Bronze Furnace discovered near St MichaeVs Mount. 59 



duction into European languages. While the Saxon, Dutch, and 

 Danish word is the same as our own, the Swedish word is tenn, 

 the German zinn, the French etain, the Latin stannum^ the Irish 

 stan^ the Cornish stean, the Armonic stean and also staen, the letter 

 s in each of the last four words being probably a mere prefix, as in 

 the modern word sneeze for neese* 



It may be inferred, from the account given by Diodorus, that no 

 smelting-works existed in the ancient Iktin: and we may safely 

 conclude that St Michael's Mount never had any ; for they are in- 

 variably erected near streams, and no stream is found there. The 

 stream nearest it is that flowing into the sea at Marazion ; and its . 

 banks must have been one of the most convenient spots in Mount's 

 Bay for a smelting establishment. On this very spot, traces of 

 such an establishment have been discovered. The stream being 

 lately diverted, flowed westward to a considerable distance along the 

 base of the adjoining sand-hillock, rapidly undermining it and wash- 

 ing away large portions. In sections thus made, I saw, at the 

 depth of between 12 and 20 feet beneath the surface, the remains of 

 ancient walls rudely built of unhewn stones mixed with clay, and 

 near them great quantities of ashes, charcoal, and slag, or the vitri- 

 fied refuse of smelted ores, such as may be seen near any tin-smelt- 

 ing house at the present day — ^grains of tin being frequently im- 

 bedded in the slag. Some very ancient broken pottery, of rude 

 manufacture, was also found, and much brick. But the most ex- 

 traordinary discovery which my nephew and myself made when we 

 had removed a portion of the sand, within a few inches of one of the 

 walls, was two fragments of a bronze vessel resting on a layer of 

 charcoal. A considerable portion of the charcoal had combined with 

 the metal during the lapse of ages, and a beautiful green substance 

 had resulted, closely resembling, and no doubt identical with, mala- 

 chite, or the carbonate of copper. The fragments were each about six 

 inches long, four wide, and only about 1-2 0th of an inch thick, hav- 

 ing been apparently parts of the circular top of a vessel three feet 

 in diameter, the mouth being bent back into a horizontal rim three- 

 quarters of an inch broad. The charcoal adhering to the vessel was 

 exclusively on the outside. It seems highly probable that this fur- 

 nace was brought hither by the Phoenicians ; for it is recorded by 

 Strabo that they furnished us with " earthenware, salt, and brass (or 

 bronze) utensils" (^aXxu/Mara ■\) in exchange for our tin, lead, and 

 hides. Caesar, too, has stated, that the " brass" (or bronze) which 

 the Britons used was imported, (^re utuntur importato.l) Robert 

 Hunt, Esq., at whose request I have presented a fragment to the 



* See Job xli. 18. 



t Geograph. iii. 8. See Ezra viii. 27, anil Eaek. xxvii. 13. 



; De Bello (iallico, V. 10. 



