37^ The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce, Book 1 
difcern the Qccafton of this Difference *, and, confequently, 
the Credit due both to antient and modern Accounts : For 
it will appear in the Courfe of this Work, that moft of the 
defpotic Governments that now fubfift in the Indies , are 
the EfFedts of Foreign Conquefts •, and that the antient 
Principles of Liberty, and afiigning proper Bounds to Sove- 
reign Power, are ftill fufficiently vifible among the un- 
mixed Nations of India. Thefe are Motives fufficient to 
juftify Inquiries of this Nature ; efpecially when they are 
regularly made, confined within due Bounds, and applied 
chiefly to the Explanation of thofe Points, which make it 
worth our while to inquire into the Tranfactions of pail 
Times, in Countries at fuch a Diftance. 
SECTION III. 
- W Hijlory of this Commerce in the Hands of the Idumeans, Ifraelites, Tyrians, &hc. with 
fome Account of its Profits. 
i. The Manner in which /^Phoenicians became acquainted with this Commerce through the Id u mean? 
2. Are intruded with the Management of it by the Ifraelites. 3. Different Opinions as to the Situation 
of Ophir. 4. Advantageous Confequences of this Commerce to the Jews. f. They are totally deprived of 
it , under the Reign of Ahaz, by the Affyrians. 6. The Tyrians aim at the monopolizing the Commerce of 
the Indies. 7. The extraordinary Means they made ufe of to open a new Route from thofe Countries . 
8. Become thereby exceedingly rich and powerful, as well as very formidable to their Neighbours. ®. The 
City of Old Tyre taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and New Tyre ereBed on an If and at a fmall Dijlance. 
10. An Account of the Troglodytes, and of the Nature of their Commerce. 11. Obfervations on the Proft 
of this Trade in thofe Times , and on the Nature of the Proofs brought to fupport thofe Obfervations . 
1. H IF! E whole Trade of the antient World feems to 
j| have been divided between the Egyptians and 
JfL- the Phoenicians. The former had engroffed to 
themfelves the Eaftern Commerce, and the latter extended 
their Navigations more to the W eft. It is certain, that 
never any Country was better fituated for Trade than Phoe- 
nicia , and the two great Cities Sidon and Pyre, the famous 
Ports thereof, which make fo great a Figure in antient 
Hiftory. Sidon flood on the Sea-fhore, having behind it 
a fine Plain, which reached as far as Mount Lib anus, or 
rather Anti-Libanus. The antient Tyre ftood alfo upon the 
Continent, was founded by the Sidonians , and came after- 
wards to make a greater Figure than Sidon itfelf °. 
The Inhabitants of thefe two Cities profecuted Trade, 
and every thing that had any relation to T rade, with the 
utmoft Diligence. The Mountains behind them furnifhed 
excellent Timber, and this enabled them to perfect the 
Art of Ship-building. They alfo made great Difcoveries 
in Aftronomy, and were particularly fkilful in applying it 
to Navigation. They muft have had early fome Intelli- 
gence of the Indies , if there be any Truth in what is re- 
ported of Hercules of Tyre, that he penetrated into thofe 
Countries •, for it is certain, that this Hero, who was called 
Malc'arihu's in the Punic or Phoenician Tongue, lived 
three hundred Years before the famous Expedition of the 
Golden Fleece : And therefore there is good Reafon to 
doubt, that his Indian Expedition is a Fable ; but a Fable 
that might be thus far founded in Truth, that the Greeks 
might endeavour to exprefs thereby the Phoenicians being 
taught that Commerce by Hercules, their tutelar Divi- 
nity p . 
We fhall however endeavour to give a clearer and more 
probable Account of the Manner by which they came to 
this Knowledge. All the rich Commodities they brought 
From the Weft by their Shipping, they diftributed thro’ 
the Eaft by Caravans ; which was and is the Method by 
which all Inland Commerce is carried on in the Eaft ; and 
this occafioned a Correfpondence between them and the 
Idumeans , or Edomites, who were then a very powerful Na- 
tion, and poffeffed of very extenflve Dominions. 
