5 Li) 
O P H I R. 
conclufions are founded. He afl'erts, that the regular 
courfe of the monfoons in the Red Sea and the Indian 
Ocean is materially different in effedt from what Mr. Bruce 
has ftated it, for the fake of his argument; belides, if the 
account of the direction and period of thefe monfoons, as 
given by Mr. Bruce, when the fleet was outward-bound, 
be compared with the account of their direction and con¬ 
tinuance when it was homeward-bound, they will not 
be found to accurately agree. The fiver-mines of Sofala, 
and the ancient towns of ftone and lime in its neighbour¬ 
hood, are circumftances retcing on but flight proof, or 
on vague and uncertain tradition. The pafl’age from Eu- 
polemus is evidently (till lefs to the purpofe ; and, to futn 
up all, “ as to the map given by Mr. Bruce, to relieve the 
difficulties of his reader, it is abfolutely unworthy of no¬ 
tice, were it not for the errors to which it may lead, from 
its extreme inaccuracy, and from its being founded en¬ 
tirely on vifionary principles.” And indeed, foon after 
the publication of thefe Travels, the editors of the 
Monthly Review obferve, “ We have looked in vain, in 
his map, for Afura, the feat of the gold-mines, and for 
the great river Cuama, places particularly mentioned in 
the text. It fometimes feems as if the book had been 
written by one perfon, and the map laid down by another.” 
The lalt hypothefis which we fliall notice, fuppofes that 
the fleet of Solomon, in its voyage to Ophir and Tarfliifli, 
actually failed round the Cape of Good Hope, and came 
to Joppa by the Mediterranean. This hypothefis is fup- 
ported by Huet: he thinks that Ophir was a general 
name for all the oriental coaft of Africa, particularly of 
the country of Sofala ; in this refpetft agreeing with 
Bruce ; and that Tarfliifli was alfo a general name for all 
the occidental coaft of Africa and Spain, and, in particular, 
of that coaft in the neighbourhood of the mouth of the 
river Guadalquivir, a country fertile in mines of iilver: 
he alfo maintains that the Cape of Good Hope was known, 
often frequented, and doubled, in Solomon’s time, and 
for many years afterwards. 
A writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine (for Jan. 1786.) 
coincides in opinion with Huet, that the fleet of Solomon, 
in its voyage, doubled the Cape of Good Hope; and he 
places Ophir on the weft coaft of Africa: Guinea and 
Negroland he fuppofes to have been the places viiited by 
Solomon’s fleet. In fupport of this opinion, he offers, 
however, but weak and fantaftical arguments. One of 
them is, that the Hebrew words which fignify duji and 
afhes, make up the etymon of Ophir; and, as gold- 
duft principally is found in Guinea, and Eliphaz, in his 
exhortation to Job, tells him he (hall lay up gold as duft, 
and the gold of Ophir as the ftones of the brooks, he in¬ 
fers that Ophir is to be fought for in Guinea. Another of 
his proofs is drawn from the circumftance that circumci- 
lion is ufed among the negroes of the Gold Coaft, which 
may have been introduced there by the Hebrews. 
But the opinion that the fleet of Solomon, in its voyage 
to Ophir and Tarfliifli, circumnavigated Africa, is moft 
ftrongly and ably fupported by Dr. Doig, formerly mafter 
of the grammar-fchool at Stirling, and the author of Let¬ 
ters on the Savage State, addreffed to Lord Kaimes. The 
fubftance of his Effay on this fubjetft was prefented to the 
Encyclopaedia Britannica, previous to its being laid before 
the public in general ; which abftraft, with the remarks 
of the editor, we fliall take the liberty to tranfcribe. 
This refpeclabie writer holds that Ophir was fomewhere 
on the weft coaft of Africa, and that Tarfliifli was the an¬ 
cient Baetica in Spain. “ Thefirft time that Ophir, or ra¬ 
ther Aujir, occurs in Scripture, is in Gen. x. 29. where the 
facred hiftorian, enumerating the fons of Joktan, men¬ 
tions Aufir as one of them.” According to his account, 
the defendants of thofe thirteen brothers fettled all in a 
contiguous fituation, from Meflia (the Mocha of the mo¬ 
derns) to Sepharah, a mountain of the eaft. Mofes, as 
every one knows, denominates countries, and the inha¬ 
bitants of countries, from the patriarch from whom thofe 
inhabitants defended. In describing the courfe of one 
of the branches of the river of paradife, the fame Mofes 
informs us that it encompaffed the whole land of Havilah, 
&c. which abounded with fine gold, bdellium, and the 
onyx-ftone; and this land had its name from Havilah, 
the twelfth foil of the patriarch Jotkan. Ophir was Hi- 
vilah’s immediate elder brother; and of courfe the de¬ 
fendants of the former, in all probability, fixed their ha¬ 
bitation in the neighbourhood of thofe of the latter. If, 
then, the land of Havilah abounded with gold and pre¬ 
cious ftones, the land of Ophir undoubtedly produced the 
very fame articles. 
