MINING IN THE CHAP. X. 



before noticed in this inquiry, that Asturia, Lu- 

 sitania, and Galicia furnished annually twenty 

 thousand pounds of gold. This may be an error 

 or an exaggeration, or a mistake in the Roman 

 numerals ; but there i$ no ground for believing 

 that any mines of gold were found, the workings 

 of which were constantly proceeding ; for in 

 every instance of which we have any accurate 

 information, when gold has been found in mines, 

 it has been speedily exhausted. The gold fur- 

 nished by the Spanish peninsula to its Roman 

 masters, be it as much as Pliny states, or only a 

 portion of that quantity, was most probably sup- 

 plied by washing the sand of the streams. This 

 we may infer from the name given to several of 

 the rivers, such as the Duero and the Darro, 

 both of which yielded gold under the Moorish 

 domination, as did many others, as well as their 

 contributory brooks. 



In a country like Spain, where the necessaries 

 of life are to be procured with but little labour, 

 where both under the Romans and the Arabs 

 their rulers had unlimited power, and the great 

 body of the people no means of resisting the 

 most oppressive commands, a very great number 

 of persons might be employed in searching for 

 gold; and though under other circumstances 

 that labour might have been applied to more 

 beneficial purposes, yet none would be so capti- 

 vating to the ambitious and greedy governors. 



