of the East Indies 
■ Difcovery of which was revived by Columbus. The 'Spam- 
vrds o-ave the Name of the Iflands of Solomon to certain 
Countries in the South Seas , very rich in Gold, and which 
could never fince be found ; becaufe they imagined the 
Fleets of Solomon came thither. 
But there are two Opinions infinitely more probable than 
any of thefe : The one is, that Ophir was the Southern 
I Part of Arabia , concerning which we are told by an antient 
Geographer, that two Nations called Alileans and CaJJan- 
drins , who inhabited thereabouts, had Gold in fo great 
| Plenty, that they would give twice its Weight for Iron, 
thrice its Weight for Brafs, and ten times its Weight for 
Silver. This Gold they found in Pieces amongd the Sand, 
1 fome very large, and the fmalleft of the Size of Olives, 
i which needed no refining. The other Opinion places this 
rich Country in Malacca : This, I muft confefs, appears 
the moil reafonable to me of them all ; for Malacca is a 
1 Peninfula in the true Red Sea ; which anfwers well enough 
i the Defcription given by Eupblemus , and at the fame time 
; agrees exactly with what we are told by Jofephus , having 
1 been known to Antiquity by the Name of the Golden Cher- 
ifonefe. But there is another Circumftance, that is flill more 
: remarkable : At the Diftance of twelve Leagues from Ma- 
\ lacca, there is a very high Mountain, which by the Natives 
is called Ophir , and which is reported to be, or rather to 
I have been, very rich in Gold, though at prefent they only 
work fome Tin-Mines that are there. 
As to this Circumftance of Gold Mines wearing out, it is 
' highly probable, and very agreeable to the Lights we re- 
: ceive from Experience, as to the Nature of that Metal ; for 
the richer the Mines, the fooner they are exhaufted, and the 
1 longer they are in recruiting *, which, very poftibly, is the 
t Caufe not only of our not finding Gold in fuch Countries as 
’ were famous for it among the Antients, but alfo of our not 
j finding it any-where in the fame Proportion that they did . 
This Subject I fhall endeavour to fet in the cleared: Light 
poflible, when I come to treat of the Riches found in Peru, 
when it was firft difcovered, and which were far fuperior to 
•what it has produced fince. But where-ever Ophir was* the 
Phoenicians employed by Solomon navigated his Ships thi- 
I ther, and acquired thereby a diftindt Knowledge of this 
1 Courfe ; which brought them, as fhall be afterwards fhewn, 
to a perfedt Acquaintance with the Indians , and, in time, 
to the Monopoly of the Trade of them. In the mean 
time, let us proceed in our Hiftory of this Commerce, 
While in the Hands of the Ifraelites ; who profecuted it 
from this Time forward very conftantly, fometimes with 
more, fometimes with lefs Advantage, according to the 
i different Adminiftratlons they were under. 
4. Upon the Divifion of the Kingdom, the Province 
of Idumea remained annexed to the Kingdom of Judah, or 
Judea, the Princes of which carried on this Trade with great 
Succefsfrom the Port of Efiongeber. What the Reafons were 
that determined the Jewifh Monarch to prefer that Port to 
Elath , Hiftory hath not informed us •, but we have a very 
good Account of the Caufes which induced them to flight 
it. Jehofaphat , King of Judah, thought fit, from politi- 
cal Confiderations, to ftrike up a clofe Alliance with Aha- 
%iah King of Ifrael, Very probably, becaufe allied to the 
King of Sidon : and his Country, lying nearer to Phoenicia , 
he had many Seamen of that Nation in his Service, and fo 
came to admit him into a Share of this Trade, for the car- 
rying on of which they fitted out a joint Fleet at Efion- 
: geber a . 
This Fleet confifted of ten Sail, which were fhipwrecked 
on a Ledge of Rocks, which lay before that Port, and 
from which Ridge of Rocks it received its Name ; for, 
Efion-geber fignifies the Back-bone ; and the Rocks were in 
that Form covered by the Sea at High-water, and flicking 
1 &P with various Points in a Line, when it was low. This 
Accident brought fuch a Discredit on that Haven, as it 
i never recovered : And therefore, when Jehofaphat had 
fitted out, in the fucceeding Year, another Squadron of 
Ships, it was from Elath, and he would not fuffer his 
a il/^xxa. 48, z Chron. xx. 36. 37. b t Kings xxii. , 
Numb. 26 e 
Neighbour, the King of Ifrael, to have any Concern there- 
in at all b . 
