Chap. XXXI. 
AFRICAN IRON. 
651 
a friend of mine in Birmingham has made an Enfield rifle of 
them.* 
The iron ore exists in great abundance, hut I did not find any 
limestone in its immediate vicinity. So far as I could learn, there 
is neither copper nor silver. Malachite is worked by the people of 
Cazembe, but, as I did not see it, nor any other metal, I can say 
nothing about it. A few precious stones are met with, and some 
parts are quite covered with agates. The mineralogy of the 
district, however, has not been explored by .any one competent to 
the task. 
When my friend the Commandant was fairly recovered, and I 
myself felt strong again, I prepared to descend the Zambesi. A 
number of my men were out elephant-hunting, and others had 
established a brisk trade in firewood, as their countrymen did at 
Loanda. I chose sixteen of those who could manage canoes to 
* The following remarks are by a practical blacksmith, one of the most 
experienced men in the gun trade. In this trade various qualities of iron are 
used, and close attention is required to secure for each purpose the quality of 
iron peculiarly adapted to it:— 
The iron in the two spades strongly resembles Swedish or Russian; it is 
highly carbonised. 
The same qualities are found in both spades. 
When chilled in water it has all the properties of steel: see the piece marked 
I, chilled at one end, and left soft at the other. 
When worked hot it is very malleable ; but cold, it breaks quite short and 
brittle. 
The great irregularity found in the working of the iron, affords evidence that 
it has been prepared by inexperienced hands. 
This is shown in the bending of the small spade ; the thick portion retains 
its crystallised nature, while the thin part has been changed by the hammer¬ 
ing it has undergone. 
The large spade shows a very brittle fracture. 
The iron is too brittle for gun-work ; it would be liable to break. 
This iron, if repeatedly heated and hammered, would become decarbonised, 
and would then possess the qualities found in the spear-head, which, after 
being curled up by being struck against a hard substance, was restored by 
hammering to its original form without injury. 
The piece of iron marked II is a piece of gun-iron of fibrous quality, such as 
will bend without breaking. 
The piece marked III is of crystalline quality ; it has been submitted to a 
process which has changed it to IIII; III and IIII are cut from the same bar. 
The spade-iron has been submitted to the same process, but no corresponding 
effect can be produced. 