Here, then, we have the original Ophir ; here was found 
the primary gold of Ophir ; and here lay the Ophir men¬ 
tioned in Job xi. 24. But, as navigation was then in its 
infant ftate, the native land of gold mentioned by Job 
muft have been much nearer home than that to which the 
fleets of Solomon and Hiram made their triennial voyages. 
That feveral countries on the fouth-eaft coaft of Africa 
abounded with gold long after the era of Job, is evident 
from the teftimony of Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus Si¬ 
culus, Ptolemy, Pomponius Mela, &c. but, that in thefe 
countries the Ophir of Solomon could not be fituated, is 
plain ; becaufe his fliips, in the fame voyage, touched at 
Tarfliifli, which lay in a very different quarter. 
The Abyflinian traveller has placed this regio aurifera 
in Sofala, on the eaftern coaft of Africa, nearly oppoiite 
to the ifland of Madagafcar. This hypothefis was current 
a hundred years before he was born ; but I am perfuaded 
(fays our author) that it is not tenable. The Ophir of 
Solomon, in whatever part of Africa it lay, muft have 
been well known prior to his reign, both to the Phoeni¬ 
cians and the Edomites. Thefe people navigated that 
monarch’s fleet, and therefore could be no ftrangers to the 
port whither they were bound. That it was in Africa is 
certain ; and that it was on the weft coaft of that immenfe 
peninfula will appear more than probable, when we have 
afcertained the fituation of Tarfliifli, and the ufual courfe 
of Phoenician navigation. To thefe objefts, therefore, 
we fliall now direftour enquiries. 
Javan, the fourth fon of the patriarch Japhet, had four 
fons ; Eliflia, Tarjhijh , Chittim, and Dodanim or Roda- 
nim : among wliofe defcendants were the ijles of the Gen- 
tiles divided. The city of Tarfus, on the coaft of Cilicia, 
at once afcertains the region colonized by the defcendants 
of Tarfliifli. But, as much depends upon determining the 
pofition of this country, I fliall endeavour (fays the doctor) 
to fix it with all poflibie precifion. In the firft place, I 
muft beg leave to obferve, that there is not a Angle paffage 
in any ancient author, facred or profane, that fo much as 
alludes to any city, diftrift, canton, or country, of the 
name of Tarfliifli, in the eaftern parts of the world. The 
defcendants of Javan, of whom Tarfliifli was one, are 
agreed on all hands to have extended their fettlements 
towards the nortli-ivefl; i. e. into Afia Minor, Italy, and 
Spain. The inhabitants of Tarfliifli are every-where in 
Scripture faid to be addicted to navigation and commerce, 
in which they feem to have been connefted with the Ty¬ 
rians and Phoenicians, (Pf. xlviii. 7. lxxii. 10.) who were 
always faid by the Jews to inhabit the ifles of the lea. 
Indeed, in Hebrew geography, all the countries toward 
the north and weft, which were divided from Judea by the 
fea, were called the ifles of the fed. Thus Ifaiah : The 
burden of Tyre. Howl, yejhipsof Tarjhijh , for it (Tyre) 
is laid wafe ; Jo that there is no IwuJ'e, no entering' in: from 
the land of Chittim it is revealed unto them. Be fill, ye in¬ 
habitants of the ifle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, 
that paj’s over the feu, have replenijhed. Ifa. xxiii. 1. The 
land of Chittim was Macedonia, and often Greece, from 
which every one knows that the deftrudtion of Tyre came ; 
and, that Tarfliifli was not an unconcerned fpeftator of 
that deftruftion, is obvious, from the fame prophet, who 
proceeds to fay, ver. 6. As at the report concerning Egypt, 
Ji) Jhall they be forely pierced at the report concerning Tyre „ 
Pajs over to Tarjhijh; howl, ye inhabitants of the ife. ~ lo 
this your joyous city? It appears, likewife, from Ezekiel 
xxvii. 
