CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA. 3

among diftant nations 1 . The intercourfe, how-ever, between different countries was carried onat firft entirely by land. As the people of theEaft appear foon to have acquired complete domi-nion over the uftful animals’, they could earlyundertake the long and toilfome journies which itwas neceffary to make, in order to maintain thisintercourfe; and by the provident bounty of Hea.ven, they were furnilhed with a bead of burden,without whofe aid it would have been impoffibleto accomplilh them. The Camel, by its perfever-ing ftrength, by its moderation in the ufe of food,and the fmgularity of its internal ftrudture, whichenables it to lay in a flock of water fufficient forfeveral days, put it in their power to convey bulkycommodities through thofe deferts, which muft betraverfed by all who travel from any of the coun-tries weft of the Euphrates towards India . Tradewas carried on in this manner, particularly by thenations near to the Arabian Gulf , from the earlieftperiod to which hiftorical information reaches.Diftant journies, however, would be undertakenat firft only occafionally, and by a few adventurers.But by degrees, from attention to their mutualfafety and comfort, numerous bodies of merchantsaffembled at ftated times, and forming a tempo-rary affociation (known afterwards by the nameof a Caravan ), governed by officers of their ownchoice, and fubjedl to regulations of which experi-ence had taught them the utility, they performed

4 Gen. xxxvii. 2$. * Ibid. xii. 16 . xxiv. 10, 11.

B a

SECT.

I.