2. Thefe Idumeans, who in the Scriptures are called the 
Children of Edom, were poffeffed of that Side of the Ara- 
bian Gulph which is oppofite to Egypt ; and from them that 
Gulph received the Name of the Red Sea , by a miftaken 
Etymology : For the Greeks, finding this Gulph called 
the Sea of Edom, and inquiring what Edom fignified, were 
told that it meant Red, from whence they called this the 
Red Sea % though, properly fpeaking, the Red Sea is that 
Part of the Ocean which divides Afa from Africa. Upon 
0 Strabo. Diodor. Plin. 
Prtep-. Evangel. Lib. ix. 
that Gulph the Idumeans had two Sea-ports, Elath and Efi- 
ongeber *, from whence they carried on a Trade by Sea, to 
Arabia, Perfia, and India ; and through them the Phoeni- 
cians came firft to be acquainted with this Commerce, into 
which, however, they were more freely admitted by the 
Ifraelites. 
For when King David had made himfelf Mafter of Idu- 
mea, and thereby obtained the Ports before-mentioned on 
the Arabian Gulph, he immediately refolved to eftablifh a 
Maritime Power, and to carry on from thence that beneficial 
Trade which had been before driven by the Idumeans ; 
which he did with great Succefs, as appears by the vaft 
Quantities of Gold he brought in one Voyage from Ophir. 
His Son Solomon , who was a greater Politician, and who 
had both Leifure and Inclination to cultivate the Arts of 
Peace, refolved to make the belt Ufe poffible of thofe Ha- 
vens •, and therefore went in Perfon to Elath and Efionge - 
her, where, under his own Eye, thofe Ports were fortified, 
and Abundance of Veffels put upon the Stocks. Thofe 
who were chiefly employed by him, both in building and 
navigating his Fleet, were the Subjects of his and his Fa- 
ther’s faithful Ally, Hiram King of Tyre q .* And by this 
means the Tyrians became acquainted with the Navigation 
to the Indies, in which they were ever afterwards em- 
ployed. ■ 
3. I fhall not enter very deeply here, into the famous 
Qpeftion, Where Ophir is fituated ? becaufe, perhaps, that 
will be always a Queftion •, and I would not take Things 
for granted, and then reafon upon them, when I know that 
poffibly they may be dilputed. Yet it may not, perhaps, 
be amifs to mention fome of the Opinions, which have been 
fupported by the learned Men of the laft and prefent Age. 
In the firft place, let it be obferved, that though it be faid, 
that the Fleets of Solomon were three Years in making a 
Voyage to Tarfnifh, yet there is no Time fixed for the 
Voyage to Ophir ; from whence the Commodities that 
were brought, are faid to be Gold, Almug-trees, and Pre- 
cious Stones. Eupolemus, an old Author, quoted by Eufe- 
bius , afierts, that Ophir was an Eland in the Red Sea \ 
Jofephus fays, that the Country of Ophir yielded fuch vaft 
Quantities of that precious Metal, as to be called from 
thence the Land of Gold s . By the Help of thefe Marks, 
different Authors have found it in different Places. 
Some will have it to be the litrle Eland of Zocatora, on 
the Eaftern Coaft of Africa, at a fmall Diftance from the 
Streights of Babelmandel *, others imagine that it was the 
Eland of Ceylan others again contend for Sofala in Africa. 
The famous Francifcus Vat ablus would have us reft fatisfied, 
that Ophir was no other than the Eland of Hifpaniol* , the 
s 1 Kings ix. 27. 2 Chrott. via. 18. and ix. 10. 21. 
P Strabo, ! ib. xv. 
* Antiquit. Jud. Lib. viii. 
T ! Apttd Eufeb 
Difcovery 
