A few notes, gathered during a couple of years while I was employed at one of the large lead works in the southeastern part of Spain, are of interest, not as showing good work, but for comparing the results obtained in modern practice with those obtained by what is probably the most primitive kind of smelting to be found today. The plant about to be described may serve as a general type for that country. As far as I know, the exceptions are a large plant at Mazarron, fully up to date and equipped with the most modern improvements in every line; a smaller plant at Almeria, also in good shape, and the reverberatory smelting of the carbonates at Linares. It should be kept in mind, however, that the conditions are peculiar, iron and machinery being very expensive and manual labor very cheap. [Illustration: FIG. 41.—Spanish Lead Blast Furnace.] About 4 ft. above the tuyeres the furnace is built of uncalcined brick made of a black graphitic clay found in the mines near by; the upper part is of common red brick. The entire cost of one furnace does not reach $100. The flue leads to a main gallery 3.5 by 7 ft., which goes down to the ground, and extends several times around a hill, the chimney being placed on the top of the hill, considerably above the furnace level. The gallery is about 10,000 ft. long, and is laid down in the earth, with the arched roof just emerging. It is all built of rough stone, the inside being plastered with gypsum. The furnace has three tuyeres of 3 in. diameter. The blast pressure is generally 4 to 6 in. of water. Neither feeding floor nor elevators are used, only a couple of scaffolds, the charge being lifted up gradually by hand in small convenient buckets made of sea-grass. When charging the furnace, coke is piled up in the center, and the mixture of ore, fluxes and slag is charged around the walls. The slag and matte are left to run out together on an inclined sand-bed. The matte, flowing more quickly, goes further and leaves the slag behind, but the separation thus obtained is, of course, very unsatisfactory. The charge mixture is weighed and made for each furnace every morning. When it is all put through, the furnace is run down very low, without any protecting cover on the top; several iron bars are driven through the furnace at the slag-tap level, for holding up the charge; the lead is all tapped out; a big hole is made in the crucible for the purpose of cleaning it out; all accretions are loosened with a bar; the hole is closed with mud of the graphitic clay; bars are removed, when the crucible is filled with coke from the center and the charging is continued. In this way a furnace can be kept running for any length of time, but at a great loss of heat, and with a great increase of flue dust.