EXPORTS FROM AFRICA AND THE EAST.
Having thus cast a rapid glance over the principal articles, natural or
artificial, which commerce derived from Europe and Asia Minor, we shall
pass over into Africa, in order, as nearly as possible, to ascertain
what that part of the world contributed to the trade of antiquity. We
shall then proceed by way of Egypt into Syria and Arabia, and from
thence to Persia, India, and the farther regions of Asia, with which we
will conclude our view of the commerce of the Greeks. Numerous articles
of merchandise of the highest value were, from very early ages, obtained
from Africa;[2398] as gold in ingots, and gold dust, ivory,[2399] blocks
of ebony and black slaves.[2400] The ancients have remarked, that a
piece of green ebony placed near the fire kindled, and rubbed against a
stone assumed a reddish colour.[2401] In some parts of the country
elephants’ teeth were so plentiful, that the very cattle-sheds were
enclosed with palings of ivory;[2402] and the present of the Æthiopians
to the Persian king[2403] consisted of twelve elephants’ teeth, two
hundred blocks of ebony, five black slaves, and a quantity of unwrought
gold.[2404] From this country were exported linen or flax, medicinal
roots, perfumes, and aromatic spices.[2405]
-----
Footnote 2398:
Cf. Demosth. adv. Callip. § 2.
Footnote 2399:
Philost. Vit. Sophist, ii. 21. § 2. Athen. i. 49.
Footnote 2400:
Herod, iii. 97.
Footnote 2401:
Dioscor. i. 129.
Footnote 2402:
Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 10.
Footnote 2403:
Herod. iii. 97.
Footnote 2404:
From the same country the ancients likewise obtained the rhinoceros,
as well, no doubt, as the giraffe, sometimes paraded in their
processions. Athen. v. 32. Didymus, however, supposes the giraffe to
have been brought from India. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰνδίας ἐνεχθεῖσαν
ἐθεασάμην ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ καμηλοπάρδαλιν, ap. Geopon. xvi. 22. 9.
Agatharchid. ap. Phot. p. 455. b.
Footnote 2405:
Philost. Vit. Apoll. Tyan. vi. 2, p. 229.
-----
According to the information furnished to Herodotus by the
Carthaginians, there was anciently a lake in the small island of
Kerkenna, out of which the young women drew up gold dust with bunches of
feathers.[2406] Africa, likewise, supplied alum,[2407] salt,[2408]
sory-stone,[2409] cinnabar,[2410] hexecontalithoi,[2411] blood-stones,
eagle-stones, black palmati, and magnets.[2412] Anciently even diamonds
are said to have been obtained from certain mines in Æthiopia, lying
between the temple of Hermes and the island of Meroe.[2413]
-----
Footnote 2406:
Herod, iv. 195.
Footnote 2407:
Dioscor. v. 123.
Footnote 2408:
Id. v. 126.
Footnote 2409:
Id. v. 119.
Footnote 2410:
Id. v. 109.
Footnote 2411:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 60. Solin. cap. xxxi. Isidor. Orig. xvi. 12.
Footnote 2412:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 29. 39. 25. Isidor. Orig. xvi. 4. Marbod. de
Lapid. cap. xliii.
Footnote 2413:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii, 15.
-----
A purple, rivalling that of Tyre,[2414] was produced from a fish caught
along the northern coast. Hence, also, were obtained kermes[2415] and
ostrich feathers, with which the crests of helmets were sometimes
adorned. Monkeys[2416] were commonly imported from Africa, together with
Æthiopian sheep, a species of fowl,[2417] and various kinds of
locusts[2418] which, eaten by the inhabitants only, figured among the
materia medica of the Greeks. Dried and burnt, their smoke was snuffed
up for certain complaints, and, reduced to powder, they were drunk in
Rome as a remedy against the bite of a scorpion.[2419]
-----
Footnote 2414:
Iorio, Storia del Commercio, t. v. 1. ii. c. x. p. 268.
Footnote 2415:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xvi. 12. xxii. 3. Iorio, Storia, &c., t. iv. 1. ii.
c. x. p. 269. Colonel Scott, who mistakes the insects for berries,
gives the following brief account of the collection and price of
kermes in the territories of Abd-el-Kader: “We travelled for the
greater part of the day through a barren and mountainous country; but
one at the same time abounding in riches, from the circumstance of its
being covered with the plant which furnishes the _kermes_, a small
berry about the size of a pea split in two, and which gives a dye
between vermilion and red, and is an article of considerable trade,
selling at from a dollar to one dollar and a half per pound in Fez,
whilst here, during the month of May, which is the season for
gathering it, it can be procured at from one bougou (1s. 4d.) to one
and a half per pound, when bought from the Arabs: but if the proper
plan were adopted, which is, to send a party hired by the month, with
a superintendent to direct their operations, it might be procured at
from eight-pence to one shilling per pound, and would form a most
lucrative branch of trade.” Journal of a Residence in the Esmailla of
Abd-el-Kader, p. 88.
Footnote 2416:
Massinissa inquired of certain merchants, whom he saw coming to Africa
in search of monkeys, whether the women bore no children in their
country? Athen. xii. 16. Cf. Plut. Pericl. § 1.
Footnote 2417:
Athen. v. 32.
Footnote 2418:
Lucian. Navig. § 23.
Footnote 2419:
Dioscor. ii. 57. The cicada is spitted, roasted, and eaten at the
present day in Affghanistân. Vigne, Ghuzni, Kabul, &c., p. 99. See,
also, Hazelquist, p. 230, and Leo Africanus, p. 769.
-----
Slabs of citron-wood, used principally in the making of tables, seem to
have been obtained exclusively from this part of the world,[2420] which,
likewise, furnished various kinds of beautiful marbles. Fine carbuncles
for seals were obtained from the neighbourhood of Carthage,[2421] as
were the emerald and the bastard emerald from a small island called
Cothon, opposite that part of the coast.
-----
Footnote 2420:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xiii. 30. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 1.
Footnote 2421:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 31.
-----
The gum ammoniac distils in a milky juice[2422] from an umbelliferous
plant growing in the desert near the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, as well as
on the confines of Cyrenè, whence it appears to have been chiefly
exported.[2423]
-----
Footnote 2422:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 49. xxiv. 14.
Footnote 2423:
Dioscor. iii. 98.
-----
In the same country grew the silphion,[2424] which, according to
tradition, was not indigenous to the soil, but sprang up suddenly for
the first time after a violent tempest.[2425] If we can rely on this
relation we must suppose the seed to have been borne thither by the
winds, probably from some part of the interior. Both the root and the
juice were exported, sometimes adulterated with bean-flowers or gum
sagapenum. Marmarica supplied an extremely pungent kind of
capparis,[2426] which, also, was found on the shores of the Red Sea. The
wild asparagus flourished abundantly in this country, and attained a
great height.[2427]
-----
Footnote 2424:
Supposed to be the prangus by several modern writers. Vigne, Ghuzni,
Kabul, &c., p. 100, seq. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 3. 1. 1. 5. 2.
Athen. vii. 26. Aristoph. Plut. 926. Av. 534. 1578, 1581. Aristot.
Hist. Animal. viii. 29.
Footnote 2425:
At the same time a wood of trees, previously unknown in the country,
sprang up. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 1. 6. Cf. on the silphion, Schol.
Aristoph. Eq. 891. Plin. Nat. Hist. xix. 3. Dioscor. iii. 94. Athen.
i. 49. iii. 58. Geopon. v. 48. 5. ii. 37. 1. xiii. 10. 6.
Footnote 2426:
Dioscor. ii. 204.
Footnote 2427:
Athen. ii. 62. Cf. Sibth. Flor. Græc. tab. 337. Dioscor. ii. 152.
-----
From Cyrenaica came an inferior sort of saffron,[2428] with truffles of
a very delicate flavour,[2429] some of which were of a reddish
hue,[2430] the best white hellebore,[2431] heraclean all-heal,[2432] the
herb alysson from Africa generally,[2433] with gum-ladanum,[2434] olive
oil,[2435] iris roots,[2436] and terebinth berries.[2437] In the country
of the Troglodytes, on the western part of the Red Sea, were groves of
myrrh trees, the gum of which was of a palish green, pellucid, and of a
biting taste.[2438]
-----
Footnote 2428:
Dioscor. i. 25.
