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record, that these people, so rich by their commerce, made ivory, gold, silver, and precious stones, to shine in their furniture, upon the doors, columns, walls, and roofs of their edifices; and that they possessed a very great quantity of gold and silver vessels; they relate, that their expences were enormous in all things, even in works of the most admirable sculpture and engraving; in a word, that their magnificence was unequalled; which demonstrates that this nation was skilful, bold, and venturesome in the Indian trade and navigation, and that it was by her that the Tyrians and Egyptians flourished so much in theirs, and upon the same merchandizes which they received and passed to the other western nations, the most remote. The Prophet Ezekiel, chap. xvii. verse 22, in addressing himself to the city of Tyre, speaks of this nation of the Sabeans under the names of Sheba and Raamah, which were two places of Arabia. The merchants, says he, of Sheba and Raamah were thy factors, making thy fairs valuable in all sorts of the chiefest spices, and with all sorts of precious stones and gold: This is a sure testimony of the antiquity and the opulence of its commerce which it had with the Indies.

It was this opulence which determined Alexander the Great to make Sheba the capital of his empire; and tempted the Romans to its conquest in the time of Augustus; a time in which they began better to know the Oriental Sea, and the coasts which limit or bound the western.

We may believe, as the greatest part of the ancients did, that the precious mer chandizes of the Arabians were all the growth of their own country; but it is a mistake, they being carried to them; for it is certain that Arabia has never produced of itself the sixth part of its riches. Of all the aromatics, only incense, balsam, myrrh, and calamus aromaticus, grow there; the two last of which were not sought for, only as they were deemed to be something better than those which grew in the other parts of Asia and Africa. It may also have a little gold, but in no quantity, as some of the ancients imagine; the Arabians brought it from India, the same as they did aromaties, precious stones, and rich merchandizes of all sorts. Strabo seems to insinuate so in saying, that they changed their aromatics and precious stones against the gold and silver of strangers. One may be persuaded, that in some parts of Asia, the origin of all these things is yet near the same as it was in former times, all the difference being that it is now infinitely better known.

J

Incense, in reality, was to them of very great advantage, as they furnished all the western nations with it, who were then Pagans, and consequently consumed infinitely more than they do at present: But, as the ancients were passionately fond of all the most exquisite aromatics, those which the Arabians brought from India making the greatest number, produced also their greatest riches.

The aloe wood, cassia, and cinnamon, which are mentioned in many passages of Scripture, and in the most ancient historians, made, beyond dispute, after the gold, the principal branch of their commerce. Malabar, Ceylon, and Sumatra, or Malacca, were really the principal places where their fleets often went to take in their loadings, as it was only from thence that they drew all those rich merchandizes; these were formerly much better esteemed than they are at present; and, as this nation solely supplied all the countries of the world that wanted those commodities, this is yet another demonstrative proof of their ancient navigation to the Indies.

It is nevertheless a matter of surprise, that ancient history either does not speak of it at all, or if it does, it is in a manner very obscure: This proceeds from Arabia being very little frequented, and consequently very little known to other nations. The great difficulty and danger of traversing its sandy and arid deserts, and of being sheltered from the robberies which a part of its inhabitants were always given to, in beating the field, plundering the caravans, and stripping the travellers and merchants, were the

causes that our first ancestors could not be informed about it until the time of Alexander, or even till that of Augustus. We may moreover add, that their navigation was but little known even to the time when the Portuguese went to India by the Cape of Good Hope, and that thereby they ran away with that rich European trade which the others carried on by means of the Egyptians, and these by that of the Venetians. They were therefore always masters of the Indian Sea, by their navigation, till then, as is well known even to all the Indians. This navigation, as well as their commerce, was indeed a little disturbed by the Romans, but this was only for some time. Another cause, which made their navigation unknown in ancient times, is that the Arabians, the better to preserve the commerce of the Indies, which they found so advantageous, always took care to conceal from strangers who lived towards the Mediterranean, the voyages which they made on the Oriental Seas, the routes or courses which they used, and the origin of the merchandizes which they brought in, and which so greatly augmented their riches.

