Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/351

Rh the stone. This is covered over with a mixture of clay and fresh cow-dung to prevent the escape of heat. The molten metal flows along the grove into moulds, which are invariably of the same shape as the article to be manufactured. The iron after this is worked cold, or but rarely heated. A stone serves as an anvil, and a rude lump of metal or stone axe for hammer. The article receives its final touches by being ground smooth and neat with a stone, in lieu of a file.

This art was to them, in former days, a source of wealth, influence, and power, and the legend is, that when people did not know the value of the stones found in their brooks, a "wise man" saw a vision: The spirit of his chief stood beside him and said, "Gather stones and burn them to make spears." The sage thought it was a dream, and that the chief was hungry, so he sacrificed an ox. But the vision returned, and the chief looked sorrowful. He stood a long time, and at last said, "My son, why do you not obey your father? Go to the river; gather stones, and make a hot fire. After that, you will see iron with your eyes." The sage was greatly frightened, and feared some calamity, but dared not refuse. When he had made a hot fire, iron came out of it, and then he knew the chief had taken pity on his children. He told his son the secret before he died, but he was a vain coxcomb, and, wishing to show his own wisdom, made iron in the presence of strangers, and so the secret of the art was lost to his tribe; but they have always continued to regard iron as sacred above all other things.

The Bechuanas were once told by the "Great Spirit" that their dead were all to rise and be a great army, but he somehow changed his mind, and decided that, like other men, defunct Bechuanas must never "look upon the sun again". The chameleon and lizard were the respective messengers in this case, as they were in more important circumstances after man was first made, so it happens that, among the Bechuanas, there is a vindictive feeling against