Footnote 2429:
Athen. ii. 60. Plin. Nat. Hist. xix. 13.
Footnote 2430:
Dioscor. ii. 200.
Footnote 2431:
Id. iv. 150.
Footnote 2432:
Id. iii. 56.
Footnote 2433:
Dioscor. iv. 180.
Footnote 2434:
Id. i. 128.
Footnote 2435:
Florent. ap. Geopon. ix. 3. 1. Plin. Nat. Hist. xvii. 19.
Footnote 2436:
Dioscor. i. 1.
Footnote 2437:
Id. i. 91.
Footnote 2438:
Id. i. 77.
-----
The euphorbium,[2439] which received its name from Euphorbius, physician
to king Juba, who discovered the virtues of its juices, is found on
Mount Atlas, and in most parts of northern Africa. In procuring this
substance they spread a number of sheepskins round the shrub, which they
then pierced with darts or lances from a distance, in order to avoid the
penetrating noxious vapours which exhaled from it at its first coming in
contact with the air. The same precaution, according to a modern
traveller, is still practised.
-----
Footnote 2439:
Id. iii. 96. Cf. Leo. African. p. 770. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxv. 38.
-----
Carthage traded generally in all the productions of the ancient world,
her exports consequently were numerous, and among these were magnificent
tapestry and richly figured pillows.[2440] From the same part of Africa
were exported a superior kind of snails.[2441] Horses, hides,[2442] and
hams cured in a particular manner, were supplied by Cyrenè,[2443]
together with the best unguent of roses.[2444] This country was likewise
famous for its fragrant violets and saffron flowers.[2445] The horns of
the oryx were exported to Phœnicia, where they were employed in
constructing the sides of citharæ.[2446] The scink, whose flesh was used
as an antidote and in aphrodisiacs, was exported from the neighbourhood
of mount Atlas, where it attained the length of four feet and a
half.[2447] The Carthaginians, who sailed down the western shore of
Africa to the gold coast, used to trade with the natives without
personal communication. Landing from their ships they deposited a
quantity of merchandise on the ground and retired on board, where they
kindled large fires, that their coming might be announced by the smoke;
upon this the natives approached, and laid close by what they conceived
to be the value of the articles in gold. If what they brought satisfied
the Carthaginians, they took away the gold and left the merchandise; if
not, they suffered the whole to remain; upon which the natives added a
quantity of the precious metal, until the strangers were
satisfied.[2448] Similar rules are observed by the Moors in trading with
the negroes in various parts of this continent.
-----
Footnote 2440:
Athen. i. 49.
Footnote 2441:
Dioscor. ii. 11.
Footnote 2442:
Athen. i. 49. iii. 58.
Footnote 2443:
Id. i. 12.
Footnote 2444:
Id. xv. 38. The moss roses of Cyrenè were renowned in antiquity for
their fragrance. Theoph. Hist. Plant, vi. 6. 6.
Footnote 2445:
Id. xv. 29.
Footnote 2446:
Herod. iv. 192.
Footnote 2447:
Id. ibid. Dioscor. ii. 71.
Footnote 2448:
Herod. iv. 96. Circumstances of a like nature are described by
Philostratus, (Vit. Apoll. Tyan. vi. 2, p. 229,) in the commerce
carried on by the Egyptians with the inhabitants of Ethiopia.
-----
On nearly the whole coast of northern Africa flourished the lotus tree,
the fruit of which constituted the principal subsistence of some of the
natives, who likewise made from it a kind of wine which could not be
exported, since it turned sour in three days. The nourishing quality of
this fruit was experienced by the army of Ophella,[2449] which
proceeding across the desert, to attack the Carthaginians, was reduced
to subsist upon it entirely for several days. It is about the size of a
white cherry and straw-coloured, excepting on the side next the sun,
which has a ruddy blush: the best are said to be without stones, but
those which are produced in the Saïd have very large ones. Whether it
has yet been introduced into England I know not; I myself, however, made
the attempt in pots placed in a warm room; but on the first frosty night
of autumn the plants perished entirely, with all the silk trees I had
planted at the same time. From the same part of the country was obtained
the lotus plant, used in cosmetics and medicines.[2450]
-----
Footnote 2449:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 3. 2. Vid. Diod. Sicul. xx. 42. Plut. Dem. §
14. Palmer. Excercitat. p. 594.
Footnote 2450:
Dioscor. iv. 112.
-----
From Egypt, which we shall here consider apart from the rest of Africa,
the most valuable exports were undoubtedly wheat[2451] and rice,[2452]
after which, in later ages, the wines of Lake Mareotis,[2453] and
several cities along the Nile, deserve to be enumerated. The seeds of
the bitter cabbage of Egypt[2454] were exported to be employed in
medicine. Marjoram, too, was obtained from this country,[2455] together
with the odoriferous rush;[2456] the creeping inula,[2457] cœrulescent
wormwood,[2458] the arisaron,[2459] garlic,[2460] the acacalis, or berry
of a certain shrub used in remedies against ophthalmia,[2461]
myrobalans,[2462] amomum,[2463] cumin,[2464] gum-acacia, transparent as
glass,[2465] and the leaves and flowers of the Eastern privet.[2466]
-----
Footnote 2451:
Demosth. cont. Dionysod. § 9. Plut. Pericl. § 37. Athen. ii. 10. 13.
Schol. Aristoph. Av. 301. Geopon. iii. 3. 11. Theoph. Hist. Plant.
viii. 4. Plin. Nat. Hist. xviii. 12. Cf. Spanh. ad Callim. Hymn in
Cerer. 2. t. ii. p. 657.
Footnote 2452:
Athen. iii. 75.
Footnote 2453:
Id. i. 60. Geopon. xx. 15. Strab. xvii. t. ii. p. 1151. Casaub.—Vibius
Sequester, p. 24. Virg. Georg. ii. 91. Plin. Nat. Hist. xiv. 3.
Isidor. Orig. xvii. 5. Horat. Od. i. 37. 14.
Footnote 2454:
Dioscor. ii. 146.
Footnote 2455:
Id. iii. 47.
Footnote 2456:
Damogeron, ap. Geopon. vii. 13. 4.
Footnote 2457:
Dioscor. i. 26.
Footnote 2458:
Id. iii. 27.
Footnote 2459:
Id. ii. 178.
Footnote 2460:
Id. ii. 182. Sibthorp, Flor. Græc. Tab. 313.
Footnote 2461:
Dioscor. i. 118.
Footnote 2462:
Id. iv. 160.
Footnote 2463:
Prosp. Alpin. De Medicin. Ægypt. iv. 10, p. 300, seq.
Footnote 2464:
Dioscor. iii. 68. On the cumin of Æthiopia, Id. Theriac. c. xix.
Footnote 2465:
Τὸ δὲ κόμμι τῆς ἀκάνθης διαφέρει τὸ σκωληκοειδὲς ὑελίζον, διαυγὲς,
ἄξυλον, εἶτα τὸ λευκόν. Dioscor. i. 133. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 11.
15.
Footnote 2466:
Κύπρος, Dioscor. i. 124.
-----
It is possible, that the sensitive plant was introduced into Greece from
Egypt, since this appears to be the native country of all the acacia
tribe, to which the sensitive plant belongs; and we find it to have been
plentifully produced in the neighbourhood of Memphis.[2467] Both the
seeds and flowers of the tamarisk were used in medicine,[2468] and of
its wood were made cups, which were supposed to impart a medicinal
virtue to whatever was drunk out of them.
-----
Footnote 2467:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 2. 11.
Footnote 2468:
Dioscor. i. 116.
-----
From dill,[2469] which was exported from Egypt and other countries, a
perfume was made, which was supposed to mitigate the acuteness of the
headache. Other kinds of perfume[2470] were likewise manufactured in
this country,[2471] of which that called metopion, chiefly composed of
galbanum,[2472] and the unguent of lilies may be regarded as the
principal.[2473]
-----
Footnote 2469:
Ἄνισον. Dioscor. iii. 65.
Footnote 2470:
Athen. xiv. 50.
Footnote 2471:
Philost. Vit. Soph. ii. 21. § 2.
Footnote 2472:
Dioscor. i. 71.
Footnote 2473:
Δοκεῖ δὲ διαφέρειν τὸ ἐν Φοινίκῃ καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτω γινόμενον ἄριστον δὲ
ἐστὶν αὐτοῦ, τὸ ὄζον κρίνων. Dioscor. i. 62.
