HISTORY
OF
MERCHANT SHIPPING
AND
ANCIENT COMMERCE.

BY
W. S. LINDSAY.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

With numerous Illustrations.

LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, AND SEARLE,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET.
1874.

[All Rights reserved.]

LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

PREFACE.

Although familiar with most subjects relating to Merchant Ships, I have found it alike necessary and desirable to look to others for aid in collecting some of the materials for this work; and I am especially indebted to my friends Mr. Vaux, F.R.S., late of the British Museum, and Sir Patrick Colquhoun, Q.C., for much valuable assistance rendered by them in connection with the two volumes now presented to the public. By combining the learning of my friends, so far as regards the records of the ships and commerce of ancient times, with my own knowledge of the subject, I am not without hope that the work may in some respects prove useful.

I am also much indebted to Mr. T. H. Farrer, of the Board of Trade, and to his assistant, Mr. Thomas Gray, of the Marine Department, for many valuable suggestions; and in thanking them for their courtesy, I venture to express the belief that by their assistance and that of other friends I shall be able to give in the two succeeding volumes necessary to complete the work an impartial narrative of the many important events and changes which have occurred within my own time, I might say within my own experience, together with an accurate account of the ships and maritime commerce of the age in which we live.

W. S. LINDSAY.

Shepperton Manor, Middlesex.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY.

Introductory—The first attempt to float, by means of a hollowed log and raft—The Ark—Boats of skin—Earliest boats or ships—Their form—Mode of construction—Names of ships—Decorations—Launching, &c.—Master—Mate—Boatswain—St. Paul’s ship—Rig and sails—Undergirders—Anchors and cables—Decks—Nautical instruments—Mariner’s compass—Speed of ancient ships.

Introductory.

It is my intention to write a History of Merchant Shipping; I am not aware that there exists any work of the kind contemplated. No doubt everything relating to the vessels of ancient times has been published in one form or another, as also an account of all that is known of the maritime commerce of the Middle Ages; but this information is widely scattered, and frequently so diffused among other matters of a very different description, that considerable research is necessary to ascertain where it is to be found. I desire to remedy this inconvenience, and to furnish from those fragmentary materials a consecutive, though necessarily a condensed, account of the Merchant Shipping, Ancient and Modern, of those nations which at different periods have carried on an extensive over-sea commerce. I shall also presume to correct some errors and misapprehensions which have found their way into the writings of men who, though far more competent to undertake the work of an historian, have not had an opportunity of gaining a practical knowledge of this special subject.

It is only from Holy Writ, from the fragments in the works of heathen historians and poets, and from the sculptured monuments of the East, that information can be obtained about the vessels and commerce of very ancient times. From such sources I shall endeavour to compile, in a manner as brief as possible consistently with perspicuity, a narrative of how these vessels were constructed, manned, and navigated, separating, as far as my knowledge and experience will permit, facts from fiction, and omitting legends frequently accepted as historical truths. It can serve no good purpose to record descriptions of ships evidently the creations of romance; and, in a work professing to deal with established facts, care must be taken to admit nothing improbable unless well authenticated.

It will not be the least pleasing portion of my work to furnish, as fully as I can, a description of the manners and customs of the seamen of all nations, and, at the same time, to notice incidentally their habits, prejudices, and superstitions. To illustrate the effects produced upon maritime commerce by the laws of different nations, it will be necessary to direct attention to those legislative measures which have had a marked bearing upon its prosperity or otherwise. Towards the close of this work, the merchant vessels of our own time, the cost of construction, speed, and capacity for cargo, will be fully described, as well as the number and duties of the crew, and the expenses of management. I shall endeavour to supply every material fact connected with the business of the shipowner, which nowadays is separated from that of the merchant, so that hereafter a complaint may not be urged against me for having followed the example of other writers, and by so doing omitted interesting and instructive knowledge, simply because it was of a character hitherto considered beyond the province of the historian.

Many years have already been employed in collecting materials for this work, but hitherto time has been wanting for the study and elucidation of a subject which, from the nature of my avocations, can hardly fail to prove interesting to myself, whatever it may be to my readers. To trace the origin of navigation, and to detail the numerous steps by which the merchant vessels of the great trading nations of the world have reached their present state of perfection; to record those discoveries in science and art connected with navigation, which enable the mariner to cross the ocean without fear and with unerring certainty; to dilate upon those triumphs of man’s genius and skill whereby he can bid defiance to the elements; and to enter in these pages the names of the men who have benefited mankind by their maritime discoveries, or by affording greatly increased facilities for intercourse between nations, is to me a task of the most gratifying description.

But as many of my readers may not take so lively an interest in a subject necessarily dry in its character and technical in its details, I shall endeavour to describe everything relating to shipping in clear and condensed language, so as to induce them, if possible, to accompany me in my researches; and it is to be hoped that at least the ships and commerce of the ancient Egyptians and Phœnicians, and of those nations which, like Carthage and Assyria, have long since passed away, may prove not uninteresting to the general public.

Passing from very remote ages, I purpose to examine the maritime commerce and shipping of the different nations which flourished from about the time when, on the decline of the power of Rome, the Italian Republics arose; and thence through the Middle Ages, till Spain sent forth her celebrated Armada, to the period when Great Britain, slowly but surely extending her influence upon the ocean, claimed to be “Mistress of the Seas.”

Considerable space must likewise be devoted to an account of the principal institutions connected with shipping, and to the vast changes which have taken place in the over-sea carrying trade since Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and Christopher Columbus discovered a new and now mighty world to the West.

But the larger portion of this work will be devoted to the progress of Modern Shipping. Since the introduction of steam, the merchant navies of the world have increased to an enormous extent; and in comfort, beauty, and speed, the vessels of the present day immeasurably surpass those of any other period. Modern appliances in their propulsion, while altering the mode in which commercial pursuits are conducted, have also materially changed the seats and centres of maritime commerce. Changes such as these necessarily require to be fully described, and their results carefully recorded.

As the ports of Great Britain are now free to the vessels of all nations, it will be my duty to explain the nature of the navigation laws of Cromwell and of the reciprocity treaties of Huskisson, and to show how, step by step, all barriers to free navigation have been removed. The fallacy of endeavouring to enrich ourselves by the ruin of our neighbours will be exposed, and, from the experience of the past, I shall hope to inculcate lessons of use for the future.

Ample materials are to be found for the elucidation of most of these subjects, and there can be no excuse to plead, beyond my own incapacity, if I fail to produce a work which shall hereafter be useful for reference, especially with regard to the merchant vessels of modern times. Though the enterprising traders of Tyre extended their commercial intercourse to all parts of the Mediterranean and even to the Northern and the Erythræan Seas, yet her merchants, “who were princes,” and her traffickers, who were “the great men of the earth,” have left no records of their vast commerce, nor of the vessels which were engaged in it. No mercantile man appears to have written an account of how he conducted his trade, or given to posterity a drawing of his ship; nor, indeed, to have recorded anything relating to the great maritime state to which he belonged. Our limited knowledge of Tyre is derived therefore almost exclusively from other sources. If these early navigators had taken one-half the pains to transmit to posterity the sum of their acquired knowledge, practical and historical, which the Egyptians have done, a vast amount of information would have been added to the science of ancient navigation and commerce. Unfortunately, almost every vestige of Phœnicia has been swept away, a significant example that the most extended commerce, enjoyed by a purely trading people, cannot alone save them from eventual insignificance and oblivion.

In concluding these introductory remarks, I may be fairly permitted to indulge the hope that, from the vast stores of knowledge bequeathed to us, we may leave more lasting records of our maritime commerce than either Tyre or Carthage, and that the improved civilization and extensive colonial possessions of Great Britain may render her pre-eminence at sea and her commercial greatness much more enduring than the once celebrated maritime city of the Phœnicians, which has become “a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea,” and “a spoil to the nations.”

The first attempt to float, by means of a hollowed log, and raft.

It is impossible to say who first taught man to float upon a log or an inflated skin, or who had the genius to construct the earliest raft. The exclusive honour of the discovery of navigation—which now, through the successive improvements of many ages, and the application of steam as a motive power, has arrived at its present high state of development, tending to the safety, convenience, and civilization of mankind—is too great an honour to be awarded to any single individual. Indeed it is a glory which writers alike in ancient and in modern times have declined to confer on any frail mortal like themselves. Accordingly the Libyans and the Greeks ascribed the merit of the invention to the gods. Neptune, however little in other respects may be known of this mythological personage, was not only worshipped by the ancients as the first inventor of navigation and supreme ruler of the sea, but his glory has survived the wreck of empires and the extinction of races, and the name of a heathen god is still associated with the dominion of the ocean.

There is, however, no difficulty in conceiving what would give the first idea of flotation. At the period of the earliest history of man acknowledged by Christian nations, our first parents must have noticed leaves or branches of trees floating in the river “which went out of Eden to water the garden.” Thus would be conceived at the creation of man the idea of a vessel or of a substance which would float and could be made useful for his wants.[1] The buoyancy of the branch or trunk of a tree would suggest the means of carrying him across unfordable rivers; and there is no doubt that, long anterior to the era assigned to Noah, the first step in the art of ship-building was taken in hollowing out the log by fire, or by some rude instrument, in order to render more secure the position of any adventurous navigator. A pole or paddle might be used to propel the rude barque, but probably ages passed away without any improvement in this respect. In fact, to this day, some of the inhabitants of the Polynesian Islands have not made any greater progress in the construction of their primitive vessels; and the canoes in the Pacific, and in various parts of South America, are still formed on what is evidently the most ancient model of vessels.

