Chap. II. 
Routes and Stages of this Commerce had not been proper- 
ly diftinguiflied. 
10. The Phoenicians did not only carry on a dired l rade 
to the Indies by the Way of the Arabian Gulph, but alfo 
with the Ethiopians , and other Nations, feated on the 
other Side of the Gulph, efpecially the Troglodytes , of 
whom we meet with many fabulous Accounts in antient 
Writers •, but what is known of them with any Certainty, 
may be reduced to what follows : T he Troglodytes were 
feated on the African Side of the Bay, and towards the 
Bottom of it: They were divided into two different Sorts 
of People, 
One Sort of them lived like the Tartars , in Tents, and 
fubfifted chiefly on their Cattle ; the others lived in Caves 
and Rocks by the Sea-fide, where they chiefly Supported 
themfelves by fifhing. The former Sort were a bold and 
hardy Race of People, exceedingly jealous of their Free- 
dom •, and had a Singular Cuftom amongft them of volun- 
tarily putting an End to their Days, when either Age or 
Infirmities made Life uneafy to them, or rather made 
them ufelefs to Society *, and, if any of them, through 
Fear, delayed this too long, his Neighbour might put 
him in mind of the Law, and of what, amongft them, 
was efteemed his Duty ; and if, after being thus admo- 
nifhed, he did not comply with the Cuftom of his Coun- 
try, he was put to Death by the reft : And it was, by pur- 
suing this ftrange Maxim, that thefe Troglodytes were 
always a robuft active People, and had none aged, fick, or 
infirm, amongft them a . 
Such, again, as fubfifted by fifhing, purchafed the Hides 
of their Countrymens Beafts by way of Barter ; and, with 
thefe, they traded on the oppofite Coaft, for Such Goods 
as they afterwards fold to the Phoenician Merchants in the 
Red Sea , for Such iron Inftruments, and other Things, as 
they had Occafion for. 
There is one Thing to be obferved in regard to this 
Period of Hiftory ; which is, that fuch Nations as engaged 
in Commerce in thefe diftant Parts of the World, took 
abundance of Pains to reprefent the Inhabitants in a terrible 
Light •, for which, no doubt, they had many Reafons ; 
but principally thefe : Firft, that it enhanced the Value of 
their Commodities •, for, where People run fuch Rifques, 
not only from the Seas and Winds, but alfo from their 
Commerce with fuch Barbarians, it was natural for them to 
exped large Returns to balance thefe Inconveniencies. 
Secondly, by fpreading thefe Reports, they deterred other 
Nations from endeavouring to interfere with them in fo 
hazardous and dangerous aTrafRck. 
It was the more eafy for the Phoenicians to impofe thefe 
Stories on the reft of the World, becaufe the Greeks were 
naturally credulous, and delighted both in inventing and 
improving Fables ; fo that whatever they were told by the 
Phoenicians , they not only believed themfelves, but took 
the utrnoft Pains to make thefe Stories circulate, by dreffng 
them out to the heft Advantage. This very clearly ap- 
pears from the Works of the Greek Writers that are yet 
extant, in which we find a Multitude of .thefe marvellous 
Circumftances, told with the utmoft Gravity, often ac- 
companied with many Arguments, to enforce, the Belief of 
fuch extraordinary Relations : Which had, for many Ages 
fo great an Effed, that the molt abftird and improbable 
Fidions were received implicitly ; which, no doubt, con- 
tributed greatly to hinder the Defire of making Difcoveriesj 
and was the effential Reafon, why, till the Time of Alex- 
ander the Great, even the moil learned People in the 
World were fo little acquainted with the true State and 
Condition of Countries at a Diftance. 
11. It is very evident, from the Fads laid down in this, 
as well as in the former Sedion, that, even in the earlieft 
Ages of the World, Wealth was chiefly acquired by Com- 
merce ; and that fuch Nations as encouraged Trade, were 
much more confiderable, acquired more folid Strength, 
and maintained their Freedom much longer than thofe that 
depended intirely on ftrong Fortreflfes, and numerous 
Armies. It is certain, that we are in no Condition, from 
T19 
thefe fcattered Circumftances, that ft-eni accidentally to 
have efcaped Oblivion, of computing, with any Exadnefs, 
the Profits that accrued from the Indian Trade in thefe 
early Ages. It is, however, ftifficiently clear, that it muft 
have been prodigioufly large ; for, in one Voyage, Solomon 
is laid to have acquired four hundred and fifty Talents of 
Gold; which, according to the common Computations, made 
confiderably above three Millions of our Money : And 
that the like Profit accrued from other Voyages, appears 
very plainly, both from the mighty Gifts belle wed by. 
