Lead was yielded in greater abundance; it was found in Cantabria, in Baetica, and many other places.[1025] Much of it was mixed with silver, and was obtained in the course of the operations by means of which silver was smelted and refined.[1026] The mixed metal was called _galena_.[1027] Lead, however, was also found, either absolutely pure,[1028] or so nearly so that the alloy was inappreciable, and was exported in large quantities, both by the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, and also by the Romans.

It was believed that the metal had a power of growth and reproduction, so that if a mine was deserted for a while and then re-opened, it was sure to be found more productive than it was previously.[1029] The fact seems to be simply that the supply is inexhaustible, since even now Spain furnishes more than half the lead that is consumed by the rest of Europe.

Besides the ordinary metals, Spain was capable of yielding an abundance of quicksilver;[1030] but this metal seems not to have attracted the attention of the Phoenicians, who had no use for it.
The methods employed by the Phoenicians to obtain the metals which they coveted were not, on the whole, unlike those which continue in use at the present day.

Where surface gold was brought down by the streams, the ground in their vicinity, and such portions of their beds as could be laid bare, were searched by the spade; any earth or sand that was seen to be auriferous was carefully dug out and washed, till the earthy particles were cleared away, and only the gold remained.

Where the metal lay deeper, perpendicular shafts were sunk into the ground to a greater or less depth--sometimes, if we may believe Diodorus,[1031] to the depth of half a mile or more; from these shafts horizontal adits were carried out at various levels, and from the adits there branched lateral galleries, sometimes at right angles, sometimes obliquely, which pursued either a straight or a tortuous course.[1032] The veins of metal were perseveringly followed up, and where faults occurred in them, filled with trap,[1033] or other hard rock, the obstacle was either tunnelled through or its flank turned, and the vein still pursued on the other side.