-----
Egypt, likewise, exported paper,[2474] sails, curiously wrought linen
breastplates,[2475] linen[2476] and cotton[2477] cloths, jars,[2478]
salt, lobsters, Canopic muscles, Venus’s ears,[2479] the shad,[2480]
dates, mustard,[2481] vinegar,[2482] palm wine,[2483] and salt
provisions.[2484] The scink, or land crocodile, was likewise furnished
by Egypt.[2485] The game-cocks of Alexandria, which appear to have been
held in the highest estimation were doubtless exported.[2486] The
Egyptian oil stunk because no salt was used in the making of it.[2487]
Upon the fields of Egypt, at the period of the inundation, was found in
great plenty the nymphæa lotus, with its white flower, which was said to
remain open so long as the sun continued above the horizon, but closed
at the approach of twilight, and dipped its whole head beneath the
water, where it remained concealed till sunrise, when it rose and spread
its petals to the dawn. The roots of this plant, about the size of a
quince, and in taste like the yolk of an egg, when cooked, were eaten by
the Egyptians, who with its seed made also a kind of bread.[2488]
-----
Footnote 2474:
Lucian. de Syria Dea, § 7. Athen. i. 49. Ἡ βίβλος ψιλὴ ῥαβδος ἐστὶν
ἐπ᾽ ἄκρου ἔχουσα χαίτην. Ὀ δὲ κύαμος κατὰ πολλὰ μέρη φύλλα καὶ ἄνθη
ἐκφέρει, καὶ καρπὸν ὅμοιον τῳ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν κυάμῳ, μεγέθει μόνον καὶ
γεύσει διαλάττοντα. Strab. xvii. t. ii. p. 1151. Casaub.--Iorio,
Storia del Commercio, t. iv. 1. xi. c. xii.
Footnote 2475:
Philost. Vit. Soph. ii. 21. § 2.
Footnote 2476:
Iorio, Storia del Comm. e della Navig. t. iv. 1. ii. c. xiii. p. 275.
Footnote 2477:
It appears to be perfectly clear, notwithstanding the arguments of
Palmerius, (Exercitat. in Auct. Græc. p. 17, sqq.,) that the
wool-bearing trees described by Herodotus, (iii. 106, cf. ii. 86, vii.
181,) and Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. iv. 7. 7,) were no other than the
perennial cotton shrubs. Palmerius was led into the mistake he has
committed by having been informed, that the cotton was an annual
plant, whereas, as is now well known, there are two species of cotton
shrub, the one annual, the other perennial, and it was evidently the
latter that flourished in India and the island of Tylos. Pollux, who
speaks distinctly of cotton, relates, that it was produced in Egypt.
(Onomast. vii. 75.) Belon, (Observat. ii. 6,) seems to imagine that
the ancient authors above cited, speak of the silk tree, which is
found growing at the present day on the banks of the Nile, in Upper
Egypt and Nubia.
Footnote 2478:
Athen. xi. 11.
Footnote 2479:
Fab. Column. De Purpur. xviii. 3. Athen. iii. 40.
Footnote 2480:
Σιλούρος, Paxamus, ap. Geopon. xiii. 10. 11. Athen. vii. 18.
Footnote 2481:
Pelagon, ap. Geopon. xvi. 17. 1.
Footnote 2482:
Athen. ii. 76.
Footnote 2483:
Athen. xiv. 50.
Footnote 2484:
Poll. vi. 48. Athen. iii. 93.
Footnote 2485:
Dioscor. ii. 71.
Footnote 2486:
Εἰσὶ δὲ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ τῇ πρὸς Αἴγυπτον ὄρνεις Μονόσιροι, ἑξ ὧν οἱ
μάχιμοι ἀλεκτρυόνες γεννῶνται. Florent. ap. Geopon. xiv. 7. 30.
Footnote 2487:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 2. 9.
Footnote 2488:
Dioscor. iv. 114.
-----
Among the minerals and precious stones obtained from this country were
the sory,[2489] the bloodstone,[2490] the emerald,[2491] and the
carbuncle. Lapis lazuli was manufactured in Egypt,[2492] the secret of
imitating nature in the produce of this substance having been discovered
by one of its kings. In the neighbourhood of Memphis was found a sort of
variegated pebbles, which, being broken and reduced to powder, were used
by surgeons when about to apply the knife or the cautery in dulling the
sense of pain, which it effected completely without danger.[2493]
-----
Footnote 2489:
Id. v. 119.
Footnote 2490:
Αἱματίτης. Id. v. 144.
Footnote 2491:
Athen. iii. 46.
Footnote 2492:
Σκευαστὸς δὲ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος· (κυάνος·) καὶ οἱ γράφοντες τὰ περὶ τοὺς
βασιλεῖς καὶ τουτο γράφουσι, τίς πρῶτος βασιλεὺς ἐποίησε χυτὸν κύανου
μιμησάμενος τὸν αὐτοφυῆ. Theoph. de Lapid. § 55.
Footnote 2493:
Dioscor. v. 158.
-----
The morochthos,[2494] likewise used in medicine, was a species of
Egyptian clay applied to the bleaching of linen. From Æthiopia came the
stone called thyites,[2495] which, though green like the jasper, being
dipped in water, imparted to it the colour of milk, and rendered it a
cure for ophthalmia. The nitre[2496] of Egypt was superior to that of
Lydia.[2497] Aloes, likewise,[2498] and the fine sand for the gymnasia
were supplied by this country.[2499] The best burnt copper was exported
from Egypt, where it was prepared as follows in the neighbourhood of
Memphis.[2500] Taking a number of copper nails from ships decayed and
fallen to pieces, they piled them in unbaked jars, alternating with
layers of earth and sulphur of equal weight, which, having been well
luted, were then placed in red-hot furnaces, where they were kept until
the jars were thoroughly baked. In lieu of salt and sulphur alum was
sometimes substituted.
-----
Footnote 2494:
Id. v. 152.
Footnote 2495:
Id. v. 154.
Footnote 2496:
Id. v. 130. Florent. ap. Geopon. vi. 16. 6. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxi. 10.
Footnote 2497:
See Hazelquist, Travels, p. 275.
Footnote 2498:
Dioscor. v. 123.
Footnote 2499:
Plut. Alexand. § 40.
Footnote 2500:
Dioscor. v. 87.
-----
Others, without adding any of these substances, burnt the nails for
several days; while a fourth method was, previously to smear them with a
mixture of alum, vinegar, and sulphur, and afterwards to burn them in
unbaked jars. Copper thus calcined assumed a red colour, and, when
pounded in Theban mortars and repeatedly washed with rain water,
resembled cinnabar or minium.[2501] It was usually kept by physicians in
boxes of bronze. The marbles of Egypt, used by ancient artists, were
generally green and red porphyry.[2502] All kinds of glass vessels, it
is well known, were exported from Alexandria.[2503]
-----
Footnote 2501:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 23. Sarracen. ad Dioscor. v. 87.
Footnote 2502:
Winkel. Hist. de l’Art. t. i. p. 176.
Footnote 2503:
Athen. xi. 28.
-----
In the commerce of ancient Syria, one of the principal articles was
dates,[2504] whether dried in the ordinary manner or pressed together
and fashioned into square masses. Figs,[2505] likewise, with
prunes,[2506] and walnuts,[2507] and pomegranates,[2508] and apples, and
nuts,[2509] and almonds,[2510] came from thence. With respect to the
exports of Phœnicia we can say but little in this place, as it collected
together the wealth of the whole ancient world, which it again
distributed according to the tastes and wants of various countries.
Thus, we find, that from Egypt the merchandise borne to Tyre consisted
of fine linen, with broidered work, which was used in sails on her
galleys; blue and purple from the Ægæan; silver, iron, tin, and
lead,[2511] from Cilicia; slaves and brazen vessels from Javan, Tubal,
and Meschech; horses and mules from Kùrdistân; ivory and ebony from the
shores of the Persian gulf; emeralds, purple and broidered work, fine
linen, coral, and agates, from Syria; wheat of Minnith and Pannag,
honey, oil, and balms, from Judea; and white wool and the wine of Helbon
from Damascus. Among the other exports of Tyre were bright iron, cassia,
and calamus; Arabia furnished her with lambs, rams, and goats, spices,
precious stones, and gold, blue cloths and broidered work, and chests of
rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar.[2512]
-----
Footnote 2504:
Herod. i. 193. Cf. iv. 172. Athen. i. 49.