David , Solomon , and the Jewifh Princes, for the Building 
of the Temple, and from the Obfervation made by the 
Hiftorians on the Reign of Solomon , that he exceeded all 
the Princes of his Time in Wealth, as well as in Wifdom, 
fo that he made Silver to be at Jerufalem as the Stones of 
the Street, which is a metaphorical Expreflion to denote 
its great Plenty. There is another Circumftance which 
feems ftrongly to confirm the Truth of this Obfervation, 
which is, the Proportion, which, in thofe Days, there 
was between Gold and Silver, in point of Value •, viz, 
fifteen to one : So that Silver muft have been much more 
plentiful then, than it is now, when the Proportion is as 
thirteen to one And there feems to be great Reafon to 
believe, that the bringing in fuch vaft Quantities of Gold 
as thefe Voyages produced, was a new thing; and, from 
the Thread of the Hiftory, it likewife appears, that this 
vaft Flow of Wealth did not continue long, but funk con- 
fiderably after the Death- of Solomon. 
The immenfe Profits of this Trade are not only men- 
tioned by the Jewifh Writers, but by the Greeks alfo, and 
particularly by Diodorus Siculus , who relates at large the 
Manner of working Gold-mines on the Borders of Ethiopia ; 
and takes notice alfo, that Gold was found in great Plenty 
in different Parts of Arabia ; which Country, during this 
Period, and long after, was regarded as a Part of 
India b . It would be an eafy Matter to colled: a Multi- 
tude of Circumftances from antient W riters, to prove the 
vaft Riches that thefe Nations were poffeffed of in thofe 
Times. But, as that would detain the Reader too long, 
and lead us, befides, into an unneceffary Digrefiion, I fliall 
content myfelf with a Angle Inftance, that arifes immedi- 
ately from the Subjed of this Sedion ; viz. the Coloffus of 
Gold, which Nebuchadnezzar fet up after the Conqueft of 
Syria and Palejline c ; which demonftrates his having ac- 
quired prodigious Treafures by plundering thefe Countries, 
in which, as the Reader has feen, the Riches, derived 
from this Commerce, had fo many Ages centred. 
It is impoflible to fufped the Truth of thefe Relations, 
without overturning the Credit of Hiftory in general ; for 
it is not the Writers of this or that Nation, who have re- 
corded thefe Fads, but the Writers of all Nations are 
agreed as to the Truth of them. For, after the Deftrudion 
of the AJfyrian Monarchy, the Perfians became poffeffed 
of them ; when the Perjian Empire was overturned, they 
fell into the Hands of the Macedonians ; and when the 
Kingdom of Macedon was conquered by the Romans , they 
became Mailers of thefe Treafures ; as in the Courfe of 
this Work we fliall particularly fhew. Now to believe, 
that all the Hiftorians of thefe different Countries fiiould 
concur, at different Times, and with very impeded Ac- 
counts of what each other had related, in endeavouring to 
impofe upon Pofterity, is. a much more incredible Thing 
than the Fad it would difprove d . 
The Source of thefe Riches we have already fliewn ; nei- 
ther is it difficult to account for the Scarcity of Gold and 
Silver in fucceeding Times. For, firft, the Supplies from 
the rich Mines difeovered by Solomon began, in a great 
meafure, to fail ; in the next Place, thefe Treafures, 
which, for many Ages, were confined to a few Countries, 
were, after the Ruin cf the Roman Empire, difperfed all 
over Europe , and amongft many Nations, that had very- 
little Gold or Silver amongft them before : Befides, the 
burning of Cities, and great Devaluations of Countries, 
which followed from the Eruptions of the Goths, Vandals , 
Suns, and other barbarous Nations in the Weft, and of 
a Diodorus Sicul. lib. iii. 
„ Tr , , . r ... C 'f‘. Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 79S. Plin. Hifi. Nat. lib. v, b Diodor. Sicul. lib. iii. p.izc. c Daniel iii. 1. 
ere t is nia^e, wit its edeftal, is faid to be ninety feet high : But we read, in Diodorus Siculus's fecond Book, that this Image alone 
was forty Feet high, and contained a tnoufand Bdbylonijh Talents of Gold, which amounts, at. the lo.weft Computation, to three Millions and an 
hair of our Money. d Strabo. Plin. Tit, Liv, Polyb. Faler. Maxim. 
the 
Strabo. Plin. Tit, 
of the East' 2nd i e s. 
