India, the Hindu
infidels are sent to _Jihannam_ with "the well-watered blade of the Hindi
sword"; or the sword is personified as "a Hindu of good family." Coming
down to later days, Chardin says of the steel of Persia: "They combine it
with Indian steel, which is more tractable ... and is much more esteemed."
Dupre, at the beginning of this century, tells us: "I used to believe ...
that the steel for the famous Persian sabres came from certain mines in
Khorasan. But according to all the information I have obtained, I can
assert that no mine of steel exists in that province. What is used for
these blades comes in the shape of disks from Lahore." Pottinger names
_steel_ among the imports into Kerman from India. Elphinstone the
Accurate, in his _Caubul_, confirms Dupre: "Indian Steel [in Afghanistan]
is most prized for the material; but the best swords are made in Persia
and in Syria;" and in his _History of India_, he repeats: "The steel of
India was in request with the ancients; it is celebrated in the oldest
Persian poem, and is still the material of the scimitars of Khorasan and
Damascus."[4]

Klaproth, in his _Asia Polyglotta_, gives _Andun_ as the Ossetish and
_Andan_ as the Wotiak, for Steel. Possibly these are essentially the same
with _Hundwaniy_ and _Alhinde_, pointing to India as the original source
of supply. [In the _Sikandar Nama, e Bara_ (or "Book of Alexander the
Great," written A.D. 1200, by Abu Muhammad bin Yusuf bin Mu,
Ayyid-i-Nizamu-'d-Din), translated by Captain H. Wilberforce Clarke
(Lond., 1881, large 8vo), steel is frequently mentioned: Canto xix. 257,
p. 202; xx. 12, p. 211; xlv. 38, p. 567; lviii. 32, pp. 695, 42, pp. 697,
62, 66, pp. 699; lix. 28, p. 703.--H. C.]

Avicenna, in his fifth book _De Anima_, according to Roger Bacon,
distinguishes three very different species of iron: "1st. Iron which is
good for striking or bearing heavy strokes, and for being forged by hammer
and fire, but not for cutting-tools. Of this hammers and anvils are made,
and this is what we commonly call _Iron_ simply. 2nd. That which is purer,
has more heat in it, and is better adapted to take an edge and to form
cutting-tools, but is not so malleable, viz. _Steel_. And the 3rd is that
which is called ANDENA. This is less known among the Latin nations. Its
special character is that like silver it is malleable and ductile under a
very low degree of heat. In other properties it is intermediate between
iron and steel."