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with reference to the same anecdote, has an important observation, which we cannot forbear to quote: It appears that the principal difficulty to be surmounted in ancient voyages, arose from the impracticability of stowing the ships with provisions adequate to the vast length of time required for their navigations, when the rate of sailing was so remarkably slow. They were ill adapted to distant voyages (which indeed they seldom undertook): but did very well in situations where they could land and command provisions almost at pleasure. But, on the other hand, they were better adapted to those coasting voyages which constituted almost the whole of their navigations. The flatness of their bottoms required much less water than modern vessels of the like tonnage; whence arose an incredible advantage over ours, in finding shelter more frequently; and, indeed, almost everywhere except on a steep or rocky shore; since, in default of shelter afloat, they drew their large ships up on the beach, as our fishermen do their large boats. And we may certainly conclude that vessels of a construction and size the best adapted to the service of discovery and long voyages were chosen on occasions like the present.' This occasion was the alleged circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians, under the direction of Pharaoh-Necho; and the observation is of course applicable to the vessels employed by the same parties in the navigation to Ophir in co-operation with the Hebrew king. The construction of the bottoms, to which Rennell refers, is shewn in the annexed coin (of Roman Africa), which shews more of the hull than the other cuts, and otherwise forms an interesting illustration of the general subject.

12. Silver Carthaginian Roman Coin. Weight 48 grains. Magnified one-third.

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9. Calkers.'-As a means of preventing water from making its way between the planking, a stuffing or caulking was early found necessary. The first application for this purpose among the Greeks is said to have been nothing more than the use of sea-shells which were reduced to powder, mixed up into the state of a paste, and introduced into the chinks: being liable, however, to crack, by the yielding of the vessel, this composition fell out by degrees, and soon failed to answer its purpose. The next step was to burn the lime, as a means of making the mortar more adhesive; and afterwards wax and pitch were employed. A far better plan, and one nearly in conformity with modern practice, was found to consist in the use of the coarse outer fibres of the flax-plant; bruised and divided by being beaten with a mallet, and driven in between the planks of the ship. The bottom of the vessel was also, in some cases, coated with a layer of melted wax or pitch. In others, as is stated by Maurice, the ship-builders were accustomed to use hides, properly prepared and hardened for the purpose, which, being stretched and firmly attached to the bottom, served as a species of sheathing, and, being well graved or covered with a sufficient coat of resin or pitch, proved a very considerable protection to it against those injuries which would have arisen from the salt water being in constant contact with it.'

A curious proof has been brought to light of the existence of the modern practice of caulking' and 'sheathing' ships in early times. Trajan's galley was dug up from the Lake Riccio in Italy, after having lain there thirteen hundred years; and, on being excavated, the seams were found to

have been caulked with linen, and the whole exterior of the vessel to have been carefully coated with Greek pitch, over which was laid an external sheathing of lead, rolled or beaten to a proper degree of thinness, and closely attached to the planking by means of small copper nails.

11. The men of Arvad with thine army,' etc.-In this verse the regular soldiers in the pay of Tyre are described as stationed upon the walls and in the towers, and as hanging upon the walls round about. This is in accordance with existing usages in the East, the soldiers when not in active service being distributed in large numbers as guards about the walls of places, particularly in the towers and at the gates. Niebuhr states that the foot-soldiers of the imad of Yemen having very little to do in times of peace, any more than the cavalry, some of them mounted guard at the dela's, or governor's; they are also employed at the gates and upon the towers. Van Egmont and Heyman give a similar account. Sandys, speaking of the decorations of one of the gates of the imperial seraglio in Constantinople, tells us, that it is hung with shields and scimiters. Through this gate people pass to the divan, where justice is administered; and these are the ornaments of this public passage. A people supposed to be the Arvadites are represented in the ancient Egyptian mural tablets which depict the victories of Sethos; but they are so much mutilated that very few particulars respecting their arms and accoutrements can be collected from them. We can see, however, that they do not appear to have generally worn defensive armour in battle. A scull-cap, with a small feather or tail at the crown, used by chiefs only, is the only accoutrement of this kind that appears. The shield was oblong and somewhat large. Their weapons seem to have been the bow and the spear. They appear to have had a considerable force of war-chariots,

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ARVADITES.

