PHOENICIAN ENTERPRISE. 



of Wales, where they are used for fording- streams, or for fishing. Wooden canoes or boats, 

 whether hollowed from one log- or constructed of many parts, came next. The paintings 

 and sculptures of Upper and Lower Egypt show regularly formed boats, made of sawn planks 

 of timber, carrying a number of rowers,' and having sails. The Egyptians were averse to 

 seafaring pursuits, having extensive overland commerce with their neighbours. 



The Pho3nicians were, past all cavil, the most distinguished navigators of the ancient 

 world, their capital, Tyre, being for centuries the centre of commerce, the " mart of nations." 

 Strange to say, this country, whose inhabitants were the rulers of the sea in those times, was 

 a mere strip of land, whose average breadth never exceeded twelve miles, while its length was 

 only 225 miles from Aradus in the north to Joppa in the south. Forced by the unpro- 

 ductiveness of the territory, and blessed with one or two excellent harbours, and an abundant 

 supply of wood from the mountains of Lebanon, the Phrenicians soon possessed a numerous 

 fleet, which not only monopolised the trade of the Mediterranean, but navigated Solomon's 

 fleets to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, establishing colonies wherever they went. 

 Herodotus states that a Phrenician fleet, which was fitted out by Necho, King of Egypt, even 

 circumnavigated Africa, and gives details which seem to place it within the category of the 

 very greatest voyages. Starting from the Red Sea, they are stated to have passed Ophir, 

 generally supposed to mean part of the east coast of Africa, to have rounded the continent, 

 and, entering the Mediterranean by the Pillars of Hercules, our old friends the Rocks of 

 Gibraltar and Ceuta, to have reached Egypt in the third year of their voyage. Solomon, too, 

 dispatched a fleet of ships from the Red Sea to fetch gold from Ophir. Diodorus gives at 

 great length an account of the fleet said to be built by this people for the great Queen 

 Semiramis, with which she invaded India. Semiramis was long believed by many to be a 

 mythical personage ; but Sir Henry Rawlinson's interpretations of the Assyrian inscriptions 

 have placed the existence of this queen beyond all doubt. In the Assyrian hall of the British 

 Museum are two statues of the god Nebo, each of which bears a cuneiform inscription saying 

 that they were made for Queen Semiramis by a sculptor of Nineveh. The commerce of 

 Phoenicia must have been at its height when Nebuchadnezzar made his attack on Tyre. 

 Ezekiel gives a description of her power about the year B.C. 588, when ruin was hovering 

 around her. " Tyre," says the prophet, " was a merchant of the people for many isles." 

 He states that her ship-boards were made of fir-trees of Senir; her masts of cedars from 

 Lebanon ; her oars of the oaks of Bashan ; and the benches of her galleys of ivory, brought 

 out of the isles of Chittim. 



To the Tyrians also is due the colonisation of other countries, which, following the 

 example of the mother-country, soon rivalled her in wealth and enterprise. The 

 principal of these was Carthage, which in its turn founded colonies of her own, one 

 of the first of which was Gades (Cadiz). From that port Hanno made his celebrated 

 voyage to the west coast of Africa, starting with sixty ships or galleys, of fifty oars 

 each. He is said to have founded six trading-posts or colonies. About the same 

 time Hamilco went on a voyage of discovery to the north-western shores of Europe, 

 where, according to a poem of Festus Avienus,* he formed settlements in Britain and 



* The curious in such mutters will find this poem translated by Heeren in his work entitled " Asiatic 



Nations." 



