1840.] 



On Indian Iron and Steel, 



185 



your letter, and I have now the pleasure to communicate to you such 

 information on the subject of Indian steel, as my experience has en- 

 abled me to collect. 



The ore from which the wootz steel is made, is the magnetic oxide 

 of iron, combined with quartz, of which specimens accompany this let- 

 ter : the ore varies much in its appearance, according as the grains of 

 quartz and oxide of iron are large or small, but the proportion in which 

 tlie component parts unite, is nearly uniformly 48 of quartz and 52 of 

 oxide of iron, in 100 parts by weight. 



It is found in many parts of the South of India, but the district of 

 Salem is the principal seat of the steel manufacture. The ore occurs 

 generally in the form of low hills, and the quantity of it which is ex- 

 posed above the surface of the surrounding country, is so considerable, 

 that it is not probable that it will ever become necessary to have re- 

 course to under-ground operations, supposing the smelting of iron ore 

 from this district to be carried on to any extent that can be contempla- 

 ted. 



It is prepared for being smelted by stamping and separating the 

 quartz from it, either by washing it in a current of water, or by win- 

 nowing it in the manner in which rice is separated from the husk : in 

 most of the deposits of ore, parts are found in which the quartz is in a 

 state of disintegration, and these, from the greater facility with which 

 they are broken, are always selected by the natives for their furnaces. 



The furnace, or bloomery, in which the ore is smelted, is from three 

 to five feet high from the surface of the ground, and the ground is hol- 

 lowed out beneath it to the depth of from eight inches to a foot : it is 

 somewhat pear-shaped, being about two feet in diameter at the ground, 

 tapering to about one foot diameter at the top : it is built entirely of 

 clay, two men can finish one in a few hours, and it is ready for use next 

 day. The blast is supplied by two bellows, each made of a single 

 goiit's skin, with a bamboo nozzle : the two nozzles meet in a clay pipe, 

 which passes about halfway through the furnace at the level of the 

 ground, and by working the bellows alternately, a tolerably uniform 

 blast is kept up ; a semicircular opening, about a foot high and a foot 

 in diameter at the bottom, is left in the furnace, and before each smelt- 

 ing, it is built up with clay. The furnace is then filled up with char- 

 j coal, and a lighted coal being introduced before the bellows, the fuel m 

 \ the interior is soon kindled : as soon as this is accomplished, a small 

 portion of the ore previously moistened with water, to prevent it from 

 running through the charcoal, but without any description of flux, is 

 laid on the top of the fuel, and charcoal is thrown over it to fill up 

 the furnace : in this manner ore and fuel are added, and the bellows 



