NATIVE BLACKSMITHS. 
323 
they believe the older the dye-liquid, the stronger the 
effect on the cloth. The tephrosia which is used 
for the blue, is moistened, made up into little balls, 
then dried, and thus exposed for sale ; the red dye 
is probably a species of tesphesia or camwood, it is 
mostly in a powder. The cloth is kept saturated 
in the pit for a fortnight, and sometimes three weeks, 
and certainly the colours are most beautiful; but as 
they have not the aid of chemistry to supply a proper 
mordant, they are not permanent. A white tobe is 
usually worn under a newly dyed blue one, and it soon 
becomes charged with colour. 
The next most important occupation, is that of 
smith and armourer. They are said not to have 
any method of smelting iron, the ore of which is 
very abundant, but depend entirely on the supply 
from the coast, as also such few working tools as 
are possessed. Their native implements are rude, yet 
the swords, spear-heads, arrows, are well tempered and 
not badly finished. The bellows are merely two wooden 
cylinders, each with a piston, and a piece of loose hide 
securely fastened round the handle and the top of the 
tube; by alternately depressing one and raising the 
other, a continuous current of air is conveyed through 
earthern pipes leading to the fire. Many of the swords 
we saw were of admirable metal, nicely engraved, and a 
few inlaid with portions of deeper coloured or more 
highly oxydized iron. Charcoal, in small square pieces, 
is burned instead of common fuel, and to this may, 
Y 2 
