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MINCIO the people. Mahogany and other valuable woods are produced in the vicinity, and ship- ped at Vera Cruz. MIXCIO (anc. Mincius), a river of N". Italy, which runs, under the name of Sarca, from the S. extremity of Tyrol into the lake of Garda, at Riva, issues from it at Peschiera, where it takes the name of Mincio, and flow- ing southward forms the boundary between the provinces of Verona and Mantua; then, past Goito, turning S. E. it expands into a lake, near the E. end of which is the fortress of Mantua; below this it discharges itself into the Po, near Governolo, after a course of more than 40 m. from the lake. It is navigable for barges throughout the greater part of its length. A battle was fought on the banks of the Mincio in 197 B. 0., in which the Insu- bres and Cenomani were defeated by the Ro- mans. Bonaparte crossed the Mincio in May, 1796 ; and the Austrians under Bellegarde were defeated there by Brune, Dec. 25 and 26, 1800, and upward of 4,000 of them taken prison- ers. Another victory over the Austrians was achieved there by the French under Eugene Beauharnais, Feb. 8, 1814, after a bloody con- flict. In 1859 the Mincio became again the theatre of war between the allied Sardinians and French and the Austrians, the latter en- deavoring to concentrate their resistance on the line of the river. After the battle of Sol- f erino (June 24), the allied armies crossed the Mincio into Venetia, and the war was brought to a close by the peace of Villafranca (July 11), by which Lombardy was transferred from Austria to Sardinia, and the upper Mincio became a part of the boundary between the two states. This boundary ceased to exist in 1866, when Venetia was united with Italy. MIND, Gottfried, a Swiss painter, better known under the name of Berner Friedli, born in Bern in 1768, died there, Nov. 7, 1814. He was educated in the charity school of Pesta- lozzi, devoting himself to the study of design. Ignorant in other education, and deformed, he shunned society, and spent his life among cats, of which he executed such excellent pictures that he was called the Raphael of cats. He also excelled in pictures of bears, children, and beggars. He died in poverty. Since his death his pictures have commanded extravagant pri- ces, and several of them have been engraved. MINDANAO. See PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. MINDEN, a fortified town of Westphalia, Prussia, capital of a district of the same name, on the left bank of the Weser, 60 m. E. N. E. of Mtinster; pop. in 1871, 16,593. It is one of the oldest towns of Germany, is surrounded by walls with six gates, and has a garrison of 4,000 men. It contains a Roman Catholic ca- thedral of the llth century, and was once the capital of the see of Minden, which was found- ed by Charlemagne, but was suppressed in 1648. It has a gymnasium, a normal school, manufactures of woollens, linens, leather, sugar, and tobacco, and an important trade chiefly MINE 569 in grain, linen, yarn, and brandy. It was the residence of some of the German emperors, and several diets were held there. Within 2 m. of Minden the railway traverses the pass called Porta Westphalica. In a ruined chapel near it Wittekind, according to tradition, was baptized by Charlemagne. The French were defeated in the vicinity of Minden, Aug. 1, 1759, by an Anglo-Hanoverian army under Ferdinand of Brunswick. MINDORO. See PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. MINE, an excavation made in the earth for the extraction of minerals. When the material to be "extracted is a rock of any kind, the ex- cavation is known as a quarry. We find very little in classic literature that gives any real in- formation about the mines .of antiquity or the manner in which they were worked. It is cer- tain, however, that the Phoenicians and Egyp- tians at the earliest periods of history had an abundance of metals. The Phoenicians obtained from Sardinia and from other islands of the Mediterranean gold and iron, as well as other metals; they are known to have mined in Spain, probably for lead and silver, and to have traded with the Britons for the tin ore of Cornwall and Devon. Of even greater an- tiquity was the mining of the Egyptians, who had mines of copper, silver, and gold in pro- ductive operation, both on the Ethiopian and the Arabian border. The Sinaitic desert con- tains the ruins of mining works, probably exe- cuted by the Egyptians. Abraham found gold and silver in use among them. In the time of Alexander gold, silver, copper, and iron were obtained in Ethiopia, and iron, at least, in Libya. India and Caramania (modern Kerman) pro- duced gold, and the latter country also silver and copper. In Asia Minor the gold mines for- merly owned by Croesus were worked down to the time of Xenophon, but Strabo says that in his day they were exhausted. There were iron mines and skilled workmen in Palestine. Ancient writers speak of rich gold and silver mines in Arabia Felix, no traces of which re- main. The Athenians worked rich silver mines in Attica and gold mines in Thrace and Thasot. Thessaly produced gold, Boeotia iron, and Epi- rus silver. Before the time of the Romans mining was carried on in many parts of west- ern Europe. The Etruscans and the Sabines in Italy were acquainted with copper, and the former discovered iron in Elba. The northern tribes of Italy obtained gold by washing ; the tribes of Gaul are known to have mined for gold, silver, copper, and iron ; and in Spain and Sardinia extensive and productive mines were established by the Carthaginians. Brit- ain produced gold, silver, iron, lead, and tin. After the conquest of Csesar, the tin of Corn- wall was shipped first to the Isle of Wight, and thence to the coast of Gaul, where it was loaded upon horses and transported to Mar- seilles, a journey of 30 days. The early Ro- mans did not work the mines of their native land. The first two Punic wars delivered into