268 MINING IN THE CHAP. x. 



their forts round in order to resist the force of 

 the battering-rams with which they were liable 

 to be attacked, and then dug their shafts in imi- 

 tation of their fortifications ; but as the Moors 

 apprehended no attacks from such implements, 

 their fortresses were built square, and the pits 

 leading to the mines were constructed in a 

 similar manner. 



Our present object is to examine what was 

 the state of mining from the first invasion of 

 Spain by the Mahometans down to their final 

 expulsion, which latter event was nearly con- 

 temporary with the discovery of the western 

 world. Cardonrie remarks 1 , " That if we may 

 judge from the imposts levied on the Christians 

 by the Moors for indulging them in the exercise 

 of their religious rites, there must have been 

 great wealth accumulated in the hands of some 

 individuals at the time of the invasion, or much 

 gold and silver must have been extracted from 

 the mines." The same author asserts, but has 

 produced none of the evidence for the facts he 

 has stated, that " the mines of gold and silver 

 which existed in Spain were a great source of 

 wealth to the Arabs : they employed a great 

 number of workmen, and extracted a great 

 quantity of those metals." (Page 340.) In 



1 Histoire de TAfrique et de 1'Espagne sous la Domination 

 des Arabes, vol. i. p. 180. 



