THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 117 



With regard to bronze in Europe, we must Lear in mind that 

 tin was to be procured only in England and Spain, and in the 

 latter in very small quantity : the mines of Saxony do not seem to 

 have been known till the middle ages. We must further consider 

 that tin ore is a substance not metallic in appearance, and little 

 likely to attract the attention of savages ; and that, as we gather 

 from a hint of Pliny, it was probably first observed, in the west at 

 least, as stream tin, in the Spanish gold washings. Lastly, when 

 we place in connection with these considerations, the fact that in 

 the earliest times of which we have certain knowledge, the tin 

 trade of Spain and England was monopolized by the Phoenicians, 

 there seems to be a strong probability that the extension of the 

 trade of this nation to the western Mediteranean,really inaugurated 

 the bronze period. The only valid argument against this, is the 

 fact that moulds and other indications of native bronze casting 

 have been found in Switzerland, Denmark, and elsewhere ; but 

 these show nothing more than that the natives could re-cast 

 bronze articles, just as the American Indians can forge fish-hooks 

 and knives out of nails and iron hoops. Other considerations might 

 be adduced in proof of this view, but the limits of our article will not 

 permit us to refer to them. The important questions still remain : 

 when was this trade commenced, and how rapidly did it extend 

 itself from the sea-coast across Europe. The British tin trade 

 must have been in existence in the time of Herodotus, though his 

 notion of the locality was not more definite than that it was in 

 the extremity of the earth. The Phoenician settlements in the 

 western Mediterranean must have existed as early as the time of 

 Solomon, when "Ships of Tarshish " was the general designation 

 of sea-going ships for long voyages. How long previously these 

 colonies existed we do not know ; but considering the great scar- 

 city and value of tin in those very ancient times, we may infer 

 that perhaps only the Spanish, and not the British deposits were 

 kuown thus early ; or that the Phoenicians had only indirect ac- 

 cess to the latter. Perhaps we may fix the time when these traders 

 were able to supply the nations of Europe with abundance of 

 bronze in exchange for their products, at, say 1000 to 1200 B.C., 

 as the earliest probable period ; and probably from one to two 

 centuries would be a sufficient allowance for the complete pene- 

 tration of the trade throughout Europe ; but of course wars or mi- 

 grations might retard or accelerate the process ; and there may 

 have been isolated spots in which a partial stone period extended 



