There is no harbour, but vessels find excellent holding ground and in deep water, close to the shore; the landing also is good, being on a fine hard sand, and I found a small pier in progress of construction.
It seems probable that in remote times numerous commercial towns were situated along the coast, between Malaca and Calpe, whence a thriving trade was carried on with the East, for the whole chain of mountains bordering the Mediterranean abounds in metallic ores, especially along that part of the coast between Marbella and Estepona; and it is evident that mining operations on an extensive scale were formerly carried on here, since the tumuli formed by the earth excavated in searching for the precious metals are yet to be seen, as well as the bleached channels by which the water that penetrated into the mines was led down the sides of the mountains.
The metals contained in this range of mountains are, principally, silver, copper, lead, and iron; of the two former I have seen some very fine specimens.
The richness and comparative proximity of these mines led the Phœnicians and Romans, by whom there is no doubt they were worked, to neglect the copper mines of Cornwall; for, whilst necessity obliged them to come to England for tin, it is observable that in many places, where, in working for that metal, they came also upon lodes of copper, they carried away the tin only; a circumstance that has rendered some of the recently worked Cornish copper mines singularly profitable, and leads naturally to the supposition that the ancients procured copper at a less expense from some other country.
In the same way that the old Roman mines in England, from our knowledge of the vast power of steam, and of the means of applying that power to hydraulical purposes, have been reopened with great advantage, so also might those of Spain be again worked with a certainty of success. Capital and security—the two great wants of Spain—are required however to enable adventurers to embark in the undertaking.
Marbella is four leagues from Estepona, and ten from Gibraltar; but though the first four may be reckoned at the usual rate of four miles each, yet the remaining six cannot be calculated under four and a half each, making the whole distance to Gibraltar forty-three miles, and from Malaga to Gibraltar seventy-nine miles.[180]
CHAPTER XV.
A PROVERB NOT TO BE LOST SIGHT OF WHILST TRAVELLING IN SPAIN—ROAD TO MONDA—SECLUDED VALLEY OF OJEN—- MONDA—DISCREPANCY OF OPINION RESPECTING THE SITE OF THE ROMAN CITY OF MUNDA—IDEAS OF MR. CARTER ON THE SUBJECT—REASONS ADDUCED FOR CONCLUDING THAT MODERN MONDA OCCUPIES THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT CITY—ASSUMED POSITIONS OF THE CONTENDING ARMIES OF CNEIUS POMPEY AND CÆSAR, IN THE VICINITY OF THE TOWN—ROAD TO MALAGA—TOWNS OF COIN AND ALHAURIN—BRIDGE OVER THE GUADALJORCE—RETURN TO GIBRALTAR—NOTABLE INSTANCE OF THE ABSURDITY OF QUARANTINE REGULATIONS.
“MAS vale paxaro en mano, que buytre volando"—Anglicè, a bird in the hand is worth more than a vulture flying—is a proverb that cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of travellers in Spain; and, acting up to the spirit of this wise saw, we did not leave our comfortable quarters at the Posada de la Corona until after having made sure of a breakfast. For, deeming even a cup of milk at Marbella worth more than a herd of goats up the sierra, there appeared yet more reason to think that no venta on the unfrequented mountain track by which we purposed returning to Malaga could furnish anything half so estimable as the café au lait promised overnight, and placed before us soon after daybreak.