ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. ' 69 



stop up occasionally with moistened clay, and now and then they wet 

 the whole with water in which clay is suspended. 



" At five o'clock in the evening the bellows are removed, and the 

 exterior wall' of the furnace knocked down. The iron, which is found in 

 a solid state, is taken out and beaten for about five minutes with wooden 

 sticks, in order to separate as much of the scorise as possible. Finally, 

 it is cut with axes into two pieces in order to show its internal quality. 



" I do not know the precise quantity of iron-stone which is employed 

 in one smelting" process. In general, I believe twelve baskets of ore 

 are required, containing each from 4 to 5 computed mercals. The whole 

 produce of one process is about 112 lbs. of iron, which are usually sold 

 for about a rupee. 



" The iron, as thus produced, is of a very inferior quality, porous, 

 and its pores rilled with scorise, and in fact a little more than half 

 smelted, if such an expression may be used ; for I am persuaded that 

 the whole mass never has been fused, as in that case it would naturally 

 have run out with the scoriae through the hole at the bottom of the 

 fireplace. The metallic particles in the ore are probably at some dis- 

 tance from each other. The fusion of the scorise lays them open to the 

 action of the charcoal. They are reduced to the metallic state, tumble 

 down in consequence of their weight, and, coming in contact with each 

 other at a welding heat, are connected or agglutinated together, without 

 having experienced actual fusion. 



" The iron thus obtained is, indeed, of such an inferior quality, that 

 none of the names, by which any of the various kinds of cast-iron are 

 distinguished, can be applied to it. But if it be exposed to the heat 

 produced by urging a fire by a pair of common bellows, while it is quite 

 covered with charcoal, and, when the scoriae begins to melt, if it be 

 taken out and hammered, it acquires the properties of steel, and may 

 then be usefully employed in the making of instruments. " 



Other Minerals, — Graphite is rather common, but very sparely dis- 

 tributed among the crystalline rocks along the north-western edge of 

 the field, more particularly perhaps in the neighbourhood of Bezvada, 



( 263 ) 



