i88 TRAVELS IN 
Whilft I was among the CafFres, furveying 
their oxen and utenfils, and haralEng them 
with qaeftions refpeding their country, their 
inanners, and their cuftoms, my attention 
was attraded by a hollow noife which feemed 
to proceed from a great diftance, and which 
ftruck my ear at certain intervals* Having 
afked them what it was, and whether they 
heard it as well as I, they informed me that 
three or four of their companions were emr 
ployed at the bottom of a fmall rock, which 
they had difcovered in the neighbourhood, 
in forging fome arms frorn hits of old iron 
they had brought with them, or procured in 
exchange by the way. Being equally anxious 
to know whether they had not ftole fome of 
my utenfils, as curious to learn their manner 
of proceeding in an operation fo difficult for 
favages, deftitute of even the fimplefl: tools, 
I prevailed on two of them to leave the rcfl:, 
^nd to condud me to the forge. As this un- 
cxpeded vifit, which furnillied me with an 
opportunity of giving thefe people fome 
information refpeding the firft mechanifm 
of a forge, of which they had little idea, 
may have been attended with very import- 
ant cpnfequences, I muft not omit the leaft 
circumftancc 
