The space is somewhat confined, and the houses in ancient times were, we are told, closely crowded together,[5178] as they were at Aradus and Tyre.

But the advantages of the harbour and the productiveness of the vicinity more than made up for this inconvenience.

Gades may have been, as Cadiz is now said to be, "a mere silver plate set down upon the edge of the sea,"[5179] but it was the natural centre of an enormous traffic.

It had easy access by the valley of a large stream to the interior with its rich mineral and vegetable products; it had the command of two seas, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; it trained its sailors to affront greater perils than any which the Mediterranean offers; and it enjoyed naturally by its position an almost exclusive commerce with the Northern Atlantic, with the western coasts of Spain and Gaul, with Britain, North Germany, and the Baltic.
Compared with Gades and Tartessus, Belon was an insignificant settlement.

Its name[5180] and coins[5181] mark it as Phoenician, but it was not possessed of any special advantages of situation.