ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. (33 



down and the bloom removed. At this place there were two furnaces 

 and forges at work, and only one at Jaganatgfidem. 



At Gopallapriram, a couple of miles to the south, the ore is obtained 

 from purple and brown ferruginous sandstones occurring in 6-inch beds. 

 The Komera ore is a red and brown, rather yellowish, clay-ironstone 

 obtained from the sandstone beds towards Tripati. Here I had an 

 opportunity of seeing one of the blooms drawn. The clay wall in the 

 front part of the chamber was broken down and carried off in large 

 pieces (to be used again), and the burning charcoal raked out, when a 

 man pounded the pasty — but still, on the surface, in a state of slow 

 ebullition — mass of metal at the bottom of the furnace for a few seconds 

 with a heavy wooden mallet. Then a huge pair of iron tongs was 

 brought forward and rammed, or rather chopped down, here and there 

 on the mass of metal, during which time it hardened sufficiently to 

 allow of one arm of the tongs being lowered down the side of the pit 

 when the bloom was clasped, hauled out, and carried off to a small 

 pit or hollow in the ground lined with charcoal diist. The partially 

 flaming mass was now heavily beaten over its upper surface (the old 

 under-surface on the furnace floor) for some time with wooden 

 mallets, after which it was left to cool, though a lot of old slao* and 

 cinder was piled up around it, but not over it, while a red-coloured 

 dross from the floor of the furnace was ladled over the upper surface. 

 After about 10 minutes the bloom was then partially split up by 

 wedge hammers, which left three deep clefts in one side. The blooms are 

 larger than those of Southern India, and are said to be about 2 maunds 

 (Madras), or 80 lbs., in weight, and of the value of 4 rupees when handed 



over to the contractors. Two furnaces were at work here, and the 

 measurements of each of these were : — height, without chimney, 4 feet ; 



•breadth across the front, 5 to 4 feet, tapering ; width from front to back, 

 4 to 3 feet, tapering, the front being nearly vertical. The chamber is 

 about 1 \ feet in diameter widening to the floor which is about 2 feet ; 

 and the whole is surmounted by a tapering chimney with funnel top of 

 about 2 feet high. 



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