100

MINES IN

CHAP. II.

his great work; nor, as far as we can see in thatauthor, does it appear to have been then produc-tive. The situation of that mine is at present wellknown to have been at Guadalcanal , in the mo-dern province of Cordova, at the foot of theSierra Morena ; and, judging from what hasbeen surveyed of it in more recent times, thewater, which was imperfectly drained by thecostly subterranean tunnel noticed by Pliny , haslong since overflowed the whole of the interiorof the mine; but whether it was exhausted ofits treasure and abandoned on that account, orwhether it was destroyed by the influx of thewater, cannot now be ascertained.

Near Carthagena, the New Carthage of theRomans, there are no traces of any mines, norin that part of Murcia any indications of orecontaining the precious metals. There maypossibly have been some other place bearingthe same name. If, however, we give full cre-dit to the extract from Polybius, we shall beled to the conclusion, that the mines were moreproductive than profitable. If the drachma betaken at seven-pence halfpenny of our money,the value of the produce of the mines would beabout seven hundred and eighty pounds daily.This distributed among forty thousand labourerswould be four-pence halfpenny a day for each.The pay of a foot soldier at that time was two-pence halfpenny per day, besides an allowance