Ort the Bellows among the Peruvians.

253

Chap. 2.]

the trunk was expelled through C ; at the same time the flap of the upperpiston was opened by its own weight and the air passing through it, andon the descent of B all the air in the upper part of the trank was forcedinto the fire in like manner; hence an uninterrupted, though not an equableblast of wind was kept up. The whole apparatus was of wood exceptthe flaps, which were pieces of green hide rendered pliable by workingthem in the hands; and they were prevented from opening too far bynarrow slips of the same material pegged over them. There was nopacking to the pistons, but they were moved with great rapidity.

These bellows are different from those described by Dampier, Sonneratand Ellis, as used in the same island ; but they serve to corroborate a re-mark that has been made by several travelers, viz: that the negroes ofAfrica are in possession of a great variety of those instruments. The oneabove described is a fine specimen of their ingenuity, for there can be littledoubt that it is original with them—it evidently is not derived from thedouble acting bellows of China , nor can it have been procured from Europe,since nothing of the kind has, we believe, ever been used there. It is theonly bellows that we have met with having valves in the pistons.

It need hardly be observed that double pumps have been made on thesame principle. There is one figured by Belidor in the second volume ofhis Architecture Hydraulique, which differs from. the above figure only inhaving two short piston rods connected together by a frame on the outsideof the cylinder, instead of one long one working through the disk.

No stronger proofs could possibly be adduced of the analogy betweenpumps and bellows, than what the figures in this and the preceding chapterafford.

While engaged on this part of the subject we were induced to referagain to the accounts of the old Mexicans and Peruvians, in hopes of Und-ing some indications of the pump in the instruments employed to urge airinto their furnaces; but, Strange as it will appear to modern mechanics, theyare said to have been wholly ignorant of the bellows. This, if true, is avery singulär fact; and, considering the extent to which they practiced thearts of metallurgy, one that is unexampled in the history of the world. Itappears, moreover, irreconcilable with the opinion of their oriental origin;for it is difficult to conceive how emigrants or descendants of emigrantsfrom Asia , could have been ignorant of this simple instrument which hasbeen used in one form or another on that continent from the earliest times,and which is still employed by the rüdest tribes there, and also in all thoseparts whence the early Peruvians are supposed to have come. The bel-lows is common almost as the hammer, from the peninsular of Malacca to,that of Kampschatka, and from the Phillippine islands to those of Japan .In Africa, too, it is used in great variety and by people whose progress inthe arts is far behind that of the ancient smiths of America .

How little is known respecting the mechanical implements of Mexicanand Peruvian workmen and of their processes, and yet but three centurieshave elapsed since the latter were in full Operation ! We are not awarethat a single tool has been preserved, much less their modes of manufac-ture; nor is this much to be wondered at when the spirit that animatedthe conquerors is considered—it was the acquisition of gold, not the toolsfor or manner of working it, that they had in view ; and had it not beenfor the prodigious amount of bullion which they found worked into va-rious figures and Utensils, we should scarcely have ever heard of the latter;and yet the workmanship on some of them, exceeded the value of the metal.That there are errors in the accounts of early writers on the arts and ap-paratus of old American mechanics is unquestionable, and among them