Footnote 2505:
Lucian. Dial. Meret. § 14.
Footnote 2506:
Dioscor. i. 174.
Footnote 2507:
Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 6. 2.
Footnote 2508:
Apsyrtius, ap. Geopon. xvi. 8. 2.
Footnote 2509:
Cf. Plin. Nat. Hist. xv. 24.
Footnote 2510:
Prosper. Alpin. iv. 3. p. 266.
Footnote 2511:
Bochart. Geog. Sac. Pt. i. 1. iv. cap. xxxviii. p. 356.
Footnote 2512:
Ezekiel, xxvii. 7, sqq.
-----
From this country was first obtained the Marocco leather which
is no other than goat’s-skin tanned with the bark of the
pomegranate-tree.[2513] The frankincense[2514] laid up in vast
quantities in the sea-ports of Syria to be conveyed to every country on
the shores of the Mediterranean, not having been the growth of the
country, will be described elsewhere; but various other odoriferous
substances, whether gums, oils, or unguents, were the produce of their
land.[2515]
-----
Footnote 2513:
Athen. iii. 66. See Villebrune, French Translation, t. i. p. 414.
Footnote 2514:
Herod, iii. 107. Athen. i. 49. Plut. Alexand. § 25.
Footnote 2515:
Lucian. Dial. Meret. § 14.
-----
Among these was the balm of Gilead,[2516] which exuded from a tree
originally introduced from Arabia Felix. The gardens, two in
number,[2517] in which the balsam trees were cultivated lay in the
valley of Jericho, flanked on both sides by continuous ridges of lofty
mountains,[2518] and were of small dimensions, the larger not exceeding
twenty acres. The tree itself, at present found to flourish in several
regions of the East, resembled in size that of the pomegranate,
spreading into numerous branches and covered with an evergreen foliage,
in form like the leaves of rue, though in colour lighter. Its fruit
resembled the terebinth-berries both in hue and size. The gum, for which
alone it is valued, is produced in extremely small quantities, but
exhales the most delicious odour.
-----
Footnote 2516:
Dioscor. i. 18.
Footnote 2517:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 6. 1. Strab. xvi. t. ii. p. 1107. Casaub.
Busbequius, Epist. iv. p. 359. Prosp. Alpin. de Balsamo, cap. ii.
Footnote 2518:
Justin. xxxvi. 3.
-----
The season for gathering it in old times was during the extremest heat
of the dog-days, when an incision being made with certain iron claws
towards the upper part of the trunk, the balsam trickled forth slowly so
as scarcely to fill a single shell during the whole day, as was more
particularly observed during the visit of Alexander to this valley. The
produce of the large garden during the whole year did not exceed six
choes, that of the smaller one a chous. The balsam, when it issued from
the tree, was liquid, somewhat resembling milk in colour, and about the
consistence of oil. It was sometimes collected on flocks of wool and
squeezed into small horns, from whence it was transferred to fictile
vases. This substance was so fragrant that the smallest particle
perfumed the atmosphere to a considerable distance. It is now seldom
found unadulterated in Europe. Pompey carried the balsam-tree in his
triumph at Rome, and Vespasian afterwards brought another specimen into
Italy.[2519]
-----
Footnote 2519:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 34. Dioscor. i. 18. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 6.
Annot. p. 734, seq. Tacit. Histor. v. 6. Pausan. ix. 28. 3.
-----
The Syrian costus bore the third rank in the estimation of the ancients,
and the superior kinds were adulterated with the roots of a species of
inula, growing in the district of Comagena.[2520] Another Syrian export
was galbanum[2521] which appears to have been produced only in this
country; another, the speckled wake-robin,[2522] the roots of which were
eaten like parsnips, while the leaves were salted and used to season
dishes. This appears to have been one of the plants which formed the
garland of Ophelia, to which the queen alludes in the following words:
There with fantastic garlands did she come,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and _long purples_,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them.
-----
Footnote 2520:
Dioscor. i. 15. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 7. 4.
Footnote 2521:
Dioscor. iii. 97.
Footnote 2522:
Arum maculatum, Sibthorp. Flor. Græc. Prodrom. 2279. t. ii. p. 245.
Dioscor. ii. 197.
-----
With the roots of the wake-robin the Italian ladies made a wash, which,
under the name of gersa, renders their skin fair and shining.[2523]
Numerous other medicines, plants, and substances, were exported from
Syria, among which were the cyperus comosus,[2524] mountain
spikenard,[2525] cardamums from the district of Comagena,[2526] and
aspalathos,[2527] used in thickening unguents; crocomagma, a species of
perfume,[2528] elæomel,[2529] a sweet oil distilled from the trunk of a
tree near Palmyra, gum-styrax, produced particularly in the
neighbourhood of Gabala and Marathos, from which was prepared a costly
ointment, used in medicine, and called styracinon,[2530]
terebinth-berries,[2531] pistachio-nuts,[2532] gingidion,[2533]
southernwood,[2534] the root of the anchusa,[2535] sison, a kind of
spice,[2536] silphion,[2537] the magadaris,[2538] papaver
spinosum,[2539] of which the leaves were dried in a half-cold oven and
then pounded to extract the juice; the most fragrant kind of
lilies,[2540] the androsaces, a remedy against gout,[2541] madder from
Galilee,[2542] and the berries of the wild vine, which were kept in
unglazed jars.[2543]
-----
Footnote 2523:
Mart. Mathée, Annot. sur Dioscor. ii. 159.
Footnote 2524:
Dioscor. i. 124.
Footnote 2525:
Id. i. 8.
Footnote 2526:
Id. ii. 185.
Footnote 2527:
Id. i. 19.
Footnote 2528:
Id. i. 26.
Footnote 2529:
Ἐλαιόμελι κατὰ Παλμυρᾶ τῆς Συρίας ἔκ τινος στέλεχους ἔλαιον μέλιτος
παχύτερον ῥέι, γλυκὺ τῇ γεύσει. Dioscor. i. 37.
Footnote 2530:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxiv. 15. Dioscor. i. 79.
Footnote 2531:
Dioscor. i. 91. Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 3. 2.
Footnote 2532:
Dioscor. i. 177.
Footnote 2533:
Id. ii. 167.
Footnote 2534:
Id. iii. 29.
Footnote 2535:
Theophrast. de Odor. § 31. Sibthorp. Flor. Græc. tab. 166.
Footnote 2536:
Dioscor. iii. 64.
Footnote 2537:
Id. iii. 94.
Footnote 2538:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 3. 7.
Footnote 2539:
Dioscor. iii. 100.
Footnote 2540:
Id. i. 62. iii. 116.
Footnote 2541:
Id. iii. 150.
Footnote 2542:
Id. iii. 160.
Footnote 2543:
Id. v. 5. iii. 135.
-----
The calamus and sweet rush, found in many other countries, appear to
have been most fragrant in Palestine, where they grew in stagnant waters
among the marshes bordering on Lake Gennesareth.[2544] These marshes, in
summer dry, occupied a space of about four miles in length, which seems
of old to have been thick with reeds and rushes. From the green plants
no perfume exhaled, but when they were cut down and laid to dry in the
sun there issued from them a delicate fragrance which impregnated the
whole air, and, as some fabulously pretended, could be detected by
mariners approaching the shore at a distance of more than a hundred and
fifty stadia.[2545]
-----
Footnote 2544:
Strab. xvi. t. ii. p. 1095. Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 22.
Footnote 2545:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 7. 1. Schneid. Annot. t. iii. p. 737.
-----
The cucumbers of Antioch were celebrated.[2546] From Syria was obtained
the best terebinth-wood blacker than ebony, used in making
dagger-handles, and turned into cups,[2547] together with an artificial
kind of gypsum made by burning parget stones.[2548] Near Seleucia there
were mines of an earth called ampelitis,[2549] of which the black was
the most excellent, resembling pitch; fine charcoal used, mixed with
oil, for blackening the eyebrows and dyeing the hair. People likewise
smeared with it the stems of vines to protect them against the
depredations of insects.
-----
Footnote 2546:
Athen. ii. 53.
