114 THE STEEL SEA-BEACH OF TARANAKA, NEW ZEALAND. 



first-class steel, which in its properties seems to surpass any other descrip- 

 tion of that metal at present known. The investigations of metallurgical 

 science have found that if titanium is mixed with iron, the character of 

 the steel is materially improved. But titanium being a scarce ore, such a 

 mixture is too expensive for ordinary purposes. Here, however, nature has 

 stepped in, and made a free gift of both metals on the largest scale. To 

 form some idea of the fineness of this beautiful sand, it will be enough to 

 say that it passes readily through a gauze sieve of 4,900 holes or interstices 

 to the square inch. When this steel-sand is placed in a crucible or retort, 

 and reduced to a state of fusion, it can be immediately moidded into ingots 

 of steel : for it is not simply iron requiring to be manufactured into steel ; 

 it is ready-made steel. 



In order to a due appreciation of the value of the Taranaki sand, it is 

 necessary to understand the process by which iron is converted into steel. 

 Steel is iron chemically combined with carbon or charcoal. There very 

 often exists a mechanical mixture of carbon with iron ; but for the making 

 of steel a more subtle, because chemical, combination of the two elements 

 must take place. This is accomplished by the process of " cementation." 

 The difference between iron and steel may be easily perceived by compar- 

 ing the places of fracture of a broken bar of each. The former will be 

 found to present a fibrous, and the latter a granulated or crystalline struc- 

 ture. The difference in character is even greater than that of appearance ; 

 it is the difference between a piece of iron wire and a needle of the same 

 thickness, or between a piece of iron hoop and the fine Damascus sword- 

 blades, so famous in history and Oriental romance, — pliant enough to be 

 twisted into a knot, tough enough to be driven through a helmeted head, 

 and keen enough to sever the lightest fabric. 



For the process of " cementation " the best iron ores are chosen, and 

 certain districts are celebrated for yielding good steel iron, such as the 

 Danuemora, about thirty miles from Upsal in Sweden, the Wootz in India, 

 the Forest of Dean and Ulverstone in England. The ore having been 

 smelted and converted into soft iron bars, these are buried in some carbona- 

 ceous substance, usually wood charcoal ; the whole is tightly compacted 

 together, and covered with clay so as to exclude the air. The furnace in 

 which they are placed is then fired, and continued at a given heat for 

 a certain time. During this heating, carbon is gradually absorbed by the 

 iron, until throughout the substance of the bars a crystalline formation 

 takes the place of the preceding fibrous arrangement. When the bars are 

 drawn from the furnace, they are covered with blisters, or air-bubbles ; 

 hence they are named " blistered steel." In this state the steel is fit for the 

 manufacture of rough articles ; but other processes are necessary to perfect 

 it either as " shear-steel " or " cast-steel." For the former, the bars are 

 submitted to continual " tilting," or hammering, to attenuate them into 

 rods, which are then clamped into bundles, heated, and then hammered 

 again into an homogenous mass. For cast-steel, the blistered ingots are 

 broken up into fragments, and placed in retorts of Stourbridge fire-clay. 



