Sept. 1850. 



IRON" SMELTING. 



311 



There is neither furnace nor flux used in the reduction. 

 The fire is kindled on one side of an upright stone (like 

 the head- stone of a grave), with a small arched hole close 

 to the ground : near this hole the bellows are suspended ; 

 and a bamboo tube from each of its compartments, meets 

 in a larger one, by which the draught is directed under the 



■1 kiift'JyffiHhf^ErSS 



■1 ^Mpira^ 



NONKREKM VILLAGE. 



hole in the stone to the fire. The ore is run into lumps 

 as large as two fists, with a rugged surface : these lumps 

 are afterwards cleft nearly in two, to show their purity. 



The scenery about Nonkreem village is extremely pic- 

 turesque, and we procured many good plants on the rocks, 

 which were covered with the purple-flowered Orchid, Ccelo- 

 fjj/y/r Wallichii. The country is everywhere intersected 