Footnote 2547:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 3. 2.
Footnote 2548:
Theoph. de Ign. § 66.
Footnote 2549:
Strab. vii. 5. t. ii. p. 106. Theoph. de Lapid. § 49. Dioscor. v. 181.
-----
The best bitumen[2550] was obtained from the environs of the Dead Sea,
in Palestine, and sometimes adulterated with pitch.[2551] In Judæa also
was found the singular stone called by Pliny and the Greek physicians
leucolithos, in magnitude about the size of an acorn, of a milk-white
colour and marked with a number of parallel bands, regular as if
produced by the turning lathe. Reduced to powder it was exhibited as a
medicine.[2552]
-----
Footnote 2550:
Dioscor. i. 99.
Footnote 2551:
Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 2. 3.
Footnote 2552:
Dioscor. v. 155.
-----
The articles of merchandise supplied to commerce by the peninsula of
Arabia,[2553] were rather curious and valuable than numerous.[2554] Of
these one of the most extraordinary was that white and transparent gem,
in search of which they went forth into the desert at midnight, when the
stone was discovered by its brightness reflecting amid palm-trees and
sand hillocks the refulgence of the moon, whose several phases it was
supposed to imitate in form, being circular at times and at times
semicircular. For this reason it obtained the name of aphroselenon or
moonstone.[2555] From a belief in its hidden virtues women wore it about
their necks as an amulet against enchantment. It was likewise suspended
upon trees to augment their bearing. Eagle-stones[2556] were also a
production of Arabia, together with certain fine white stones which when
calcined were used as a dentrifice.[2557]
-----
Footnote 2553:
Cf. Huet. Hist. of Commerce, p. 13.
Footnote 2554:
We find, however, that the nomadic tribes sometimes exported sheep.
Athen. v. 32.
Footnote 2555:
Dioscor. v. 159.
Footnote 2556:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 39. Geopon. xv. 1. 30.
Footnote 2557:
Id. xxxvi. 41.
-----
Hence too was obtained a beautiful diaphanous marble resembling the
phengites, which, when sawed into thin laminæ, served instead of glass
for window-panes.[2558] Near certain islands on the coast of Arabia, in
the Persian gulf, was a pearl-fishery which, though inferior in value
and celebrity to that of Serendib, still furnished Greece and the whole
western world with a large quantity of pearls.[2559]
-----
Footnote 2558:
Id. xxxvi. 46.
Footnote 2559:
Id. ix. 54. Ælian. de Animal. x. 13. See in Nieuhoff an elaborate
account of the pearl-fishery in the Persian gulf. This traveller
gives, from the traditions of the natives, a fabulous explanation of
the origin of the pearls, which is exceedingly fanciful and poetical:
“It is generally believed that these pearls are progenerated by the
May dews, during which month the oysters rise up to the surface of the
waters, and opening themselves receive a small quantity of dew, which,
being coagulated, afterwards produces these pearls. Certain it is,
that, if these oysters are opened before June, the pearls are soft and
pliable like pitch.” Churchill’s Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p.
196.
-----
The plains of the Arabian wastes have in all ages been covered at
intervals with forests of palm-trees. Dates, therefore, from the
earliest times, have been among the exports of the peninsula. The manner
of climbing the trees in the fruit season was much the same in antiquity
as at present. The person about to ascend made with a cord a loop
inclosing both his own body and the tree, which warping up as he mounted
enabled him to rest at intervals.[2560]
-----
Footnote 2560:
Lucian. de Syr. Dea, § 29.
-----
But the soil, sandy and arid, exposed almost perpetually to a burning
sun, delights above all things in the production of thorny shrubs and
trees, whose gum and resin, from the united virtues of the climate and
the earth, are nearly all fragrant and medicinal.[2561] Of these some
are still in use, while others have disappeared from commerce, or are
known under different names. Among the latter was the cancamon, a
strongly odoriferous gum used by physicians, introduced into the
manufacture of odoriferous unguents, and mingled with myrtle and styrax
for perfuming apparel.[2562] Among the former were the ladanum,[2563]
the myrrh, and the frankincense,[2564] of which the ancient naturalists
have left us an interesting account. It was produced, they say, in the
territory of the Sabæeans about Mamali, Citibaina and Adramytta, now
Hadramaut. Both the frankincense and the myrrh trees grew partly on the
mountains, partly on private grounds at their roots, where they were
cultivated, while the others, apparently, were left to the
superintendence of nature. The favoured ridges adorned by these aromatic
plantations are said to have been extremely lofty, covered with woods
and clad above with snow, while from their slope and summits numerous
streams poured down to the plains.
-----
Footnote 2561:
Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 7. 2.
Footnote 2562:
Id. i. 23.
Footnote 2563:
Dioscor. i. 128. Herod. iii. 107. Thom. Magist. v. θύωμα, p. 462.
Footnote 2564:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 4. 1, sqq. Philost. Vit. Soph. ii. 21. § 2.
Ammon, v. λίβανος, p. 89. This gum is now of very inferior quality and
value, and was sent in the last century in vast quantities into
Muscovy to tan Russia leather. Hazelquist, Travels, p. 297. Of old it
seems to have been sacred exclusively to the gods and was daily burnt
as a morning sacrifice on their altars. Gœttling, ad Hesiod, p. 162.
In the ages preceding the discovery of frankincense, people made use
of rosemary for the same purpose. Apuleius, de Virtut. Herb. cap.
lxxix. Cf. Fabric. Biblioth. Lat. p. 126. Lomeier, de Lustrat. Vet.
Gent. c. xxiv. p. 298. On the plants, fruits, and trees, used in
sacrifice, see Saubert. de Sacrificiis, cap. xxiv.
-----
The tree[2565] which produces this most precious gum attains no great
height, sometimes not above seven or eight feet; but throws out
exceedingly numerous branches and expands itself in breadth. The
foliage, though more diminutive, resembles in form that of the
pear-tree, but its verdure approaches the light colour of the rue. In
smoothness the bark everywhere, both on trunk and branches, resembles
that of the laurel. The myrrh-tree is still smaller, and more like a
shrub. Its stem clothed with a smooth bark, and about the thickness of a
man’s leg, is extremely tough and twisted towards the root. In character
its foliage has at once been compared to the elm and the scarlet
oak,—rough, pointed, and uneven, and armed at the edges with thorns.
-----
Footnote 2565:
Cf. Diodor. Sicul. l. v. t. i. p. 364. Wesseling.
-----
Of myrrh there were various kinds, deriving their different qualities
from the nature of the soil or from the manner in which the gum was
obtained from its tree, some being thick and unctuous, and abounding in
that sweet oil called stactè,[2566] while other kinds were light, clean,
and transparent. These accounts appear to have been obtained from
eye-witnesses. Certain mariners, we are told, setting sail from the gulf
of Heroes, now Suez, and arriving in the frankincense country, landed in
search of water.[2567] During this excursion they advanced as far as the
mountains, where they observed the appearance of the trees and the
manner of collecting the gum. Incisions, they related, were made in the
trunk and the branches, some large, as with a hatchet, others smaller.
-----
Footnote 2566:
Dioscor. i. 79.
Footnote 2567:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 4. 7.
-----
From some of these the frankincense rained upon the ground, while in
other parts it issued forth more slowly, thickening as it flowed. Mats
of palm leaves were by some proprietors spread on all sides under the
tree, which thus appeared to spring from a carpeted floor, while others
merely levelled the soil and swept it.[2568] The frankincense, however,
which fell upon the mats was more pure and pellucid than the other,
which necessarily attracted some particles of earth. What remained
sticking to the trees was severed with a knife, on which account it
sometimes contained small splinters of bark. The superior kinds were
generally found in commerce of a globular form, into which it was said
to have run at the first. In colour it was white, unctuous when broken,
and immediately kindled at the approach of flame. That which was brought
from India in colour somewhat yellow and livid, was manufactured into
grains by art; for, having been pressed into a mass, it was cut into
small square pieces which were cast into a vessel and shaken until they
assumed a round form.
-----
Footnote 2568:
See also Dioscor. i. 77. A fable concerning the collection of the
frankincense occurs in Herod. iii. 117.
