for it has no floor, there have been excavated
deep pits, some of which are twelve feet in diameter and eighteen feet
deep, the sides of which are secured by strong inclosures, formed of
plates of boiler iron riveted together. These pits are filled with
moulding sand--a composition of a damp and tenacious character, used in
moulding. The mould is made and lowered into one of these pits, the pit
is filled up, the sand being rammed as hard as possible all around it.
When all is ready, the top of the mould, with the cross by which it is
to be lifted and lowered surmounting it, presents the appearance
represented on the right hand lower corner of the engraving below.

[Illustration: CASTING A CYLINDER.]

A reservoir to contain the melted metal necessary for the casting is
then placed in a convenient position near it, with a channel or conduit
leading from it to the mould. This reservoir may be seen in the
engraving near the centre of the view, at the foot of the crane. An
inclined plane is then laid, as seen in the engraving, to the left of
the reservoir, up which the workmen carry the molten metal in ladles,
which, though they do not appear very large, it requires _five men_ to
carry. A party carrying such a ladle may be seen in the engraving in the
back-ground on the left. These ladles are filled from the various
furnaces, the iron throwing out an intense heat, and projecting the most
brilliant scintillations in every direction, as it flows. In the case of
the largest castings it requires sometimes four or five hours to get
together, from the furnaces, a sufficient supply of metal. The largest
reservoir thus filled will hold about thirty tons of iron.

[Illustration: FILLING THE LADLES.]

The flowing of the metal from the reservoir to the mould in a great
casting, forms a magnificent spectacle. The vast mass of molten iron in
the reservoir, the stream flowing down the conduit, throwing out the
most brilliant corruscations, the gaseous flames issuing from the upper
portions of the mould, and the currents of melted iron which sometimes
overflow and spread, like mimic streams of lava, over the ground,
present in their combination quite an imposing pyrotechnic display. In
fact there is a chance for the visitor, in the case of castings of a
certain kind, that he may be treated to an explosion as a part of the
spectacle. The imprisoned vapors and gases which are formed in the mould
below, break out sometimes with considerabl