PHYSICAL CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 133 



style of architecture to those of the Mediterranean. ( 1>78 ) 

 The caravan trade which the Phoenicians carried on, in order 

 to procure spices and incense, was directed by Palmyra to 

 Arabia Felix, and to the Chaldean or Nabathseic Gerrha, on 

 the western or Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf. 



The expeditions of Hiram and Solomon, conjoint under- 

 takings of the Tyrians and Israelites, sailed from Ezion 

 Geber through the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb to Ophir 

 (Opheir, Sophir, Sophara, the Sanscrit Supara ( 179 ) of 

 Ptolemy). Solomon, who loved magnificence, caused a 

 fleet to be built in the Bed Sea, and Hiram supplied him 

 with Pho3nician mariners well acquainted with navigation, 

 and also Tyrian vessels, "ships of Tarshish." ( 18 ) The 

 articles of merchandise which were brought back from Ophir 

 were gold, silver, sandal wood (algummim), precious stones, 

 ivory, apes (kophim), and peacocks (thukkiim). The names 

 by which these articles are designated are not . Hebrew but 

 Indian. ( 1S1 ) The researches of Gesenius, Benfey, and 

 Lassen, have made it extremely probable that the western 

 shores of the Indian peninsula were visited by the Phoeni- 

 cians, who, by their colonies in the Persian Gulf, and by 

 their intercourse with the Gerrhans, were early acquainted 

 with the periodically blowing monsoons. Columbus was 

 even persuaded that Ophir (the El Dorado of Solomon), and 

 the mountain Sopora, were a part of Eastern Asia of the 

 Chersonesus Aurea of Ptolemy. ( 182 ) If it seem difficult to 

 view Western India as a country productive in gold, it will 

 be sufficient, without referring to the " gold-seeking ants/ 1 

 or to Ctesias's unmistakable description of a foundry, (in 

 which, however, according to his account, gold and iron 

 were melted together), ( 183 ) to remember the vicinity of 



