CHAP. X. SIMPLE MODES OF WOEKING IRON. 265 



kept some time at a white heat it is left to cool, and when 

 opened the iron is found in pigs or lumps at the bottom. In 

 this state, as well as when heated again, and beaten into bars 

 or rods, it is taken to the government stores, or to the market 

 for sale. 



The early productions of the Malagasy smiths were ne- 

 cessarily rude, but since the instruction given to a large 

 number of youths by the thoroughly qualified English smith 

 sent out with the missionaries, their work has been improved, 

 and is creditable to their intelligence and skill, especially when 

 the simple apparatus by which it is generally produced is con- 

 sidered. The smiths who work for the government sometimes 

 form almost entire villages, and work together in sheds, but 

 the native smith who works on his own account plies his craft 

 at the southern end of his dwelling. His forge is a very 

 simple affair. The earthen floor of his house forms the hearth 

 for his fire, which is kept together by three or four stones. 

 The bellows consist of two wooden cylinders with pistons, si- 

 milar to those which supply the blast to the smelting furnace. 

 The anvil, which is about six inches square, and six inches 

 high, is let in to a thick piece of wood fixed in the groimd, 

 with the water-trough, tongs, hammers, and other tools near it. 

 The smith squats on a piece of plank or board on the floor, 

 and his assistants sit or stand opposite to him, with sledge- 

 hammers in their hands, ready to strike when required ; and 

 by this simple process the articles of iron in general use 

 among all classes of the people are produced. 



The natives understand the manufacture of candles with 

 the fat of the bullock ; and one evening during the time that 

 my packages were being prepared the prince's representative 

 came with a number of men bringing about one hundred 

 candles of a good size, and about a foot in length, which the 

 people had prepared for my use during the journey. I 

 thanked them for their forethought, and I afterwards found 



