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Hokitika Guardian, 13 May 1929, Page 7

PREHISTORIC MAN IN HISTORY. Prehistoric man at the beginning of the Iron Age .thousands of years ago learned to produce iron lrom iron or by a process identical in chemica principle with that employed to-day. The primitive method is indeed stilt in use among wild tribes* m the bills oi India and in other undeveloped parts of tlie world. A mixture oif lumps of ore with charcoal is piled into a cone a fev. feet high and covered over with clay leaving openings at the bottom int > which air, may lie introduced and an exit for gases at the ton. llte wild men squat about this miniature fuiuac* 1 lowing patiently through bamboo tub os or creating draught with a crude ' ollmvs made from goat .skill. After a few hours the carbon monoxide from the burning charcoal has reduced each jump nf iron ore to a mass ol spongi iron. The furnace is then torn down and the spongy iron is compacted b pounding on. an anvil.