While the hollow log was made to answer the purpose of a boat, a number of logs placed together would suggest the idea of a raft, for the carrying of a number of persons or animals, or of any article of greater weight than could be conveyed in a canoe across a lake or river. These, by degrees, would be improved in form, in strength, or in capacity, to suit the wants of man or the navigation for which they were intended. The ingenuity of even the rudest savages would lead them, it may be easily supposed, in course of time, to construct their raft so as to make it more easy of propulsion, and thus give to it the first form of a ship.

The Ark.

But it is doubtful if any progress were made in ship-building beyond the mere raft, anterior to the period assigned to the Flood; and the Ark[2] of Noah is unquestionably the first ship of which we have any notice, either in acknowledged history or in the legends of the earliest nations. As this vessel, however, has been so much a matter of controversy, some of our readers may think it well, in imitation of other modern writers, that we should omit the consideration of the subject. But the difficulties, physical and practical, surrounding it ought not to induce us to pass over altogether unnoticed the earliest recorded effort of naval architecture. This great ship is described in Scripture[3] as having been three hundred cubits in length, fifty in breadth, and thirty in height or depth—dimensions corresponding very nearly with those of the most approved models of the sailing vessels of the present day. If the cubit be taken at eighteen inches, her registered tonnage, reckoned according to the present mode of admeasurement, would not have been more than fifteen thousand tons, or considerably less than that of the Great Eastern.

But the probability is that, after all, the Ark was simply a raft of stupendous size, bearing on it a structure of the above dimensions resembling a huge warehouse, roofed in the usual manner, and built to float on the breast of a great flood, the narrative in the Bible neither suggesting nor requiring any means of propulsion.[4]

Boats of skin.

Although for years after the Flood[5] the raft may have been the only form of vessel for carrying heavy burthens, other means of flotation must soon have suggested themselves; and of these, the inflated skins of animals would seem to have prevailed the most generally and the most widely. Thus on the ancient monuments recently discovered by Mr. Layard, we find numerous representations of the Assyrians crossing a river—probably the Tigris—on inflated skins; and rafts may also be seen on which goods and men are floating down similarly supported.[6] The same practice is still in use among the present inhabitants of the country, and is also noticed as common on the Setlege by Baron Hügel, in his interesting “Travels in Cashmir.”[7] Baron Hügel also speaks of baskets, suspended from ropes firmly tied to each shore, for crossing the mountain waters of the same river; while coracles—basket-work over which leather or prepared flannel has been stretched—may still be seen in Wales, thus enabling the inhabitants to fish, and to cross streams not otherwise fordable. It is also worthy of note that Pliny[8] alludes to this custom, where he states that “Even now, in British waters, vessels of vine-twigs sewn round with leather are used.” Mr. Layard[9] likewise speaks of still finding on the Tigris light boats called terradas, constructed by the Southern Mesopotamians of twisted reeds, rendered watertight by bitumen, and often of sufficient consistency to support four or five men. As a remarkable proof of the long persistency of custom and of trade, we may add that the bitumen of Babylonia was exported to Egypt so early as the reign of Thothmes III., B.C. 1500, from the Is (now Hit) of Herodotus, where it is still abundant.

The balza of the western coast of South America, in use within the last hundred years, appears to have been a raft of logs of very light wood carefully fastened together, and capable of carrying occasionally as much as twenty tons.[10]

Such were probably the rude beginnings of the art of ship-building.

Earliest boats or ships.

Though it is impossible to give any authentic details of forms and means of navigation, such as those we have mentioned—remembrances as they are of pre-historic times—we need not doubt that the earliest people who practised navigation, in any sense after the manner since recognised, by ships or boats as distinguished from rafts, were the inhabitants of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and, notably, the Phœnicians of Sidon and Tyre.

The Phœnicians, however, as is now admitted, were not originally inhabitants of the territory they have made famous by their commercial operations, but immigrants from the shores of the Persian Gulf, whence they carried with them the nautical tastes and knowledge they had been maturing, perhaps for centuries, to develop them in a new and enlarged sphere. Indeed, it is not unlikely that, antecedently to History, these enterprising people had made voyages even to the far-distant East, as the “Erythræan Sea” comprehended an area far wider than our Red Sea, being really, as in Herodotus,[11] what we now call the “Indian Ocean.” If it be true that Jacob’s blessing,[12] “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships,” is probably the earliest written document implying navigation of any kind, it is at the same time impossible to determine at what period that prophecy was to take place, while the occurrence of the name Zidon in the next paragraph, “His border shall be unto Zidon,” might suggest the inference that the wording of this announcement, as we have it now, is of later date than Jacob himself.

Neither the Egyptians nor the Greeks have any claim to be considered among the first navigators; indeed, the former people were during their whole history averse to seafaring pursuits, and were dependent on the Phœnicians for nearly all their carrying trade, beyond what passed along their own great river, while the first Greek expedition—that of the Argonauts, to which we shall refer presently—was possibly as much a Phœnician as a Greek adventure.

Their form.

In form, we may be sure that the first boats were flat-bottomed—barges for river service rather than ships for the sea. But keels must have been added as soon as ever coasting voyages commenced, or any speed was needed. In shallow waters they may have been propelled by poles, like modern punts; but oars, and at least one sail of simple construction, must have been introduced very early.

Passing over the exploits attributed to Perseus, Theseus, and Bellerophon, from which no facts worthy of record are deducible, it is enough to state here that in the construction of the earliest rafts or boats the axe or the adze was, probably, the only implement the builders possessed, the result of their work being doubtless of the rudest character;[13] and that the timber first employed would be that most ready at hand in the countries where such vessels were first required; though but a short time would elapse, and but little experience be needed, to insure the selection of those woods which were the best for the purpose intended. Phœnicia, Cyprus, and Greece were well supplied with all the timber that could have been wanted. Hence we have early notices of the employment of the oak, the chestnut, and the cedar; while the pine, together with the alder, the ilex, and the ash, were in general use for ship-building. Many fanciful stories are told in Hesiod, Vegetius, and other writers, of the methods adopted by the ancient workmen to secure sound and durable timber; but on these we need not here dwell.

Mode of construction.

It may be inferred from the passage in Homer that in his time sawn timber was not unknown; and, though nearly all the then voyages were performed by coasting from headland to headland, it is clear from other passages[14] that the navigators did even then sometimes venture out of sight of land: their vessels were, however, then, and for many years later, undecked; few representations of any ancient galleys, even on the earliest vases, having come down to us in which there is any certain indication of a deck: while Thucydides distinctly gives it as his opinion that the Homeric vessels were only large open boats.[15] The larger ones had, perhaps, a sort of half-deck, to give the people in them a little shelter. Being flat-floored and of small immersion, they as it were glided over the surface of the water, having little or no power of resistance to the action of the waves, and being, therefore, capable of very little progress except when sailing before the wind. To enable them to resist the penetrating power of the water, the ancients appear to have used in very early times a species of pounded sea-shells, introduced carefully into the seams and chinks between the planks—a process found to answer well for a short time; when, however, the ship strained, this caulking was liable to fall out, letting in the water as before. A somewhat similar method is described in the Transactions of the Embassy sent to China in 1792, as seen there at that time.

In later days, other methods were adopted; one of which, attributed by Pliny to the Belgæ,[16] consisted in beating pounded seeds into the fissures between the planks of vessels—a substance, he says, found to be more tenacious than glue, and more to be relied on than pitch. This is evidently the same in principle as the modern practice of caulking. In the same way we find in remote times that pitch and wax were used partly for the prevention of leakage, and partly also to preserve the planks from the sea-weeds and animalculæ with which the waters of the Mediterranean abound.[17] The discovery, too, of what is supposed to have been a galley of Trajan at the bottom of Lake Riccio shows clearly that, in Roman times, sheathing as well as caulking were used to preserve the bottoms of ships. The famous Locke,[18] alluding to this discovery, says, “Here we have caulking and sheathing together above sixteen hundred years ago; for I suppose no one can doubt that the sheet of lead nailed over the outside with copper nails was sheathing, and that in great perfection; the copper nails being used rather than iron, which, when once rusted in water with the working of the ship, soon lose their hold and drop out.”

Names of ships.

Ships in ancient times were known by a great variety of names, most of which are descriptive of the purposes for which they were built, or of the services in which they were employed.

Omitting triremes, the most usual ships of war, the following list enumerates their chief varieties:—

Thus olkas was a large heavy tow-barge; ponto—a word of Gallic or Celtic origin[19]—a punt.

Gaulos, a round heavy merchant vessel, named probably so originally by the Phœnicians, and preserved to modern days in the galleon or galeass of the Middle Ages, and the galley of later times.

Corbitæ, slow sailing ships of burthen—so called because they carried baskets at their mast-heads. Hippagogi, as their name implies, carried horses. The characteristic of all these vessels was that their structure was bulky, their sides and bottom rounded from the flat, and, though not without rowers, that they were chiefly dependent on their sails.

Of a lighter class, and for greater speed, were the scapha (or skiff); the acation, or acatus; and the linter, which, though like ratis, often used for any kind of vessel, was more strictly a light boat or wherry.[20] Generically, merchant vessels were called mercatoriæ, or vectoriæ, as being the carriers of merchandise. So piscatoriæ were boats used for fishing.

Decorations.

