in abundance in this region,
is iron, and that is of excellent quality. In some places it is obtained
from what is called the specular iron ore, and also from black oxide.
The latter has been well roasted in the operations of nature, and
contains a large proportion of the metal. It occurs generally in tears
or rounded lumps, and is but slightly magnetic. When found in the beds
of rivers, the natives know of its existence by the quantity of oxide
on the surface, and they find no difficulty in digging it with pointed
sticks. They consider English iron as "rotten"; and I have seen, when a
javelin of their own iron lighted on the cranium of a hippopotamus, it
curled up like the proboscis of a butterfly, and the owner would prepare
it for future use by straightening it COLD with two stones. I brought
home some of the hoes which Sekeletu gave me to purchase a canoe, also
some others obtained in Kilimane, and they have been found of such good
quality that a friend of mine in Birmingham has made an Enfield rifle of
them.*

* The following remarks are by a practical blacksmith, one of
the most experienced men in the gun-trade. In this trade
various qualities of iron are used, and close attention is
required to secure for each purpose the quality of iron
peculiarly adapted to it:

The iron in the two spades strongly resembles Swedish or
Russian; it is highly carbonized.

The same qualities are found in both spades.

When chilled in water it has all the properties of steel: see
the piece marked I, chilled at one end, and left soft at the
other.

When worked hot, it is very malleable: but cold, it breaks
quite short and brittle.

The great irregularity found in the working of the iron
affords evidence that it has been prepared by inexperienced
hands.

This is shown in the bending of the small spade; the thick
portion retains its crystallized nature, while the thin part
has been changed by the hammering it has undergone.

The large spade shows a very brittle fracture.

The iron is too brittle for gun-work; it would be liable to
break.

This iron, if REPEATEDLY heated and hammered, would become
decarbonized, and would then possess the qualities found in
the spear-head, which, after being curled up by being struck
against a hard substance, was restored, by hammering, to its
original form without injury.

The piece of iron marked II