A highly-poetical description given by the author of the book of Job of the operations of mining as known in his day is the only record of the kind which we inherit from the ancient Hebrews. (Job 28:1-11) In the Wady Magharah, "the valley of the cave," are still traces of the Egyptian colony of miners who settled there for the purpose of extracting copper from the freestone rocks, and left their hieroglyphic inscriptions upon the face of the cliff. The ancient furnaces are still to be seen, and on the coast of the Red Sea are found the piers and wharves whence the miners shipped their metal in the harbor of Abu Zelimeh. Three methods were employed for refining gold and silver: (1) by exposing the fused metal to a current of air; (2) by keeping the alloy in a state of fusion and throwing nitre upon it; and (3) by mixing the alloy with lead, exposing the whole to fusion upon a vessel of bone-ashes or earth, and blowing upon it with bellows or other blast. There seems to be reference to the latter in (Psalms 12:6; Jeremiah 6:28-30; Ezekiel 22:18-22) The chief supply of silver in the ancient world appears to have been brought from Spain. The Egyptians evidently possessed the art of working bronze in great perfection at a very early time, and much of the knowledge of metals which the Israelites had must have been acquired during their residence among them. Of tin there appears to have been no trace in Palestine. The hills of Palestine are rich in iron, and the mines are still worked there, though in a very simple, rude manner.

Volume ii. , Part B. The Memphite Empire
... inhabitants, their incursions into Egypt, and their relations with the
Egyptians"The peninsula of Sinai: the turquoise and copper mines, the mining works ...
/.../volume ii part b the.htm

Volume ii. , Part C. The First Theban Empire
... the Egyptians among the Bedouin; the Adventures of Sinuhit"The mining settlements
in ... becomes part of Egypt: works of the Pharaohs, the gold-mines and citadel ...
/.../volume ii part c the.htm

The Hidden Treasure.
... not precisely a purchase, but a long lease of the ground for mining purposes ... of late
years emerged, especially in connection with oil springs and copper mines. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/arnot/the parables of our lord/v the hidden treasure.htm

The Believer's Challenge
... It reminds me of what I have sometimes heard of the ropes that are used in mining. ...
it were the digging out of the gold of grace out of the deep mines of Jesus ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 5 1859/the believers challenge.htm

The First Theban Empire
... as is shown by a comparison of the mining tools found in these districts with those
which have been collected at Sinai, in the turquoise- mines of the Ancient ...
/.../chapter iiithe first theban empire.htm

The Memphite Empire
... was separated from the coast by a narrow plain and a single range of hills: the
produce of the mines could be thence ... [Illustration: 163.jpg THE MINING WORKS OF ...
/.../chapter iithe memphite empire.htm

The Reaction against Egypt
... The mining colonies of the Sinaitic Peninsula had never ceased working since operations
had ... on the regions bordering the Red Sea and the gold-mines which they ...
/.../chapter iithe reaction against egypt.htm

Moody's Stories
Moody's Stories. <. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/moody/moodys stories/moodys stories.htm