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TRANSFER OF THE

CHAP. III.

must have been well executed, and in such circum-stances much more of corn, wine, and oil musthave been produced than the inhabitants couldconsume. Though in their progress from Egypt ,and at their first settlement in Palestine , theyhad been a warlike and even an exterminatingpeople, yet they had become at the accession ofSolomon a settled nation, and formed thosesocial ties with the surrounding kingdoms whichled both to commercial intercourse and conjugalunions. The king himself married a daughterof an Egyptian monarch, and formed alliancesof a commercial nature with Tyre and the otherneighbouring states of Phoenicia .

The states of Phoenicia were then at theirhighest point of prosperity. They were thegreat manufacturers, navigators, and traders ofthe ancient world. The luxuries they fabricatedof every kind were disseminated by their ownvessels to every part of fhe known world, andbrought back to their storehouses the metallicand other productions of the several nations withwhom they traded. Their colonies in Spain , inAfrica , and in the islands of the Mediterraneanmade returns of much silver, some gold, andconsiderable numbers of slaves. Their trade withEgypt, Arabia, and India brought to them muchgold, together with precious stones, spices, in-cense, ivory, and other valuable products. Inthat period the situation of Tyre which is de-