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The Assyrians and Babylonians made almost exclusive use of brickwork in erecting the vast piles of buildings the shapeless ruins of which mark the site of ancient Nineveh and of the cities of the valley of the Euphrates. Their bricks, it is believed, were entirely sun-dried, not burnt to fuse or vitrify them as ours are, and they have consequently crumbled into mere mounds.
They would not doubtless have the advantages of the wicks which are impregnated with boracic acid, and which vitrify as they burn and are entirely consumed, but Cyrus Harding having manufactured a beautiful pair of snuffers, these candles would be greatly appreciated during the long evenings in Granite House. During this month there was no want of work in the interior of their new dwelling.
In the erupted lavas, those substances which are subject to calcine and vitrify in our fires, suffer similar changes, when delivered from a compression which had rendered them fixed, though in an extremely heated state.
On the brow of the hill were collected heaps of large stones, to be thrown down upon the enemy, if an attack on the post was attempted. The coffle entered the Jallonka wilderness on the 23rd. They passed the ruins of two small towns, burnt by the Foulahs, and the fire had been so intense as to vitrify the walls of several huts, which at a distance appeared as if coloured with red varnish.
Good brick earth is not simple clay, but a compound substance; and what is essential is that it should burn hard or, in other words, partly vitrify under the action of heat. The brick earth is usually dug up in the autumn, left for the frosts of winter to break it up, and worked up in the early spring.
In ten minutes or so all this excitement would die out, the dancers unlock their hands the men climb out of the pit and throw themselves panting on the sand, leaving the kelp to settle, cool, and vitrify. But while it lasted the boy knew of no excitement comparable with it. Little wonder that he remembered those fiery pits with the dark figures dancing around their brims!
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