drawn by two horses, and generally resembling in form those of the Egyptians. These particulars do not all appear in the present engraving, which represents a body of the same people in the act of tendering their submission of a fort violently assaulted by Rameses II., the son of Sethos. The attire, so far as seen, appears to bear considerable resemblance to that of the Tyrians themselves; but the reader will not fail to notice the remarkable appendage of a cross from the neck of the aged man at the left corner, who holds up an instrument or badge (perhaps a lighted torch), which we know from other examples to have been a token of surrender. Women are seen among those who implore the mercy of the victor. [APPENDIX, No. 71.] 12. Tarshish.-Whatever may be sometimes the more extended signification of Tarshish,' it is probably here to be understood with reference to Tartessus in Spain (see the note on 2 Chron. ix.), as the articles mentioned are such as the Phoenicians obtained from Spain, or from the coasts on the Atlantic to which they traded; and the commodities of which they appear to have brought in the first instance to Tartessus, where the cargoes seem to have been finally made up for Tyre. It is well to understand that Tartessus was not only the port for the products of Spain, but the general entrepôt for the western commerce of the Phoenicians. The tin probably came from Britain.

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13. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech.'-Javan has already With been explained to mean Greece, in the large sense.

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respect to the other names, we see no reason to dissent from the opinion that they designate countries situated between and near the Black and Caspian Seas, This is very much confirmed by the fact that the merchandises named continue to be those of the same countries. inhabitants of the north-east angle of Asia Minor have been in all ages, and still are, the manufacturers of steel, iron, and brass, for the supply of Armenia, Persia, Greece, and the eastern countries of the Mediterranean; and the Caucasian countries have always been a source from which a highly-valued class of slaves was drawn. The race of men inhabiting this region has always been considered eminent for personal comeliness; and in this kind of commerce this consideration has been much regarded. The important part which the male slaves from these countries have taken in the Turkish empire is well known; and none are ignorant that the harams of the rich Turks and Persians have always been filled, in preference, with female slaves from Georgia and Circassia. It seems, from the present text, that the Tyrians obtained slaves and vessels of brass, as well intermediately through the Greeks as directly from the native merchants. This verse seems to intimate, as do other passages of Scripture, that the domestic vessels of these times were chiefly of brass or copper. We found this to be still the case wherever we went. Vessels of iron and tin, so common among ourselves, are not seen. In the countries indicated in this verse, the vessels not intended for the fire are of polished brass, but in Western Asia generally of tinned copper.

14. Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses.'-Togarmah, we believe, with Michaelis, to have been Armenia. This region was in very ancient times celebrated for its horses. It was in this country and Media that the Persian kings bred horses for themselves and their armies; and in later times the Armenians paid their tribute in horses. The word rendered horsemen' (D parashim) has certainly sometimes that meaning, and may here imply, that, along with the horses, were sold slaves, skilled in the care and treatment of those animals. But the word also means horses for riding, as distinguished from others; and if thus understood here, the others were probably chariot-horses. Michaelis thinks that the two words (DDD susim, and D parashim) distinguish the common and more noble breeds; and if so, this is a distinction anciently applicable, so far as we know, to no other part of the East than Armenia; and we may recognize in the latter the famous Nysæan horses, which were in those times the coursers of luxury, and which were admired not less for the colour and brightness of their hair than for the elegance of their forms, on which account they alone were held worthy to draw the chariots of the Persian kings, Compare the authorities on this verse.

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15. Dedan,' etc.--The common explanation is, that this Dedan was on the southern coast of Arabia; the people of which brought to Tyre, in their caravans, the produce of India. Heeren, however, following a hint thrown out by Michaelis, considers that this passage rather points to the Indian trade which visited Tyre through the Persian Gulf, and to which we have already had occasion to refer in the note to 2 Chron, xx. Dedan he considers to have been one (that called Tylos) of the isles on which the Phoenicians established themselves in the Persian Gulf, to facilitate their trade in that direction. In those isles the Phoenicians would appear, from his collectious and reasonings, to have arranged much of the trade of the far east before it was finally transmitted to Tyre, as they did at Tartessus, in Spain, that of the far west. The case of the men of Dedan and merchants of the isles therefore would be analogous, in an opposite direction, to that of Tarshish already mentioned. We unwillingly refrain from any longer statement on this subject, referring the reader to Heeren's Phoenicians, sect. i. ch. 4; Babylonians, sect. ii. ch. 2; and also to the abovecited note. We may add, however, that this view is in our opinion much strengthened by our observing another

