100 MINES IN 



CHAP. II. 



his great work; nor, as far as we can see in that 

 author, does it appear to have been then produc- 

 tive. The situation of that mine is at present well 

 known to have been at Guadalcanal, in the mo- 

 dern province of Cordova, at the foot of the 

 Sierra Morena; and, 'judging from what has 

 been surveyed of it in more recent times, the 

 water, which was imperfectly drained by the 

 costly subterranean tunnel noticed by Pliny, has 

 long since overflowed the whole of the interior 

 of the mine ; but whether it was exhausted of 

 its treasure and abandoned on that account, or 

 whether it was destroyed by the influx of the 

 water, cannot now be ascertained. 



Near Carthagena, the New Carthage of the 

 Romans, there are no traces of any mines, nor 

 in that part of Murcia any indications of ore 

 containing the precious metals. There may 

 possibly have been some other place bearing 

 the same name. If, however, we give full cre- 

 dit to the extract from Polybius, we shall be 

 led to the conclusion, that the mines were more 

 productive than profitable. If the drachma be 

 taken at seven-pence halfpenny of our money, 

 the value of the produce of the mines would be 

 about seven hundred and eighty pounds daily. 

 This distributed among forty thousand labourers 

 would 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 



