CHAP. II. 



SPAIN. 93 



gines, who were at length either mixed up with 

 them or brought into subjection. 



According to the description of Diodorus 1 , 

 the inhabitants of Spain were in almost the lowest 

 stage of society when the first Phoenicians visited 

 it. The relations of that author may not be 

 literally true, but rested on some facts possibly 

 mistated or exaggerated in the hands through 

 which they had passed before they were com- 

 mitted to written records. 



We are informed by the author last mentioned, 

 that the Pyrenean mountains were covered with 

 thick woods, that those were set on fire either 

 by the shepherds or by lightning, and continued 

 burning a long time, and that the effect of such 

 fire caused the melting of the minerals ; in con- 

 sequence of which the pure silver ran down into 

 the valleys like a stream of water. 



As the inhabitants were unacquainted with 

 its value, they readily exchanged it with some 

 Phoenician traders, who accidentally visited their 

 shores, for such trifling ornamental articles as 

 they had brought. The traders are said to have 

 loaded their vessels with the precious metal till 

 they could carry no more, and then to have cut 

 the leaden anchors from the bows and replaced 

 them with others of silver. 



Such a store of silver as was on or near the 



1 Diodorus, book v. cap. 2. 



