Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c22.4

c22.4

Iron and steel are still made in India, but the industry is dying out. In 1880 the Duirdusti mines on the Godāvari were still worked; the iron sand being "melted with charcoal, without any flux, and is obtained at once in a perfectly tough and malleable state, superior to any English iron, or even the best Swedish. . . . Excellent steel is also still fused for gun barrels and sword blades." A more detailed account of iron and steel manufacture in India in still more recent times is given by V. S. Sambasiva Iyer in a lecture on "Iron Smelting in Mysore," published in Madras in 1902. Mr. Iyer thinks it possible that with improved methods it may be possible to continue and revive the industry in Mysore, where there is still some market for the local iron and steel, though these cost rather more than imported materials. Even in Ceylon there is a decided preference for the local product, *Metal work* while for making steel, the country-made iron is said to be altogether superior, probably on account of its freedom from phosphorus.