252 



ON THE MINES AND MINERAL 



using a powerful blast furnace. Though it be, no doubt, possible to con- 

 struct wind furnaces, of such draught as should smelt iron ; still it is, I be- 

 lieve, more economical, as well as more certain, to trust only to a powerful 

 blast. 



The mountaineer reduces his iron ores in the manner already des- 

 cribed for the copper ores. But from the imperfection of the method, the 

 great waste of heat and non-employment of a proper flux in refractory 

 ores, the iron is never smelted, but comes out of the furnace in porous 

 knobs very much the size and shape of the original pieces of ore. These 

 might, however, with proper management, be manufactured into a saleable 

 iron ; but the miner is contented with selling them in this state to the 

 blacksmiths who, again, are very sparing in labor when shaping them into 

 the pigs in which they are finally sold in the bazar. 



In as far as such a lazy process may be compared with one which 

 furnished metal of the very best quality, we may say the mode practised 

 in the mountains is similar in its general features to the ancient methods 

 which prevailed in Europe. These have, however, long been superseded 

 by more economical processes, each of which is adapted to the particular 

 kind of fuel and ore of the country in which it is employed. The English 

 method, which employs coal as the fuel, does not require to be considered 

 here; but the Swedish, in which charcoal is the fuel used, appears from this 

 circumstance, from the simplicity of the apparatus and the small outlay of 

 capital required, particularly fitted for these provinces, and not unworthy 

 of attention and encouragement from the Government. It is well known 

 that the superiority of the Swedish iron over the English, is mainly owing 

 to the nature of the fuel used ; although it is also true that the Swedish ore 

 is chiefly, if not entirely, of the first quality — magnetic iron ore. The form- 

 er advantage ought also to hold in the case of the mountain iron ; but none 



