6Q KING : COASTAL REGION OP THE GODAVARI DISTRICT. 



found which would yield a charcoal that would answer the purpose suffi- 

 ciently well ; but unluckily all the jungle in the neighbourhood of the 

 village consists of very small brushwood. 



" These smelting-works, however, notwithstanding their diminutive 

 scale, attract the attention of every curious observer, on account of the 

 simplicity of every part of the process and the goodness of the iron 

 obtained. 



" The furnace consists of a small semi-circular mud wall, very much 

 resembling in shape the half of a hen's egg divided longitudinally, with 

 the largest end uppermost. The wall is built of clay or mud. From 

 the apex to the base is usually 4£ feet, while its greatest breadth is 

 3 feet 9 inches. The external and convex surface has on one of its 

 sides, at the bottom, an excavation serving to receive the scorise, which 

 are let out through a hole in the bottom. 



" The internal surface of this mud wall is plain, except a semi-cir- 

 cular excavation throughout its middle part, commencing at the apex 

 and terminating in a circular hole in the ground, which is 1^ feet deep, 

 and as much in diameter. This part corresponds with the square cavity 

 in European furnaces, in which the iron is collected. 



" The use of this semi-circular excavation will be understood by 

 considering the temporary part which is destroyed every day after the 

 smelting is finished. It is a thin, convex, semi-circular wall, and is to 

 complete a circular hole with the excavation in the permanent part of 

 the furnace. It is constructed in the following manner : — At 5 o'clock 

 in the evening, the hole in the ground is cleaned from the ashes and the 

 remainder of the last smelting, and its bottom and sides coated with 

 powdered charcoal moistened with a little water. At the bottom, to the 

 right hand, is a small circular hole for letting off the scorise. This hole 

 must also be cleaned, and then stopped up with some moistened clay. 

 Charcoal is then thrown into the hole and placed in such a manner that 

 the apex of the heap touches the margin of the hole opposite to the 

 principal work, and another heap of pounded ore is so placed on the 

 opposite side that the middle of the hole is left an empty space. These 

 ( 269 ) 



