ures they once gave forth, there can be
no doubt of their former productiveness; and it is reasonable to
suppose that gold and silver abounded in early times in those parts
of the world which were first inhabited, as they did in countries more
recently peopled. They may never have afforded at any period the
immense riches of a California or an Australia, yet there is evidence
of their having been sufficiently distributed over various parts of
the old world.

For though Herodotus (iii., 106) says that the extremities of the
earth possess the greatest treasures; these extremities may approach
or become the centre, _i.e._, of civilization, when they arrive at
that eminence which all great countries in their turn seem to have a
chance of reaching; and Britain, the country of the greatly coveted
tin, once looked upon as separated from the rest of mankind, is now
one of the commercial centres of the world. The day, too, has come
when Australia and California are rivals for a similar distinction;
and England, the rendezvous of America in her contests with Europe,
has yielded its turn to younger competitors.

The greatest quantity of gold and silver in early times was derived
from the East; and Asia and Egypt possessed abundance of those metals.
The trade of Colchis, and the treasures of the Arimaspes and
Massagetae, coming from the Ural (or from the Altai) mountains,
supplied much gold at a very early period, and Indian commerce sent a
large supply to western Asia. Spain, the Isle of Thasos, and other
places, were resorted to by the Phoenicians, particularly for silver;
and Spain, for its mines, became the "El Dorado" of those adventurous
traders.

The mines of the Eastern desert, the tributes from Ethiopia and
Central Africa, as well as from Asia, enriched Egypt with gold and
silver; but it was long before Greece (where in heroic times the
precious metals were scarcely known) obtained a moderate supply of
silver from her own mines; and gold only became abundant there after
the Persian war.

Thrace and Macedonia produced gold, as well as other countries, but
confined it to their own use, as Ireland employed the produce of its
mines; and as early Italy did, when its various small states were
still free from the Roman yoke; and though the localities from which
silver was obtained in more ancient times are less known, it is
certain that it was used at a very remote period; and (as before
stated) it was commonly employed in