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 is a piece of gun-iron of fibrous quality,
such as will bend without breaking.
The piece marked III is of crystalline quality; it has been submitted
to a process which has changed it to IIII; III and IIII are cut
from the same bar. The spade-iron has been submitted to the same process,
but no corresponding effect can be produced.
-
The iron ore exists in great abundance, but I did not find any limestone
in its immediate vicinity. So far as I could learn, there is neither
copper nor silver. Malachite is worked by the people of Cazembe,
but, as I did not see it, nor any other metal, I can say nothing about it.
A few precious stones are met with, and some parts are quite covered
with agates. The mineralogy of the district, however, has not been explored
by any one competent to the task.
When my friend the commandant was fairly recovered, and I myself
felt strong again, I prepared to descend the Zambesi. A number of my men
were out elephant-hunting, and others had established a brisk trade
in firewood, as their countrymen did at Loanda.
