696 AFRICAN IRON. 



a friend of mine in Birmingham has made an Enfield rifle of 

 them.* 



The iron ore exists in great abundance, but I did not find any 

 limestone in its immediate vicinity. So far as I could learn, there 

 is neither copper nor silver. Malachite is worked by the people 

 of Cazembe, but, as I did not see it, nor any other metal, I can say 

 nothing about it. A few precious stones are met with, and some 

 parts are quite covered with agates. The mineralogy of the dis- 

 trict, however, has not been explored by any one competent to the 

 task. 



When my friend the commandant was fairly recovered, and I 

 myself felt strong again, I prepared to descend the Zambesi. A 

 number of my men were out elephant-hunting, and others had 

 established a brisk trade in firewood, as their countrymen did at 

 Loanda. I chose sixteen of those who could manage canoes to 



* The following remarks are by a practical blacksmith, one of the most experi- 

 enced men in the gun-trade. In this trade various qualities of iron are used, 

 and close attention is required to secure for each purpose the quality of iron pecu- 

 liarly adapted to it : 



The iron in the two spades strongly resembles Swedish or Russian ; it is highly 

 carbonized. 



The same qualities are found in both spades. 



When chilled in water it has all the properties of steel : see the piece marked I, 

 chilled at one end, and left soft at the other. 



When worked hot, it is very malleable : but cold, it breaks quite short and 

 brittle. 



The great irregularity found in the working of the iron affords evidence that it 

 has been prepared by inexperienced hands. 



This is shown in the bending of the small spade ; the thick portion retains its 

 crystallized nature, while the thin part has been changed by the hammering it has 

 undergone. 



The large spade shows a very brittle fracture. 



The iron is too brittle for gun-work ; it would be liable to break. 



This iron, if repeatedly heated and hammered, would become decarbonized, and 

 would then possess the qualities found in the spear-head, which, after being curled 

 up by being struck against a hard substance, was restored, by hammering, to its 

 original form without injury. 



The piece of iron marked II is a piece of gun-iron of fibrous quality, such as will 

 bend without breaking. 



The piece marked III is of crystalline quality ; it has been submitted to a proc- 

 ess which has changed it to IIII ; III and IIII are cut from the same bar. The 

 spade-iron has been submitted to the same process, but no corresponding effect can 

 be produced. 



