valuable tin and copper; which, whilst their produce compensates the landed proprietor for superficial sterility, are scattered through the multifarious channels of commerce, and prove a blessing to the world at large. CHAPTER VII. "Rise! crowned with light, imperial Salim ! rise; MARAZION (or Market Jew) was, many centuries agone, a place of greater importance and extent than at present. There are here a small church, and several other places of public worship; among which is a synagogue for persons of the Jewish persuasion. There are also a market place and several good inns. Marazion is ten miles west north west of Helston. Its scenery is beautiful; and it is scarcely rivalled, by any place in England, for its mildness of climate. Sheltered from the north winds, by a hill, at the foot of which this ancient town stands, it faces southward to the sea, on whose shore it is built: presenting to the eye the far-famed scenery of Mount's Bay, and an open expanse of ocean. Rising majestically from the bosom of the bay, stands Mount St. Michael, renowned for ancient deeds of valorous adventure, and better known as the abode of retired sanctity; whose steep sides are adorned with battlements, and whose rugged brow is crowned with a romantic fortress. On the west, the eye ranges over a circuitous, unobstructed shore of three miles extent, and rests on the picturesque town of Penzance; whilst on the eastern side the coast runs to the Lizard Point. This place is said to have taken its name from the settlement made, and the commerce carried on, by many Jews in ancient days: their traffick being in the metals yielded by the mines in the vicinity. I humbly conceive that nothing is more probable, than that the progenitors of these Jews came here from ancient Judæa, which, in the time of her sceptred glory, became a trading country, in company with the Phonicians, their Asiatic nieghbours, who were the first people that traded here for tin, and who founded several colonies in the Far West. It cannot reasonably be said that the Jews first settled there three centuries back, when mining was revived by that sect; because, the name of Marazion, has been attached to the town, which is now so called, from time immemorial. There is, therefore, much that is interesting in connexion with the name and locality. Marazion contains about twelve hundred inhabitants; and a mayor, aldermen, and burgesses: also a weekly market and two fairs. It is the remark of travellers, whose visits have been to the mining districts of Cornwall, and who have not seen, or noticed, the beautiful woodland scenery which adorns large portions of this interesting county, that Cornwall is a very barren place, and that it is void of arboreal adornment. Dr. Price, in his valuable work entitled "Mineralogia Cornubiensis," (Cornish mi neralogy)states, that when, before the Christian era, the Phoenicians resorted thither for tin, the use of coal and furnaces for smelting had not obtained; and that these colonists gradually disforested the lands. in the vicinity of the mines, and used the wood for fuel, which being burned in large heaps, yielded heat enough to smelt the tin. A local tradition does, in part, fortify this statement; for, to the south of Mount St. Michael, were once six miles extent of wood, which appears to have been cut down, and was perhaps wholly used for smelting, before the sea gained on that tract of land. The ancient name of the mount was "Carrar cug an lugg." (Hoary rock in the wood) of which I shall speak at large, under the head of Mount St. Michael. I was fortunate in having a full moon during the week I was perambulating this county; and I do not remember to have ever seen one so brilliant and powerful. |