8 



Before Chrift 17^8. 



whole attention to merchandize as a regular and eflablifhed profeffion, 

 and travelled v^dth caravans (as pradifed in thofe countries to this day) 

 between Arabia and Egypt, carrying upon the backs of camels* the 

 fpiceries of India, together with the balm of Canaan, and the myrh pro- 

 duced in their own country, or perhaps imported of a fuperior quality 

 from the oppofite coafl of Abyfhnia ; articles which were in great de- 

 mand among 'the Egyptians for embalming the deadf , in the religious 

 ceremonies, and for adminiftering to the pleafures, of that fuperftitious, 

 rich, and luxurious, people. The merchants of one of thofe caravans, 

 confifling of Ifhmaelites and Midianites J, being alfo dealers in flaves, 

 made a purchafe of Jofeph from his brothers for twenty pieces of lilver, 

 or ;jr2 : 1 1 : 8 of modern fterling money §, and carried him with them 

 to Egypt. [Geiiefts, c. 37.] 



The extent of the Arabian commerce ^ in thefe ages further appears 

 from the fpices, which mufl have been got diredly or circuitoufly from 

 Arabia, being joined with balm and other productions of Canaan in the 

 prefent deftined by Jacob for Jofeph. \Genefis, c. 43.] The Ifraelites 

 during their peregrination in the wildernefs poiTelled feveral oriental 

 fpices and aromatics in very conliderable quantities, which, whether 



* The camel is wonderfully adapted by Nature 

 for the tranfportation of merchandize acrofs bar- 

 ren dcferts. Very little food is fufGcient for him, 

 and his ftomacli is fo formed that he can take in a 

 fupply of water, wherever it can be got, fufBcicnt 

 for the ufe of feveral days. He proceeds, under 

 the load of a thoufand pounds weight, with a (low, 

 but uniform, pace, wherein he perfeveres with un- 

 remitting patience to the end of a veiT long jour- 

 ney. Tliefe qualities render the camel fo eminent- 

 ly ufeful in Arabia, Africa, and other avid coun- 

 tries, that he is emphatically called the Jl?ip of the 

 tlifert. 



f Pure myrh, cafia, and other odoriferous fub- 

 ftanccs, excepting frankincenfe, were ufcd in em- 

 balming the dead bodies of the rich in Egypt. 

 \_JItrodol. L. ii, c. 86.] 



I In a few ages after this time we find the Mi- 

 dianites fo opulent, that the plunder of gold ear- 

 rings taken from tliem by the Ifraelites in one bat- 

 tle, weighed 1,700 (hekels, beftdes other orna- 

 ments and purple raiment, apparently from Sidoii : 

 and even their camels had chains of gold upon their 

 necks. [,^i"ls',u '• 8.] 



$ I thought it proper to give this full inftance 

 of the price of a flavc in modern money, (as cal- 

 culated in yiduthiiot's Talks of ancient coins, fi. 

 204) to enable the reader to compare it with the 

 modern prices.' Wc know of no prices of provi- 

 fions caually anlicnt, whereby wc niigiit cllimate 

 the real value of llie price paid for Jofeph. 



f The inttrcourfe between Arabia and India in 

 very early ages may be (jucllioned, as all tlie arti- 

 cles carried by the caravan who bought Jofepli, 



are faid by fome authors to have been the produce 

 of Arabia. Thofe authors, feeing fuch goods 

 brought from Arabia, naturally fuppofed that they 

 were produced there ; and they neither knew nor 

 inquired concerning the exiilence of any countiy 

 beyond it. But it is known that iome of the fpi- 

 ceries could liave been brought only from India, 

 with which the intercourfe from Arabia was very 

 eafy by means of the monfbons, the periodical regu- 

 larity of wliich mud have been obfervcd, and taken 

 advantage of, many ages before the time of Hippa- 

 lus, whom the Egyptian Greeks fuppofed the firft 

 difcoverer of them. It may alfo be obfervcd, as a 

 ftrong prefuinption that the Arabs traded to more 

 remote parts of India than the Pcrfians or Alfyri- 

 ans, or any other nation with whom the weftern 

 parts of the world had intercourfe, that no fuch 

 fpices had ever been fecn in Jerufalem as thofe 

 >vhich were prcfented to Solomon by the queen of 

 Shcba, [// Chronicles^ c. 9] who, if a native of 

 Sabtea in Arabia Felix, received them from her 

 own fubjefts ; or, if a native of the country now 

 called Abyflinia (as the modern Abyffuiians allege) 

 mull have procured them from the merchants of 

 Muza (Mocha, or a place near it) in Arabia, as 

 we learn from the Perip/us rf the Erylhrsan fea. 

 [See alfo Straho, /,.xvii,/>. 1129] Theophralhis 

 i.1, if I midakc not, the oldell author, wiio knew 

 that cinnamon and other fpices and aromatics were 

 the produce of India. See L. ix, c. 7, and elfe- 

 where : and Strabo, who wrote feveral centuries 

 alter him, had heard a report to the fame purport. 

 [Z,. xvii, />. 1 1.29. J 