Besides, in those times, the arts which facilitate the intercourse of nations were wanting, which made history so ignorant of a country so distant. These are geography, printing, the conveniency of posts, and the improvements in navigation; thus the Arabians always succeeded in their intended concealment, with the view of making their commerce lasting, and to attract thereby the greater profits.

And, to have the thing succeed the better, and to impose on the foreign nations, who so very earnestly enquired after their spices, they invented fables or pretended difficulties that subsisted; above all, in regard to the cassia and cinnamon, on which they made the most considerable profit; and affirmed them to grow in the middle of their country, but in places almost inaccessible, and so dangerous, that they could not procure but a very small quantity, with infinite industry and trouble. The whole contrivance is recorded by Herodotus, lib. iii.

It was this which made all antiquity believe, that these spices or aromatics were scarce, and only to be found in Arabia. Pliny was the first who discovered that these fables were only invented in order to sell their drugs dearer; but, on rejecting these, he substituted others nothing inferior, in declaring the cinnamon to be brought from Ethiopia, in mentioning the manner of its growth, that of gathering, and transporting it abroad, or to strangers; the difficulties he has stamped upon all these circumstances, and on the means of having it in time, as also the cassia, do not appear less great, nor less fabulous, than those of Herodotus, which he would not admit. See Pliny, lib. xii.

ch. 19.

It is certain that neither Ethiopia, nor Arabia, has ever produced any of these aromatic barks; the trees from whence they are taken can never be transported, on account of the different nature of the soils, and the drought and heat which reigns there and it is only in the Isle of Ceylon the air and earth are really fit to nourish them; so that it is this place alone, which has in all times supplied the rest of the world with these aromatics.

In fine, the ancient Arabians did not invent fewer fables in favour of their commerce, than the Persians did to represent the dangers which they had in procuring the gold in those parts of India where they could find it, and which were believed sandy. This is what may likewise be seen in the book of Herodotus above eited.

Pliny says nothing of the navigation of the Arabians, which is a proof that it was unknown in his time. He only mentions that of the fleet of Alexander, which past from India to Euphrates, and that which the Romans made every year also in his time to the Indies: He has described the route from Egypt, but he has made it appear, that their voyages only terminated about the river Indus. The Romans, although

masters of some ports of Arabia, did not, in the least, discover the navigation; which the Arabians took care to hide, and which they made directly from some of their ports. to the island of Ceylon, to load with cassia, cinnamon, and precious stones; and from other parts of India, to do the same with other merchandizes, as gold, drugs, and odoriferous woods. It seems by the recital of Pliny, that the navigation which the Romans made to that corner of the Indies of which he speaks, did no injury to the Arabians, only in the smaller part of their commerce.

It is easy to comprehend that these last, in proportion to their navigating their seas, should have the good luck to discover the shortest passages to many parts of the first peninsula of the Ganges, and from that to the others; for we must not believe that the Romans were the first that crossed the Arabian Sea, which, it bounds, as Pliny remarks, lib. vi. ch. 23.

It was infinitely easier to the Arabians to cross this sea to India, or to Ceylon, than it was for the Tyrians to run over the different parts of the Mediterranean. The first had fine weather to chuse at their pleasure, and winds that were fixed and regular; by which they might securely perform their voyages with as much exactness, rectitude, and speed, as they had occasion for, and always in a manner, equal in the same seasons: advantages which the Tyrians had but very rarely; they never had fine weather at a certain point, on which they might depend; so that these had more need of ability in the marine than the former, on account of the variableness of the winds, cloudy weather, and tempests which often reign in the Mediterranean.

The winds of the Indian Sea, rarely tempestuous, are always regular, changing twice a year, and under two directions, alternately opposite one to the other; each last six months, at least, if the latitude is near our tropick. These winds are the south west, and north east; and they are called monsoons, of the which one is dry and the other rainy; the north east wind causes the dry monsoon, and begins in the month of November, on this side the equinoctial line: the rainy one begins in the month of May, and it is occasioned by the south west, which makes it last till October.

