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CORNWALL IN THE
ANCIENT WORLD
SAD CONDITION TO-DAY.
A writer in the December issue of "My
Magazine" says:—
The traveller through the lovely vil- <*>
lages of Cornwal l must be saddened in
these days to fin I the tin mines idle a.n.l
m peri!. 'Xest to the cultivation of the
earth itself, they are the oldest seat 0:
industry within these islands, and they .ira
dying out. Think of tae romance that
lies behind this bare, liaxd fact from
Cornwall. For thousands of years these
old mines were tlie world's -chief sv>unee ol
tin. Ti'J two centuries ago eivj'isation
looked to Cornwall aud Devon fur t-ji?
ore. Tin-mining must Have been almost,
if not quite, oar oldest industrial traje,
its. product our earliest export for manu
facture. It brought Britain into rela
tions with one cf the must marvellojs
peoples. o£ antiquity, the Phoenician*,
whose greatest colony was Carthage, riva's
with Rome for the mastery of the word:
the people who, if they did not actuary
invent the alphabet, arithmetic, weights
and measures, gjass manuiacture, met.il
working, and t'je sciences of navigation
and eeirocomy, at least developed tihem
and extended the knowledge of them to
the' peoples of the .Mediterranean.
T%ey traded with Britain for tin: they
traded w:th David and Solomon. There
is c marvelloaa paaEage hi Eeekiel on
Tyre, the chief Phoenician city, describing
her immense commerce .and far-flung enter
prises, east and west, ending with tie
fierce denunciation, "And t'aon hast 6iid,
I a-n a god, I eit in the -scat of God,
in the nufet of the seas." ' Jezebel wse ]
one of their princesses, and, the prophets ,
of Baal with . thorn EHjah contended :
were Fboenidans. We rementJer ' how,
in that tremendous they "'cried j
aload, and cut themseives with knives
and lancets till the b!ood gusded out upon
them." Not, one of the mannfactnred
products of "the Phoenicians was eharp
edsed weapons, which they made of bronze
hardened with tin. Cornwall supplied nae
Phoenicians with tin. . Cornish, tin may
have formed.part of tbe weapons with
which the enemies of sElijab lacerated
themselvee when lie prophet taunted them
daring tbe great trill of God against
Baal. -
Cornish Tin .Used in Solomon's Temple.
Hiram. Kim| of the Phoenicians, was a
friend of Dmnd, and cent ihim matyriaSw
for the Temple; and "he was a. trading
partner witi Solomon dnang the twenty
years in which the wise'king, having built
the Temple at Jerusalem, raked palaces
and forcificatian*, .and e'*rated Israel to
the heigjit of^ber splendor. The Phoeni
cians not only £upplied materials for the
Temple, the cities, afcd lie palaces, they
supplied workmen. The workmen needed
sbaxn too'-s for their labors,- and the sharp
tools contained an amalgam of iin. It
is probable that Cornish.,. tin may have
helped to' bnUd the 'lemple of Jerusalem!
How did the Phoenicians get toeir tin
from CornsaJl? T3?ere are two theories.
One is ttat Jtue ?Britons exported the-ore
across the Channel to France, where it
was carried overland to Marseilles, and
there taken en board the Phoenician gal
leys in tbe Mediterranean. Tiie other
belief is that the Phoenicians, vino made
immense vijj-agee, eaiJed all tbe ray by
sea to CojutoU, tirroqgh the Straits of
Gibraltar, and back again. Such a voyage
seems almost unthinkable to us tonday
when we remember that tae Phoenicians
bad only small rowing boats and 6a.iling
boat?; bnt <m the S|as they Jfere -. the
JEogUish of antiquiiy, incomparable navi
gators, and *o t^y credit of this vanished
people stands foe finest, most ? thrilling ex
ploit in all the history of sea-going.
Pharaoh NeoV> wiahed to anticipate
De Lesseps and di? a canal from the Bed
Sea. to the- Mediterranean. He failed,
bo he cent ont ia company of Phoenicians
ty see- S' there ' were a n-ay round
Africa, then, as it xss Ion? after, an
unknown continent. The "Phoenician.?
sailed doxn the east daat 3of Africa,
rosing and sa&in^ by day. resting on
chore by night, and iharbonn^ m bad
weatoer. They panted com and harvested
crop^s they rent. They were the first
to discover the eoriLa. They rounded the
Cape and eai'ed up tbe west coast ef
Africa. They turned east txrongh tiie
Btraits of Gibraltar. They reached, .home.
Co'ium-ons' voroge was a. matter of months:
this }2cted three years. They were the
first to sail round Africa. The next man
to do so was Vaeco de Ganxa; bnt he
came "JMWO years ' later. _ Hwjorians,
cpnsidering aU the circtuna'ances.
agree that ahie voyage of. toe
.Piienidans . about 690. B.C. was - Vie
most daring ever attempted in tbe
world's history. A - voyage from the
Mediterranean to Britain 'ironld be. there
fore, of comparatively small-account to ea
hardy, peraistent, and skSfal & people.
liConri£a"Tin"a Thine "of the Past?
Well, ? their empire is ; shattered and
gone: Carthage, uieir mightiest daughter
State, is as dead and scattered as the dust
of Hannira.', its ereatest son. The hn
mensely rich colonies on tbe Black Sea. in
Greece, in-the-Aegean .Ides., in Sicily. Sar
dinia, in Spain and Africa, knowfi them no
more. We even "forget' that Cadiz was
founded by them; that they drew from
Spain riches thai seem corrparabie with
ifae riches that Spain afterwards drew
from America. . ZechariaH knew of the
xealth of Phoenicn. "Tyre did build
herself a stronghold,.an.l heaped up eiK-er
as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of
the streets," be Bang.
Cornish tin contributed to ' the wealth
and work oX this .wonderful people, who
{or a thousand years were the chief tra
deis of tbe earth. '"Phoenicia and th^
Phoenicians are Jgone, s-wallowed up at last
in the Roman binpire which perished in
succession. There is no PhoAccia to-day,
but the o"d mines of tin to which tiiese an
cient wonder-mea ' cam: survive unez
hausted. They stand idle and deserted, a
pathetic-spectacle in the ru?ged country
side: end all around . a umununity of
30.000 men and -women and children, cut
off from their means .of livelihood, await
with hope and fortitude the deiiveranre
that never comes. A tragic ibing it is,
the doom of these country. people. Can
we save them, and -bring back tiieir an
cient life, or meEt -they snecumb to the re
lentless pressure^of'^nodem. industry aii.l
foTlcw the Phoenicians into .the domain of
tradition and historical romance?
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