es of all
countries where iron was first made. Small openings at the lower end
of the cone to admit the air, and a larger orifice at the top, would,
with charcoal, be sufficient to produce the requisite degree of heat
for the reduction of the ore. To this the foot-blast was added, as
still used in Ceylon and in India; and afterwards the water-blast, as
employed in Spain (where it is known as the Catalan forge), along the
coasts of the Mediterranean, and in some parts of America.

It is worthy of remark, that the ruder the method employed for the
reduction of the ore, the better the quality of the iron usually is.
Where the art is little advanced, only the most tractable ores are
selected; and as charcoal is the only fuel used, the quality of the
metal is almost invariably excellent. The ore being long exposed to
the charcoal fire, and the quantity made small, the result is a metal
having many of the qualities of steel, capable of being used for
weapons or tools after a comparatively small amount of forging. Dr.
Livingstone speaks of the excellent quality of the iron made by the
African tribes on the Zambesi, who refuse to use ordinary English iron,
which they consider "rotten." [10] Du Chaillu also says of the Fans,
that, in making their best knives and arrow-heads, they will not use
European or American iron, greatly preferring their own. The
celebrated wootz or steel of India, made in little cakes of only about
two pounds weight, possesses qualities which no European steel can
surpass. Out of this material the famous Damascus sword-blades were
made; and its use for so long a period is perhaps one of the most
striking proofs of the ancient civilization of India.

The early history of iron in Britain is necessarily very obscure. When
the Romans invaded the country, the metal seems to have been already
known to the tribes along the coast. The natives had probably smelted
it themselves in their rude bloomeries, or obtained it from the
Phoenicians in small quantities in exchange for skins and food, or tin.
We must, however, regard the stories told of the ancient British
chariots armed with swords or scythes as altogether apocryphal. The
existence of iron in sufficient quantity to be used for such a purpose
is incompatible with contemporary facts, and unsupported by a single
vestige remaining to our time. The country was then mostly forest, and
the roads did not as yet exist upon which chariots could be used;
w