COMMERCE OF INDIA. 



205 



Elath on the Bay of Elath or Ailah, proceeded to Berenike on 

 the Egyptian coast, and thence to Okelis at the mouth of the 

 Arabian Gulf, a voyage which in those times may have lasted 

 about 100 days, as many stoppages would have been rendered 

 necessary for sufficiently providing the fleet with victuals and 

 water. Starting in May the ships arrived in Okelis about the 

 end of July. From this harbour or from Kane on the 

 Erythraean sea, the ships sailed to the mouth of the Indus, or 

 to Barygaza, or to Muziris, or some other southern port. 

 Professor Lassen has identified Ophir, with the country of 

 the Abhira, which was situated on the coast of Sindh, north 

 of the Binn. But if Ophir was the same as the district of 

 the Abhira, how can we explain the long duration of such an 

 expedition ' ' once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, 

 bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks ? " 

 For surely, if the merchants of the allied kings obtained 

 these articles from Sindh they could even avail themselves 

 of the east monsoon and be back in a much shorter period. 

 The custom in these ancient times differed much from ours. 

 The truth of the saying " Time is money/ ' has been only 

 appreciated within the last decades. Old Homer tells us, 

 that the Phoenicians occasionally stopped a year in one place 

 (Odyss, 15. v. 455, 456). It is well known, that the ancient 

 navigators protracted their journeys, they provided themselves 

 with seed corn which they sowed, and stayed until it was 

 harvested and then sailed away. But in this particular case, 

 the mentioning of gold as an export article " and they came 

 to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and 

 twenty talents and brought it to King Solomon " creates 

 another difficulty. For gold has been always a precious 

 import article to India, though it is found also here and 

 there in India. Even if the Abhira were the stupid people, 

 they enjoy the reputation of being, as we learn from the 

 Pancatantram, where they are said to sell the precious moon 



