Page 192 There's a great difference between these Mines and those in At •ica; for besides the Labour, they that search there are at great Cost and Charge; and besides are often frustrated of their hopes, and sometimes lose what they had found, so that they seem to be unfortunate to a Proverb: But those in Iberia that deal in Mines, according to their Expectations, are greatly inricht by their Labours; for they succeed at their very first sinking, and afterwards by reason of the extraordinary richness of the Soyl, they find more and more resplendent Veins of Ore, full of Gold and Silver; for the whole Soil round about is interlac'd on every hand with these Metals. Sometimes at a great depth they meet with Rivers under-ground, but by Art give a check to the violence of their Current; for by cutting of Trenches under ground, they divert the Stream; and being sure to gain what they aim at, when they have begun, they never leave till they have sinished it; and to admiration they pump out those Floods of Water with those Instruments call'd Aegyptian Pumps, invented by Archimedes the Syracusian, when he was in Egypt. By these with constant pumping by turns, they throw up the Water to the Mouth of the Pit, and by this means drain the Mine dry, and make the Place fit for their Work. For this Engin is so ingeniously contriv'd, that a vast Quantity of Water is strangely with little Labour cast out, and the whole Flux is thrown up from the very bottom, to the Surface of the Earth.
The Ingenuity of this Artist is justly to be admir'd, not only in these Pumps, but in many other far greater things, for which he is famous all the World over, of which we shall distinctly give an exact narration, when we come to the time wherein he liv'd.
Now though these Slaves that continue as so many Prisoners in these Mines, incredibly inrich their Masters by their Labours, yet toyling Night and Day in these Golden Prisons, many of them by being over-wrought, dye under Ground. For they have no rest nor intermission from their Labours; but the Task-masters by Stripes force them to intollerable hardships, so that at length they dye most miserably. Some that through the Strength of their Bodies, and vigour of their Spirits are able to endure it, continue a long time in those Miseries, whose Calamities are such, that Death to them is far more eligible than Life.
Since these Mines afforded such wonderful Riches, it may be greatly admir'd that none appear to have been sunk of later Times: But in answer hereunto, the Covetousness of the Carthaginians, when they were Masters of Spain, open'd all: And hence it was they grew so Rich and Potent, and hir'd so many Valiant Soldiers, by whose assistance they carry'd on so many great Wars, that they neither trusted to the Soldiers rais'd from among their own Citizens, nor to those of their Confederates, but involv'd the Romans, Sicilians and Africans in extream Hazards, almost to their utter Ruins, by conquering all with their Monies dug out of the Mines. For the Carthaginians were ever of old excessively thirsting after Gain, and the Italians came not one jot behind any of them, but were as eager to ingross all.
In many Places of Spain there's found also Tin; but not upon the Surface of the Ground, as some Historians report, but they dig it up, and melt it down as they do Gold and Silver. Above Lusitania there's much of this Tin Metal that is in the Islands, lying in the Ocean over against Iberia, which are therefore call'd Cassiterides; and much of it likewise is transported out of Britain into Gaul, the opposite Continent, which the Merchants carry on Horse-backs through the heart of Celtica to Marselles, and the City call'd Narbo, which City is a Roman Colony, and the greatest Mart Town for Wealth and Trade in those Parts.
But now having done with the Gauls and Celtiberians, we shall pass to the Ligurians. They inhabit a rough and barren Country, and live a toylsom and troublesom Life in their daily Labour for their common Sustinence; for the Country being Mountainous and full of Woods, some are imploy'd all Day long in cutting down Trees, being furnish'd with strong and great Hatchets for that purpose. The Husbandman's business for the most part lies in hewing and breaking Rocks, the Soyl is so very rough and craggy; for there's not a Clod of Earth they can dig up without a Stone; and though they continually thus conflict so many Hardships, yet Custom has turn'd it to a Second Nature; and after all their Labour