14 



CHILI. 



ed the opposite bank, soundly ducked, but in 

 safety. 



The smelting-furnace resembles a small lime- 

 kiln, covered at top with a sort of dome, open on 

 one side, and terminating in a chimney. The 

 copper-ore, being broken into pieces of the size 

 of a walnut, is placed in alternate layers with fire- 

 wood, till the whole is filled up to the open space. 

 The wood being kindled, a steady blast is intro- 

 duced beneath from two pairs of bellows, worked 

 by cranks, attached to the axis of a water-wheel. 

 The wheel is of a slight construction, and, in- 

 stead of being fitted with buckets, is encircled 

 with a series of projecting boards, shaped like 

 spoons, upon which the water, which falls in a 

 perpendicular stream, is made to play. When 

 the ore is all melted, it is allowed to run out at a 

 hole in the lower part of the furnace, closed up 

 by clay during the melting, and now opened in 

 the usual way, by making an orifice with a heavy 

 iron bar. The metal which, at this first operation, 

 comes out in a very impure state, is thrown into 

 water while hot, and is afterwards scraped by iron 

 instruments to remove the slags and dross. It is 



