378 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book! 
gain it Wholly to themfelves. This, confidering their Si- 
tuation, and the Means by which that Trade had hitherto 
been carried on, was exceeding difficult ; for the Egyptians , 
and their Neighbours the Ethiopians and Troglodytes-, 
were abfolutely poffeffed of one Side of Tit Arabian Gulph ; 
and the other was now intirely in the Hands of the Ad- 
rians, and Arabians ; fo that there feemed to be no Poffi- 
bility of their attempting any thing to Purpofe, without a 
Land Force, which they had not, tho’ their Power was fo 
great by Sea. 
This the Reader will more eafily and fully comprehend, 
if he confiders, that they had the whole Country of P de- 
fine , and that of Idumea, betweeen them, and the Ara- 
bian Gulph ; and that, on the other hand, they had the 
whole Continent of Africa to fail round, in cafe they at- 
tempted to enter the Red Sea by another Navigation, fup- 
pofingthem to have, at that time, a Notion of the Poffi- 
bility of fuch a Paffage, which, I muft confefs, I do not 
believe they had. Rut whichever way we take the Cafe, 
their Defign feems to have been obftrufted by infurmount- 
able Difficulties, which, however, did not deter them from 
attempting, or hinder them from atchieving what appear- 
ed to them a Point of fo great Confequence ; which is a 
clear Proof, that a Spirit of Commerce is capable of under- 
taking and executing as great Things as a Spirit of Ambi- 
tion, or the Third: of Conqueft. 
7. They confidered, that the Mhmus between the Arabian 
Gulph, and the Mediterranean , was very narrow and 
that if they were in Poffeffion of any Port, on the Side of 
the Ilth mu s next them, it would be no difficult Matter to 
tranfport by Land the Merchandize of the Indies thither. 
Such a Port they found, as if it had been prepared by Na- 
ture to facilitate the Execution of their Project, the Name 
of which was Rhinocorura , or Rhinocolura, lituated not 
far from Mount Cafius, in the Confines of Egypt and Pa- 
lejtine. 
The Occafion of founding this City, and Port, was very 
extraordinary. Some Ages before Alii fanes. King of Ethio- 
pia, having defeated Amofis King of Egypt, and reduced 
his Country under his Dominion, caufed all the Thieves 
and Malefactors in Egypt , who, by their own Law, 
fhoulcl have been put to Death, to be affembled together ; 
and, having cut off their Nofes, that they might never 
efcape from the Place to which they were baniffied, di- 
rected a Town to be built for them here, which, from the 
Lofs of their Nofe, was called Rhinocorura , and there he 
fixed them. A dreadful Situation it was, in the midft of 
Deferts ; the Country about it exceffively barren ; the Soil 
full of Salt; and all the Waters in their Weils brackiffi 
and bitter : Yet thefe People, being once eftabliffied, and 
knowing it was a Thing impoffible for them to efcape, ap- 
plied themfelves, with fuch Diligence, to cultivate this in- 
fiofpitable Territory, that, at laft, by dint of Labour, they 
got the better of Nature, and procured for themfelves a to- 
lerable Dwelling, which, m Procefs of Time, was much 
improved by their Pofterity a . 
Such was the Situation of Rhinocorura , when the Tyrians 
caft their Eyes upon it, for the Staple or Mart of Indian 
Commodities. It quickly appeared how wifely they had 
taken their Meafures, and how practicable this Method 
was, which at firft feemed full of Difficulties. To under- 
hand this perfectly, it is neceffary to confider the Form of 
the Arabian Gulph, which, running up between Arabia and 
Egypt , fnoots out into two Points, almoft at the Top ; and 
thereby forms two leffer Bays, or Gulphs, with a Tract of 
Country between them. This leffer Gulph, on the Ara- 
bian Side, or more properly in the Country of Idumea , is, 
by antient Writers Filed Sinus Elanticus , or the Elantic 
Gulph, from the Port of Elath, or Elan, as the Greeks 
called it, that ftands upon it. Whereas the Port of Efion- 
geber ftood on the Point of Land, that, by running out in- 
to the Arabian ■ Gulph, produced thefe fmaller Gulphs. 
