CHAP. ii. EGYPT AND NUBIA. 



on or near the surface was attempted to be se- 

 parated into the two parts of metal and scoriae. 

 At first, sharpened flint-stones were used for 

 excavating ; and till harder tools could be found, 

 the search for ore must have been a most la- 

 borious employment; for what was found on the 

 surface in a pure state would be soon expended. 

 An improvement in the tools commenced as early 

 as the art of giving hardness to copper, by mixing 

 with it some other metal, had been discovered. 

 The hammers and chisels found in Nubia in the 

 time of Agatharchidas were of this hardened 

 copper l . In the course of time iron was dis- 

 covered, and found to be the most applicable 

 to the purpose of the miners. As early as the 

 time of Moses, the Egyptians were not only 

 acquainted with iron stone, but knew how to 

 separate the metal and apply it to the various 

 purposes of mankind 2 . Its discovery is carried 

 back by the heathens to the fabulous ages, when 

 their gods were supposed to have lived with and 

 to have instructed mortals. Agatharchidas attri- 

 butes to Vulcan the instruction of the Egyptians 

 in the art of working the metals 3 . By whatever 



1 Agatharchidas, apud Photium, p. 1341. 



2 The chief passages which give information respecting iron, 

 in the early parts of the Old Testament, are, Job, xx. 34, 

 xxviii. 2, and xli. 27; Leviticus, xxvi. 19; Deuteronomy, 

 xxviii. 23 and 48. 



3 Agatharchidas, apud Photium, p. 1341. 



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