Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/701

Rh those great waves of prosperity which marked the nation's history. These and other mines were worked with great energy, and the national coffers were filled. The goldsmiths and bronze workers of this time have left behind them some of the most elaborate and beautiful specimens of their art. From the twelfth until the twentieth dynasty there were periods of great mining activity separated by others in which but little was done. The eighteenth dynasty (1530 to 1320) was a period of great mineral production, but during the twentieth (1180-1050 Erman, or 1280-1100  Rawlinson) most of the mines were almost exhausted. Major Macdonald, a Scotchman, built a house just below the village and worked one of the mines for turquoise some time within the nineteenth century. Monuments still stand at the Sarbut mines, recording the names of a long list of mine managers appointed by the various Pharaohs. When large quantities of copper or turquoise were wanted, the king would send out 1,000 or 2,000 additional miners, metallurgists and laborers to expedite matters.

The inscriptions show that the strike is not a new institution. A company of Egyptian prospectors used this means of bringing the managers to terms. The method employed by the manager to get his men to continue work is one which has not been tried in America. The men were called together to discuss matters, and they agreed to work if the manager would insure them the favor and protection of Hathor, the goddess of the region. The terms were complied with, and the men went to work.

The ruins of ancient refining works are found near the west Sinai mines, but from the very meager description found it is impossible to get any idea of the method of treating the ores. The fuel used was charcoal and wood. The ores mentioned in connection with these mines include malachite, the oxides of copper, native copper and a blue precious stone, which may refer to turquoise or to azurite. As the malachite was considered a precious stone, only the inferior part of this mineral would be used as ore. Whichever one of these ores predominated, the metallurgical process would be a rather simple one, but the copper produced was of a high degree of purity. The following quotation from Brugsch-Bey makes it clear that the ore of 'At'eka was smelted at the mines: "The metal shining like gold and in the form of bricks, was brought from the smelting-houses in those parts and laden on ships."

At certain periods in Egyptian history, as, for example, early in the new Empire (2130 B.C.), copper seems to have been recognized as the standard of value, and accounts were reckoned in uten of copper. These coins, if such they may be called, were made of very exact weight (about 91 grams), and were in the form of a spiral. Some of the blue and green pigments used by the artists and painters contain copper salts.