OPHIR. 
from an ee are called by the rabbins coral wood, and 
are faid to have refem bled ieee n hardnefs, colour, and 
ave been a i cies of 
Hi hor, vol. iv. p. 1 
n.R. The grounds on which this opinion is iets 
extremely fanciful, ar geet of the extreme core: 
bability, that in the time of Solomon any knowledg 
ifted of anit ach fe any oo with it. 
hron. iil. e called the 
mld was the wold of of Parvaim. On 
8 u 
what do you fay; hence oo Spaniard enela. "that Peru 
was the name of the coun 
e 
alee on the Mediterranean, before the difcovery of the 
Cape of Good Hope. 
Phe authors of the Ancient Univerfal Hiftory are dif 
of thofe remote rich countries 
: ge 
¥s loc. cit. But the o bjetions sriaun at 
again the laft hypothefis, lie with equal weight again this 
opinion; it is not likely, that in Solomon’s time fuch a 
diftant bas could have been undertaken, in the courfe of 
ur 
the commo- 
habitation of Joktan 
unto Sephar, a mount of the ealt. s Op 
Joktan’s fons, a hypothefis refpeGting the fituation of Ophir 
has been built on this paffage; this hypothefis is principally 
fupported by Calmet; he eae it was placed fomewhere 
towards Armenia and ia, where the Tigris an us 
phrates take their rife ; aad thefe rivers, he cake might 
and e 
hypo- 
ea, as Armenia or 
edia, Calmet fisaolen that the three years mentioned in 
the text er mean only three {ummers, and two winters, 
or thirty m 
Dean 
nearer, where eee could have gold, almug-trees, and precious 
ftones, might be the Ophir mentioned by the {criptures ; 
and he attempts i fhew, that the fouthern part of Arabia 
produced the greateft quantities of the bett gold, and, con- 
fequently, might be the land of Ophir. Againft this hypo- 
thefis, the obje&tion already ftated lies with great force. 
As a conftant commercial intercourfe was kept up between 
India and the more diftant parts of Afia, and the countries 
on the Mediterranean, b ans of caravans, it is b 
means probable, that veffels Saga i employed for this pur- 
ofe; hence, wherever Ophir have been pect hs 
infe erlor trifles as filver, ivory, mon 