Dedan mentioned below (verse 20), which appears clearly, from the connection, to be that of Arabia,

Horns of ivory and ebony, Horns' of ivory would mean tusks, from their resemblance to horns; but, indeed, the better and more received reading is horns, ivory, and ebony.' What the horns' were has been disputed. Some have it to be the horns of the ibex, or some other kind of goat. However, it is not necessary to suppose that horns are actually intended. That the substance resembled horn, or that the article bore the shape of a horn, are probable alternatives. Hence some suggest tortoise-shell; and Heeren, following Michaelis, proposes the tusks of the narwal, which is found in the Indian Ocean. All these products might, it seems, be derived from the coasts of Ethiopia, as well as from India; but whether Dedan be placed in the Persian Gulf, or near it on the coast of Arabia, it is equally allowed that they were derived in this instance from India. The best kind of ebony, at least, seems to have been by the Romans regarded as peculiar to India. Thus, Virgil,

'India alone will the dark ebon bear.'
Georg. ii. 117.-SOTHEBY.
habenim of the text,

That ebony is intended by the D' is one of the least doubtful of the conclusions concerning the botanical products mentioned in the Bible. The similarity of the names alone is of great weight with regard to an Oriental production, the name of which usually passed with the article itself into Greece; and the derivation of the names Bevos, ebenum, ebony, from the Hebrew habenim,

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CHAP. XXVII.]

EZEKIEL.

and in the intermediate islands. The best ebony is not afforded by any one species in all its habitats. The species figured above is the important one called Diospyros Ebenum. It bears a berry that is eaten by the natives, when ripe. The leaves are elliptical, with numerous veins. The corolla or coloured part is shaped like an antique vase, and bears eight stamens, with which the eight cells and eight seeds in the berry correspond. The white wood which surrounds the heart or ebony is soft, and soon falls a prey to insects.

16. Syria,' etc.-Syria, in the original, is Aram: and the Aram, in Scripture, is sometimes Mesopotamia, sometimes Damascus, and likewise the country about Libanus and the Orontes. With a due regard to the nature of the articles enumerated, Dr. Vincent reasonably concludes that they were all brought by land from the Gulf of Persia, through Mesopotamia or Damascus, in exchange for the manufactures of Tyre,

commerce.

17. Judah, and the land of Israel.'-This verse is of much importance, as shewing that the Hebrews were included, as indeed from their vicinity they could not help being, among the number of nations affected by the Tyrian We see that Tyre afforded a ready market for the redundant produce of their fertile country, and in return for which they doubtless obtained those manufactured articles and foreign commodities which they could not otherwise have procured. Thus we may consider that, in exchange for their own valuable produce, they might have obtained any of the articles mentioned in this chapter, and for which the known world was ransacked to furnish the great markets of Tyre: and we should probably, for instance, not be mistaken in concluding that through this source, the tin used by them came originally from Britain. The neighbourhood of an agricultural people, like the Hebrews, was, on the other hand, a great advantage to the Tyrians, who were not addicted to cultivation, and the mountainous character and limited extent of whose territory would at all times have prevented them from raising the supplies they required. The Hebrew territory was thus in some sort the granary of the Phoenicians, and the tie of mutual benefits may explain the generally friendly character of the relations which subsisted between them. Heeren well observes, with reference to this verse, The corn of Palestine was the best then known, not excepting even that of Egypt; whence we may infer that the proximity of this country was not the only motive which engaged the Phoenicians to draw their supplies from it. The other products of Palestine, of which the prophet makes mention, were also of a superior quality. The vine, which was at all times cultivated, afforded abundance of delicious raisins. The olive, as still cultivated by the actual population, is said to furnish an oil superior to that of Provence, notwithstanding the ignorance and barbarism into which the country has fallen under the Ottoman despotism. And the balm which is collected in the neighbourhood of the lake of Gennesareth is the same which still enjoys so great a reputation under the name of the balm of Mecca.'

