518 O P II I R. 
“ Thefe mines of Ophir were probably what furniflied 
theEaft with gold in the earlieft: times ; great traces of ex¬ 
cavation mvft therefore have appeared; yet in none of the 
places juft mentioned are there great remains of any 
mines that have been wrought. The ancient traces of 
iilver-mines in Spain are not to be found, and there never 
were any of gold. John Dos Santos, a Dominican friar, 
fays, that on the coaft of Africa, in the kingdom of So- 
fala, the mainland oppolite to Madagafcar, there are mines 
of gold and lilver, than which none can be more abun¬ 
dant, efpecially in filver. They bear the traces of hav¬ 
ing been wrought from the earlieft ages. They were ac¬ 
tually open and working when the Portuguefe conquered 
that part of the peninfula; and were probably given up 
fince the difeovery of the New World, rather from politi¬ 
cal than any other reafons. This John Dos Santos fays, 
that he landed atSofala in the year 1586 ; that he failed 
up the great river Cuaina as far as Tete, where, always 
defirous to be in tire neighbourhood of gold, his order 
had placed theirconvent. Thence he penetrated for above 
two hundred leagues into the country, and faw the gold¬ 
mines then working at a mountain called Afura. At a 
confiderable diftance from thefe are the filver-mines of 
Chicoua ; at both places there is a great appearance of an¬ 
cient excavations; and at both places the houies of the 
kings are built with mud and fcraw, whilft there are large 
remains of malfy buildings of ftone and lime.” 
Every thing, then, confpires to fix the Ophir of Solo¬ 
mon in the kingdom of Sofala, provided it would necef- 
farily require neither more nor lefs than three years to 
make a voyage from Ezion-geber to that place and Tar- 
fliifli, and return. To eftablifti this important fa£t, our 
author obferves, that the fleet or fliip for Sofala, parting 
in June from Ezion-geber, would run down before the 
northern monfoon to Mocha. Here, not the monfoon, 
but the direction of the gulf, changes-; and the violence 
of the fouth-wefters, which then reign in the Indian 
Ocean, make themfelves at times felt even in Mocha 
Roads. The veil'd, therefore, comes to an anchor in the 
harbour of Mocha ; and here ihe waits for moderate wea¬ 
ther and a fair wind, which carries her out of the Straits of 
Babelmandel, through the few' leagues where the wind is 
variable. Her coun'e from this is nearly fouth-weft; and 
flie meets, at Cape Guardafui, a ftrong fouth-wefter, that 
blows dire&ly in her teeth. Being' obliged to return into 
the gulf, ihe miftakes this for a trade-wind ; becaufe flie 
is not able to make her voyage to Mocha but by the fum- 
mer-monfoon, which carries her no farther than the 
' Strains of Babelmandel, and then leaves her in the face 
of a contrary wind, a ftrong current to the northward, 
and violent (well. 
The attempting this voyage with fails, in thefe circum- 
ftances, was abfolutely impofli’ole, as their vefiels went 
onl} r before the wind ; if it was performed at all, it mull 
have been by oars : and great havoc, and lofs of men, 
muft have been the confequence of the feverai trials. 
This is not conjefture only : the prophet Ezekiel de- 
lirribes the very fa ft. Speaking of the Tyrian voyages, 
probably of this very one, he fays, Thy rowers have brought 
thee into great ivaters (the ocean) ; the eqfl wind hath broken 
thee in the midft of the feas. Ezek. xxvii. 6, 26. In Ihort, 
the eaft, that is the north-eaft, wind, was the very monfoon 
that was to carry them to Sofala ; yet, having no fails, 
being upon a lee-lhore, a very bold coaft, and great fwell, 
it was abfolutely impoffible with oars to fave themfelves 
from deftruftion. 
At laft, philofophy and obfervation, together with the 
unwearied perfeverance of man, bent upon his own views 
and intereft, removed thefe difficulties, and Ihowed the 
mariners of the Arabian Gulf, that thefe periodical winds, 
which, in the beginning, they looked upon as invincible 
barriers to the trading to Sofala, when once underftood, 
were the very means of performing this voyage fafely and 
expeditioufly. 