-----
The same observer affirmed, that the whole of this mountain tract was
divided among the Sabæans, who were the lords of that part of the
country, and distinguished for their justice, on which account the trees
required no watching. They were further informed, that both the myrrh
and the frankincense when collected were conveyed on camels to the
Temple of the Sun, the holiest place in the country of the Sabæans, and
continually guarded by armed men. When the precious merchandise had been
borne thither, each person piled his own property in a separate heap, on
the top of which placing a tablet declaring its weight and value, they
committed it to the care of the temple wardens.
When the merchants arrived they inspected the tablets, and if satisfied
with the price took possession of the merchandise, leaving the value in
its place. The transaction being concluded, the priest, according to
some authorities, appropriated one-third of the proceeds to the service
of the gods; but others speak with more probability of a tenth, which
seems, everywhere in the ancient world, to have been consecrated to the
service of religion. The remainder was kept for the owners until they
arrived to claim it.
The frankincense produced by young trees was of a pale white colour, but
less fragrant than the gum of older trees, which was of a deep yellow.
The former probably was what was called Amomites, which possessing
little consistence easily melted like gum-mastic, by the touch of the
hand. On the way to Greece it was frequently adulterated with fine resin
and common gum; but the imposture was easily detected because the gum
refused to burn, and the resin resolved itself into smoke, whereas the
frankincense yielded a clear flame. In the opinion of many the best kind
was brought from Arabia, though in colour it was deemed inferior to the
produce of the neighbouring islands. Connected with the natural history
of this production, a circumstance is related which seems to have been
viewed by the ancients in the light of a prodigy. In the grounds of a
temple near Sardis[2569] a species of frankincense tree sprang forth
spontaneously from the earth, having a smooth bark like the laurel, and
shedding a gum resembling that of the Arabian perfume.
-----
Footnote 2569:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 4. 7.
-----
The numerous groves of frankincense trees which covered the hills and
valleys of southern Arabia, constantly distilling their sweet gums, are
said to have impregnated the whole atmosphere with their delicious
fragrance, which, when the breezes prevailed off the land, was wafted
out many leagues from the shore. To this Milton alludes in the well
known lines:[2570]
As when to them who sail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabæan odours from the spicy shore
Of Araby the Blest: with such delay
Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league
Cheer’d with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles.
-----
Footnote 2570:
Paradise Lost, iv. 159-165.
-----
Nor is this to be regarded as a mere poetical figure of speech. Sir
Thomas Herbert,[2571] sailing up the Persian gulf on his return from the
East Indies, found the atmosphere of the ocean perfumed by the spirits
issuing from the flowers of Arabia, and observes, that mariners while
yet out of sight of land have discovered where they were by the
prevalence of these odoriferous gales. The same effect has been observed
in other parts of the world. Pernetty[2572] relates, that, on
approaching the island of St. Catharine on the Brazil coast, the
fragrance of its aromatic herbs and flowers may be detected at more than
three leagues. In dark nights, or hazy weather, the dogs on board a ship
will smell the land at considerable distance, so as in such cases to
serve instead of a telescope.
-----
Footnote 2571:
Some years’ Travels into Africa and Asia, p. 102. Cf. Chandler, i. 6.
Footnote 2572:
Voyage aux Isles Malouines, t. i. p. 155.
-----
From a district of Arabia Felix, as well as from Petra in Idumæa, was
obtained that gum in globules, called bdellion,[2573] alluded to in the
second chapter of Genesis,—“and the gold of that land is good; there is
bdellion and the onyx stone.” Arabia likewise exported preserved
ginger,[2574] though not apparently till a comparatively late period. In
the country itself they seasoned their drinks and potages with the green
leaves, as the Greeks usually did with rue.[2575]
-----
Footnote 2573:
Dioscor. i. 80. Plin. Nat. xii. 19.
Footnote 2574:
Dioscor. ii. 19.
Footnote 2575:
Dioscor. iii. 52.
-----
Among the other exports of Arabia was cassia[2576] of various qualities,
together with cinnamon,[2577] respecting the gathering of which the
following mythological narrative was delivered to strangers. The trees
producing this sweet and fragrant bark grew, they said, in a certain
valley, inhabited by innumerable serpents, to guard themselves against
which, those who came to gather cinnamon had their feet and hands
carefully covered with boots and gloves.
-----
Footnote 2576:
The shrub is twelve feet high and flowers in May. Hazelquist, Travels,
p. 247. Cf. Dioscor. i. 12.
Footnote 2577:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 5. 1. Dioscor. i. 13. Prosper. Alpin. de
Medicin. Ægypt. iv. 9, p. 304. Hen. van Rheede, Hortus Indicus
Malabaricus, p. 107, sqq. Carletti, who travelled towards the close of
the sixteenth century, gives a lively description of the cinnamon
tree, the leaves of which he compares to those of the peach tree.
Viaggi, &c., t. ii. p. 231. Baldæus, Description of Ceylon, chapter
iv.
-----
The spice being collected was divided into three parts, of which one
belonged to the Sun. To prevent the god from being defrauded of his due
share, lots were drawn, and the portion which thus fell to him was piled
up in a heap upon the sand. The Arabs then departed, but, having reached
a certain distance, usually turned back, when they were sure to behold
the portion of the sun on fire, and sending up its flames and smoke
towards the god to whom it appertained.[2578] It is clear from this,
that the natives of the Arabian peninsula had already begun to collect
materials for “The Thousand and One Nights.”
-----
Footnote 2578:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 5. 2.
-----
Another fragrant production of this country was the wood of aloes,[2579]
which seems to have found its way, in great quantities, to the west,
together with capers,[2580] costus,[2581] carpobalsamum,[2582]
cardamums,[2583] aloes,[2584] gum-ladanum,[2585] myrobalans,[2586]
terebinth-berries,[2587] and the odoriferous rush;[2588] the scink, of
which we have already made frequent mention, was likewise obtained from
Arabia.[2589] Broth made of the flesh of this animal is taken as an
aphrodisiac by the Arabs, and its flesh dried and reduced to powder was
still exported in the time of Hazelquist,[2590] through Alexandria to
Venice and Marseilles.
-----
Footnote 2579:
Dioscor. i. 21.
Footnote 2580:
Id. ii. 204.
Footnote 2581:
Id. i. 15.
Footnote 2582:
Prosper. Alpin. de Medicin. Ægypt. iv. 9, p. 302.
Footnote 2583:
Dioscor. ii. 185. Bontius, In Ind. Archiat. de Medicin. Indor. p. 16.
“The shrub which bears this spice is very pleasant to behold, of a
light green colour, with white flowers tipped with purple, red at the
extremities.” Nieuhoff, p. 266.
Footnote 2584:
Dioscor. iii. 25.
Footnote 2585:
Id. i. 128. Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 37.
Footnote 2586:
Id. iv. 160.
Footnote 2587:
Id. i. 91.
Footnote 2588:
Id. i. 16.
Footnote 2589:
Id. ii. 71.
Footnote 2590:
Travels, p. 228.
-----
The island of Tylos, now Bahrein,[2591] on the coast of Lahsa, in the
Persian gulf, is said to have furnished excellent timber for
ship-building, which in the water would last upwards of two hundred
years.[2592] Could this have been a species of teak?[2593] Here, also,
as well as on the continent grew the cotton tree in great abundance,
from which the natives manufactured coarse calicoes and fine muslins.
Another production of the island was a tree bearing inodorous flowers
resembling the white violet, though four times as large. Here, too, was
found another tree with leaves like the rose, which being fully expanded
at noon contracted as the day advanced, and closed entirely at night,
when the tree, by the natives, was said to sleep. The same thing, by the
people of India, is at present predicated of the Averrhoa Carambola.
-----
Footnote 2591:
Cf. Gosselin, Recherches sur la Géographie des Anciens, t. iii. p.
104, sqq. Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 21. On the pearl fisheries of this
island, see vi. 33. See in Bochart a long and learned inquiry
respecting the name, situation, and ancient history of Tylos,
Geographia Sacra, pt. ii. 1. i. c. xlv. p. 766, seq.
Footnote 2592:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 4. 7.
Footnote 2593:
“This wood,” says William Marsden, “is in many respects preferable to
oak, working more kindly, and equal, at least, in point of duration;
many ships built of it at Bombay, continuing to swim for so many years
that none can recollect the period at which they were launched.”
History of Sumatra, p. 130.
