But the most remarkable circumstance in the history of the first direct intercourse between the two Great Empires of the East and West belongs to a somewhat later period. The Chinese historians relate, that in the ninth year of Yau-hi (166 A. D.) ambassadors arrived in their country from Ta-thsin, sent by An-thun, or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. * This embassy, it appears, arrived in China by sea. The jealousy of the inland Asiatics, the engrossers of the great caravantrade, rendered it perhaps dangerous for the Romans to attempt reaching that country by land. The intimate correspondence existing between the Chinese and the Bactrian nations for centuries before the time of Ptolemy, and the fact of a Roman embassy to China, which took place only sixteen years after his death, a fact implying a long previous acquaintance with that empire, render it in the highest degree improbable that Ptolemy should have been ignorant of its existence, or that he should have refused it a place in his map. But philology as well as history lends arguments to prove that the country of the Seres, or silk-worms, is to be sought not in Thibet or Tartary, but in China itself. Silk, in correct Chinese, is called se, or su; but, by an ordinary vice of pronunciation, a final r is added, so that, on the frontiers, se is changed into ser, the identical word adopted by the Greeks. In Thibet, the name of the silk-worm is darkou, that of silk gotchanghi. It follows of necessity that the frontier provinces of China were the country of the Seres. The name of the nation itself deserves a brief remark. The dynasty of the Thsin, who gave their name to the empire, began in the third century before Christ. The word Thsin was altered by neighbouring nations according to the peculiarities of their alphabets or habits of pronunciation. The Hindoos pronounce it Thin, the Arabs Sin, a difference which immediately explains why we find that in the ancient geographers the city of Thine was always in the interior, while the Sine were towards the sea. Finally, the mari *Des Guines. Mem. de l'Acad. des Insc. xxxii. time activity of the Malays has rendered their pronunciation of the word Chin the prevailing one among Europeans.* As the existence of a trade between China and western Asia, in the beginning of our era, is clearly established, it may be interesting to examine in what age it commenced. Silken garments were worn in India ten or twelve centuries before that time: they are mentioned in the most ancient Sanscrit poems.† The medicæ vestes of Alexander's age were made of silk; and metaxa, or silk, was subsequently transmitted to Italy through Assyria.‡ But which was the nation by whose agency the valuable produce of China was carried into India or to the West, in the age of Alexander, or in more ancient times? A fragment which remains to us of Ctesias (380 B. C.) clears up this difficulty in a satisfactory manner. He informs us, "that the Indians, the neighbours of the Bactrians, make journies in the golden deserts (the desert of Cobi) in troops of one or two thousand, and it is said that they do not return home from these journies till the third or fourth year." § The desert of Cobi could have merited its epithet of golden only from its opening an avenue to wealth. The Indians alluded to were probably those inhabiting the country of Khotan, (properly Kou-stana, breast of the earth,) a colony, perhaps, of very ancient date: that their caravans were directed to China admits of very little doubt, so that the trade between India and that country existed five centuries at least before the age of Ptolemy. Thus the work of Ptolemy proves that geography had made great advances from the time of Strabo, but was still very imperfect in relation to the opportunities which existed for its improvement. The author himself owed his great reputation to his industry, and still more to his fortunate situation as successor to the labours of Marinus Tyrius and other eminent geographers, whose works have wholly perished. But although it is impossible to allow * Klaproth. Journ. Asiat. ii. Suidas in v. Serica. Ramayuna II. Ptolemy the praise of superior genius, yet it must be admitted that his work was one of great practical importance, and that geography owes more to him for introducing a method of fixing positions than it could possibly have lost by the too implicit deference that was paid to his frequently erroneous statements. Thus we have observed the uniform progress by which the light of mutual acquaintance spread abroad among the nations of the earth. A thousand years intervened between the ages of Homer and of Ptolemy; between the time in which the imagination of the venerable bard placed the gates of death, the elysian paradise, and the whole mythic world, apparently at no