Les aventures du Capitaine Magon. English

by David-Léon Cahun

  CHAPTER XIII.

  THE SILVER MINES OF TARSHISH.

  The town of Gades, though not large, is neat and trimly built, andin the well-kept gardens in the environs, pomegranates, oranges, andlemons, which have all been introduced by the Phœnicians, flourishin great abundance. About the centre of the town, and in directcommunication with the harbour, is the market, the emporium not onlyfor the wedges of silver brought from the mines in the interior, butfor barrels of the salted murenæ that are caught on the neighbouringshore; for Tarshish cats,[38] to be used in rabbit-hunting; foriron, which is obtained in small quantities from the north; and forthe promiscuous curiosities in which the strange and remote regionabounds. The market-place is surrounded by the offices of the richmerchants and money-changers, who, as proprietors of the mines, wereready to exchange their silver for copper, manufactured articles, andfancy goods. I was not long in making my way thither.

  [38] The ancient name of ferrets.

  Having seen my ships properly moored in the places assigned them atthe quay, handed their pay to my seamen and soldiers, and notifiedmy arrival to the naval suffect, I turned into the thoroughfarethat leads to the town, and had no difficulty in finding the officeof Balshazzar, the rich merchant with whom I had had many businesstransactions during my previous visit. Balshazzar was dead, but Ziba,his widow, was carrying on the business in partnership with severalother merchants. She received me very cordially, and insisted that Ishould send for the two women, and for my sub-captains and pilots,to come and take refreshment at her house. She provided a handsomeentertainment, during which I had the opportunity of explaining toher the object of my voyage, and of asking her advice as to thebest means of obtaining silver, either in lumps or ingots. I foundthat, according to her statement, the current price of silver wasjust then very low, so that I might hope to purchase on favourableterms, either in the town, or by going inland and bartering with thesavages. Some large mines, she informed me, had quite recently beendiscovered on the River Bœtis,[39] about four days' march up thecountry, and the only reason why they had not been opened and workedwas the scarcity of labour; the great bulk of the population of thetown being either merchants or mariners.

  [39] The Guadalquivir.

  "We ought," she concluded, "to have plenty of soldiers stationedhere."

  "Beyond a question," exclaimed Hannibal, warmly, "the prosperity of acountry is to be measured by the number of soldiers it maintains."

  Ziba's long residence in the colonies had rendered her quiteunaccustomed to the ideas and manners of military men, and she lookedat 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.

  "Soldiers and felons! What do you mean? Do you suppose that soldiersare to be associated with slaves and malefactors?"

  In explanation of her remark, she said that in order to establish afirm footing in the silver-producing districts, she thought that themerchants ought to club together, and either buy or hire soldiers todrive back the native barbarians. The prisoners they took ought to besent to the mines, and to these there should be added as many slavesas could be bought, and any number of transported criminals whowould cost nothing but their keep.

  Seeing that Hannibal was about to make some indignant rejoinder, Iinterposed by asking her whether it was possible to obtain slaveshere, and whether the natives were hostile or well-disposed.

  "Not a slave will you find in the market," she said; "they have beenpurchased as fast as they have been brought to us. As to the savages,they have hitherto been tolerably peaceable; but, aware of the valuewe set upon their silver, they demand most exorbitant wages for theirlabour."

  "Peaceable you call them, do you?" broke in Himilco; and pointingto the empty socket of his eye, said, "Yes; perhaps if using theirlances to scoop out people's eyes is a proof of peaceableness, theIberians of Tarshish are supremely peaceable; but I confess I don'tquite see it."

  Ziba smiled. Although she was a thorough woman of business, she had akeen appreciation of a joke.

  "Yes, pilot," she replied; "I very well recollect your misfortunewhen you were here before; indeed, it was I myself who dressed yourwounds with oil and rosemary. But you may take my word for it thatthe tribes on the Bœtis are far more anxious to take your goodsthan to do you any bodily injury. In time, I have no doubt, they willbecome perfectly submissive to our rule."

  "And then," I exclaimed, "Tarshish, like Zeugis, will be one of thebrightest jewels in the crown of our glorious Sidon."

  And every one, as I spoke, filled and drained his wine-cup to thehonour of our noble city.

