The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

HANDICRAFTS 195
one end of a stout pliable stick, which is firmly fixed
at its other end in a horizontal position, the cord
being of such a length that the piston-head is supported
by it near the upper end of the cylinder.
Two men squat upon the platform and each works
one pair of the cylinders, grasping a piston-rod in
each hand, thrusting them down alternately, and
allowing the elastic reaction of the supporting rods
above to draw them
up again. The
crucible, having been
brought to white heat
in the furnace, is
allowed to cool, when
a mass of metallic
iron or steel is found
within it.
The forging of implements
from the
metal obtained is
effected by the aid of
a charcoal furnace to
which a blast is supplied
by the bellows
described above, or
Fig. 31.— Stone Hammers.
sometimes by one consisting
of two cylinders only. Stone anvils and
hammers were formerly used, and may still be seen
in use in the far interior (Fig. 31)
make iron hammers and an anvil consisting of a
short thick bar of iron, the lower end of which is
fixed vertically in a large block of wood.
The peculiarly shaped and finely tempered swordblade,
malat, is the highest product of the Kayan
blacksmith. The smith begins his operations on a
bar of steel some eight inches in length. One end
; but the Kayans
is either grasped with pincers, or thrust firmly into
a block of wood that serves for a handle. The