on some ancient metallic Arms and Utensils. 443 
Locke bad been acquainted with the properties of the allays 
of copper by tin, and of their extensive use in highly advanced 
states of civilization among the ancients; he would have known 
that iron was not the only metal by the use of which we are 
in possession of the useful arts, nor consequently is it “ past 
“ doubt, that were the use of iron lost among us, we should in a 
“ few ages be unavoidably reduced to the wants and ignorance 
“ of the ancient savage Americans/' In the barbarous state 
of its inhabitants, this island was known to the civilized na- 
tions of Europe, Asia, and Africa ; and denominated in two of 
the most ancient languages, namely, the Phoenician and 
Greek, by terms which denote, the land of tin ; for guch, ac- 
cording to Bochart, is the import of Britain, a corruption of 
Barat-Anac, or Bratanac ; and there is no doubt of the mean- 
ing of the Greek word Cassiterides. 
I do not mean by these observations to represent, as authors 
in general have done, that the ancients were not acquainted 
with the art of manufacturing iron, or steel, till long after the 
common use of copper, or that they did not know the superior 
properties of iron and steel ; on the contrary, if this were the 
proper place, I could show that iron, or at least steel, was 
manufactured, and its useful properties understood, as early as 
copper was known. But steel was got anciently from those 
ores only which yield it in a malleable state ; as it is, probably, 
obtained at this day in India, and called wootz ; and as it is 
also obtained in the northern Circars, and likewise by the 
Hottentots. As steel was the only state of iron anciently ma- 
nufactured, it was too scarce, and much too dear for general 
use ; and hence the extensive use of allays of copper by tin, 
the best substitutes for the malleable state of iron and steel. 
