CHAPTER XIII.
THE SILVER MINES OF TARSHISH.
The town of Gades, though not large, is neat and trimly built, and in the well-kept gardens in the environs, pomegranates, oranges, and lemons, which have all been introduced by the Phœnicians, flourish in great abundance. About the centre of the town, and in direct communication with the harbour, is the market, the emporium not only for the wedges of silver brought from the mines in the interior, but for barrels of the salted murenæ that are caught on the neighbouring shore; for Tarshish cats,[38] to be used in rabbit-hunting; for iron, which is obtained in small quantities from the north; and for the promiscuous curiosities in which the strange and remote region abounds. The market-place is surrounded by the offices of the rich merchants and money-changers, who, as proprietors of the mines, were ready to exchange their silver for copper, manufactured articles, and fancy goods. I was not long in making my way thither.
Having seen my ships properly moored in the places assigned them at the quay, handed their pay to my seamen and soldiers, and notified my arrival to the naval suffect, I turned into the thoroughfare that leads to the town, and had no difficulty in finding the office of Balshazzar, the rich merchant with whom I had had many business transactions during my previous visit. Balshazzar was dead, but Ziba, his widow, was carrying on the business in partnership with several other merchants. She received me very cordially, and insisted that I should send for the two women, and for my sub-captains and pilots, to come and take refreshment at her house. She provided a handsome entertainment, during which I had the opportunity of explaining to her the object of my voyage, and of asking her advice as to the best means of obtaining silver, either in lumps or ingots. I found that, according to her statement, the current price of silver was just then very low, so that I might hope to purchase on favourable terms, either in the town, or by going inland and bartering with the savages. Some large mines, she informed me, had quite recently been discovered on the River Bœtis,[39] about four days' march up the country, and the only reason why they had not been opened and worked was the scarcity of labour; the great bulk of the population of the town being either merchants or mariners.
"We ought," she concluded, "to have plenty of soldiers stationed here."
"Beyond a question," exclaimed Hannibal, warmly, "the prosperity of a country is to be measured by the number of soldiers it maintains."
Ziba's long residence in the colonies had rendered her quite unaccustomed to the ideas and manners of military men, and she looked at him in some amazement.
"Yes," she said, "we do require a large number of slaves, soldiers, and transported felons here."
It was now Hannibal's turn to look amazed.