brought from the plains is melted down and forged into billhooks and
hoes. Messrs. Yule and Cracroft have described the native process
of smelting iron, and it is only necessary to refer to their papers
if information is required on the subject. Yule's account is a very
full one, and is to be found at page 853, vol. xi. part ii. of the
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The system pursued, both in
the extraction and in the subsequent smelting of the ore, is the same
at the present day as that described by Yule. Dr. Oldham, writing in
1863, says, "The quality of this Khasi iron is excellent for all such
purposes as Swedish iron is now used for. The impurity of the blooms
(or masses of the metal in a molten state), however, as they are sent
to market, is a great objection to its use, and the waste consequent
thereon renders it expensive. It would also form steel or wootz (Indian
steel) of excellent quality. I have no doubt that the manufacture
could be greatly improved and possibly extended." Dr. Oldham, however,
goes on to remark that the manufacture of iron could not be very much
extended, owing to the scanty dissemination of the ore in the rocks,
and the consequent high cost of obtaining it. At present the want
of any permanent supply of water prevents the natives from working
for more than a few days during the year, whilst the rains are heavy,
and they can readily obtain sufficient force of water for the washing
of the ore from its matrix. The export of iron in any form from the
district has now almost died out, only a few hoes being brought down by
the Khasis from Laitdom, in Khadsawphra, to the Burdwar and Palasbari
markets in the Kamrup District of the Assam Valley. Iron of English
manufacture has, of course, much cheapened the market, but probably
the fact that the parts of the country in the neighbourhood of the
rocks which contain the metal have been denuded completely of timber,
charcoal being necessary for smelting, has affected the production
almost as much as the presence of cheap iron in the market.