48 PruceediiKjs of the Royal Irish Academi/. 



Assuming for tlie moment that these inhabited the present western 

 part of Marocco (as has been argued), it is to be noted that remains of 

 cities, and of mining works of a very high antiquity are mentioned as 

 existing there, and as awaiting the researches of archaeologists. In so 

 far as the expeditions of the Milesians took place by sea, they involved 

 the use of shipping ; and it is reasonable, if not necessary, to admit 

 that they were effected by means of the commercial vessels of the 

 period, whose commanders had a knowledge of the navigation of the 

 coasts and ports, to which the emigrants wished to go, or could be 

 advantageously ti'ansported to. JS'ow it seems admitted, that while 

 the Pelasgians, the Ehodians, and the TpThenians disputed with the 

 Phoenicians the maritime supremacy of the Mediterranean, it was 

 otherwise as regards the coasts of Spain, outside the pillars of 

 Hercules. There the Phoenicians reigned supreme, so far as is known 

 to us, and hence it may be inferred that the expedition of the 

 Milesians into Spain was in some way connected with the trading 

 enterprise of the Phoenicians. Hence, it is of interest to show to 

 what extent they dominated as navigators and merchants. IN'ow, in 

 the excellent article on "Phoenicia," in "Chambers' Encyclopedia" 

 (1865), it is stated : — 



" In the space of three centuries (1300 to 1000 b.c.) the Phoeni- 

 cians had covered all the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean with 

 their forts, their factories, and their cities ; and their ships, which 

 ploughed the main in all dii-ections everywhere, found theii" own ports. 

 To the east of the ^gean, we find them at Erythroe, and further, as 

 masters of the islands of Samothrace, Lemnos, and Thasos, with its 

 wealth of goldmines. From Sardinia and Minorca the indefatigable 

 mariners went still further west, through the Straits of Gibraltar to 

 Tarshish (the California of those days) or Spain, where they founded 

 Gaddir or Cadiz ; and in the south, Karteja, Malaka, and Abdarah. 

 Prom here, having colonized well nigh the whole of the Spanish coast, 

 they went northwards to the Tin Islands (Scilly Islands), and to 

 Britain herself. The impulse given to industiy and the arts by this 

 almost unparalleled extension of their commercial sphere was enor- 

 mous. The wealth of silver, iron, tin, and lead was chiefly got fi'om 

 Tartessus. The description of the abundance of precious metals there 

 verges on the fabulous. Their mining operations in the Lebanon and 

 Cyprus, where they dug for copper ; in Thasos, where, according to 

 Herodotus, they overtm-ned a whole mountain in search of gold, but 

 more particularly in Iberia, where at fij'st silver was so abundant, 

 that hai'dly any labour was required to obtain it, were stupendous ; 



