from
the particles of flesh still floating in it, and the material to be dyed
was then plunged into the liquid. The usual tint thus imparted was that
of fresh blood, in some lights almost approaching to black; but careful
manipulation could produce shades of red, dark violet, and amethyst.
Phoenician settlements can be traced, therefore, by the heaps of shells
upon the shore, the Cyclades and the coasts of Greece being strewn
with this refuse. The veins of gold in the Pangaion range in Macedonia
attracted them off the Thracian coast* received also frequent visits
from them, and they carried their explorations even through the tortuous
channel of the Hellespont into the Propontis, drawn thither, no doubt by
the silver mines in the Bithynian mountains** which were already being
worked by Asiatic miners.

* The fact that they worked the mines of Thasos is attested
by Herodotus.

** Pronektos, on the Gulf of Ascania, was supposed to be a
Phoenician colony.

Beyond the calm waters of the Propontis, they encountered an obstacle to
their progress in another narrow channel, having more the character of a
wide river than of a strait; it was with difficulty that they could make
their way against the violence of its current, which either tended to
drive their vessels on shore, or to dash them against the reefs which
hampered the navigation of the channel. When, however, they succeeded in
making the passage safely, they found themselves upon a vast and stormy
sea, whose wooded shores extended east and west as far as eye could
reach.

[Illustration: 299.jpg ONE OF THE DAGGERS DISCOVERED AT MYCENAE, SHOWING
AN IMITATION OF EGYPTIAN DECORATION]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the facsimile in Perrot-Chipiez.

From the tribes who inhabited them, and who acted as intermediaries,
the Phoenician traders were able to procure tin, lead, amber, Caucasian
gold, bronze, and iron, all products of the extreme north--a region
which always seemed,to elude their persevering efforts to discover
it. We cannot determine the furthest limits reached by the Phoenician
traders, since they were wont to designate the distant countries and
nations with which they traded by the vague appellations of "Isles
of the Sea" and "Peoples of the Sea," refusing to give more accurate
information either from jealousy or from a desire to hide from other
nations the sources of their wealth.

The peoples with whom they traded were not mere