Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa by Mungo Park
page 266 of 456 (58%)
page 266 of 456 (58%)
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converted chiefly into sandals, and therefore require less care in
dressing than the skins of sheep and goats, which are used for covering quivers and saphies, and in making sheaths for swords and knives, belts, pockets, and a variety of ornaments. These skins are commonly dyed of a red or yellow colour; the red, by means of millet stalks reduced to powder; and the yellow, by the root of a plant, the name of which I have forgotten. The manufacturers in iron are not so numerous as the _Karrankeas_; but they appear to have studied their business with equal diligence. The Negroes on the Coast being cheaply supplied with iron from the European traders, never attempt the manufacturing of this article themselves; but in the inland parts, the natives smelt this useful metal in such quantities, as not only to supply themselves from it with all necessary weapons and instruments, but even to make it an article of commerce with some of the neighbouring states. During my stay at Kamalia, there was a smelting furnace at a short distance from the hut where I lodged, and the owner and his workmen made no secret about the manner of conducting the operation; and readily allowed me to examine the furnace, and assist them in breaking the ironstone. The furnace was a circular tower of clay, about ten feet high, and three in diameter; surrounded in two places with withes, to prevent the clay from cracking and falling to pieces by the violence of the heat. Round the lower part, on a level with the ground,(but not so low as the bottom of the furnace, which was somewhat concave,) were made seven openings, into every one of which were placed three tubes of clay, and the openings again plastered up in such a manner that no air could enter the furnace but through the tubes; by the opening and shutting of which they regulated the fire. These tubes were formed by plastering a mixture of clay and grass round a smooth roller of wood, which as soon as the clay began to harden was withdrawn, and the tube |
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