chap. ii.

SPAIN.

89

and Chemnitz had been worked near one thou-sand years.

If the mines of Sweden and of Norway yieldedany silver or gold at that remote period, whichmay perhaps be presumed from what has beenfound by opening tumuli, as before related, wehave no knowledge of the nature or the quan-tity of the products.

There will occur in a future stage of this in-quiry an opportunity of entering more particu-larly into the state of the mines of Gaul, Hun-gary , and the northern kingdoms. As they werelittle productive before the time of Augustus ,the accounts of them will be more appropriateat a later period.

The country most productive of the precious Spain ,metals, but especially of silver, in very remoteages, was the Spanish peninsula. It had beenv isited and colonized both by the Phoenicians and by the refugees of that people, who hadfounded establishments at Utica and at Carthage 0n the shores of Africa, and both had earlydrawn supplies of silver from it. The oldest no-tices of it are to be found in the sacred writings.Solomon sent a commercial expedition there,fsaiah, who is supposed to have written aboutyears before Christ, asks the question—

‘ Who are they that fly as a cloud, and as thedoves to their windows ?” and replies, “ Theships of Tarshish, to bring thy sons from afar,