produced in this fertile country, that after sufficing for the
consumption of a very extensive population, it offered a great surplus
for the foreign market; and afforded considerable profit to the
government, being exported to other countries, or sold to the traders
who visited Egypt for commercial purposes.

The gold mines of the Bisharee desert were in those times very
productive; and, though we have no positive notice of their first
discovery, there is reason to believe they were worked at the earliest
periods of the Egyptian monarchy. The total of the annual produce of
the gold and silver mines (which Diodorus, on the authority of
Hecataeus, says, was recorded in the tomb of Osymandyas at Thebes,
apparently a king of the 19th dynasty) is stated to have been 3,200
myriads, or 32 millions of _minae_--a weight of that country, called by
the Egyptians _mn_ or _mna_, 60 of which were equal to one talent. The
whole sum amounted to 665 millions of our money; but it was evidently
exaggerated.

The position of the silver mines is unknown; but the gold mines of
Allaga, and other quartz "diggings," have been discovered, as well as
those of copper, lead, iron and emeralds, all of which are in the
desert near the Red Sea; and the sulphur, which abounds in the same
districts, was not neglected by the ancient Egyptians.

The abundance of gold and silver in Egypt and other ancient countries,
and the sums reported to have been spent, accord well with the reputed
productiveness of the mines in those days; and, as the subject has
become one of peculiar interest, it may be well to inquire respecting
the quantity and the use of the precious metals in ancient times. They
were then mostly confined to the treasures of princes, and of some
rich individuals; the proportion employed for commercial purposes was
small, copper sufficing for most purchases in the home market; and
nearly all the gold and silver money (as yet uncoined) was in the
hands of the wealthy few. The manufacture of jewelry, and other
ornamental objects took up a small portion of the great mass; but it
required the wealth and privilege of royalty to indulge in a grand
display of gold and silver vases, or similar objects of size and
value.

The mines of those days, from which was derived the wealth of Egypt,
Lydia, Persia, and other countries, afforded a large supply of the
precious metals; and if most of them are now exhausted or barely
retain evidences of the treas