In fine, the monsoons which reign at sea on this side the equinoctial, are always opposite to those which reign on the other side of that line.

It is therefore seen by the exactness of these two seasons, and the regular winds of the Indies, that it was not any thing difficult to the Arabians happily to succeed in their navigation for passing the sea, not only to the Isle of Ceylon, but also to that of Sumatra, or to Malacca, which is in its neighbourhood. They yet make to this very day these traverses, in a great measure, without using the compass, at least very rarely; for the winds, being once fixed and invariable, serve them for guides and rules in the direction of their route, almost as well, and even in some manner more exact, than they would do by the help of the stars in serene weather. What is it then that should have hindered the performing the same in ancient times? This is what the modern historians have not thought of, in speaking of the ancient navigation of India. It is probable, had they been on the spot, as I have been, they would have thought as I do.

Many nations among the Indians have always crossed these seas by the favour of these winds. The dry monsoons, periodically renewed by the north east wind, assist their sailing to the westward; and the wet monsoons, formed in like manner by the opposite winds of south west, serve them also for sailing castward. One monsoon serving them to go, and the other to return,, and those always equally certain and regular.

The Arabians, washed by the same sea, ought therefore to do the same thing; and it is what they have always done, according to the tradition of the Indian nations; who regarded them as the masters of the navigation of the seas, till the arrival of the

Portuguese among them, who ruined entirely the vast commerce of Arabia, which had been of so long a duration.

Pliny makes mention of these two winds for traversing the Arabian Sea. The south west, which was called, says he, in that country, Hypalus, was the proper wind for sailing from the cape of Syagros, which is believed to be that of Fartaque, to Zizerus, a port in India; this is apparently that of the present Diu: they, in returning, adds he, departed from thence in the month of December, or even in that of January; and this traverse was made, according to him, in forty days. The Periplus of the Red Sea, attributed to Arianus, says the same, according to Mr. Huet; it informs us farther, that they sailed from Arabia for India in the month of July; and these seasons are exactly the same now, with respect to the navigation of those countries.

Mr. Huet believed, by the relation of Pliny, that these courses were new, and had been discovered by the Romans; which might be so in regard to the Romans only, but it is absolutely not the same in respect to the Arabians, as these routes were at that time known to the latter, and had been so for several ages. The author of the Periplus, before-mentioned, says, that it was an ancient pilot, named Hypalus, who first discovered, by favour of a south west wind, this course to the Indies, and that his example was followed with so much success, that, they gave to this wind the said pilot's name. However, we ought to be persuaded, that this only regards the navigation of the Romans.

, In fine, after these eclaircissements, we ought not any longer to be surprized at the ancient splendor of the Arabians, which, at the same time, occasioned that of the Tyrians and Egyptians; the commodious situation of their country, the pleasantness of a frequent or almost continual serenity of their sky, the direct regularity of the winds which reigned in their Oriental Seas, and their own spices, above all, the incense, were advantages, which would naturally render them flourishing, if improved, as they always were by them; and it may be added, that the goodness of their ports, infinitely better than all those of India, was what favoured them most in their commerce. I am strongly led to believe, with Mr. Huet, that the surname of Happy, which Arabia anciently received, only came from the excellency of her harbours, and from that of her former commerce. This Arabia, called Happy, was never so rich in its own product as to merit so fine an appellation; it might rather have been given her for being the richest nation in the world by her traffick with strangers, than because her soil was found better comparatively than that of Stoney or Desert Arabia.

