MERCHANT PRINCES. 251 



The north supplied Constantinople, and the south 

 supplied Persia with mercenary troops ; the leaders on 

 receiving their pay established courts at home, and 

 rendered homage to their imperial masters. The 

 princes of Arabia Deserta ruled in the name of the 

 Chosroes. The princes of Arabia Petrsea were proud 

 to be called the lieutenants of the Caesars. 



In the south-west corner of the peninsula there is a 

 range of hills sufficiently high to intercept the passing 

 clouds and rain them down as streams to the Indian 

 Ocean and the Red Sea. This was the land of 

 Yemen or Sabaea, renowned for its groves of frankin- 

 cense and for the wealth of its merchant kings. Its 

 forests in ancient times were inhabited by squalid 

 negro tribes who lived on platforms in the trees, and 

 whose savage stupor was ascribed to the drowsy 

 influence of the scented air. The country was after- 

 wards colonised by men of the Arab race, who built 

 ships and established factories on the East Coast of 

 Africa, on the coast of Malabar, and in the island of 

 Ceylon. They did not navigate the Red Sea, but 

 despatched the India goods, the African ivory and gold 

 dust, and their own fragrant produce by camel caravan 

 to Egypt or to Petra, a great market city in the north. 



The Pharaohs and the Persian kings did not inter- 

 fere with the merchant princes of Yemen. In the days 

 of the Ptolemies a few Greek ships made the Indian 

 voyage, but could not compete with the Arabs who 

 had so long been established in the trade. But the 

 Roman occupation of Alexandria ruined them com- 

 pletely. The just and moderate government of 

 Augustus, and the demand for Oriental luxuries at 

 Rome excited the enterprise of the Alexandrine traders, 

 and a Greek named Hippalus made a remarkable dis- 