His Succeffor Jehoram loft both Ports by the Rebellion 
of the Edomites ; and by this means the Jewifh Com- 
merce, in the Red Sea, fuffered an Interruption of fome 
Years: But Uzziah, in the Beginning of his Reign, re- 
covered Elath, and fortified it again, well knowing its 
Importance •, and from thence carried on that advantageous 
Trade, which had been the great Source of the Riches 
which the Ifraelites , and afterwards the Jews, poffcffed : 
For tho’, as I obferved, they did not carry it on always 
with the fame Succefs as in the Days of Solomon , yet, when 
they carried it on at all, ic brought in fuch conftaht Sup- 
plies of Gold, and other rich Commodities, that, notwith- 
ftanding the Misfortunes they met with, and the prodi- 
gious Sums extorted from them by feveral Eaftern Con- 
querors, yet they quickly recruited again ; and, as ap- 
pears from the Sacred Writings, grew very rich in every 
fmall Interval of Peace, till they loft this Trade altogether ; 
and then they funk into the lowed degree of Poverty and 
Diftrefs, having no way to fupply extraordinary Demands, 
but out of the dead Stock of the Treafures they had laved 
in better Times. 
5. This Misfortune befel them in the Reign of Ahaz, 
againll whom two powerful Princes confederated them- 
felves j viz. Rezin King of Damafcas, and P'ekah King 
of Ifrael , who, in a fhort time, conquered almoft all the 
Kingdom of Judah ; by which means, Elath fell into the 
Hands of Rezin, who immediately eftablifhed there a Colony 
of Syrians, in hopes of transferring that profitable Commerce 
to his own Subjects, which feems to have been the great 
Point he had in View, when he began this War : But Pe- 
kah King of Ifrael , aiming at the total Deflrudlion of the 
Jewifh Monarchy, ftiut up Ahaz in his Capital, and befieo- e d 
him there. On the Retreat of P^ezin, the King of Judah 
ventured a Battle, in which he was totally defeated ; loft 
the City of Jerufalem ; and had an infinite Number of his 
Subjects, with all the Riches of his Kingdom, carried 
away by the victorious Ifraelites c . 
In this Diftrefs, he took all the Gold and Silver, which, 
out of refpeft to Religion, the Enemy had left in the 
Temple, and fent them to Pilgath-Pilefer King of Ajlyria , 
the 1110ft powerful Monarch in thofe Parts, to procure his 
Afliftance. This Prince, who was excefiively ambitious, 
feeing fo fair an Opportunity offer of irilargiftg his Domi- 
nions, immediately clofed with his Propofal ; attacked firff 
Rezin King of Daniafcus, whom he deprived of his Domi- 
nions ; and then fell upon Pekah King of Ifrael, from 
whom he took the bell Part of his Territories alfo ; which', 
however, inftead of proving an Advantage to Ahaz, was 
in Truth, a greater Misfortune than any he had yet fuf- 
fered. 
For the Affyrian Monarch forced him to pay fuch heavy 
Impofitions, under coloiir of reimburfing him for the Ex- 
pences of a War entered into' on his Account, that they 
equaled, if not exceeded, the Ravages committed by his 
former Enemies, and reduced the People of Judea into the 
ffloft deplorable Circumflances. Thefe Mifchiefs affedted 
not only the People of that Age, but their lateft Pofterity ; 
for now they had fo powerful a Neighbour, who, at the 
fame time, was fo tyrannical a Mailer, that they neither 
knew how to bear his Yoke, nor had Stfength enough to 
fhake it off ; and, which was the greatefl M if chief of all, 
this powerful Prince, under colour of his Right of Cdn- 
queft, kept Elath , and thereby deprived the Jews of their 
Indian Commerce, by which they had recovered from all 
former Oppreffions, and which they never afterwards had 
the leaft Share in : So that here end all our Concerns with 
them. 
6. The Pyrians Were, by this time,' become the rnoJt 
potent Maritime Power ; and, having- all along been im- 
ployed in thefe Voyages to India , wanted only an Oppor- 
tunity of poffeffing themfelves of fome ft?ort, capable of 
being made the Emporium of this CommeRe, in order to 
9* c 2 Kings xvit 6, 
5 ' B f aitf 