-----
The fertility of this island may be compared with that of Thasos. Here
grew in abundance the date palm, the vine, the olive, the apple, and
most kinds of nuts, with fig trees which never shed their foliage. No
value was set upon the moisture derived from the clouds; on the
contrary, when any showers fell, the inhabitants were careful
immediately afterwards to irrigate their plantations, as if to wash away
the rain. With this they were, in fact, enabled to dispense, on account
of the number of fountains and streams of water which there
abounded.[2594]
-----
Footnote 2594:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 7. 7, seq. At the present day, the water
actually found on the island is brackish, while the sea is thought by
some to have gained so far upon the land as to cover certain springs
which supplied the ancient inhabitants with excellent water. Even now,
however, the produce of these fountains is not wholly lost though
doubtless deteriorated by the admixture of sea-water. “There are
certain springs,” observes Nieuhoff, “arising in the bottom of the
sea, at three fathoms and a half deep. Near the city of Manama,
certain divers go early in the morning in boats, about three musket
shots from the land, and dive to the bottom of the sea, fill their
earthen or leathern vessels with the water that issues from the
springs, and so come up again and return to the shore.” Churchill’s
Collection, Vol. ii. p. 196.
-----
From Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, and the adjacent countries, the
Greeks obtained a number of valuable commodities, of which far too
meagre an account has been left us by the ancients. Of these the most
curious, however, may be said to have been the naphtha, or rock oil,
which springs forth spontaneously from the earth in several parts of
those regions lying between the Caspian and the Persian gulf.[2595] The
most remarkable of their oil springs was found of old near Ecbatana, now
Hamadan, where Alexander was smitten with astonishment at beholding a
torrent of flame ascending perpetually out of the earth.
-----
Footnote 2595:
For example, near the Oxus, where a Macedonian, named Proxenos, in the
act of pitching Alexander’s tent, discovered a spring of pure oil.
Even the waters of the Oxus were supposed by the ancients to contain
oily particles. Plut. Alexand. § 57. On the Persian sulphur, Polyæn.
Stratag. iv. 6. 11.
-----
This everlasting fire was supplied through subterraneous channels with
naphtha, which in the vicinity welled forth from the soil and formed a
small lake. This naphtha, clear, when pure, as fine oil, is, perhaps,
the most inflammable substance known, kindling by the invisible gases
which surround it considerably before it comes into actual contact with
fire. Several experiments illustrative of its qualities were performed
for the amusement of the son of Philip. In the first place certain
Persians sprinkled with it the street leading to the royal quarters, and
then applying a torch to the earth at the farther end of it, the flame
ran along with the rapidity of thought, so that in an instant the whole
street seemed to be converted into a channel of fire.
On another occasion one Athenophanes, a profligate buffoon who had
abandoned the sweets of freedom at Athens to attend on the Macedonian
tyrant, being along with his master in the bath, advised him in the true
spirit of a courtier to make a cruel experiment of the power of the
naphtha on a poor youth named Stephanos, of homely person and comic
expression of face, but gifted with a magnificent voice, and who used
apparently to divert Alexander while bathing.
“Shall we try the force of this substance on Stephanos? For, if it
kindle and prove difficult to be extinguished on him its powers may
truly be said to be altogether strange and irresistible!”
The youth readily consented to encounter the peril. As soon, however, as
he had been anointed with it and brought near a fire the naphtha[2596]
instantaneously kindled, and his whole body was sheathed in flame to the
extreme perplexity and terror of Alexander. He would, in fact, have been
reduced to ashes had there not been at hand many persons bearing vessels
of cold water for the baths, which pouring over him they with extreme
difficulty extinguished the flames. He, nevertheless, felt severely the
effect of his royal master’s inhuman curiosity.[2597]
-----
Footnote 2596:
Strab. Casaub. xvi. t. ii. p. 1078. Sir Thomas Herbert’s account of
the Persian naphtha is not exactly consistent with that of Plutarch.
“This naphtha,” says he, “is an oily or fat liquid substance, in
colour not unlike soft, white clay; of quality hot and dry, so as it
is apt to inflame with the sunbeams, or heat that issues from fire, as
was mirthfully experimented upon one of Alexander’s pages, who, being
anointed, with much ado escaped burning.” Some Years’ Travels, p. 182.
Footnote 2597:
Plut. Alexand. § 35.
-----
Certain writers, desirous of giving an historical explanation of the
legends of the mythology, suppose the golden crown and veil sent by
Medea to Creüsa, which utterly consumed her in the presence of her
family, to have been smeared with naphtha;[2598] for the flames burst
not forth spontaneously from the ornaments themselves, but a fire
burning near, they, by a subtle power, attracted its seeds and were
kindled invisibly.[2599]
-----
Footnote 2598:
Eurip. Med. 1183, sqq. Plin. Nat. Hist. ii. 109. Gibbon, Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. x. p. 15, note 18, where, in speaking
of the Greek Fire, the historian touches incidentally on the qualities
of naphtha.
Footnote 2599:
In the mountains near Derabad, in Affghanistân, a kind of naphtha is
obtained by placing flocks of wool on the places where it oozes from
the earth. It contains a mixture of bitumen, supposed to be mumia, and
is less pure than the Persian. Vigne, Affghanistân, p. 61, seq.
Masson, Balochistân, &c. i. 115.
-----
It was believed by the ancients that the country of Babylonia was
pervaded throughout by veins of fire, which maintained a perpetual
inflammation in the earth and produced towards the surface a species of
pulsation. For, according to them, grains of barley being cast upon the
soil would leap up and rebound, for which, however, other causes might
be assigned. But the heat of the climate is undoubtedly prodigious, and,
to mitigate it, we are told, the ancient inhabitants were accustomed to
sleep on skins filled with water. Harpalos, who was made governor of the
province by Alexander, laboured to acclimate there the trees and plants
of Greece, and succeeded in everything excepting ivy which, delighting
in a cold soil, could not be reconciled to the “temper of that fiery
mould.”[2600]
-----
Footnote 2600:
This expression is Dr. Langhorne’s, t. v. p. 239. Plut. Alexand. § 35.
Sympos. iii. 2. 1.
-----
There was obtained from Persia a gum of singularly healing qualities,
which on this account received the name of sarcocolla,[2601] or
flesh-glue, as, also, kermes,[2602] cardamums,[2603] pistachio
nuts,[2604] artichokes,[2605] amomum,[2606] hemlock,[2607]
silphion,[2608] and citrons. Persia likewise exported gold solder,[2609]
onyx shells,[2610] whetstones,[2611] and jaspers,[2612] one kind of
which was intersected with white veins. Amulets of this stone were much
used in incantations. From the province of Bactriana emeralds of great
beauty, but of small size, were procured for the studding of costly cups
or goblets. They were found in a sandy and desert tract of country, the
one apparently which separates Khorasan from Balkh and Khawaresmia
during the prevalence of the Etesian gales which, unsettling and
shifting the sand, kept constantly laid open fresh spots which were, in
many cases, strewed with gems. The search for these emeralds, a hardy
and laborious undertaking, was performed by horsemen who, by fleet
riding, could scour the wilderness in a brief space of time, bending
their keen glances hither and thither as they moved along.[2613]
-----
Footnote 2601:
Dioscor. iii. 99.
Footnote 2602:
Id. iv. 48.
Footnote 2603:
Id. i. 5.
Footnote 2604:
Athen. xiv. 61.
Footnote 2605:
Id. ii. 82.
Footnote 2606:
Dioscor. i. 14.
Footnote 2607:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxv. 95.
Footnote 2608:
Dioscor. iii. 94.
Footnote 2609:
Id. v. 104.
Footnote 2610:
Id. ii. 10.
Footnote 2611:
Theophrast. de Lapid. § 44.
Footnote 2612:
Dioscor. v. 160. Sword and dagger handles, and mouth-pieces for pipes,
are carved from the jasper-agate of Yarkund. Vigne, Affghanistân, p.
209. It is reported that silver, copper, iron, lead, antimony, lapis
lazuli, (cf. Osbeck, Voyage to China, i. 244,) and asbestos are found
in different parts of the mountains around Kabul. The sand of the
Kirman stream is washed for gold, Id. p. 208. For a full account of
the lapis lazuli, as known to the ancients, see Gemme Fisica
Sotteranea, 1. iii. c. viii. t. i. p. 416. Tournefort, Voyage du
Levant. t. iii. p. 128.