18. Damascus.'-It seems from this verse that Damascus received the richest manufactures of Tyre in exchange for wine of Helbon and white wool-that is, wool in the fleece, or unwrought. If Tyre bought wool in the fleece, and manufactured it, it is the same policy as Flanders formerly adopted in regard to the wool of England. The wine of Helbon is the Chalybon of the Greeks; the kings of Persia drank no other. The eastern name of Aleppo is still Haleb; and Haleb, Halebon, or Chalybon, are only varied by different aspirations or Greek terminations. Vincent, ii. 645,

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19. ‘Dan also.'— Dan also' (?!): many read this either as 'Vedan,' or as 'and Dan.' Michaelis, followed by Heeren, thinks it may be Vadan, a city in Arabia, con

sidering it difficult to connect the Hebrew tribe of Dan, as in this verse, with the trade of Tyre. But, as Vincent remarks, the situation of this tribe between the Philistines and Joppa, was very commodious for its receiving the caravans from Arabia, in that age, which came to Rhinocolura in a later; and equally convenient for embarking at Joppa the commodities brought by the caravans to be conveyed to Tyre.

מְאוּזָל,is

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'Javan.'-This, most clearly, cannot be the Javan of Greece; but, as the commodities are Indian, we are to look for it in Arabia. Indeed the distinction between the two names is pointed out by the adjunct, which in our version is rendered going to and fro,' but which in the original me- Uzul, and Uzal is explained by Gen. x. 27, where Uzal is the son of Joktan, joined with Hazarmaveth (Hadramaut), Theba, Ophir, and Havilah; all of which we know to be in Arabia, and consequently Javan-meUzal is so likewise. The cassia and calamus' brought by these are evidently Oriental, indeed Indian, and probably also the iron, for Indian iron is likewise a part of the eastern invoice in the Periplus. We have already alluded to the intercourse which the Phoenicians had with India through the Persian Gulf; and the present verse is of great interest, in Dr. Vincent's view, as clearly intimating their intercourse with India through Arabia, and as furnishing the most ancient record of the trade between India and Arabia that can be called historical. For, although spices are mentioned frequently, that term is not decisive, as all the gums and odours of Arabia are comCinnamon, cassia, and prehended under that name. calamus alone prove an Indian origin; and notwithstanding these are mentioned by Moses, David, and Solomon, the conveyance of them by caravans from the southern coast of Arabia is nowhere specified till we arrive at this passage in Ezekiel.'

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20. Dedan...precious clothes for chariots.'-This was probably the Dedau of Arabia, if it were not rather the one of Edom. (Jer. xlix. 8.) The verse is altogether very obscure. We do not know whether the cloths were a native manufacture, or obtained from countries more to the East; nor how they were employed, the term rendered chariots' being very indefinite, literally, riding,' and may apply either to horses, horsemen, chariots, or charioteers. [APPENDIX, No. 72.]

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21. 'Arabia.'-This verse refers to the trade of the Bedouin Arabs with the produce of their flocks and herds. 22. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah.'-This verse seems to relate to the trade which Arabian nations in the south of the peninsula carried on with Tyre, in both the produce of their own country and the commodities which they obtained from Arabia. This and preceding verses open interesting views concerning the commerce between Tyre and Arabia, and, being ourselves obliged to abstain from the subject, we may refer the reader to the valuable particulars, in relation to it, which have been given by Heeren.

23. Haran,' etc.-Michaelis, followed as usual by Heeren, would place these names also in Arabia; but we have no hesitation in agreeing with Vincent in fixing them to Mesopotamia and Assyria. Indeed most of the names are such as we at once recognize as applied in Scripture to places in that quarter. The single name of Ashur would shew this, if those of Haran and Canneh With respect to the com(Calneh) should be doubtful. modities mentioned in the next verse, Vincent also ob'The chests of cedar bound with cords seem to serves, imply great caution adopted for the preservation of the cloths, which were the costly manufacture of Babylon, if not of India; and this caution seems more necessary for a conveyance overland, not only to prevent injury to the goods, but robbery likewise,

527

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1 God's judgment upon the prince of Tyrus for his sacrilegious pride. 11 A lamentation of his great glory corrupted by sin. 20 The judgment of Zidon. 24 The restoration of Israel.

THE word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the 'midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

4 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy trea

sures:

5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;

7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

8 They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God; but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that 'slayeth thee.

10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the 'sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold:

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16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any

more.

20 T Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,

22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and Í will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from

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