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CHAP. II.

their gold and their silver with them V’Ezekiel also, when speaking of Tyre, says,“ Tarshish was thy merchant, by reason of themultitude of all kinds of riches. With silver,iron, tin, and lead they traded in thy fairs 1 2 .”And afterwards we find the following assertionon this subject: “ The ships of Tarshish didsing of thee in thy market; and thou wast re-plenished and made very glorious in the midstof the seas 3 .” We have thus, from the most an-cient of all written records, two facts on whichwe can rely, viz. that the ships which arrived inTyre from Tarshish were very numerous, andthat their cargoes, to a considerable extent, con-sisted of gold and silver.

It has been suggested that the Tarshish ofSolomon must have been some port on theeastern shores of Africa , or in the East Indies.Without entering into the discussion, we mayobserve that the place at which Jonah is relatedto have embarked for Tarshish, Joppa , nowJaffa, being on the Mediterranean sea, it seemsclear that the place of his destination must havebeen on the shores of the same sea.

It is necessary, however, to have recourse tothe ancient profane writers to arrive at certainty;and the examination of them has led, with most

1 Isaiah, cap. Ix. v. 8 and 9.

® Ezekiel, cap. xxvii. v. 12 .

3 Idem, cap. xxvii. v. 25.