On My Arrival At Camp I Found The Natives Very Excited At The Appearance
Of Rain, Which They Firmly Believed Had Been Called Specially By Their
Chief.
All were busy preparing their molotes (iron hoes), fitting new
handles, and getting everything ready for the periodical sowing of their
crop.
The handles of the molotes are extremely long, from seven to ten feet,
and the instrument being shaped like a miner's spade (heart-shaped), is
used like a Dutch hoe, and is an effective tool in ground that has been
cleared, but is very unfitted for preparing fresh soil. Iron ore of good
quality exists on the surface throughout this country.
The Latookas, like the Baris, are excellent blacksmiths, producing a
result that would astonish an English workman, considering the rough
nature of their tools, which are confined to a hammer, anvil, and tongs;
the latter formed of a cleft-stick of green wood, while the two former
are stones of various sizes. Their bellows consist of two pots about a
foot deep; from the bottom of each is an earthenware pipe about two feet
long, the points of which are inserted in a charcoal fire. The mouths of
the pots are covered with very pliable leather, loose and well greased;
in the centre of each leather covering is an upright stick about four
feet long, and the bellows-blower works these rapidly with a
perpendicular motion, thus producing a strong blast. The natives are
exceedingly particular in the shape of their molotes, and invariably
prove them by balancing them on their heads and ringing them by a blow
with the finger.
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