  "But to return to business," said Ziba; "I think that the bestplan for you will be to come with me to the naval suffect, who mayprobably suggest some plan by which you can get labour to open somefresh mines. The Bœtis is quite wide enough to allow your ships toascend within a day's march of the best districts, and your soldiersand sailors ought to be quite enough to protect you from anyhostilities on the part of the Iberians."

 

  I readily acquiesced in her proposal; and the widow, having put ona veil, mounted a richly-caparisoned mule led by two well-dressedslaves, and preceded by a running footman carrying a long staff. Shewent in front, and we all sallied forth after her to the Admiraltypalace. The suffect received us in the large hall, where he wasseated in his painted chair; and when I had explained the object ofmy visit, he said:

  "Had you come four days sooner, you might have arranged to accompanya Tyrian merchant who passed through this port on his way to themines."

  The suspicion flashed instantly on my mind, and I said:

  "You mean Bodmilcar?"

  "Yes," replied the suffect, "Bodmilcar; and a rare rough-looking sethe had with him. We are not generally very particular in lookinginto the character of men who go to the diggings, but I confess Inever set eyes upon a worse-looking lot. They looked like thieves andassassins."

  "Just what they were," I said; "and their leader is no better thanthemselves. You have only to read this, and you will learn what hereally is;" and I handed him Adonibal's letter.

  "By Ashtoreth!" he swore, "what a scoundrel the fellow is!"

  After pondering a few minutes, he continued:

  "I will tell you what I can do. I will lend you fifty armed mento help you to improve the villain off the face of the earth. Iwould, if I could, lend you more, as I know how advisable it isfor expeditions into the interior to be well guarded; all kinds ofpeople are at work in the mines, and nothing is easier for them thanto conspire to overpower a new comer. But I really cannot spare anymore. The time will come, I hope, when we shall have reinforcementsenough here to make our authority properly felt in the miningdistricts."

  Ziba now mentioned that she had made a contract with one of theIberian chiefs, named Aitz, by which he had engaged to find portersand labourers to assist the twelve hundred slaves which she hadprovided to excavate the soil of a new mine; and having explainedthat she had erected a fortress in which were stationed a hundredsoldiers, and put up a residence for an overseer of the works, shesaid that she was perfectly willing to hand over the contract tome under certain conditions. She was ready to surrender her soleinterest, to give me an introduction to her overseer, and to allow methe protection of her little garrison, if I would stipulate to payher a fifth part of the gross profits.

  The suffect seemed to think that the proposal was reasonable; but Idemurred to the proportion of the profits which she demanded, andinsisted upon her accepting a sixth instead of a fifth.

  After a short debate, which ended in Ziba's yielding to my terms, Imade Hanno draw out two copies of the agreement which we mutuallysigned, and then all adjourned to the temple of Ashtoreth, where weoffered a sacrifice to the goddess, and made a vow to remain faithfulto the various covenants of the contract.

  The time of the year was very favourable, and I was anxious to loseno time in starting. Accordi
ngly, four days did not elapse after ourarrival at Gades before our ships were again on the sea, making waytowards the mouth of the Bœtis, which we reached after two days'easy sailing.

  Beyond the Straits of Gades the sea is subject to tides which areeven more considerable than those in the Jam Souph, and it wasnecessary to wait until high-water before we could pass the bar ofthe river. As soon, however, as the bar was passable, the riverpresented a very animated scene, and vessels of every description gotinto motion, both ascending and descending the stream; Phœniciancraft, from the ponderous gaoul to the slim fishing-smack; Iberianpiroques, carrying their great brown or black sails of woven bark;and the long Celtic coracles, composed of hide. Of all these, nonewere empty; whatever provisions are consumed in the mining regionshave all to be brought from Gades, and the same ships that convey thesupplies into the interior always return laden with the ore.

  Having crossed the bar, as there was no wind and the current wasstrong, I lowered my sails and rowed up the river. The yellow watersof the river flow rapidly between banks that are sometimes wooded andsometimes barren flats. The country on both sides is mountainous andwild, and only at long intervals are to be seen any of the Iberianvillages, which, consisting of hovels made of mud and branches oftrees, are most frequently nothing more than roofs to holes whichhave been dug in the ground. The miners' villages are very similar,the chief difference being that the huts are higher and morecommodious, and in the centre of each community there is a palisadeenclosing a redoubt, or embattled fortress built of brick.

