Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c22.17

c22.17

Metal work Iron smelting *Metal work* of iron nearly half through; the gash so made is widened by the insertion of a green log, which is beaten in so as to force the edges further apart; this is done that the quality of the iron may be examined, for the outside is spongy, and the whole texture far from homogeneous. The bloom is then thrown into water and afterwards taken out and left to finish cooling. *Iron* *smelting* The bloom thus made is soft and malleable, and weighs about 6 lb.; it is sold to the blacksmiths for 50 cents. It is of interest to note that there was evidently associated with the iron smelters' furnace, as with all agricultural and craft operations, some idea of ceremonial purity and of religion. I have not been able to obtain any songs relating to the subject, but it is noted by Lawrie (Gazetteer, p. 686) that in 1811 when some villagers had gone, as they often did, to Nuvara Eliya to smelt iron, that one of their companions fell sick, whereupon he was at once carried away, lest by death he should defile the furnaces. Some hint of a survival of primitive religious ideas is also found in the two cobras which may be seen moulded on the wattle-and-daub wall of the steel furnace, Pl. LIII., 5 and 6.