The ships of the Greeks had various ornaments attached to the prow and stern, most of which were afterwards adopted by the Romans, and may even still be seen on the waters of the Mediterranean. Thus an eye painted on each side of the prow was supposed to indicate watchfulness and to ward off ill-luck; while the prow itself terminated in the acrostolium, the head of an animal or bird—corresponding in principle with our figure-head. An original goose-head (technically called cheniscus) is still preserved in the Bibliothèque at Paris.[21] So, at a later period, St. Paul’s ship had for its “ensign” the “sign of Castor and Pollux,”[22] while Ovid’s ship, which bore him to the land of his exile, had a head of Minerva painted on her prow.[23]

On the stern was the aplustre, forming a kind of roof over the steersman, and bearing also the image of the tutelary Deity—a flag or pennon—sometimes a lantern, as may be seen on Trajan’s Column, and the purple sail which, in Roman times, marked the Admiral’s ship.[24] Ships, it appears, were from remote times painted with various colours. Thus Homer specifies black, red, and purple,[25] and Herodotus speaks of red paint;[26] while Plautus, in a well-known passage, classes together ships and women as equally greedy of ornament.[27] It was also, occasionally, the custom to paint the sails with stripes of various colours.

As a rule, the names of the ships were, in ancient days, feminine, and named from celebrated women, as Nausicaa; hence Aristophanes calls them “Virgins.”[28] The Romans, on the other hand, sometimes gave them masculine names.

Launching, &c.

From the earliest ages, the launch of a vessel has been attended with considerable ceremonies; frequently with feasting and bands of music, and a dedication to various deities who were supposed to watch over her safety in an especial manner. On setting sail, she was adorned with flowers and garlands indicative of future prosperity; and the special aid of Neptune, Minerva, and of the other gods invoked with solemn prayer and sacrifices for her success.[29] When large fleets started, it was usual to send the lighter vessels first, then the ships which acted as convoy, and lastly those of heavy burthen or deep draught of water. The oars, when not required, were triced up to the sides of the vessels. On the completion of the voyage, ships were generally hauled up on shore and protected from the weather; similar prayers being again offered to Nereus, Glaucus, Melicertes, and the other deities of the sea, or to Mercury, to whom the merchant and shipowner (then almost invariably identical in meaning) had specially committed their ships.[30]

Men who had escaped shipwreck felt bound to make special offerings to the gods in testimony of their gratitude; sometimes hanging up in a neighbouring temple the garment in which they had been saved,[31] or shaving their hair—a custom Petronius justly calls the last vow of men who have saved nothing but their lives.[32]

Rigid discipline was maintained on board the ships, and punishments of great severity inflicted on those who failed to keep proper ward and watch; nay, even the barbarous practice of “keel-hauling,” once not uncommon in the English service, was not wholly unknown to the ancients. The crews were generally composed of two classes; the mariners, who attended to the navigation and trimming of the sails, and the rowers. These offices were usually kept distinct, the mariners being rarely, except in cases of great emergency, compelled to labour at the oars.[33]

The work of the rowers, to which we shall allude more particularly hereafter, was one of severe toil; hence, as in modern times, the music of the voice or the pipe stimulated the rowers to fresh exertion or tended to relieve the depressing monotony of their work.[34] Many ancient writers, and notably Xenophon, Polybius, and Arrian,[35] have left us interesting accounts of the way in which the rowers were trained; the practice of the Greeks and Romans, and especially that of the latter people, having been remarkable for its perfection in the execution of the most difficult manœuvres.

Master.

The master or pilot, whose place was in the stern, though not himself required to steer, was expected to understand the due management of the rudder and sails, the usual course of the winds, the indications in the sky of a change of weather, and the situation of the harbours most fitting for his vessel, or of the shoals the most to be avoided.[36] He was also expected to take proper cognizance of the omens offered by the sea-fowl and fishes, with divers other phenomena, as the murmuring of the floods, the dashing of waves against the shore, and other signs believed to import changes in the weather.[37]

Mate.

Boatswain.

Next in authority to the master was the mate, whose place was at the prow of the ship, and who had charge of the tackle and of the rowers, who were placed by him on their proper seats.[38] With him was associated a third officer, whom we may call the boatswain and steward, as he gave the word to the rowers and distributed the rations.[39] There was also a fourth officer, whose especial duty it was to take heed of possible rocks or shoals, and to direct the ship at night by the aid of long poles.

ST. PAUL’S SHIP, FROM THE WORK BY MR. SMITH OF JORDAN HILL.

St. Paul’s ship.

It is remarkable that while we have many notices of matters comparatively unimportant, no writer of antiquity has given us any intelligible account of the capacity of their ships of burthen, at least anterior to the Christian era. Nor have the speculations of modern authors been much more successful; with the exception of Mr. Smith, of Jordan Hill. His essay “On the Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul,” the work of a man of much practical experience in the management of sailing craft, and a yachtsman of thirty years’ practice, is a really valuable contribution to the history of ancient merchant ships. Mr. Smith has tested, by modern experiences, the details furnished by St. Luke,[40] and has himself worked out the “dead reckoning” of St. Paul’s ship—a feat requiring both knowledge and skill. He has also, by a diligent comparison of the representations of ancient vessels on coins, and on the marbles and paintings of Pompeii, with the scriptural account of St. Paul’s ship, reproduced as perfect a drawing as we are ever likely to obtain of the Mediterranean merchant-ship at the dawn of Christianity.

St. Paul’s ship must have been one of considerable size, as, besides her cargo of grain, she had on board two hundred and seventy-six souls. Moreover, as she had to make a long and, as it turned out, a boisterous voyage, she must have been completely decked, and probably had two decks from the number of passengers she carried, besides a high poop and forecastle, like the ships of two or three centuries ago, though these are not shown in the illustration; her bulwarks were formed of battens fastened horizontally across the stanchions.

Mr. Smith has collected many instances bearing upon the arrangement of different parts of ancient ships. Thus, from a painting at Herculaneum, said to represent the ship of Theseus, he has shown that the ancient sailors knew the use of the capstan and hawser; but it still remains a difficulty to understand how their large ships were steered, unless some machinery were used of which we have no account, to work the very large oars thrust through portholes in either quarter. Mr. Smith has also proved, from representations on the Leaning Tower of Pisa, on the Bayeux Tapestry, and on the gold nobles of Edward III., that the primitive mode of steering by one or more oars—as visible on the reliefs of Trajan’s Column—prevailed as late as the fourteenth century; such rude appliances, however, could have been available only for small vessels.[41]

Rig and sails.

For a long period the rig of ancient ships was of the simplest kind—a single large square sail on the mainmast being the chief means of propulsion. In the case of large vessels there was a sort of square sail on a short mast at the stern, and a similar one at the bow; but these would be of more use in steering than in propelling. The Romans appear to have had a small triangular sail, like the Greek letter Delta (Δ), which bore the name of suppara, from its supposed resemblance to a woman’s shift;[42] but such a sail could only have been used in fair weather.

Undergirders.

“Undergirding” a ship, as mentioned by St. Luke, is rarely practised at the present day; but implements for that purpose—probably stream cables or hempen hawsers—would seem certainly to have been part of the occasional outfit of ancient vessels. They are mentioned as having been kept in store in the Athenian arsenals, and to have been served out for voyages known to be of unusual danger.[43]

Anchors and cables.

The use of anchors was early understood, but, in Homer’s time, they were simply large stones attached by ropes to the prow.[44] In after-times, much attention seems to have been paid to their construction,[45] and ships often carried several (as St. Paul’s, which had four[46]). A cork float marked where the anchor was sunken;[47] and chain cables were sometimes used, as is noticed by Arrian in his account of the siege of Tyre by Alexander.[48] In St. Paul’s case, the fact that the ship was able to anchor by the stern probably saved the lives of those on board, as otherwise she might have driven broadside on the rocks.

Decks.

But though, as we have stated, the small early coasting vessels may have had no decks, the large grain-carrying ships, which performed the voyages between Alexandria and Italy, were unquestionably fully decked. In the so-called “ship of Theseus,”[49] there is a complete deck, and also what would seem to be a skylight; nor need we doubt that, in the largest and best-fitted ships, there was adequate accommodation for both men and officers. The great ships constructed by Ptolemy Philopater and Hiero were (as we shall see hereafter) rather “show-ships,” and cannot be considered as representing the usual type of even the most sumptuous of ancient merchant vessels.

Nautical instruments.

The skilled mariners of ancient days determined their latitude by means still in use, but their instruments were very inferior. The gnomon, in some form or other, was their most common instrument for measuring the length of the sun’s shadow at noon on different days and in different places. We know from Herodotus,[50] that this instrument was of great antiquity—indeed, he ascribes the invention of it to the Babylonians; but the report of Arrian to the Emperor Hadrian[51] of his shipwreck implies that there were other instruments besides this on board. Pytheas, the first known navigator of the North Sea, is said to have determined the summer solstice at Marseilles by observing the proportion of the shadow of the gnomon.[52] Further, Eratosthenes drew a parallel of latitude through Gibraltar, Rhodes, and Lycia to India; while Hipparchus made the first map, on the principle of “Mercator’s Projection,” by transferring the celestial latitudes and longitudes to the terrestrial globe. On the other hand, Ptolemy erred so far in his calculation of the longitude, that he placed China 60° nearer Europe than it really is, and thus led Columbus to fancy the distance he had to traverse to the New World was just so much less. It must not, however, be forgotten that Aristotle, centuries before him, when reasoning from the assumed sphericity of the earth, was really the first to point out that the west coast of Spain was the fittest point of departure for India.

