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and on the coast of the Red Sea are found the piers and %yharvcs whence the miners shipped tlieir metal in the harbor of Abu Zeni- meh. Five miles from Sariibit el- Khadim the same traveller found the ruins of a much greater num- ber of houses, indicatinj^ the ex- istence of a large mining popula- tion, and, besides. Jive immense reservoirs formed by damming up various wadys. Other mines ap- pear to ha\-e been discovered by Dr. Wilson in the granite moun- tains east of the Wady Mokatteb. la tlie Wady Nasb the German traveller Kilppell, who was com- missioned by Jlohammed ^Ui, the viceroy of Egypt, to examine the state of the mines there, met with remains of several large smelting- furnaces, surrounded by heaps of slag. The ancient inhabitants had |g sunk shafts in several directions, s | leaving here and there columns to ?n prevent the whole from falling in. If In one of the mines he saw huge El m masses of stone ricli in copper t^ w (Kitter,AV(to/;i(/p,xiii,78G), The 5 ft copper mines of Phieno, in Idu- 1 1 |' miea, according to Jerome, were '" between Zoar and Petra: in the persecution of Diocletian the £■-§ Christians were condemned to fz. work them. B ^
The gold mines of Egj'pt in ^^ the Bishiiri desert, the principal » i station of which was Eshuranib, i ^ about three days' journey beyond Z » AVady Allaga, have been discov- ^ S ered within the last few years by |' M. Linant and Mr. Bonomi, the -^-" latter of whom supplied Sir G. ]» Wilkinson with a description of ^ them, which he quotes (^A nc. Efj. $ iii,229,'230). Kuins of the miners' | huts still remain as at Sarabit el- ^ Khadim. "In those nearest the s. mineslivedthe workmen who were '^ employed to break the quartz into ^ small fragments, the size of a bean, ^ from whose hands the pounded % stone passed to the persons who § ground it in liand-mills, similar | to those now used for corn in the " valley of the Nile, made of granitic stone ; one of which is to be found in almost every house at these mines, either entire or broken. The quartz, thus reduced to pow- der, was washed on inclined tables, furnished with two cisterns, all built of fragments of stone collected there; and near these inclined planes are generally found little white mounds, the residuum of the ojwration." According to the account given by Diddoriis Siculus (iii, 12-14)'. the mines were worked by gangs of convicts and captives in fetters, who were ko])t day and night to their task by the soldiers set to guard tliem. The work was superintended by an engineer, wlio select- ed the stone and pointed it out to the miners. The harder rock was split by the application of lire, but the softer was broken u)) with i)icks and chisels. Tlic miners were quite naked, their l)odies being painted ac- cording to the color of tlie rock tliey were working, and in order to see in the dark passages of the mine they canied lamps upon their heads. The stone as it fell
was carried off Iiy boys; it was then pounded in stone mortars with iron pestles by those who were over thirty years of age. till it was reduced to the size of a lentil. The women and old men afterwards ground it in mills to a line powder. The linal process of separating the gold from the jiounded stone was intrusted to the en- gineers who siqierintended the work. They spread this powder upon a broad slightly-inclined table, and rubbed it gently with the hand, pouring water upon it from time to time so as to carry away all the eartliy matter, leaving the heavier particles upon the board. Tliis was repeated several times; at first with llie liaiid. and after- wards witli line si)onges gently pressed uixin tlie earthy substance, till nothing but the gold was left. It was then collected by other workmen, and placed in earthen
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crucibles, with a mixture of lead and salt in certain pro- portions, together with a little tin and some barley bran. The crucibles were covered and carefiillj' closed with clay, and in this condition baked in a furnace for tive days and nights without intermission. Three methods have been emploj'ed for refining gold and silver: 1, by exposing the fused metal to a current of air; 2, by keep- ing the alloy in a state effusion and throwing nitre upon it; and, 3, by mixing the alloy with lead, exposing the whole to fusion upon a vessel of bone-ashes or earth, and blowing upon it with bellows or other blast; the last appears most nearly to coincide with the description of Diodorus. To this process, known as the cupelling process [see Lead], there seems to be a reference in Psa. xii, 6 ; Jer. vi, 28-30 ; Ezek. xxii, 18-22, and from it Mr. Napier {Metals of the Bible, p. 24) deduces a striking il- lustration of aial. iii, 2, 3, '• He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver," etc. " When the alloy is melted . . . upon a cupel, and the air blown upon it, the surface of the melted metals has a deep orange-red color, with a kind of flickering wave constantly passing over the sur- face. ... As the process proceeds, the heat is increased , . . and in a little time the color of the fused metal be- comes lighter. ... At this stage the refiner watches the operation, either standing or sitting, with the great- est earnestness, until all the orange color and shading disappears, and the metal has the appearance of a high- ly-polished mirror, reflecting every object around it; even the refiner, as he looks upon the mass of metal, may see himself as in a looking-glass, and thus he can form a very correct judgment respecting the purity of the metal. If he is satisfied, the fire is withdrawn, and the metal removed from the furnace ; but if not consid- ered pure, more lead is added and the process repeated."