The last remark to be made is, that the treasures and commerce of the Arabians enriched the neighbouring nations; Judea, above all, felt it most, as may be judged by the revenues and wealth of Solomon, which the Scripture describes in the tenth chapter of the first book of Kings, and the ninth and second of Chronicles, to have been so immense "That all the kings and governors of Arabia brought him gold and "silver, besides his annual revenue, amounting to six hundred and sixty-six talents of "gold" and it is likewise from thence known, what were the presents which the Queen of Sheba made him, after coming from the depth of Arabia to see him and prove his, wisdom, importing only in gold one hundred and twenty talents, besides spices and, precious stones, making according to Father Calmet, 8,176,000 French livres, or, at the exchange of 54d. per French crown, of three livres, as it was then governed,; about 613,2001. sterling: though Dean Prideaux computes it at 864,000l.; a plain proof of the great richness of this Queen's country; and to confirm the many advantages that Judea reaped from trade, I think Dr. Garcin might have added to what he has said on this subject, the mention that is made in the twenty-second

Traité du Commerce et de la Navigation, par M. Huet, chap. 54....

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chapter of the first book of Chronicles, of the wealth King David had prepared for the House of the Lord: viz. an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand times one thousand talents of silver, making the immense sum of 1,170,000,0001. sterling, according to the aforesaid Dean's calculation of 7,2001. per talent of gold, and 4501. per talent of silver, only in those two metals, besides brass and iron without weight, and the addition that he made out of his privy purse, towards that pious work, of three thousand talents of gold, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, as hinted in the twenty-ninth chapter of the above-mentioned book, and the fourth verse; to which we may subjoin what is recorded in the seventh verse," That the fathers and "princes of the tribes of Israel, &c. gave five thousand talents, and ten thousand drams "of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of brass, and an "hundred thousand talents of iron," as an additional proof of the benefits brought to this country by commerce; for none of this vast treasure was the product of it, and consequently must have been imported, to the great enriching both of prince and people; as plainly appears from the magnificence of their gifts. And though we have not the account of King David's trade to the land of Ophir and Tarshish, as fully noticed as we have that of his son Solomon's, yet he undoubtedly commenced it, on his conquest of the kingdom of Edom, which made him master of Elath and Ezionge ber, two sea-port towns on the Red Sea; from whence he might, and certainly did, direct his traffick to the coast of Africa westward, and to Arabia, Persia, and India, on the east; and, as he lived twenty-five years after making that conquest, we may account for his amassing such, otherwise an incredible sum, by the long continuance and vast profit of his trade.

I am not ignorant, that many learned authors judge the talents above-mentioned to have been less than they are here calculated at; yet, supposing with them, that they were not above half the value, the sum still remains prodigiously great, and shews what I am contending for, that commerce alone could furnish such a treasure.

From the commerce and navigation of the Arabians, we may pass with great proSolomon's priety, to that of the fleet of Solomon, which went to Ophir.. .. After what we have seen of the navigation of the former, it will not be very difficult to make appear more clearly than has ever yet been done, which way it took for performing this voyage. First, there is a great probability, that Solomon was informed by some Arabians, or by the Queen of Sheba herself, long before she came to see him, of the maritime places, from whence they drew their gold, their spices, and the other rich merchandizes of their commerce, as well as of the route which they had to go; and that it was in consequence of this discovery, that he took the resolution to maintain, in some port of the Red Sea, a fleet to proceed every three years, according to the sacred text, to the same places which were frequented by that of the Arabians; this could not be otherwise for many reasons, which may be deduced from all that I have advanced, and from that which I shall yet add here.

Secondly, it cannot be doubted, that Solomon, after this discovery, and with the design of drawing from India the same treasure which the ports of Arabia procured, did not take care to secure pilots to conduct his ships to those places; and as his fleet wanted men to fit it out, and serve aboard it, this prince, for that reason, obtained, as the Scripture informs us, from Hiram king of Tyre, some people experienced in maritime affairs, who, as it likewise appears, had also ships in the Red Sea, to join with those of Solomon in this voyage.

It is evident by what I have said, in regard to the Arabians, that the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra were the principal places to which they sailed; the fleet of Solomon ought certainly to do the same in holding the same route; I would say, in traversing the midst of the sea.