The latitudes were reckoned in stadia from the Equator to Syracuse, the stadium being about two hundred and one yards and one foot. The determination of the longitude was, however, a far more difficult problem; as the only phenomena whereby men could readily determine the distance between any two places, viz. eclipses of the moon, would have been of no practical value in calculating a ship’s position at sea; moreover, it would not be easy to secure certainty in such observations, nor could they easily be repeated. Hence the ancients were led to depend either on actual survey, or on the vague information obtainable from the reckonings of sailors, or on the itineraries of travellers. We need not, therefore, be surprised when we see how Ptolemy and the greatest of ancient geographers have erred, owing to the impossibility of fixing with even tolerable accuracy the longitudes of different places. It is likely that their practice of constantly landing might have in some degree supplied their deficiency in this particular; but we have now no record of any astronomical observations which were made at sea, by even the most skilful of ancient navigators. A sort of dead-reckoning—an observation of the position of the sun during the day, or of certain stars during night—was the haphazard mode by which their positions at sea were chiefly ascertained. If they had been accustomed to steer a direct course instead of following the coast line, or if they had been acquainted with the properties of the compass, or of any instrument by which the bearings of the different headlands could have been determined, they might, having found their latitude, have depended, as mariners in modern times have been often obliged to depend, with some confidence upon their dead-reckoning. The wonder is that they should ever have ceased to hug the land, and that they really ventured on the long voyages they unquestionably accomplished.

Mariner’s compass.

Some writers have attempted to show that the Arabians and the Chinese were acquainted with the mariner’s compass even in those remote ages; but for this idea there does not seem to be any warrant whatever. Certain it is that Marco Polo, who made voyages on the Chinese seas in native boats, nowhere alludes to it; while Niccola de’ Conti, who navigated the Indian waters in an Indian vessel, in 1420, after the properties of the magnet were known in Italy, expressly states that the mariners had no compass, but were guided by the stars of the Southern Pole, the elevation of which they knew how to measure. Nor is there any reason to believe that the Chinese had any greater knowledge, though there may be in some Chinese books a notice of the physical fact that, by constant hammering, an iron rod becomes magnetized—in other words, has imparted to it the property of pointing to the north and to the south.

Such a discovery, so important for purposes of navigation, would at once have been recognised, and could not have been kept secret for ten centuries. Moreover, there is really abundant evidence to show that the compass had been long in use among the nations of the West before it was adopted by the Chinese; Dr. Robertson having justly remarked that in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, there is not only no original word for it, but that the name they give it is the Italian bossolo: nay, further, that the Arabians have nowhere recorded any observation by them of the variation of the needle.[53] We may add that Dr. Robertson’s view is completely confirmed by Sir John Chardin, one of the most learned of Eastern travellers, who made special inquiries on this subject. “I have sailed,” says he, “from the Indies to Persia in Indian ships when no European has been on board but myself. The pilots were all Indians, and they used the forestaff and quadrant for their observations. These instruments they have from us, and made by our artists, and they do not in the least vary from ours, except that the characters are Arabic.”[54]

Speed of ancient ships.

A few notices remain to us of the time occupied in the performance of different voyages by ancient vessels, from which we may deduce the general fact, that though owing to their construction—being generally from three to four times as long as they were broad, with shallow keels, and rarely other than square sails—they could not have made much way on a wind, they were capable of considerable speed when the wind was right aft. Thus Pliny states that a merchant-ship passed from Messina to Alexandria in six days; another from the Pillars of Hercules to Ostia in seven; another from the nearest port of Spain in four; another from Narbonne in three, and another from Africa in two.[55] So, too, Arrian relates that the ship in which he sailed on the Euxine accomplished five hundred stadia (or, as is more probable, three hundred stadia) before mid-day;[56] and St. Luke tells us that he ran from Rhegium to Puteoli (one hundred and eighty-two miles) by the second day after he had started:[57] but, in all these cases, we may be quite sure that the sailors had (as St. Luke distinctly states was his case) a good stiff breeze abaft.

ANCIENT CARAVAN AND OTHER ROUTES.
Engraved for Lindsay’s History of Merchant Shipping.
Stanford’s Geog. Estab^t. 6 & 7 Charing Cross
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle.

Large Map

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See a good passage in Claudian’s “Rape of Proserpine,” on this subject; and Virgil, Georg. i. 136.

[2] Noah’s Ark, B.C. 2348.

[3] Gen. vi. 15.

[4] Gen. vii. 16, 17. Cory, “Ancient Fragm.,” for traditions of the Ark in various lands.

[5] The Scriptural narrative of a great flood, and of a great vessel to float upon it, has just met with a remarkable confirmation. At a meeting of the Society of Biblical Archæology, Sir Henry Rawlinson in the chair, on December 3, 1872, Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum, read a paper, giving an account of his discovery, on cuneiform tablets (part of the so-called library of Ashur-ban-i-pal, king of Nineveh), of an unquestionable account of the Deluge. The name of the king under whom this event occurred cannot as yet be deciphered, nor can anything like a certain date be assigned to it; but Sir Henry Rawlinson accepted fully the truth of Mr. Smith’s decipherings. Of the inscription describing the Flood, there are fragments of three copies, containing duplicate texts.

[6] Layard, First Series. Pls. 10, 12, 13, 15, 25, 27, 28.

[7] Hügel, “Travels in Cashmir,” p. 27, with a picture, p. 247.

[8] Pliny, vii. 57. Cf. also Lucan, Phars. iv. 131. Such vessels were called “boats sewn together,” Plin. xxiv. 65; and Virgil (Æn. vi. 448) gives the same title to Charon’s boat.

[9] Layard, “Nineveh and Babylon,” pp. 522-524.

[10] “Relaçion historica del Viage a la America Meridional,” 1748; Charnock, “Hist. Mar. Arch.” i. p. 12.

[11] Herod. i. 1.

[12] Gen. xlix. 13.

[13] Homer (Od. v. 243), &c., gives some curious details of the building of the vessel of Ulysses; whence it appears that he made use of an axe, had means of cutting planks, together with a boring instrument to make holes for nails and hooks: he had also ropes, and at least one sail. His bulwark was raised higher by wickerwork, to prevent the sea dashing over.

[14] Hom. Od. xii. 403, as compared xiv. 302.

[15] Thucyd. ii. 13, 14.

[16] Pliny, xvi. 158.

[17] Ovid, Metam. xi. 516, and Epist. ad Œnonen, v. 42.

[18] John Locke, “Hist. of Navigation,” prefixed to Harris’s “Coll. of Voyages.”

[19] Cæsar, Bell. Gall. iii. 29.

[20] Livy, iv. 21. Cæsar, Bell. Gall. i. 12. Tibull. ii. 5, 34.

[21] Millin’s “Dict. de Beaux-Arts.”

[22] Acts xxviii. 11.

[23] Ovid, Trist. i. 9, 2.

[24] Pliny, xix. 5.

[25] Hom. Il. ii. 637. Od. ix. 125; xi. 124.

[26] Herod. iii. 58.

[27] Plaut. Pœn. i. 2, 6.

[28] Aristoph. Equit. 1313.

[29] Virg. Æn. iii. 119.

[30] Hom. Odyss. iii. 4. Anthol. vi. c. xxi. Ep. 1.

[31] Horat. Od. i. 5, 15.

[32] Petron. c. lxiii.

[33] Polyb. lib. x.

[34] Stat. Theb. v. 343. Silius, vi. 361.

[35] Xenoph. Hist. i. Polyb. lib. x. Arrian, Peripl. Mar. Eux.

[36] Ovid. Metam. iii.

[37] Propert. lib. ii. v. 990.

[38] Xen. Œcon. v. Athen. xv.

[39] Arrian, Exp. Alex. vi.

[40] James Smith, “Voyage of St. Paul,” pp. 147-150.

[41] See Smith, pp. 143-147. The same practice may be noticed on some of the English municipal seals: see below, [p. 399, &c.]

[42] Lucan, v. 428; Stat. vii. 32.

[43] Polyb. xxviii. 3. Appian, v. 91. Cf. Boeckh, Seewesen, &c., p. 134.

[44] Hom. Il. i. 436. Od. ix. 137.

[45] Pliny, vii. 209.

[46] Acts xxvii. 29.

[47] Paus. viii. 12. Pliny, xvi. 34.

[48] Arrian, Exped. Alex. ii. 21.

[49] Antichità di Ercolano, ii. 1. 14.

[50] Herod, ii. 109.

[51] Arrian, Peripl. Mar. Eux.

[52] Strabo, ii. 8.

[53] Hist. of India; Notes and Observations, p. 333—and below, [p. 233].

[54] Chardin’s Travels, p. 441 et seq.

[55] Nat. Hist. xix. 3, 4.

[56] Peripl. Mar. Eux. c. 7.

[57] Acts xxviii. 13.

MERCHANT SHIPPING.

CHAPTER I.

Maritime commerce of Antiquity—Coasting—Tyre—Argonautic Expedition—Queen Semiramis—The Phœnicians—Early notices of them—The prophecy of Ezekiel—Trade in tin—Origin of the name “Cassiterides Insulæ.”—Amber—Mainland trade of Phœnicia—Cause of prosperity—Carthage—Utica—Commercial policy—Trade with Spain—Trade in Africa—The commercial policy of Carthage—Limits of trade.

Maritime commerce of Antiquity.

