

 which, wait till the heat has abated a little, and then, sprinkling 

 the surface, take it out in the same manner as when taking out 

 the coarse metal. 



"All the operations described above, from quarrying the ore 

 out of its bed to the first making it into pure copper, are done at 

 the mine. The officers' orders are that no copper shall be pri- 

 vately sold, but that it must all be carried to the Riau-kwa 

 foundry; where the superintendents direct the founders to smelt 

 and cast it, then assort the various qualities and affix their corres- 

 ponding prices. That which is delivered at Nagasaki and Kwashi 

 is from Besh-shi, Akita, and Nambu. That which is brought to 

 market for ordinary purposes of manufacture is all produced from 

 other places besides these three. The number of founders is 

 likewise fixed ; they cannot be lightly increased or diminished, 

 lest malpractices should arise. That copper which contains sil- 

 ver, and that which contains zinc, and the pure metal, must not 

 be mixed. There are these two operations carried on in the 

 foundry. 



Sec. VI. The second smelting. — " Every district which pro- 

 duces copper has it smelted a second time in a foundry furnace. 

 When fused, take off the slag and the coals, and then work the 

 bellows a second time until it is liquified ; wait till the heat has 

 abated a little, sprinkle water upon it to concrete it, and then take 

 it out with an iron rod. This is re-smelted copper or fine metal. 

 [The mass] is about a cubit broad, and half a cubit thick, being 

 a little smaller than the bottom of the furnace. The process is 

 for the most part like that of extracting the coarse metal. Gen- 

 erally speaking, about 250 catties can be melted in the furnace at 

 once, and there are three fusings in a day. 



Sec. VII. The third s?nelting.— u The twice smelted copper 

 is put into an earthern crucible, placed in the furnace and melted. 

 A tub of hot water is set near at hand and a square wooden pool 

 made, into which the molds are placed ; and over them a thick 

 hempen cloth spread. When the copper is melted, the scoria 

 taken off, and the fire reduced, hot water is poured into the pool 

 (not very hot), until it is almost level with the molds; then the 



smelter, firmly grasping the crucible with a pair of large iron 



pincers, pours [the metal] into the molds, which are previously 

 sprinkled with warm water lest the mold should crack.* After- 

 wards, water is sprinkled upon the bars to cool them, and they 

 are taken out with a pair of iron nippers. Each casting pro- 

 duces ten or more bars ; they are seven or eight inches long, and 



* « 



if cold \ r is indiscreetly sprinkled [upon the molds], or if the crucible is 

 cracked, in both cases an explo- <n will take place ; and because the lives of per- 

 on endangered by such an accident, great care should be used to guard against 

 *t. Note in the original. 



