Iron production by the Kuay people of Cambodia in 1880 according to Edgar Boulangier

The principal – one might well say the only – industry of Cambodia is iron production, and this industry is concentrated in the region of the primitive Kuay people. They are subjects of Norodom [king of Cambodia, r. 1860–1904], to whom they pay a light tax as a token of their bondage. Each year a mandarin from Compong-Thom travels through their villages to levy the agreed tribute. Highland ironworkers pay three kilograms of reduced ore; this represents for a forgemaster of the region a contribution of ten to eleven francs. One can thus form an idea of the importance of these forges: in all, they produce something like three tonnes of metal per year.

But to be fair, this iron is of the first quality. Before hardening, it has remarkable elasticity. I have observed at the artillery workshops in Saigon that this iron can endure five right-angle twists without breaking; the Navy specifications require only three. It is coarsely forged by the natives, but if it is given a suitable treatment, its toughness increases because of its purity. When hardened, its hardness is incredible. A chisel made of the Kuay iron penetrates French wrought iron without difficulty. Extremely steely, it rings with a tone comparable to that of bell-metal. For all of these reasons it is highly esteemed in Cambodia, where it is sold in bars weighing about 250 grams. Each bar costs one ligature [string of coins] (about 75 centimes), which corresponds to three francs per kilogram. The Cambodians are tight-fisted with this iron. They sell ordinary iron to the Chinese and reserve the Kuay iron for special applications, for example the cutting edges of axes and pickaxes. Likewise the primitive Kuay keep only the quantity strictly necessary for making the large heavy knives that they use for cutting wood, opening coconuts, and butchering small animals. The Kuay knife is their livelihood – I would say their daily bread, if bread were known there.

The metallurgical procedures that produce this excellent iron are quite rudimentary. The operation of a ‘forge’ [bloomery furnace] requires only two or three workers, and the ‘forge’ is idle seven out of eight days. On a convex clay floor, formed like a donkeyback, the Kuay construct a rectangular box measuring 2.50 × 1.20 metres in which they spread alternating layers of fine grains of ore and charcoal. Combustion is urged by two bellows, worked discontinuously. These take air into containers whose upper surface is formed by a wetted deerskin. Lifting this skin – which requires considerable effort – and pushing it down under his own weight, the worker blows into the hearth about thirty litres of air every ten seconds. The ingot [bloom] obtained is taken to the ‘foundry’ [the forge]. Here it is broken up into small pieces which are hammered together at red heat to transform them into bars. This hammering is done by children; I saw some who were not under ten years old. The anvil is a kind of nail-head eight centimetres wide.

Such is the metallurgy of the Kuay.

 

Last edited by DBW 28 February 2023