This running-in of the Sea ftreightens the Ifthmus fo much, 
that the Land-carriage from Elan to Rhinocorura could 
not much exceed forty Miles. At this laft-mentioned 
Port, the Tyrians had their Magazines, in which all thefe 
xicji Goods were laid up : And, as Occafion required, and 
a Diodor. Sicuh lib . i. Strabo, lib . xvi. b Ezekiel xxvi, xxvii, 
I 
they could be brought with Advantage ter Market, they, 
tranfported them from thence to Tyre ; and they were there 
either fold to fuch foreign Merchants as reforted to that 
great Emporium, or elfewere again exported into the Weft, 
by th t Phoenician Fleets ; that is, the Shipping not of Tyre 
only, but alfo of Sidon, and all their Colonies. 
8. It was this extenfive Commerce, that raifed Tyre to 
fuch a Height of Glory, and enabled her to maintain her- 
felf, for upwards of eight hundred Years, in fo great 
Power and Splendor : Yet we are not to conceive, that Si- 
don was abfolutely eclipfed by this Colony of hers ; for the 
contrary appears, both from facred and profane Writers: 
T hefe Cities ftood but fixteen Miles diftant from each other, 
under different Governments, but united by a ftridt Al- 
liance. Each of them had its Prince ; but thefe Princes 
were far from being abfokite Sovereigns •, they were only 
Pleads of two potent Republics, who were contented to 
allow them all the Pomp of Princes, provided they 
governed by Law, and adminiftered the public Affairs 
in luch a manner, as that every Man’s Property might be 
fafe. It was from this Mildnefs of their Government, 
that their Trade was fo extenfive; and it was in confe- 
quence of this extenfive Commerce, that many private. 
Men amongft them, lived in all ffie Affluence of Princes; 
and that the State arrived at fo great Power, as, befides 
eftablifiring fo many confiderable Colonies, to keep on 
foot a conftant Standing Army, compofed of different 
Nations, for their own Defence. 
At laft, when the famous King of Ajjyria, Nebuchad- 
nezzar, had over-run all the Kingdoms m his Neighbour- 
hood, he found himfelf unable to reduce this City of Tyre , 
till after thirteen Years Siege ; which is the ftrongeft Tefti- 
mony, that a Spirit of Liberty, joined to the Advantages 
of Commerce, is capable of fupporting a very fmall 
State, againft the Force, even of the greateft Empires, 
which feldom laft fo long as fuch Republics. It is from 
the Defcription we have of this Siege, by Nebuchadnez- 
zar, in one of the Prophets, that we derive the Know- 
ledge we have of the Wealth and Grandeur of this City, 
which are there painted in the moft lively Colours ; and 
with fuch a Multitude of Circumftances, in relation to the 
different Places with which the Inhabitants of Tyre carried 
on their Commerce ; the vaft Variety of their Exports and 
Imports ; their wonderful Skill in Ship-building ; their 
mighty Magnificence in their private Houfes, and publick 
Edifices ; their great Wifdom, in leaving to the other 
Cities of Phoenicia their proper Manufactures, and a con- 
venient Share of Commerce ; that it is irtipoffible to con- 
ceive a better regulated Policy, or a Government in which 
Things were more prudently, or more happily conduct- 
ed b : For it was the Envy of their Profperity, which no 
Policy could prevent, that drew on them their De- 
ftrudtion. 
9. This Siege of Tyre , by Nebuchadnezzar, was ended, in 
the Year of the World 3427, when he became Mafter of 
that Place. But fuch was the Spirit, fuch the Induftry, 
fuch the Conftancy of the Tyrians, that they preferved 
themfelves, and their Republic, in fpite of this Misfor- 
tune ; for, as foon as they perceived, that it was impof- 
fible their City ffiould efcape being taken, when fo great a 
Force was fo long employed againft it, they provided, in 
time, for the word that could happen ; and, by tranfport- 
ing their Effects to an Eland, which lay at the Pittance of 
half a Mile from the Mouth of their Harbour, preferved 
the greateft Part of them in a new City, which they ereCt- 
ed there ; and which, as Nebuchadnezzar had no Maritime,. 
Power, lay out of that Conqueror’s Reach. 
This was that Tyre , which makes fo great a Figure in 
the antient Hiftorians ; the Inhabitants of which preferved 
all the Trade they had carried on, whilft feated on the 
Continent, as well as the Port of Rhinocorura ; and con- 
fequently, the Trade which they had eftabliffied to the In- 
dies, as we ffiall hereafter have Occafion to fhew more ac 
large. But it was neceffary, firft of all, to run thro 5 the 
Hiftory of Phoenicia , before the City of Tyre was removed 
to an Hand, to avoid that Cotifufion in Chronology, into 
which the Reader might eafily have fallen, if the different 
Strabo . Plin, _ 
Routes 
