chap, n.
49
on or near the surface was attempted to be se-parated into the two parts of metal and scorirn.At first, sharpened flint-stones were used forexcavating ; and till harder tools could be found,the search for ore must have been a most la-borious employment; for what was found on thesurface in a pure state would be soon expended.An improvement in the tools commenced as earlyas the art of giving hardness to copper, by mixingwith it some other metal, had been discovered.The hammers and chisels found in Nubia in thetime of Agatharchidas were of this hardenedcopper l . In the course of time iron was dis-covered, and found to be the most applicableto the purpose of the miners. As early as thetime of Moses , the Egyptians were not onlyac quainted with iron stone, but knew how toSe parate the metal and apply it to the variousPurposes of mankind 2 . Its discovery is carriedback by the heathens to the fabulous ages, whentheir gods were supposed to have lived with andto have instructed mortals. Agatharchidas attri-butes to Vulcan the instruction of the Egyptians111 the art of working the metals 3 . By whatever