COAL AND IRON OF CUTTACK. 15 



The very impure metal resulting from this first operation is after- 

 Eefcing or cleaning of ^^rds purified or refined,* by being subjected 

 this impure metal. ^^ g^ seiies of alternate heatings and hammerings, 



carried on, in an open hearth, much like the work of an ordinary 

 blacksmith. These are repeated according to the purity required in 

 the metal. By these heatings, the previously unburnt charcoal is con- 

 sumed and the slag is fused and carried off, or driven out by the hammer. 



In Orissa the blast for both of these processes is produced by bellows 



of the same form as that which is in use over a 

 Bellows, &c. 



large portion of India for such works. It consists 



of two cross sections of the stem of a tree (mango is preferred), about 6 

 inches in thickness, and from 1 2 inches, the smaller and more commonly used 

 size, to 2 feet in diameter. The upper portions of these are rudely hollow- 

 ed out, and across the top of each is firmly attached 

 Mode of construction. • /■ i i • , 



a covenng of leather, in the centre of which a small 



hole is cut. Into this hole is inserted a small piece of wood attached to a 



string, which is connected with a bamboo, one end of which is inserted 



in the ground at some distance, the other being brought immediately over 



the centre of the hollowed stem. Two of these are placed side by side. 



The string from the bamboo being attached to the leather top, the 



latter is pulled up as far as it can be extended, the 

 Method of working. 



cavity between the leather and the wood being 



of course filled with air. To produce the blast, a man stands upon this 



extended leather, placing his heel on the hole in the centre and thus 



closing the orifice. The air, being thus confined, is forced by the weight 



of the man upon the collapsing leather, to pass out through a hole cut 



* This " refining" or cleaning of the metal, as it might perhaps, with greater pro- 

 priety, be termed, must not be confounded with the process termed " refining" in Europe. 

 The latter is effected on a totally different material, viz., cast iron, and this refining 

 does not produce wrought iron, but is only a preliminary process. The iron produced 

 in the small native fnmaces during the first melting must differ materially from cast 

 iron, in its great impurity especially, and also in the much smaller amount of combined 

 carbon. 



