HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
309 
charcoal, or spread in alternate layers, till it reaches the 
top of the walls. Over this, a sort of covering of clay, in 
a conical shape, with an aperture in the centre, is occa¬ 
sionally spread. In procuring the blast, the pistons are 
sometimes worked by a man sitting on the inner edges of 
the two cylinders, holding the shaft of one of the pistons 
in each hand, and alternately raising and lowering them 
by the action of his arms. Sometimes the man working 
the cylinders stands on a low bank of earth raised behind 
them. 
There are, in general, two cylinders to each furnace; 
but when one only is used, it is of much larger dimensions 
than those already described, and the piston is worked 
with both hands. The contents of the furnace are brought 
to a white heat, and kept in this state for a long time; 
after which, the fire is allowed to go out. The covering 
is taken off; and the iron, which is described as being 
partially melted, and forming one solid, or a number of 
smaller masses, at the bottom of the furnace, is removed, 
beaten with a hammer, and then again submitted to the 
fire, prior to its being conveyed to the capital for the use 
of the native smiths. 
Rude as the processes of mining and smelting are at 
present in Madagascar, yet from the number of men 
employed, the nature and variety of their occupation, the 
value of the mineral which they are rendering available for 
many of the purposes of civilized life, and the activity with 
which the natives pursue their respective departments of 
labour, few scenes in the country are in many respects 
more interesting to a foreigner than those exhibited on a 
visit to the mines in the province of Ankova. 
In the working of iron, the natives seem to have made 
greater advances than in smelting the ore; the art, how- 
