536 THE IRON AGE. Chap. XXV. 



any changes except those which are dependent on atmo- 

 spheric and meteoric influences." * 



According to the present state of our knowledge, the Afri- 

 cans never had a stone period. The proof of this is merely 

 negative, but of the same nature as the evidence, that while 

 the stone period lasted, no bronze implements were in use. 

 And it does seem a difficulty worth remarking, that while it is 

 assumed that, in ancient times, stone for lengthened periods 

 alone was in use ; we have the evidence of the late Admiral 

 Fitzroy (whose recent death — the result of over fatigue in 

 the pursuit of his valuable researches — all so greatly lament), 

 that the present time is the stone period in Tierra del Fuego 

 and some countries whose inhabitants resemble our remote 

 ancestors — and in other parts it is the age of iron. 



It is possibly only a display of ignorance, but we trust it 

 will not be imagined to be a proof of conceit, when some of 

 the ideas, which beguiled our weary marches, are put forth as 

 materials for thought in younger minds. Here at every third 

 or fourth village, we see a kiln-looking structure, about six feet 

 high, by two-and-a-half or three feet in diameter. It is a clay, 

 fire-hardened furnace, for smelting iron. No flux is used, 

 whether the specular iron, the yellow haematite, or magnetic 

 iron ore is fused, and yet capital metal is produced. Native 

 manufactured iron is so good, that the natives declare English 

 iron to be "rotten" in comparison, and specimens of African 

 hoes were pronounced at Birmingham to be nearly equal to 

 the best Swedish iron. As we passed along, men sometimes 

 ran from the fields they were working in, and offered for sale 

 new hoes, axes, and spears of their own workmanship. It is 

 certainly the iron age here ; copper, according to the ideas 

 of the natives who smelt it from malachite, is much more 



* Address to the Eoyal Geogra- I anniversary meeting, 23rd May, 

 phical Society of London, at the | 1864. 



