C 3 ] 



and contained in a calendar oi above nineteen centuries, which was tranf- 

 initied to Greece by Alexander, reach back to within fifteen years of 

 thofe afcribed to the Chinefe. The difcovery of this valuab'e fcicnce 

 was attributed by European writers to a deified king of Babylon, whom 

 they call Jupiter Eelus. {^Ariftot. de Ccelo, c. 12. * — Plin. Hijl. nat. L. vi, 

 c. 26.] 



The Indians appear to have had obfervations fully as early as the Ba- 

 bylonians. [Baiily, Ajlronomie Indienne — Kohertjoti's Dijquifiiion on India, 

 p. 289, ed. 1794.] 



So very antient among the oriental nations was the ftudy of astro- 

 nomy, a icience fo eflentially neceflary to navigation, that without it no 

 voyages can be undertaken upon the ocean. Whether any of thofe 

 nations learned aflronomy from either of the others, is a queflion, 

 which no man can prefume to determine. 



Such of the defcendents of Noah as lived near the water, we may pre- 

 fume, made ufe of veflels built fomewhat in imitation of the ark, (fup- 

 pofing it to have been the firfl floating vefTel ever feen in the world) 

 and on a fmaller fcale adapted to the purpofe of crofling deep rivers. 

 In procefs of time the pofterity of his eldeft fon Japhet fettled them- 

 felves in ' the ifles of the Gentiles,' by which we muft underfland the 

 iflands at the eaft end of the Mediterranean fea, and thofe between 

 Afia-minor and Greece, whence their colonies fpread into Greece, Italy, 

 and other weftern lands f. \_GeneJis, c. 10.] This is the earheft account 

 of voyages performed upon the fea. 



SiDON, which afterwards became fo illuftrious for the wonderful mer- 

 cantile exertions of its inhabitants, was founded about 2,200 years be- 

 fore the Chriftian aera. Seated in a barren and narrow country, con- 

 fined on one fide by the fea, and on the other by the range of moun- 

 tains called Lebanon, they had the fagacity to make thefe feemingly 

 inhofpitable boundaries the foundation of a naval power, which for ages 

 flood unequalled, and gave them the unrivalled command of the whole 

 commerce of the Mediterranean. The mountains being covered with 

 excellent cedars, which furnifli the very befl and mofl durable fliip 

 timber and plank:}:, they built great numbers of fliips, and exported the 



* Epijenes, ?)erofiis, and Ciitodemus, as quot- full vigour of life for at lead a century, we fhall 

 cd by Piiny, [////?. nat. J., vii, c. 56] do not r.l- fee reafon to btlieve, that in about 2CO years the 



Jow 



lialf fo much antiquity to the Babylonian cb- pofterity of tln-ec couples might have greatly ex- 



fervations. But, fuppofing the numbers in all to ceeded a million of people. 



be equally genuine, (he authority of Ariftotle is :|; That the fliips of this country were built of 



vallly fuperior to ail theirs. cedar in after ages alfo, appears from Piir.v [//^. 



-]- According to the tables calculated by Wal- nat. L. xvi, c. 40] who Hiys, that it was iifcd for 



lice, IDlfcriatio/i 0,1 the tiumii-n of nianlind, p. /[^.2 iimtitoffir, of which the Romans, from fcarcity 



the pofterity of Noah, if lie had no children after of bet'tcr timber, or from ignorance, built their 



the deluge, ftiould at this time fcarcely have ftiips, though, in the fame chapter, be remarks. 



amounted to 600 perfons. But if we fuppofe a fo- that fome beams of cedar in a temple at Utica had 



cicty of people exempted fiom the many clogs put Jaftcd 1 188 jears. 



upon matrimony in modern times, and enjoying the 



A 



