90 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
occupation than to enjoy and dissipate the wealth 
acquired by their ancestors, the demand for their 
favourite gem, as well as for every thing elegant; 
rare, or costly, which exotic climes afforded, should 
continually increase, in order to support their pomp, 
or to heighten their pleasure. Hence extraordinary 
efforts were continually made, and as the commerce 
with India increased, new channels of communication 
were successively opened. From the earliest ages 
some intercourse had subsisted between Mesopotamia 
and other provinces on the banks of the Euphrates, 
and those parts of Syria and Palestine which lay 
near the Mediterranean, of which the migration of 
Abram, from Ur of the Chaldees to Sichem in the 
land of Canaan, is a convincing proof. As the inter- 
course increased, the possession of this station became 
an object of such importance, that Solomon, when he 
turned his thoughts towards the extension of com- 
merce among his subjects, built a fenced city there. 
Its Syrian name of Tadmor in the Wilderness, and 
its Greek one of Palmyra, are both descriptive of its 
situation in a spot adorned with palm trees. This 
place was not only plentifully supplied with water, 
but surrounded with a portion of fertile land, which, 
though of no great extent, rendered it a delightful 
residence, in the midst of barren sands and an inhos- 
pitable desert. Its present state ‘‘ pleads haughtily 