When different tribes were desirous of exchanging with each other the commodities their countries respectively produced, their first consideration would naturally be the means of transport; and though we may not be able to fix the period when it commenced, the interchange of goods by barter must have been nearly coexistent with the existence of man himself. In the most ancient times the chief commercial routes were undoubtedly overland; but it may safely be assumed that at a scarcely less early period trading vessels had begun to creep along the shores of the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Mediterranean, and to pass from island to island amid the land-locked waters of the Levant.

Coasting.

There can, indeed, be no doubt that, till a period comparatively recent, the characteristic of all early navigation was that of a coasting trade, the mariners seldom quitting the land except when constrained to do so by some unavoidable necessity, such as the violence of a gale or the force of currents, or when a great saving of distance could be effected by crossing the mouths of deep bays where the headlands were at a moderate distance from each other. But a coasting navigation is really subject to greater difficulties and dangers than any other, and hence has in all times had the property of forming the most expert seamen. Thus it was that the seamen of Tyre found their way to Carthage, and ultimately through the pillars of Hercules to Gades and the tin-bearing islands of the West: and thus, too, the States of Tyre and of her great colony, Carthage, for centuries maintained their power and lofty position in the midst of nations in other respects greatly their superiors. By the prosecution, too, of coasting voyages the Portuguese, in later ages, passed the Cape of Good Hope, and reached the East Indies. Indeed nothing was more likely to advance discovery than voyages of such a character, for which the position of the three continents of the ancient world afforded considerable natural facilities, especially when taken in connection with the two long narrow seas known as the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Again, the Mediterranean, with its subordinate portions, comprising the Adriatic and the Levant, with the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was peculiarly adapted for the commencement of an over-sea trade with a shipping still rude and with sailors little skilled; while its position in the centre, as it were, of these three continents, surrounded by the most fruitful and civilized regions of the then known world, prepared it, naturally, to be the principal scene of such an intercourse.

It should also be remembered that the Mediterranean possesses the singular advantages of a very considerable number of excellent harbours and roadsteads, with numerous islands, projecting promontories, and deep bays, affording excellent shelter for small undecked craft; and, more than this, that the two nations who were, in remote ages, the most eminent among its merchant navigators, the Tyrians and Carthaginians, were, as a rule, peaceful traders, and slow to take up arms except in self-defence. The Indian Ocean, within prescribed limits, and the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, afforded somewhat similar facilities, from the moderate distance between the opposite shores, and from the periodical winds, which change their direction twice in the year—a fact which could hardly fail to have been early recognised, though the reason of this change may have remained long unsuspected. Bearing, therefore, these physical facts and conditions in mind, it is not unreasonable to believe that long and distant voyages were accomplished with no greater nautical science than has been generally conceded to the most ancient mariners.

Tyre.

We find, too, as might be supposed, that the nations who held in their hands the means of conducting the largest amount of maritime commerce were the most prosperous as well as the most powerful. The small state of Phœnicia, of which, in its most prosperous days, Tyre was the capital, though insignificant in territory and population, as compared with either Syria or Egypt, possessed in some respects far greater power than either. Holding, during many centuries, the command of the sea, she was able, in great measure, to control them as she pleased, and to prohibit their intercourse with any nations that could not be reached by their caravans. Phœnicia, therefore, as the leading maritime state at the earliest period to which any reliable records ascend, is entitled to the first consideration in any work having for its object an historical account of Merchant Shipping. To trace the course of the extensive maritime trade of the Phœnicians is to elucidate the progress of navigation in ancient times.

Argonautic Expedition.

Before, however, we speak of the Phœnicians we must briefly notice two maritime adventures, which, though fabulous in most of their details, were highly estimated by the ancients, and had, doubtless, some foundation in fact. The first of these, the Argonautic Expedition, as it was called, was evidently a commercial enterprise, promoted by reports of abundant deposits of gold along the eastern shores of the Black Sea. It is remarkable that the name of the ship from which the expedition itself derived its appellation is almost certainly taken from the Semitic word arek, “long,”[58] suggesting that it was perhaps the first “long” ship, and indicating a direct connection with the Phœnicians, who spoke the dialect to which this name belongs.

Queen Semiramis.

The second is the celebrated legend of Queen Semiramis, and of the fleet she employed the Phœnicians in building, which is given at great length by Diodorus.[59] That such a fleet was ever built, or that Semiramis invaded India by its means, may well be questioned; but, since the interpretation by Sir Henry Rawlinson of the Assyrian inscriptions, we know that Semiramis is not a mythical personage, but a real queen within historical times. In the Assyrian Hall at the British Museum stand two statues of the god Nebo, each bearing a cuneiform inscription, with the statement that they were made for Queen Semiramis by a sculptor of Nineveh. Semiramis was, in fact, the wife of the Assyrian king who is mentioned in the Bible under the name of Pul.[60]

The Phœnicians.

To recur to the Phœnicians. There has been much discussion as to whence they came; and many able writers a few years since, as Bochart and Heeren, held the view that they were the same as the Canaanites. Modern research, however, fully confirms the judgment of Herodotus,[61] that they were really immigrants from the shores of the Persian Gulf; thereby, in themselves, affording an illustration of that great law of migration westwards, of which that of Abraham and of his family, and that of Chedorlaomer from Elam to the valley of the Jordan, are the earliest recorded instances. There seems, indeed, to have been a marked distinction between the Phœnicians and the Canaanites; the former having been a peaceable mercantile population, generally on terms of good will with the Jews, while the Canaanites were a fierce and warlike race. The names, too, of many of the Phœnician cities in Syria are believed to be of Hamite, and not of Semitic origin, as, for instance, those of Askalon, Arka, Aradus, Gaza, and, most probably, those also of Sidon and Tyre.

It is remarkable that a district, whose people became so famous in the early history of the world, should have been confined within so limited an area; for the average breadth of Phœnicia never exceeded twelve miles, while sometimes it is considerably less. In length it was about two hundred and twenty-five miles, from Aradus in the north to Joppa in the south.

Early notices of them.

But if its territory was small, its position was admirably fitted for the grandest development of over-sea trade; and Tyre itself occupied pre-eminently the situation best fitted for carrying on the commerce of the then known world. We shall, therefore, briefly trace the course of that commerce, with a sketch of the chief places to which the Tyrians traded, and with some notice of the colonies they founded in the prosecution of this object; for to the activity of this remarkable people we owe the first link connecting the civilization of the East with Europe and Western Africa.[62]

The inhabitants of Phœnicia are first mentioned as Sidonians of the coast (though the name Phœnician also occurs), whose trinkets, like those of Autolycus, captivated the maidens of the Grecian islands,[63] and the produce of the Sidonian looms is said in the Iliad[64] to have been used for the most costly offerings to the gods. A little later we are able to trace them to Cyprus, Carthage, Malta, Sicily, the Balearic Islands, and, through the Pillars of Hercules, to Cadiz on the shores of the Atlantic. At first, probably, kidnapping went hand-in-hand with more legitimate trade; but, even in remote times, the presence of the Phœnicians must have been deemed beneficial, or Pindar would not have compared his own relations with his patron Hiero to those of a Phœnician merchant.[65] Indeed there is no recognised value in the dealings of the civilized with the uncivilized when they first meet; hence those Phœnicians need not be deemed unjust who exchanged the pottery of Athens against the ivory of Africa.[66]

The prophecy of Ezekiel.

Phœnician commerce was probably at its highest when Nebuchadnezzar, with the view, it is likely, of obtaining a powerful navy, made his famous attack upon Tyre. Hence the description of Tyre, and of her dealings with the nations around her, in the celebrated prophecy of Ezekiel, ch. xxvii., has great value as showing what her state was (about B.C. 588) when ruin was immediately impending over her; and it becomes worth while to give an attentive consideration to the statements of the prophet, who was evidently well acquainted with the history of Tyre. Thus, after stating that Tyre was “a merchant of the people for many isles,”[67] Ezekiel tells us that her “ship boards” were made “of fir-trees of Senir,” her masts of “cedars from Lebanon,” her oars “of the oaks of Bashan,” and the benches of her galleys “of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.”[68] It is true that doubts have been expressed as to the fitness of some of these materials for the purposes mentioned; but it is, perhaps, best not to strain to the uttermost a description obviously poetical. The “ivory” here noticed is most likely box-wood,[69] the abundant produce of Corsica, Italy, and Spain, of the “Isles of Chittim,” or Western Europe.

“The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad” (Aradus, now Ruad,) “were thy mariners;”[70] but Tyre kept the command of her ships in her own hands, for “thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.”[71] “The ancients of Gebal,” Ezekiel continues, “and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy their merchandise;”[72] that is, besides their own shipping, they largely employed those of surrounding and seafaring peoples, as those of Cyprus, and probably of Rhodes and Crete. “Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.”[73] The isles of Elishah are generally supposed to be the Greek Archipelago, and Pausanias states that the purple of the coast of Laconia, which was but little inferior to that of Tyre itself, was used for the decoration of awnings.[74] “Javan” (the Ionian Greeks) “Tubal, and Meshech” (probably the people of the southern coasts of the Black Sea) “they were thy merchants; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market;”[75] a trade in slaves which has survived to the present day from the neighbouring district of Circassia; as, also, many of the brazen vessels procurable at Mosul and other Turkish entrepôts derive their copper from the mountain districts of the Taurus.

