EARLY TRADE IN BLACK AND RED CORAL 235 



imported from any of the warmer waters of the Red Sea, 

 Persian Gulf, or Indian Ocean (see p. 132). 



In the verse from Job as it is translated in the English 

 Version, it is difficult to see any reason why " iiibies " 

 should be specially selected for comparison with " wisdom." 

 But bearing in mind the multiple and marvellous magical 

 properties of red coral in addition to its beauty as a jewel, 

 the translation of the verse according to the views of Gesenius 

 may reveal a new meaning. It would read thus : 



No mention shall be made of black coral or of pearls, for the price 

 of wisdom is above red coral. 



The black coral and the pearls imported from the South 

 are here grouped together, and the more precious red coral 

 from the West stands by itself as a symbol of the most valu- 

 able of worldly possessions. 



Apart from these references to coral in the Bible, we have 

 practically no information as to the use of coral by the 

 ancient Jews. 



There is abundant evidence of trade in coral with the 

 Far East in times long before the dawn of the Christian era. 



It seems probable that Persia was an important market 

 for coral, for Solinus, in his reference to the coral from the 

 Gulf of Genoa, says : " This substance according to Zoroaster 

 has a certain potency and in consequence anything that 

 comes from it is reckoned among health-giving things." 



But the Persians not only used coral themselves but 

 passed it on to the races further East as an article of trade, 

 for in early Chinese annals it is stated that " coral is produced 

 in Persia, being considered by the people there as their most 

 precious jewel." ^ 



x\t the time of the Han dynasty, a century or more before 

 the Christian era,- the Chinese were already well acquainted 

 with coral as an ornament, and it was valued so highly that 



1 B. Laufer, " Sino-Iranica," Field Museum of Nat. History, Chicago. 

 Publications No. 201, igig, p. 523. 



^ According to Prof. Pelliot the earliest use of the word Shanhu {i.e. 

 coral) is in a poem written by a Chinese scholar, Sseuma Siang-JQ.u,-whct. _ 

 must have died about 117 B.C. {Archives concernant I'Asie ovientale, tt9te,Q,f ■')' .^\ 

 p. 145, footnote). •- "v ■,.--,;.- V--','--'^, . 



12 S / ^^ ^^ 



