394 Manufacture of Bar Iron in Southern India. 



the throat, and the chatty and the whole of the outside of 

 the furnace is then plastered over with clay about two inch- 

 es thick, so as to give the appearance of a large sugar loaf 

 enlarged a little at the point. When finished, the height 

 inside from the bottom to the neck is about three feet ten 

 inches, and the whole takes about a week to finish before 

 it is quite dry. 



16. The blast pipe is a cylinder of dried clay fourteen 

 inches long, and about four inches thick, pierced with a 

 hole of an inch in diameter. It is introduced into the 

 furnace at the bottom of the door, with the point about the 

 centre of the furnace, and about five inches above the bot- 

 tom. The door is then closed with a tile of dried clay, and 

 the outside is built up and secured with wet clay plastered 

 over, a layer of charcoal dust, about two inches thick, having 

 been first placed at the bottom of the furnace to prevent the 

 reduced oxide adhering to it. 



17. The bellows are two goat skins taken off the animal, 

 by opening the hinder part only. The orifices at the legs 

 are sewn up, and a piece of bamboo is inserted, and tied I 

 tightly into the neck of each skin, and these bamboos being 

 inserted into the outer part of the blast pipe, which is made 

 conical for that purpose, the vacant openings are then 

 stopped with wet clay. The open end of the skin is finish- 

 ed by folding the edge of one side, as a flap, about four 

 inches over the other edge, and sewing up the upper and 

 lower corners, so as to leave a part of both flaps open for 

 about nine inches. When the skin is filled with wind, and 

 pressed, the inner flap closes therefore against the outer, 

 and stops the passage. Each skin is managed by one man, 

 who places it in his lap, and squeezes it down with the elbow 

 and lower part of the right arm, grasping at the same time 



a projecting sort of handle of leather, formed at about the 

 part where the tail of the animal might have been. To j 

 enable the blower to fill the skin again with wind, a piece j 



