CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA.

9

The Jews, by their vicinity to Tyre, had such sECIan opportunity of observing the wealth which i,flowed into that city from the lucrative commercecarried on by the Phenicians from their settlementson the Arabian Gulf, as incited them to aim atobtaining some share of it. This they effectedunder the prosperous reigns of David and Solomon,partly by the conquests which they made of asmall district in the land of Edom, that gave thempossession of the harbours of Eiath and Esiongeberon the Red Sea, and partly by the friendship ofHiram, king of Tyre; who enabled Solomon tofit out fleets, which, under the direction of Phe-nician pilots, sailed to Tarfhifh and Ophir 11 . Inwhat region of the earth we should search forthese famous ports which furnished the navy ofSolomon with the various commodities enumeratedby the sacred historians , is an inquiry that has longexercised the industry of learned men. They wereearly supposed to be situated in some 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 pasting the straits of Babelmandel,held their course along the south-west coast ofAfrica, as far as the kingdom of Sofala; a coun-try celebrated for its rich mines of gold and silver,

{from which it has been denominated the GoldenSofala by Oriental writers 1 ',) and abounding in

11 Kings, ix. 26 . x. 22 . “ Notices des MSS. da

Roi, tom. ii. p. 40.