He then takes
his chisel in one hand, and his mallet in the other, and cuts off a
small piece. Afterwards he holds the piece in one hand, and while he
shapes it with his chisel with the other, he steadies it by pressing it
against his great toe.
[Illustration]
The blacksmiths, with the exception of those who use the sledge-hammer,
sit as do the carpenters while they hammer the iron. I wish you could
see them at work with their simple apparatus. They have small anvils,
which they place in a hole made in a log of wood which is buried in the
ground. They do not use such bellows as you see in America.
Theirs consist of two leather bags, about a foot wide and a foot and a
half long, each having a nozzle at one end. The other end is left open
to admit the air. When they wish to blow the fire, they extend these
bags to let in the air. They then close them by means of the thumb on
one side, and the fingers on the other, and press them down towards the
nozzle of the bellows, which forces the air through them into the fire.
I should have said before, that the nozzle of the bellows passes through
a small semicircular mound of dried mud.
I mentioned that the natives do not use tables and chairs in their
houses.
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