EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 267 
I have been rightly informed, almoft all defcriptions are to be 
met with. The copper brought by the merchants from the 
territories of certain idolatrous tribes bordering on Fur, is of 
the fineft quality, in colour refembling that of China, and ap- 
pears to contain a portion of zink, being of the fame pale hue. 
The large rings into which it is formed (of ten or twelve pounds 
weight each) are very malleable : of the ore I never was able to 
procure a fpecimen. Iron is to be found in abundance, and 
the Pagan negroes, on whom the Mohammedans look with 
contempt, are the artifts that extrad it from the ore j an art 
of which the former, as far as I have feen, are ignorant. 
Though their iron, through the flupidity of the inhabitants, 
never acquire the more ufeful character of fteel, its effed:s in 
the form of knives and javelins are yet commenfurate with the 
malign difpofitions of mankind. And though foft and perifli- 
able, with increafed trouble in renewing the edge, the tools 
formed of it aniwer all the purpofes of their rude work- 
manfhip. 
The method by which I obferved a workman fupply the 
defe£t of a furnace for fufmg metals appeared worth noticing. 
He had a leathern bag, which, on compreffion, forced the air 
through a wooden pipe for bellows, and placed over the fire, 
made in a fmali hole in the earth, the remains of a water 
jar, with which fimple apparatus the effeit was rapid and not 
inconfiderable. 
M M 2 
Silver, 