  "Not particularly lively here," said Hanno; "the getting of silverseems rather a more dreary business than the spending of it."

  Hannibal remarked that all the villages seemed to occupy positionsthat were naturally very strong, observing that the Bœtis itselfformed a good line of defence, and that there might be a great dealof hard fighting in such a country.

  "I can answer for that," said Himilco; "I know that these Tarshishbarbarians would sooner pluck out a man's eye than give him a cup ofwine. Here come some of the rascals. Look at them."

  Every one looked where Himilco was pointing, and there, walking,or rather shambling, along the bank were rather more than a scoreof savage-looking creatures evidently watching our ships. Theywere almost naked, their only covering being a strip of woven barkaround their loins, and a sort of turban of the same material ontheir heads; they had sunburnt skins, black hair, and small blackeyes, obliquely set; they were of moderate height, and appeared tobe extremely agile. But we observed that some of them seemed tobe quite of a distinct race, being very tall and thin, with thickshaggy beards and very revolting countenances. All were armed withlong shields, and carried either bludgeons, slings, or strong lancespointed with flint or bone.

  I shouted to them, but they made no sign, and continued skulkingalong the bank.

  "Bichri!" cried Himilco, to the archer, who was sitting on the poopwith Jonah, both of them playing with the monkey, "Bichri, just putan arrow into one of those scaramouches, will you? they pretend theycannot hear the captain."

  He started to his feet, and was in the act of raising his bow, when Iinterposed:

  "Leave them alone; time enough to attack them when they attack us."

  Bichri lowered his hand at once.

  "Well then," he said, "I may as well go on amusing myself with themonkey; what an entertaining brute it is! he pulls my hair andscratches my face a bit; but I bear it all because he's so clever."

  "Aye, aye, go back to your plaything; he's about as good-looking asthe Iberians," said Hanno, laughing.

  My brave young archer was not much more than eighteen years ofage, and in light-heartedness and love of frolic was like a boy oftwelve. The monkey, the only creature on board more restless thanhimself, had taken his fancy immensely, and they were continuallyvying with one another in feats of agility, trying which could climbthe mast the faster, or which could swing the higher at the end ofa rope. Another of Judge Gebal's warm admirers was Jonah. The giantseemed to have lost his concern about the land of strange beasts,and to be engrossed with the monkey, which he had admitted into hisclose friendship, and whose antics he was always rewarding with thechoicest tit-bits on which he could lay hands. One of the creature'sgreat delights was to mount the trumpeter's shoulder and clamberby his shaggy hair to the top of his head, where from its elevatedperch it would make grimaces, scratch its pate, and grin and gnashits teeth at every one. Bichri, Jonah, and the monkey, thus formed anamicable trio, of which a little rough treatment all round, and a fewcuffs and scratches, did not mar the general concord.

  Towards evening by my orders we came to a standstill, opposite aminers' village. The overseer came out from his hut to speak to us.He was a coarse, ill-spoken man, rarely opening his mouth without anoath. He was a native of Arvad, and consequently an old acquaintanceof Hannibal's.

  "By all the infernal gods!" he began, "this is a week of visitors!"

  "How so?" I asked.

  "Confound me, if we hadn't another Tyrian here five days ago!Bodmilcar was his name; and a rascally set of scamps he brought.Drunken beasts they were; they sacked some houses in the villagehere, and, by Khousor Phtah! I vow they would have murdered usevery one if we had not pounced upon them pretty hard. I have seenblackguards in my time, but never the like of those. And if any onecan succeed in swinging up Bodmilcar himself at a rope's end, he willdo the world a service."

  "Where is he now?" I asked; "can you tell me that? I have a score ofmy own to settle with him."

  "By the gods! you will have some distance to go. He has taken a swarmof Iberians with him into the interior. You had better be careful howyou meddle with them: they are dangerous folks to touch; and they area pretty strong force altogether."

  "Never mind their force," said Chamai; "numbers don't matter; onlylet us get them within reach of our swords."

  "All very fine for you, young fellow, to be so cocksure of yourgame," replied the overseer; and turning to me, he added, civillyenough: "But I see you are determined to risk the consequences. Giveme a drink of wine, and by the gods! I will give you some hints thatmay be useful to you. Silver is silver, you know."