Again, “They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules,”[76] a species of merchandise equally existent now in Armenia (or Togarmah),[77] that country being still as famous for its horses and mules as it was then. The constant denunciations of the prophets show how the baneful trade in slaves prevailed of old.[78] The Mossynoeci and Chalybes were famous for their mineral wealth;[79] and the prophet adds, “Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.”[80] “The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market.”[81] Tarshish has been identified by some with Tartessus in Spain, by others with other places; but the probability is that the phrase “ships of Tarshish” was an accepted term for any vessels with large and rich cargoes, like our name “Indiamen.” Ancient history abounds with notices of the mineral wealth of the Spanish Peninsula. Aristotle tells us that silver was once so abundant there, that the Phœnicians not only freighted their ships with it, but even made their anchors of that precious metal;[82] and iron, lead, salt, corn, and wine, were among its most common productions.[83]

Trade in tin.

Tin, which has been often attributed, as by the prophet, to Spain, probably came thence only in small quantities;[84] though some is, indeed, still found in Porto, Beira, and Bragança, and was exhibited in the Exhibition of 1862. The great bulk, however, of this metal was brought from the Cassiterides Insulæ, unquestionably the Scilly Islands, and from Cornwall; partly, as may be readily believed, by Phœnician vessels which sailed thither from Gades, and partly from St. Michael’s Mount, whence it was conveyed, through France, on the backs of horses, as Diodorus has pointed out, to the great Roman colonies of Marseilles and Narbonne.[85]

In the Museum at Truro is still preserved a pig of tin, supposed by some to be one of the original Phœnician blocks. It is impossible to assign even a probable period for the commencement of the tin trade; but this is certain, that some of the earliest objects in metal which have come down to us, are formed of an alloy of copper with tin, generally in nearly the same proportions, viz. ten to twelve per cent. of tin. Such monuments are the nails which fastened on the plates of the so-called Treasury of Atreus at Mycenæ, the instruments found in the earliest Egyptian tombs, the bowls and lion-weights from Nineveh, and the so-called “celts” from European graves. All these facts tend to show that the ancient world must have been acquainted with tin at a very remote period.

Origin of the name “Insulæ Cassiterides.”

There has been much discussion as to the meaning of the word cassiteros, which has no equivalent in either the Semitic or the Greek families of languages; on the other hand, the Sanscrit name for tin, kastira, is almost the same. It seems, therefore, not improbable that the Phœnicians, while still in their old homes on the Persian Gulf, may have found their way in pre-historic ages to India, and may there have met with it, as it is abundant at Banka in the Straits of Sumatra; then, when in later days they found it again in even greater abundance in England, that they gave it the name they had previously adopted from the far East.[86] The trade in tin was so valuable that the Phœnicians did their best to keep secret the locality whence they obtained it; and Strabo tells a curious tale of a merchant captain, whose ship was pursued by the Romans, and who preferred stranding his vessel to allowing her to fall into their hands, whereby the secret would have been discovered; and moreover, that on his return home, he recovered from his government the value of the ship he had thus sacrificed for the public weal of his country.[87]

Amber.

Another very important trade may be noticed here, though it is not strictly of Phœnician origin, that in amber. This semi-mineral substance, as is well known, is procured chiefly from the shores of the Baltic, though it is not unknown elsewhere. There is a curious record of what was supposed to be its discovery, in Pliny’s account[88] of an exploratory voyage by Pytheas, of Marseilles, who named the island whence he obtained it Abulus. Xenophon of Lampsacus, however, calls the island Baltia—whence obviously our Baltic. The amber trade is strangely mixed up with one of the most poetical of ancient legends, that of the daughters of Phaethon, who are said to have been changed into poplars, and to have wept amber by the banks of a river called Eridanus, generally identified with the great river of Italy, the Po. But there was also an Eridanus on the Baltic shores, which has left traces of its name in that of a small river still flowing near the modern town of Dantzig. Tacitus, referring to amber as an article of commerce—the native name of which he states to be glesum (glass?)—refers to the Suionæ, who dwelt along those shores, and had vessels differing from the Roman type in that they were equally high at prow and stern. This is even now characteristic of what are called Norway yawls.[89]

Mainland trade of Phœnicia.

It is not so easy to trace the course of Phœnician commerce with the countries on the mainland to the north, east, and south, as it is in the case of the islands of the west. But here, too, the statements of the Prophet come to our aid, and enable us to fill up an outline which would have been otherwise very incomplete. Thus we find Ezekiel saying, “The men of Dedan were thy merchants ... they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony,”[90] and “precious cloths for chariots.”[91] So Syria,[92] Dan and Javan,[93] and “the merchants of Sheba and Raamah,”[94] dealt with Tyre in precious stones, fine linen, broidered work, and gold. From “Judah and the land of Israel,” from “Minnith and Pannag,” she obtained “wheat and honey, and oil and balm;”[95] from Damascus, “the wine of Helbon and white wool;”[96] and from “Arabia and all the princes of Kedar,” lambs and rams and goats.[97] Lastly, to those “of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut,” she was indebted for her mercenaries, for they “were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.”[98]

The probability is that most of the Tyrian commerce with the East was carried on by the aid of caravans passing through Arabia Felix to Petra, and thence to the western seaports of Gaza, Askalon, and Ashdod.[99] Many of the more precious articles were obtainable direct from Arabia;[100] spices, of which cinnamon and cassia (the produce of the same plant, Laurus cassia), were of great importance, were best procured thence up to the discovery of Ceylon;[101] while some, like the “bright iron” and the calamus (Calamus aromaticus) point to India itself for their origin. The “bright iron,” for which Diodorus states that the Arabians exchanged equal weights of gold,[102] is perhaps the famous Wootz steel.[103] Asshur and Chilmad, who were “thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar,”[104] point to articles of commerce for which, from a very early period, Babylon and Nineveh were famous.[105] We may also gather that it must have been for the extension of Babylonian commerce, from the Persian Gulf to Damascus on the north, that Nebuchadnezzar built Teredon, near the present Bussorah.[106] The mode of packing rich garments, like those described in Ezekiel, is one still in use among the natives of Upper India.

We may add that civilization owes to the Phœnicians the invention of the alphabet; and, probably, that of the well-known weight of ancient Greece, the mna, or mina, which is found on certain lion-weights from Nineveh, bearing bilingual legends in Assyrian and Phœnician, their value being expressed in the latter tongue:[107] they also discovered the Cynosure (called after them, Phœnice), the last star in the Little Bear, which, as nearly identical with the Pole Star, gave superior fixity to their observations;[108] while they are said to have noticed at Gades the connection between the moon and the oceanic tides.[109]

Cause of prosperity.

It is not difficult to discern the principal causes of the success and prosperity of these Phœnician traders, which we may be sure did not rest, as some writers[110] have supposed, on an extensive system of piracy. This, and other evils of a similar character, may have existed among them, as elsewhere, for a certain period; but they would not have ruled the maritime commerce of the world, had not their power rested on foundations far more firm than those of robbery and plunder. No nation has ever become great merely by lawless acts. We believe their success was chiefly due to the practice of dealing with any one who was willing to deal with them, and to the encouragement they invariably gave to perfect freedom of intercourse. Nor must it be forgotten that they largely imported the raw materials of other countries, assorting their various products to suit the demand, and transporting them when thus assorted, together with their own manufactures, to all parts of the world.

Their practice, indeed, was as perfect as their policy was wise. The merchants of Tyre were the first to establish the system of factories or agencies, where they were able not only to dispose of their several cargoes to the best advantage, but to collect the produce of other lands so as to be ready for shipment on the arrival of their fleets. Every nation was, in fact, their merchant; just as every nation is, at the present moment, manufacturing or producing something for England.

Again, to the Tyrians belongs the credit of the establishment of the first regular colonies; some of which, as Carthage, probably far surpassed in wealth and power those of the mother city—nay, what is more, they succeeded in planting their colonies on terms so liberal as to retain through all time an affectionate remembrance from their children; for we know that, as Tyre refused the aid of her fleet to Cambyses when he wished to attack Carthage[111] so Carthage offered a refuge to the inhabitants of Tyre when besieged by Alexander.[112] Thus, without the aid of conquering armies, this remarkable people spread over the remotest parts of the then known world, establishing the arts of peace among nations previously buried in darkness and barbarism, and making the “solitary places of the earth to rejoice.” No commercial nation of either ancient or modern times presents a history, so far as we can trace it, more worthy of imitation than that of Phœnicia. Liberal, by comparison, in its policy, and enlightened in its intercourse with other peoples, it offered, in the plenitude of its power, an example to the ancient world of what industry and a sound policy could effect—a course worthy of imitation, even now. All nations “were merchants of Tyre;” that is, all nations found it to their advantage to be on good terms with such a people; and it would be well if some of the nations of our own times could be persuaded to act on Tyrian principles, and if, instead of checking free intercourse by the imposition of high protective duties, they would do as Tyre did 2600 years ago, invite all nations to be their merchants.[113]

Carthage.

Utica.

Of all her colonies, Carthage was the one of which Tyre had the best reason to be proud. Situated on a peninsula, in Lat. 36° 55´ N., 10° 20´ E., with a long narrow neck of land westward, forming a double harbour for ships of war and commerce, it is believed to have been founded between B.C. 878 and B.C. 826, the Roman writers, as a rule, assuming Carthage to have been only a collection of huts till Dido[114] came. On the other hand, Utica[115] is distinctly stated from Phœnician records to have been in existence two hundred and eighty years before Carthage. As, too, it was earlier in date, so did it long survive the greater city, being, according to Strabo, in his time, the metropolis of Northern Africa. Utica appears also as an independent power in the treaties between Carthage and the Romans.

The headland first occupied by the Tyrians, near the harbour now called the Goletta, is exactly the kind of place Thucydides[116] says the Phœnicians always selected; a promontory easy of defence and commanding an adjoining port. Modern travellers have recognized in the “Hill of St. Louis,”[117] the site of the ancient Byrsa (itself a genuine Phœnician word, meaning fortress).

