OPHIU. 



405 



the peiiinstila, has been the subject of mueh lidicule, 

 but, nevertheless, there may be considerable evidence 

 in favor of such an hypothesis. 



Ko one region is known in that part of the east 

 that could have furnished all the different ai'ticles 

 brought by Solomon's fleet ; and Ophii* has therefore 

 been considered the name of an emporium, situated 

 near the entrance of the Red Sea, or, more probably, 

 near the head of the Arabian Sea, at the mouth of 

 the Indus, The names in the Hebrew of the ai-ticlea 

 thus brought, show that they are all of foreign ori- 

 gin, having been evidently adopted fi-om some other 

 language, and probably from the Sanscrit.* The 

 name for peacock appears to have been derived from 

 the word in Tamil, a language spoken on the Mala- 

 bar coast by the Telingas, or " Klings," who visited 

 this island and the Malay Peninsula long betbre the 

 time of Solomon, 1015 to 076 b. c, for the tin used 

 by the Egyptians in making their implements of 

 bronze, as early as 2000 b, c, doubtless came firom 

 the Malacca, and the Klings were the people who 

 took it as far toward Egypt as the eastern shore of 

 India. Tin and gold are both obtained in the same 

 manner, namely, by washing alluvial deposits. 



Gold is found in small quantities over a very 

 considerable part of the Malay Peninsula. It has 

 always been more highly valued than tin, and it 

 is, therefore, by all means probable that it was an 

 article of commerce, and was expoi-ted to India 



* Vide Max Mailer's *' Lectures on the Science of LangnagOi" Fit^t 

 Ctotire^ p. 224, 