  "Yes, and wine is wine," muttered Himilco, always keenly interestedupon that topic.

  I ordered a skin of good wine to be produced, that he might drinkwhile we talked over our scheme; but the overseer had no wish to beoutdone on the score of hospitality; and accordingly he clapped hishands sharply, and when the manager of his slaves appeared in answerto the summons, he gave instructions for one of his finest calves tobe killed, and a feast to be laid out for us under an adjacent clumpof trees.

  After we had given each other the latest news of Phœnicia andTarshish, the overseer said in his own abrupt way:

  "You seem brave enough; but I have a great respect for numbers.Your wine is good stuff, and I like it. I am glad to meet afellow-townsman. Now, in return for the wine, curse me if I don't dothe best I can to help you."

  After all, he had not much to tell. He informed us that in theterritory adjacent to that of Aitz, who had made his compact withZiba, there were some exceedingly rich veins of silver; and that,although the Iberians in possession were decidedly disposed tobe hostile, they might readily be bought over by some trumperymerchandise, or without difficulty might be subdued by our arms.

  "And how near to them can we take our ships?" I asked.

  "Within three days' march," he answered. "It is not so much that thedistance is great as that there are no roads; and after the ships areleft there is no further communication with the river. You have togo through forests, and you have to go on foot. No horses can go; nomules."

  "Nice marching that!" said Hannibal, sententiously; "and you say wehave to take our own provisions?"

  "As to that, I daresay you can get Ziba's overseer to lend you someIberians; they make capital beasts of burden."

  "Very good," said Himilco; "and I think I can undertake to make themtrot along at a good pace. Give me a stick, and I will write a fewwords
of their Iberian tongue upon their backs in a way they willperhaps remember."

  The overseer seemed to enjoy Himilco's spiteful jest, for he laughedaloud. We emptied our wine-cups, and broke up our meeting.

  Betimes next morning we were again on our voyage up the river, andin less than a day had reached Ziba's territory. Her overseer, anative of Utica, lent me two hundred slaves as porters and miners,and I divided them into gangs, which I put under the supervisionof my officers. The ships, with just a sufficient portion of theircrews, were left under the charge of Hasdrubal; the _Dagon_ and the_Ashtoreth_ descending the river for a short distance to get abetter anchorage; the _Cabiros_, as drawing less water, being leftunder orders to cruise about, and to keep on collecting a supply ofprovisions. We had been provided with a guide; and everything beingarranged, I set out upon my exploration of the new territory.

  We started across an extensive plateau, and having traversed severalwoods and deep ravines, made our encampment for the night. Verymonotonous were the journeys of the following days, over gloomy hillsand across deep valleys, and it was not until the middle of thefourth day after leaving the banks of the Bœtis, that we caughtsight of an Iberian village. The people were all under arms when wearrived, and inclined to take a defiant attitude, but a few presentshad the effect of conciliating the chiefs, and inducing them to giveus permission to encamp on a barren knoll, about three stadia offtheir cluster of huts. Under Hannibal's superintendence we surroundedthe encampment with a trench and a palisade, and in two days wereready to commence our digging operations, in which we were directedby an experienced man, who had been sent with us for the purpose.

  We were beginning an arduous task. For three long months did ourlabours proceed without intermission. The Iberians were alwaysdistrustful, but never committed any overt act of hostility. Yet,thanks to the favour of Ashtoreth, though our work was long, oursuccess was great. Excavation after excavation turned out prolific,and as the result of our mining, I obtained no less than two thousandshekels of silver. Some of this I refined on the spot, and retainedin my own keeping, the rest of the ore being periodically despatchedby hired slaves to the _Ashtoreth_, whence I received back a writtenacknowledgment of each consignment as it was delivered on board.

  At length I felt it was time to re-organise my caravan to return;and under the direction of an Iberian guide, over whom a strictsurveillance was kept, we set out upon our way back to the ships,rejoicing to quit the desolation in which we had been sojourning solong.

  No sooner were our backs turned upon the encampment than the Iberiansrushed towards it, tore down the palisade, and scrambled furiouslyfor any article, however worthless, that we happened to have leftbehind.