Primitive Iron-works

'■Rode witli Livinslon to see the ironworks of tlie Backatlas, and found them well worthy a visit. The construclion and management of the apparatus, vvhich, as niight be e.xpected, was of a most primitive anl simple order, wns as follows. Ar. oval hole, about six feet long two fcet deiep, and two feet broad, was divided in the centre by a elay kiln.some thr;e feet high. In ihis kiln successive layers of charcoal and iron ore ('the oxyde of iron dug in the adjncei t hills,) were placed. Two men sat in the hole.", one on either side the kiln, and each held in his hand two goat-skin bellows, the nozzles of which were made of horn,and inseitcd in holes at the base of the kiln. By means of these acontinuous blast was kept up. The bellows ivere merclv lealher bags, made to open and close at their mouths by two paralled bils of stick, like the mouth of a carpet bag. A circular fencc enclosed the whole from public view.for'these wprks ore kept secret fromall but inhiated, and thn forging nrt is confined to certain families; even Mosélell, thoir king, has Deen refused an insight into theni. White .men are supposed aheady to understand tlie art, and, when altended hy a missionary, are readily admitted. Four parts of the ore, at least, are wasled in theash; the remainder, consisting of pure metal, is wrought into form with stone hammers and anvils. Tabnl Cnbin must have made gieater proticienoy in the art. "The smiths are very superstitioiifand osa many herbs as charms-, or medicine for the iron during their labor. Simple, however, as is this process, the original discovery that the ore could.by the medium of fn-e,bo marie available to the service of man, is singular amongst men living so enlirely in a state of nature. Hoes knives, shears,hatchetf,and are thaa manufiictured. A whole duv's jrork does not yield more than a few pounds of iron, and it is only during ono or twn months in the year ihat it is lawfujlo work. The roeks here are trap, porphyry, schist, and sandstone, nnd the ore is founÜ at tlie junction of the ingeous and acqueous