CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA. 9

The Jews , by their vicinity to Tyre , had fucli sect.an opportunity of obferving the wealth which i,flowed into that city from the lucrative commercecarried on by the Phenicians from their fettlementson the Arabian Gulf , as incited them to aim atobtaining fome (bare of it. This they effectedunder the profperous reigns of David and Solomon ,partly by the conquelts which they made of afmall diftridt in the land of Edom , that gave thempofleflion of the harbours of Elath and Efiongeberon the Red Sea , and partly by the friendfliip ofHiram, king of Tyre ; who enabled Solomon tofit out fleets, which, under the dire&ion of Phe-nician pilots, failed to Tarlhifh and Ophir”. Inwhat region of the eaith we fliould fearch forthefe famous ports which furnifhed the navy ofSolomon with the various commodities enumeratedby the facrcd hiftorians, is an inquiry that has longexercifed the induftry of learned men. They wereearly fuppofed to be fituated in fome part of In­ dia , and the Jews were held to be one of thenations which traded with that country. But theopinion more generally adopted is, that Solomon ’sfleets, after pa/ling the flraits of Babelmandel,held their courfe along the fouth-weft coafl ofAfrica , as far as the kingdom of Sofala ; a coun-try celebrated for its rich mines of gold and filver,

(from which it has been denominated the GoldenSofala by' Oriental writers 12 ,) and abounding in

11 Kings, ix. 26. x.Roi, tom. ii. p. 40.

Notices des MSS. du