Ball — A Geologists Contribution to the History of India. 77 



principal commodities imported from India were gold, tin, precious 

 stones, ivory, &c. 



In the Mosaic period (1491-1450, b.c), too, precious stones, 

 which were to a great extent a specialty of India and the neigh- 

 bouring countries, appear to have been well known, and were 

 already highly valued. It is probable that some of the stones 

 in the breastplate of the high priest may have come from the far 

 East. The emerald, however, if then known, was probably de- 

 rived from a mine in Egypt, to which reference will be made 

 hereafter. At the same time there are grounds for believing that 

 the word so rendered (Exod. xxviii. 18 ; Ezek. xxviii. 13) may not 

 be correctly translated. 



The next traders in Indian products were the Phoenicians, who 

 for a time carried on their commerce with the ports of Aden, 

 Cana, Haran, Yemen, and Muza, to which the commodities of 

 India were brought for exchange by Arabian, and possibly 

 Indian and Cingalese, ships. 



Somewhere about 1015 b.c, Solomon joined Hiram, King of 

 Tyre, in a nautical and commercial venture of a more ambitious 

 nature than had previously been attempted, " For the king had 

 at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram : once in three 

 years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, 

 apes, and peacocks." ^ 



These 'ships were the first which had ever doubled the southern 

 parts of Arabia arid then sailed straight for India. The first port 

 in that country of which we have any mention is Ophir. The 

 vessels were built of timber from Judea, at Elath and Erziongeber, 

 and they were manned by Phoenicians. They were called " ships 

 of Tharshish," because they were of the same form and build 

 as those which had previously been employed in the trade to 

 Tharshish, situated, as is now generally known, in the south of 

 Spain. 



It is needless, perhaps, to discuss here the many views which 

 have been put forward as to the identity of Ophir. Lassen" says 

 it was on the site of Abhira, on the western coast, adjoining the 

 province of Guzerat. Others locate it in Ceylon ; but Greneral 



1 I. Kings, i. 22 ; also see ix. 28., &c. 

 - Indisch. Alter., vol, ii. pp. 584-592. 



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