Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/31

Rh simple in construction, being only a troughlike pit in the ground about fifteen or twenty feet long, three feet deep, and two feet wide. It is walled up with stone and plastered with mud so that it is very smooth on the inside and has the appearance of a large mud trough. A cover of heavy boards is made to fit into this trough and is hung on a centerpiece, thus allowing it to work up and down like a seesaw. When the bellows is being operated, five or six men stand on either end of the cover and, all swinging together, "up and down they go," all singing a sort of singsong that they keep up for the purpose of swinging together. In the center of the trough is a partition with valves so constructed that when" the cover comes down at one end the wind is forced into the other end, then as the other end comes down it is forced into the furnace and makes the fire burn. This is kept up till the ore is melted, and then it is drawn out and cast into pig iron. In order to melt this ore, of course coal is required, of which there may be plenty in the mountains near by; but these men care little about that. Their fathers melted iron ore with charcoal, and so will they as long as they can find wood, which is so easily converted into charcoal. In the location of the smelting plant a good place to get wood is taken into consideration as well as a place where the ore may be easily obtained. Pits or kilns in which the charcoal is burned are constructed partially under ground and covered over with stone and mud. These are made very hot by burning wood in them for some time, then they are filled with wood and sealed up for several