Commercial policy.

Unfortunately, no ancient historian has given us any reliable information as to the means whereby Carthage raised herself so far above the other Phœnician colonies. But these may be in part traced to the natural fertility of her soil, the excellent situation of the city for carrying on a large inland as well as maritime commerce, and, above all, to the firmness with which she adhered to the enlightened policy of her founders. The Carthaginians closely followed the example of the Tyrians, in establishing colonies of their own, whenever they could do so advantageously, their first object being maritime commerce, a preference being, therefore, naturally given by them to islands such as Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Baleares, and Melita (Malta). “Carthage,” says Aristotle,[118] “continually sent out colonies composed of her citizens into the districts around her, and by these means gave them wealth. It is a proof,” he adds, “of a mild and intelligent government, that it assists the poor by accustoming them to labour.” Thus the Carthaginians, while they enriched themselves, increased the prosperity of surrounding states and tribes; and, by promoting colonization, prevented the too great increase of their home population. Many of their colonies embraced the rich provinces to the west of Carthage, and the territory under the immediate control of the republic was little less than two hundred geographical miles in length. As the native population of these provinces comprised many of the nomad tribes, the Carthaginians were enabled to direct their attention to the inland trade of Africa, by caravans which crossed the Libyan Desert, and penetrated as far as the Niger and Æthiopia on the one hand, and to Upper Egypt and the Nile on the other.

There is no justice in the assertion that Carthage ever exhibited a lust of conquest. Throughout her whole career she seems to have acted in the spirit of her Tyrian ancestors; as long as her merchants were free to trade, her neighbours were not disturbed, her naval reputation in later days having been mainly caused by the necessity of protecting her commerce and her colonies from the piratical attacks of other nations. With Spain, for instance, she maintained for centuries extensive and peaceful commercial relations: nor was it till the Greeks and Romans had become the most daring marauders in the Mediterranean, that Carthage, in self-defence, fitted out a navy, and thus became a great naval power. That these peaceful employments were crowned with success, we learn from the universal testimony of antiquity, it being generally admitted that, in the manufactures she had transplanted from Tyre and Sidon, she greatly surpassed in excellence whatever reputation the parent state had acquired. Moreover, we have still extant a series of coins of extraordinary beauty, struck for her no doubt, in many instances, by Greek artists of Sicily and Magna Græcia, yet which could hardly have been intended, as some numismatists have thought, for only her colonial cities of Panormus, Segesta, &c.[119]

Acknowledged by Polybius[120] to have possessed hereditary pre-eminence in nautical matters, with the undisputed dominion of the sea for a long period, it may be fairly assumed that her ships were then unrivalled. Indeed Aristotle states that the Carthaginians were the first to increase the size of their galleys from three to four banks of oars.

Trade with Spain.

As the Carthaginians followed in the wake of the Phœnicians, it is impossible to ascertain the exact period of their colonization of Spain; but it is well known that Gades (Cadiz) was one of their earliest and most important commercial entrepôts, and that thence they sent expeditions to the south and to the north, along the western shores of Africa and Europe, securing for themselves the most favourable positions as marts for their merchandise.

Their first expedition to the western shores of Africa was that of Hanno, it is said, with sixty ships, of fifty oars each, and an incredible number of emigrants. Though all traces of their settlements have long since been obliterated, there is no reason to question the fact that such a voyage was really made, that Hanno did reach the small island of Cerne (probably the modern Arguin in N. Lat. 20.5), that he laid the foundations of six towns, or trading stations, and that he proceeded farther along a coast, inhabited by negro races, for a period of twenty-six days, in all probability passing Cape Verde, even if he did not visit the islands of that name.[121]

About the same time Himilco[122] was sent to explore the north-western coasts of Europe, founding, as he proceeded, if we may believe the very curious poem of Festus Avienus, settlements even in Britain and Ireland. The whole of this story (which has been carefully translated by Heeren, “Asiatic Nations,” i., p. 502, and appendix) is well worthy perusal; and is almost certainly based on reliable traditions or records. Among other things, the navigator speaks of men who dwelt in lands rich in tin and lead; who used boats made of skins and leather; of the Œstrymnades, or Scilly Islands; of the ancient trade between them and Tartessus; and of a sea where weeds abounded so much that navigation was impeded (probably part of the Sargasso). Nor ought it to be forgotten that many antiquaries, more perhaps formerly than now, have been of the opinion that metallic objects of unquestionably Phœnician workmanship have been found in Irish bogs.

Trade in Africa.

On the western coast of Africa, the island of Cerne was the chief Carthaginian depôt; the goods from the merchant vessels being here unladen, and placed under tents, to be conveyed thence in smaller vessels to the continent. This trade itself was conducted wholly by barter. The method is well described by Herodotus. “The Carthaginians,” says he,[123] “are wont to sail to a nation beyond the Pillars of Hercules, on the Libyan coast. When they come there, they transport their wares on shore and leave them, and, after kindling a fire, go back to their ships. Upon this signal the natives come down to the sea, and placing gold against the wares, again return. The Carthaginians then again approach, and see whether what they have left be sufficient. If it be, they take it and depart; should it, however, not be enough for their wares, they again go back to their ships and wait; and the other party bring more gold, until the strangers are satisfied. But neither party deals unfairly by the other, for the one touches not the gold till the value of the wares be brought, nor the other the wares until the gold be taken away.”

A similar system of silent barter has been noticed by many travellers. Thus Captain Lyon states that “In Soudan, beyond the desert, in the countries abounding in gold, there dwells an invisible nation who are said to trade only by night. Those who come to traffic for their gold, lay their merchandise in heaps, and retire. In the morning they find a certain quantity of gold dust placed against every heap, which, if they think sufficient, they leave the goods, if not, they let them both remain until more of the precious ore is added.”[124] Hoest says the same thing in the case of very large caravans, from Marocco to Timbuctoo. “The Moors enter not into the Negro country, but only go to a certain place on the frontiers, where one of each party exhibits and exchanges the goods, without scarcely opening their lips.”[125]

The commercial policy of Carthage.

The commercial treaties between Carthage and Rome, to which fuller reference will hereafter be made, show that if the duties levied were in some cases heavy, they were not differential or protective, but chiefly with the object of securing a sufficient revenue. That, like all commercial nations, the Carthaginians were jealous of competitors need not be doubted, but while other nations were content with profits derived from intercourse among their own people, Tyre and Carthage sought the trade of all nations and erected entrepôts where required for this commerce.

At the same time, it must be borne in mind that free trade, pure and simple, as now understood, could, in ancient times, have been possible only with a very considerable modification; especially where, as was the case with Carthage and Tyre, a large portion of the dealings with barbarous nations was by barter; for competition, while tending seriously to reduce the profits, could not then have increased the demand to an extent equivalent to the reduction in price. As long as the savage is kept in ignorance, he is ready to exchange goods of great value for mere trifles, and rivalry would only serve to enlighten him as to their actual value. Moreover with uncivilized nations whose wants are limited, it is impossible to create a demand adequate to the loss accruing from open competition. Hence Carthage watched these branches of her trade with peculiar jealousy, and, while throwing wide open the harbours of the capital, closed as far as possible her colonial ports to the shipping of rival nations.

It seems, therefore, unreasonable for Heeren to call the commercial policy of Carthage “paltry and selfish:”[126] for if she did guard the colonial trade which her genius and industry had created, her policy generally, as compared with that of contemporaneous nations, was as liberal as that of Great Britain now is in comparison with that of the United States of America. Carthage acted on principles of reciprocity, while her neighbours were rigid protectionists. She was ready to grant, as her treaties show, reciprocal privileges to all nations ready to deal with her on similar conditions; and on such terms, she dealt largely with Greece and with Egypt during the reign of the Ptolemies, and even with Rome.

Limits of trade.

The trade of Carthage, as might be anticipated from her position, was almost entirely with the west, her chief rivals being Sicily, Italy, and Massalia (Marseilles), who prevented her from obtaining anything like an exclusive monopoly. Yet the abundant details given by Herodotus, Diodorus, Aristotle, Strabo, Terence, and Plautus, show clearly that, even with these places, her commercial relations attained considerable dimensions. The wines and oils of Sicily and Italy found their best market in Carthage, the return being black slaves from Central Africa. Malta, Corsica, Elba, produced fine cloths, wax and honey, and iron, respectively; while the mines of Spain, with her great port Cadiz, the entrepôt for tin from Britain, before the Massalians brought it overland through France, produced the largest and most enduring portion of her revenue.

To her commerce with the interior of Africa by means of caravans mention has already been made; and it is scarcely necessary to add that the details which Herodotus and other ancient writers give of this trade, read much like a page out of Livingstone, or Baker, or Du Chaillu. Then, as now, the wants of the respective populations were much the same; if the interior could send abundance of ivory or gold-dust, salt, a need of their daily life, could be procured only from the Mediterranean shores. Lastly, it is certain that Carthage, like the United States of America in modern times, was mainly indebted for her navy to her merchant service, inasmuch as in times of peace she set apart scarcely any shipping for merely warlike purposes.

FOOTNOTES:

[58] Gesen. Hebr. Lex. p. lxxix.

[59] Diod. ii. 16-19.

[60] 2 Kings xv. 19.

[61] Her. i. 1.

[62] Herod. i. 1; Mela, i. 12.

[63] Odys. xv. 414, &c. xiv. 29.

