64 G. Elliot Smith on 



went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Every three years 

 once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, 

 and apes, and peacocks" (2 Ohron. IX, 21). "And the servants 

 also of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold 

 from Ophir, brought iilgum trees and precious stones" (2 Chron, 

 IX, 10). 



It is now widely admitted that Ophir was merely an exchange 

 in South Eastern Arabia whence the produce collected from all 

 shores of the Indian Ocean was dealt with. Lassen^ has given 

 what seem to be conclusive reasons for the derivation of some of 

 these articles, such as the peacocks and the algum trees, from 

 Southern India It may be argued that if the peacocks came 

 from Eastern Asia via India, may not the silver also have come 

 from Burma and Malaya ? This is possible, and even perhaps 

 probable. But, when we remember the vast quantities of gold 

 and silver that passed through Ophir in Solomon's time, it seems 

 possible that some of it may have come from Mashonaland. 



In considering these problems the fact emerges quite definitely 

 that these ships under Phoenician pilots were carrying on far- 

 reaching trafficking, certainly as far as India, and probably to the 

 shores of the Mozambique channel, at least as early as the tenth 

 century B.C. 



There are many reasons for believing that the adventurers 

 who made their way east to India did not limit their wanderings 

 there. Though some of them settled down to exploit the vast 

 stores of wealth lying unappreciated by the indigenous inhabitants, 

 others pushed on to Burma as well as to the land of gold and 

 spices in the Malay peninsula and archipelago. In these regions 

 again the new comers settled wherever gold or pearls were found. 

 Islands and territories which did not provide these kinds of 

 wealth had no attraction for them and hence their people were 

 left in their pristine iimocence and simplicity which we commonly 

 label "savagery." 



Writing in the latter half of the first century Josephus 

 ^ Quoted by SchofF, Op. cit., p. 175. 