great distance from the actual site of Italy; to that in which the geographer of Alexandria stated, in longitudes and latitudes, the position of almost every place of importance from the western extremity of Europe to the borders of China. But a vast extent of territory, to the east and north of Asia and of Europe still remained unexplored, peopled by fierce, unsettled hordes, and pregnant with danger to the decaying empire. As the historians and geographers of the later age of Rome gradually raise the veil which covered the stern features of northern society, it is impossible not to foresee the dangers likely to ensue from the mature strength of so vigorous a frame. The storm at length broke: desolating myriads, from the north and east, poured in upon the Roman empire; the unity of power and civilisation was at an end; the intercourse of commerce was broken up and suspended, the light of letters became gradually extinct, and darkness once more overspread the western world. CHAP. IX. ON THE COMMERCE OF THE ANCIENTS. CONNECTION BETWEEN COMMERCE AND GEOGRAPHY. TRADE THEIR AS ΤΟ THE COUNTRY WHICH PRODUCED IT. -KNOWN TO MOSES. — SUPPOSED TO GROW IN ARABIA AND IN AFRICA. PLINY'S ACCOUNT. — ANTIQUITY OF TRADE IN THE EASTERN SEAS.PIRATE NATIONS OF THE EAST. PRODUCTIONS OF THE MOLUCCAS MENTIONED BY PLAUTUS. - EARLY COMMERCE OF THE PHOENICIANS EXAMINED. TIN BROUGHT TO EGYPT FROM INDIA. THE CASSITERIDES - NEVER KNOWN. DIRECT TRADE BETWEEN PHOENICIA AND THE WEST IMPROBABLE. -CARTHAGE. NEVER AIMED AT A DISTANT CARRYING TRADE. — AMBER. BROUGHT TO GREECE FROM THE ADRIATIC.MYTHICAL CONNECTION OF THE ERIDANUS AND AMBER. TRADE IN EUROPE. — CONCLUSION. THE history of commerce is intimately connected with that of geography; for the wants and desires of mankind, which require the agency of the merchant, are the most uniform and efficient incentives to the correspondence of nations. The traffic carried on between distant countries in early times, the commodities of use or luxury imported or sent abroad, are often much more easily detected than the extent of geographical knowledge possessed by either of the parties. In a scientific age the acquaintance with the earth's surface possesses an interest independent of its practical advantages; but in the early stages of society the different regions of the globe attracted attention chiefly as they promised to yield a quick harvest of wealth and treasure. The most important commerce in ancient times was that carried on with India; and it is that also which has been most frequently mentioned in the course of the preceding pages. If all the authentic circumstances of that great trade be minutely traced backward, they will be found rich in results calculated to elucidate the progress of dis covery in the East, and may lend even some light to assist us in investigating the more dubious intercourse of western nations. Pliny informs us, that in his time the navigation to India was only in its infancy; and a comparison of all the accounts remaining to us respecting the commerce of the ancients with the East leads to the conclusion, that before the discovery of the monsoons by Hippalus the direct trade with India was wholly in the hands of the Arabians. The fleets of the Ptolemies sailed to the ports of Arabia Felix, where they met the Arabian ships laden with the precious cargoes of the East. Single Greek vessels may, indeed, have occasionally visited the country whence so much wealth was poured into Europe; but that a direct trade did not exist between India and Egypt until the discovery of the monsoons obviated the necessity of proceeding by the Arabian coast: that the Arabians enjoyed a monopoly with respect to Egypt, and Egypt with respect to Europe, are facts proved by indisputable evidence. That the Greeks of Egypt should so long permit the petty princes of Arabia to intercept a large portion of their profit was the necessary consequence of the imperfect navigation of antiquity. The navigator, so long as from the imperfection of his art he is afraid to venture out of sight of land, is constantly at the mercy of those whose coast he follows. Obliged frequently to land in order to procure provisions, to rest his crew impatient of confinement, or to draw his frail vessels into a place of shelter, he finds it impossible to pursue his course without securing the amicable feelings of the natives. Hence the impossibility of distant trading voyages in ancient times. The commodities of countries remote from one another were interchanged by repeated transfer from hand to hand, each intermediate link in the chain sharing in the advantages of the communication. But any attempt to disturb this system, by establishing a direct correspondence between the extreme points, naturally awakened the hostility of the intermediate states whose |