[64] Il. vi. 290.

[65] Pyth. ii. 125.

[66] Scyl. c. iii.

[67] Ezek. xxvii. ver. 3.

[68] Ver. 5, 6.

[69] Cf. Plin. xvi. 16; Diod. v. 14; Virg. x. 135.

[70] Ezek. xxvii. ver. 8.

[71] Ver. 8.

[72] Ver. 9.

[73] Ver. 7.

[74] Paus. iii. 21.

[75] Ver. 13.

[76] Ver. 14.

[77] Cf. Strab. xi. 553.

[78] Joel iii. 6; Amos i. 6, 9.

[79] Plin. xxxiv. 2; Fest. in Virg. Æn. xii. 6.

[80] Ezek. xxvii. ver. 12.

[81] Ver. 25.

[82] De Mirab. Ausc. 147; cf. Diod. v. 35.

[83] Lucret. v. 1256; Strab. iii. 147 and 159; Polyb. x. 10; Plin. xxxiv. 15; Martial, iv. 35.

[84] Plin. iv. 34; xxxiv. 47; Strab. iii. 147.

[85] Diod. v. 38, 5.

[86] Vide Lassen ap. Ritter’s Erdkunde, v. p. 549; and cf. Hom. Il. xxiii. 503, who was clearly aware of the practice of tinning.

[87] Strabo, iii. 5. For further details of the tin trade, vide Herod. iii. 115; Arist. de Mundo, viii. 3; Polyb. iii. 37; Strab. v. 10; Phillips’ Mineralogy, p. 249.

[88] Plin. iii. 26.

[89] Tac. Germ. 44, 45.

[90] Ezek. xxvii. ver. 15.

[91] Ver. 20.

[92] Ver. 16.

[93] Ver. 19.

[94] Ver. 22.

[95] Ver. 17.

[96] Ezek. ver. 18.

[97] Ver. 21.

[98] Vers. 10 and 11.

[99] The Azotus of Herod. iii. 5.

[100] Cf. Strab. xvi. 777; Diod. ii. 50, for gold in “nuggets.”

[101] Cf. Vincent, ii. 702. Ezek. v. 19.

[102] Diod. iii. 45.

[103] Cf. Ritter, Erdk. v. 521; Michael. Spicel. ii. 173.

[104] Ver. 24.

[105] Cf. Nahum iii. 16; 2 Kings iii. 4; Plin. H. N. viii. 48; and the “goodly garments of Shinar,” for the secreting of which Achan was punished, Josh. vii. 21.

[106] Euseb. Præp. Evang. ix. 41.

[107] Norris, ap. Trans. As. Soc. xvi. 221.

[108] Manil. Astron. i. 304; Hygin. Astron. ii. 2; Callimach. Fragm. 94.

[109] Strab. i. 173.

[110] Heeren. As. Nat. i. pp. 30, 285.

[111] Herod, iii. 17, 19.

[112] Diod. ii. 190.

[113] Xenophon, in his “Œconomics,” c. 18, gives some interesting details of a large Phœnician merchant ship which he went over, when at anchor in the Piræeus. He appears to have entered into conversation with the “prow’s-man” (who probably acted as supercargo), and to have been greatly surprised at the care with which everything was arranged, so that it could be got at at once. From the phraseology Xenophon uses it would seem that such a vessel came, in his day, annually to Athens. Heliodorus (v. 18) speaks, too, of the “beauty and magnitude of Phœnician ships.”

[114] Virgil. Æn. i. 421.

[115] Arist. de Mirab. Ausc. c. 146. Strabo, xvii. p. 832. Polyb. iii. 24.

[116] Thucyd. vi. 2.

[117] Barth. “Wanderungen,” p. 94. Sir Grenville Temple’s “Excursions,” ii. 37. Admiral W. H. Smyth’s “Mediterranean,” p. 92.

[118] Arist. Polit. ii. 11, vi. 5, and Heeren i. p. 40.

[119] The question of the reality of Carthaginian coins has been fully examined by Müller, “Études Numismatiques,” and by Vaux, “Numism. Chron.” vol. xxi.

[120] Polyb. i. 7, 16.

[121] Plin. ii. 169. Hanno’s “Periplus,” ap. Geogr. Græc. Minor. Hanno’s voyage was really rather one of discovery.

[122] Plin. ibid.

[123] Herod. iv. cap. 196; cf. Scylac. “Periplus,” c. 112.

[124] Lyon’s Narrative, p. 149.

[125] Hoest, p. 279.

[126] Heeren’s “Ancient Nations of Africa,” vol. i. p. 159.

CHAPTER II.

Earliest caravan trade—Ophir—Port of Ezion-geber—The voyages of the Jewish ships—The inland commerce of Solomon—Babylon—Gerrha and Tylos—Babylonian commerce—Assyrian boats—Lydia—Ionia—Caria—Phrygia—Scythians—Their caravan routes to India, viâ the Caspian.

Earliest caravan trade.

Reference has already incidentally been made to a few of the caravan routes of very ancient times: these and other more important routes will now and hereafter be considered somewhat more in detail, as, antecedently to the invention of boats, there must have existed some interchange of commodities between different nations and tribes on land, by the agencies of different kinds of beasts of burthen; and, here, the records of Holy Writ are, as in so many other cases, the first available; the earliest caravan noticed in history being that mentioned in the 37th chapter of the book of Genesis, v. 25: “behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt;” and again, v. 28: “Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.”

Here there is a clearly defined trade at a very remote period of authentic history, and one which there is no reason to suppose was even then new or unusual.

Moreover, a somewhat subsequent statement, “all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn” (Gen. xli. 57), proves that Egypt was already what it remained for many centuries, the granary of adjacent, and even of distant nations; while some of the goods she received from Palestine in exchange were in great demand for the embalmment of the Egyptian dead.

This the first regular trade appears to have been conducted wholly by camels, the “ships of the desert:” an animal marvellously adapted by Providence for the toil it has to undergo in traversing for many continuous days almost waterless deserts.

It is worthy of note, too, that in the earliest notice we have of any trade at all, we find slave-dealing in full operation; and, supposing for a moment the Biblical date B.C. 1862 to be correct, it is an interesting though accidental coincidence, that in the year 1862 after Christ, the same inhuman commerce was finally put a stop to in the United States by the direct action of its government.

But the brief words of Genesis imply more than is at first obvious—they imply a trade with Arabia—possibly even with the yet more remote India; for balsam and myrrh are products of the Arabian province, Hadramaut, and the spices may have come either thence or from India. In like manner there is reasonable probability for believing that in the remotest ages there was a trade between Egypt and the borders of the Persian Gulf and Indian Oceans; indeed, recent researches strongly lead to the belief that the Egyptians, like the Phœnicians, were immigrants from the same neighbourhood, and connected, therefore, with the chief cities of Chaldæa, such as “Ur of the Chaldees,” the primitive Babel, and other sites, the great mounds of which have been partially explored by Loftus and Taylor, though it is not as yet possible in all cases to assign to them their true ancient names. Babylon, the great city of Nebuchadnezzar, did not then exist, nor could Nineveh have been of importance, at least commercially. All the evidence available, and especially that obtainable through the latest interpretation of the Cuneiform Inscriptions, tends to show that the greatest people in the earliest period were the Chaldæans—a race probably older than the Egyptians, and like them of Hamite origin—the true inventors of alphabetic writing, astronomy, agriculture, navigation, and of other sciences, which the Semites, in after days, claimed as their own exclusive discoveries.

It was in connexion with this trade that the ports at the head of the Ælanitic gulf came first into existence. As the caravans of Edom or Idumæa passed to and fro between Egypt and the borders of Arabia, the foundation of Elath and Ezion-geber would be but the satisfying of a necessary want; becoming, when seized by King David, places of much greater importance than they could have been in the hands of Hadad, or of any other petty Idumæan prince.

Ophir.

David would seem to have been the first, in connection with caravans from Petra and from the west, to open up, by means of a line of ships, that trade with “Ophir” which his son Solomon afterwards made so famous. Where and what “Ophir” was, has been the subject of innumerable essays by men of learning, but to enter into a discussion of this uncertain though interesting inquiry, would be out of our province. Let it suffice that the first notice in the Bible[127] clearly means by “Ophir” someplace in Arabia, where great wealth was found, and was no doubt applicable afterwards to all other similar places. Those writers who, relying on the native Indian names of some of the products said to have come thence, assert Ophir to be the name of a people near the mouths of the Indus, advance opinions more ingenious than convincing. If Ophir were an Arabian entrepôt for the trade of India, the occurrence of Indian names for certain Indian products would be as natural as the use in English of the Persian word shâl, which we pronounce as they do, “shawl.” Then David’s “gold of Ophir” may have been simply descriptive of quality, as we used to speak of “guinea-gold.”[128]

Be this, however, as it may, it is certain that to David the Jews owe their first practical knowledge of the result of successful commerce, though a careful consideration of the story of his life suggests that his coffers were filled, not so much by any legitimate trade, however extended, as by the conquest and plunder of his neighbours. Though probably not averse to royal monopolies, the fashion of his day, David was a great warrior, and it is likely, indeed it is so stated on more than one occasion, that it was by the capture of Philistine (Phœnician) towns, the overthrow of Moab, the plunder of Hadadezer, the garrisoning of Syria and of its chief city, Damascus, and the extortion of heavy tribute as the condition of peace, that David accumulated the enormous wealth which he proposed devoting to the building and decoration of the future Temple at Jerusalem:[129] but God said, “Thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.”[130]