139 
Ezekiel, xxvii. 12, as being imported from Tarshish ; and 
this word is by some authors supposed to be a Sanscrit 
compound, tar-desa, or silver country. Lead is thought 
by Bohlen to derive its Greek name /noTwfc or poxuffio;, 
from mulwa, one of the names of lead, from the Indian 
province Malwa, whence it was procured. (Egypt. Antiq. 
ii. p. 327.) Iron and steel are so ancient as Indian products, 
that it is difficult to trace them to their highest antiquity. 
Tin, we have shown, is abundant in the Malayan Penin- 
sula. Antimony {cohal and surma) for painting the eyes, was 
anciently so employed, but is not peculiarly an Indian 
product. The word chasmal, translated amber, is thought 
to be a metallic substance, of which the nature is not well 
understood : " Out of the midst thereof as the colour of 
amber, out of the midst of the fire'" (Ezek. 1. 4); is 
supposed not likely to be the substance now so called, also 
a product of India. It may, perhaps, be glass, as this 
was known to the Egyptians and Phoenicians at an earlier 
period. The word chushm, in the Arabic dictionary, is 
applied only to the eye. 
The various precious stones, though frequently mentioned, 
being so difficult to identify, do not enable us to prove 
that they were procured from India; but we may infer 
from their abundance, that they were so, with the sub- 
stances which could only have been brought from that 
country. 
The Nitre of Scripture (Heb. nether) is probably only 
natron; and the soap (fiorith) thought by some to be 
borax, is, perhaps, some alkaline plant used for washing, 
and of which there are several on the coasts of the Red 
Sea : Suceda (soda) monoica of Forskal, is usually quoted, 
(v. Harris.) Sulphur (Heb. gophrkk) is kubreet in Arabic, 
but gunduk in Hindee ; while pitch, naphtha, and petro- 
leum, are not strictly Indian products. Copher is by some 