The veil'd trading to Sofala failed from the bottom of 
the Arabian Gulf in fummer, with the monfoon at north, 
which carried her to Mocha. There the monfoon failed 
her, by the change of the direction of the gulf. The fouth- 
weft winds, which blow without Cape Guardafui in the In¬ 
dian Ocean, forced themfelves round the Cape, fo as to be 
felt in the road of Mocha, and make it uneafy riding there. 
But thefe foon changed, the weather became moderate, 
and the veffel, we fuppofe in the month of Auguft, was 
fafe at anchor under Cape Guardafui, where was the port 
which, many years afterwards, was called Promontoruim 
Aromatum. Here the fliip was obliged to ftay all Novem¬ 
ber, becaufe all thefe fummer-months the wind fouth of 
the Cape was a ftrong fouth-wefter, as hath been before 
faid, diredly in the teeth of the voyage to Sofala. But 
this time was not loft ; part of the goods bought, to be 
ready for the return, was ivory, frankincenfe, and myrrh ; 
and the fliip was then at the principal mart for thefe. 
Our author fuppofes, that in November the veffel failed 
with the wind at north-eaft, with which flie would foon 
have made her voyage ; but, off the coaft of Melinda, in 
the beginning of December, flie there met an anomalous 
monfoon at fouth-weft, in our days firit obferved by Dr. 
Halley, which cut off her voyage to Sofala, and obliged 
her to put into the fmall harbour of Mocha , near Me¬ 
linda, but nearer ftill to Tarfliifti, which we find here by 
accident, and which we think a ftrong corroboration that 
we are right as to the reft of the voyage. In the Annals 
of Abyflinia, we fee that Amda Sion, making war upon 
that coaft in the 14th century, in a lift of the rebellious 
Moorifli vaffals, mentions the chief of Tarfliifti as one of 
them, in the very fituation where we have now placed 
him. Solomon’s veffel, then, was obliged to ftay at Tar- 
fliifli till the month of April of the fecond year. In 
May, the wind fet-in at north-eaft, and probably carried 
her that fame month to Sofala. All the time fhe fpent at 
Tarfliifti w'as not loft; for part of her cargo was to be 
brought from that place ; and flie probably bought, be- 
fpoke, or left, it there. From May of the fecond year, to 
the end of that monfoon in Oblober, the veffel could not 
ftir; the wind was north-eaft. But this time, far from 
being loft, was neceffary to the traders for getting in their 
cargo, which we fhall fuppofe was ready for them. The 
fliip fails, on her return, in the month of November of the 
fecond year, with the monfoon fouth-weft, which, in a 
very few weeks, would have carried her into the Arabian 
Gulf. But, off Mocha, near Melinda and Tarfliifti, fhe 
met the north-eaft monfoon, and was obliged to go into 
that port, and ftay there till the end of that monfoon ; after 
which, a fouth-wefter came to her relief, in May of the 
third year. With the May monfoon flie ran to Mocha 
within the Straits, and was there confined by the fummer- 
monfoon.blowing up the Arabian Gulf from Suez, and 
meeting her. Here flie lay till that monfoon, which, in 
fummer, blows northerly from Suez, changed to a fouth- 
eaft one in Oftober or November; and that very eafily 
brought her up into the Elanitic Gulf the middle or end 
of December of the third year. “ She had no need of 
more time to complete her voyage, and it was not pofii- 
ble flie could do it in lefs. In Ihort, (lie changed the mon¬ 
foon fix times, which is thirty-fix months, or three-years 
exactly; and there is not another combination of mon- 
foons over the globe, as far as I know, capable to effedl 
the fame. The reader will pleafe to confult the map, and 
keep it before him, which will remove any difficulties he 
may have.” 
The ingenuity of this celebrated traveller’s antiquarian 
and philofophical hypothefes, and the extent and variety 
of his inveftigations in fupport of them, muft always 
command a due portion of refpeft for the talents which 
they have evinced ; but the foundnefs of his judgment, 
and the accuracy of his conclufions, are points on which 
the mod ftrenuous of his advocates have long ceafed to 
lay any confiderable ftrefs ; and Mr. Salt (Voyage to 
Abyflinia, 1809.) ventures a ftep farther, in denying the 
authenticity of fome, at lead, of the data on which thofe 
conclufions 
