THE ESTATE BLACKSMITH. 
fori ably grazing about, without a scratch, as if nothing 
had occurred. It was perfectly evident the outhouses 
would all require to be renewed, and having learned 
from experience no more contractors were engaged, 
although, when it became known the buildings were 
blown down, the applications were numerous, and 
amongst them the original contractor ! Masons were 
engaged to put up stone pillars, instead of wooden 
posts, the posts themselves made tolerable rafters, and 
the rafters were converted into wattles. No sooner 
were the outhouses considered to have been finished 
and put in thorough repair, than something again 
was wrong with the bungalow. Indeed it was never 
safe to discharge masons, or carpenters, for one never 
knew when their services would be immediately 
and urgently required. Some even went the length 
of keeping a blacksmith, at a w'age of some £4 to 
£5 per month, and there seemed pretty constant em- 
ployment for him, or rather he managed that. The 
blacksmith’s forge was a very primitive affair : all 
he required was some rough cheap shed to shelter 
him from the weather ; in the centre of the shed he 
would make a hole in the ground for the fire, a pair 
of bellows would be so placed, worked by the action 
of the hand, as to blow into this hole, and it just 
lay along the ground. The hole itself was fiUed with 
charcoal, which the bellows kept in a red glow, but, 
almost always, the blacksmith would demand and 
receive the services of a boy to blow the bellows, 
while he himself sat on his “hunkers, ” sat down 
upon nothing, doing nothing. No, I am wrong, he 
was chewing betel. The blacksmith used to pretend 
to be very particular about the quality of this charcoal, 
so much so, that he had to go himself with a cooly 
to procure it, for it was far beneath his dignity to 
carry charcoal, so he used to proceed out into the 
clearing in search of charcoal, and was very fond 
of getting as near the sides of the jungle as possible, 
into which he would suddenly disappear, and remain 
for a long period of time. There was no good char- 
coal in the clearing, and he had been looking out 
for a suitable tree, to cut down and burn, but, on 
these charcoal expeditions, it was a curious fact that 
h© always carried a gun with him, and a good many 
shots were frequently heard, when the blacksmith 
was away looking for timbler to burn charcoal, and 
on his return, before he emptied his bag of charcoal, 
which was pretty full, he took jit into the dark 
interior of the shed, which served as his room, and, when 
he did empty the bag, it contained very little char- 
coal, 80 that it served him very little time. It waa 
quite evident the blacksmith was . a sportsman, and 
