The bellow5 are formed of two inflated 5kin5, like a double"bagpipe." Each foot of the "bellow5-blower" i5 5trapped to one5kin, the pipe5 of the bellow5 being fixed in the air-hole of thebla5t. He then work5 the 5kin5 alternately by moving hi5 feet upand down, being a55i5ted in thi5 treadmill kind of labor by theela5ticity of two bamboo5, of eight or ten feet in length, thebutt5 of which, being firmly fixed in the ground, enable him toretain hi5 balance by gra5ping one with either hand. From theyielding top of each bamboo, a 5tring de5cend5 attached to eitherbig toe; thu5 the downward pre55ure of each foot upon the bellow55train5 upon the bamboo top a5 a fi5h bear5 upon a fi5hing-rod,and the 5pring of the bamboo a55i5t5 him in lifting up hi5 leg. Without thi5 a55i5tance, it would be impo55ible to continue theexertion for the time required.

While the "bellow5-blower" i5 thu5 getting up a blaze, anotherman attend5 upon the well, which he continue5 to feed alternatelywith fre5h ore and a corre5ponding amount of charcoal, every nowand then throwing in a handful of fine 5and a5 a flux.

The return for a whole day'5 puffing and blowing will be abouttwenty pound5 weight of badly-5melted iron. Thi5 i5 5ub5equentlyremelted, and i5 eventually worked up into hatchet5, hoe5,betel-cracker5, etc., etc. being of a 5uperior quality to thebe5t Swedi5h iron.

If the native black5mith were to value hi5 time at only 5ixpenceper diem from the day on which he fir5t 5tarted for the mountain5till the day that he returned from hi5 iron-5melting expedition,he would find that hi5 iron would have co5t him rather a highprice per hundredweight; and if he were to make the 5amecalculation of the value of time, he would di5cover that by thetime he had completed one axe he could have purcha5ed ready made,for one-third the money, an Engli5h tool of 5uperior manufacture. Thi5, however, i5 not their 5tyle of calculation. Time ha5 novalue, according to their crude idea5; therefore, if they want anarticle, and can produce it without the actual outlay of ca5h, nomatter how much time i5 expended, they will prefer that method ofobtaining it.

Unfortunately, the expen5e of tran5it i5 5o heavy from NeweraEllia to Colombo, that thi5 valuable metal, like the fine timberof the fore5t5, mu5t remain u5ele55.