Footnote 2613:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 35.
-----
In a region beyond Bactria a species of corn was found which must
unquestionably have been maize, since the grains are said to have been
as large as olive stones,[2614] and to maize only can we apply
Herodotus’s description of the wheat found in Babylonia, the straw of
which was encircled by leaves four inches in diameter, and its return
from two to three hundredfold. Now, in wheat, I believe, so prodigious
an increase is all but impossible, whereas a still greater return might
be obtained from the Indian corn. A lady whom I knew at Thebes counted
eighteen hundred grains in one ear of Syrian maize which was, probably,
not less than nine inches in circumference; and from such grain the
return mentioned by Herodotus[2615] is not at all extraordinary.
-----
Footnote 2614:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. viii. 4. 6. There is still, however, in this part
of the world a very large-grained wheat called camel’s tooth. Vigne,
Affghanistân, p. 170. On the extraordinary fertility of Hyrcania, &c.,
see Strab. xi. 7. t. ii. p. 426, and cf. on the nutritive qualities of
maize, &c., Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, i. 49.
Footnote 2615:
l. i. § 193.
-----
The millet and sesamum of Babylonia are likewise mentioned, though it is
probable that, owing to the difficulty of carriage, it only exported
small quantities to be used as seed. Barn-door fowls were introduced
into Greece from Persia, and always continued to be known by the name of
the Median birds.[2616] Peaches, too, and various other kinds of fruit,
as we have already mentioned in the book on Country Life, were brought
to Greece from the Persian empire.
-----
Footnote 2616:
Athen. xiv. 69.
-----
This country likewise exported the oil of white violets used in the
bath, and the odour of which they enjoyed during their repasts;[2617]
shaggy winter cloaks seem to have been obtained from northern Persia,
together with dyed leather,[2618] resembling the shagreen and marocco of
present times, brought partly from Babylonia, partly from Persia Proper,
which likewise supplied the world with carpets exquisitely variegated
with figures of animals.[2619]
-----
Footnote 2617:
Dioscor. Notha. p. 442.
Footnote 2618:
Beckmann, History of Inventions, iv. 206.
Footnote 2619:
Athen. v. 26. Cf. Plut. Agesil. § 12. We still find that, for richness
of colouring and softness of texture, the carpets of Persia are quite
unrivalled. Fowler, Three Years in Persia, i. 81. Gibbon, in his rich
and picturesque style, has given a description of one of these carpets
found by the Arabs in the dwelling of the Persian monarch: “One of the
apartments of the palace was decorated with a carpet of of silk, sixty
cubits in length, and as many in breadth; a paradise or garden was
depicted on the ground; the flowers, fruits and shrubs were imitated
by the figures of the gold embroidery and the colours of the precious
stones, and the ample square was enriched by a variegated and verdant
border.” Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. ix. p. 370.
-----
The Persians also imported furs, but do not appear to have exported
them, the use of these articles being little known to the Greeks.[2620]
-----
Footnote 2620:
Beckmann, History of Inventions, iv. 204, sqq.
-----
Respecting the commerce carried on with India the notions of the
ancients were confused, chiefly because the various commodities passing
through other countries were often confounded with their indigenous
productions. We know, however, that from this rich land came many of the
spices and precious stones in use among the Greeks,—as the diamond, the
ruby, the sapphire,[2621] and the finest kind of pearls,[2622] the most
fragrant spikenard,[2623] with costus,[2624] and amomum,[2625] and
cinnamon,[2626] and cassia,[2627] and odoriferous reeds.[2628] Thence
also was obtained a kind of cyperos,[2629] whose juice was bitter, and
of yellow colour, and appears to have been used for removing hair from
the skin.
-----
Footnote 2621:
Carletti, Viaggi, t. ii. p. 231.
Footnote 2622:
Ælian. Hist. Animal. x. 13. xv. 8. Athen. iii. 44, seq. Theoph. de
Lapid. § 36. Huet. Hist. of Commerce, p. 19. Iorio, Storia del
Commercio, t. iv. 1. ii. c. ix. p. 264, sqq. Nieuhoff, Voyage to the
East Indies, in Churchill’s Collection, vol. ii. p. 248. Baldæus,
Description of the Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, c. xxii.
Footnote 2623:
Dioscor. i. 6.
Footnote 2624:
Bontius, In Ind. Archiat. de Medic. Ind. p. 21.
Footnote 2625:
Dioscor. i. 14.
Footnote 2626:
Id. i. 13.
Footnote 2627:
Damogeron, ap. Geopon. vii. 13. 4.
Footnote 2628:
Prosper. Alpin. de Medicin. Ægypt. iv. 10, p. 297. Dioscor. i. 17.
Footnote 2629:
Dioscor. i. 4.
-----
Another Indian export was the bark called narcapthon,[2630] which,
together with wood of aloes obtained from the same country, was used as
a perfume.[2631] Black, white, and long pepper,[2632] were likewise
among the productions of India, which found their way to the west,
together with sugar, the art of manufacturing and refining which appears
to have been known to the Hindûs from the remotest antiquity. The
whiteness of the Indian sugar, as well as that it was loafed may be
inferred from a passage of Dioscorides, who compares it to salt, and
says, that it broke easily beneath the tooth.[2633]
-----
Footnote 2630:
Dioscor. i. 22.
Footnote 2631:
Bontius, In Ind. Archiat. de Medicin. Indor. p. 11. Dioscor. i. 21.
Footnote 2632:
Dioscor. ii. 189. Carletti, Viaggi, t. ii. p. 218. Marsden, History of
Sumatra, p. 117, sqq. Bontius, p. 15. Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, i.
349.
Footnote 2633:
Dioscor. ii. 104. Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 17, cum not. Dalecamp. et
Hard. Lucan. iii. 237. Indor. Orig. xvii. 7.
-----
There was in India, moreover, a kind of myrrh produced from a thorny
shrub, of which no exact description is given.[2634] But one of its most
celebrated productions was the spikenard, which is said to have grown
upon a mountain at the foot of which flowed the Ganges. The
malabathron,[2635] another export of the Indian peninsula, was from the
similarity of its odour by some of the ancients confounded with the leaf
of the spikenard, as it appears to have been by the moderns with the
piper betel, or the Canella Silvestris Malabarica. But from the
description of Dioscorides, it is clearly neither the one nor the other;
for, while the betel is a parasite cultivated on terra firma, like the
vine and the Canella Silvestris, the malabathron was, we are told, an
aquatic plant, floating on the surface of lakes, or the waters of
morasses, without the slightest connexion with the soil beneath, like
the little lentil of the marshes: its leaves when gathered were strung
on a linen thread, and in that manner hung up to dry, after which they
were laid by for exportation. Occasionally, during the heats of summer,
the malabathron lakes were dried up, upon which the natives were
accustomed to scatter heaps of brushwood over their whole site and set
them on fire, so that the entire surface of the earth might be burned,
without which, it was supposed the plant would no more appear. Among the
uses of the malabathron was the sweetening of the breath, which was done
by placing a leaf under the tongue. Thrown into coffers or wardrobes it
communicated a perfume to raiment, and preserved it from the moth. The
uses to which the wood of aloes was put were in some respects similar,
as it was kept in the mouth to sweeten the breath, and sprinkled, when
reduced to powder, over the body to repress perspiration.
-----
Footnote 2634:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 1. 2.
Footnote 2635:
Dioscor. i. 11.
-----
A coarse kind of bdellion,[2636] and a species of lycion were reckoned
among the productions of India.[2637] From an island on the coast was
obtained a precious bark called macer,[2638] of great medicinal virtue;
aloes, too, was thence exported in abundance. The artichoke[2639] was
plentifully produced on the banks of the Indus, as well as in the
mountains of Hyrcania and Khawaresmia. The substance denominated onyx
shell,[2640] procured from a fish resembling the myrex, was found in
certain Indian marshes, where a species of spikenard is said to have
flourished. On the drying up of the waters in the great heats of summer,
these shells were found strewed over the soil, and exported for their
odoriferous and medicinal qualities. The great lizard, called the land
crocodile,[2641] has likewise been enumerated among the productions of
India. Other Indian commodities were fine muslins,[2642] ivory, and
tortoise shell,[2643] from Taprobana,[2644] a rich species of
marble,[2645] steel of the finest quality,[2646] peacocks,[2647] and a
large, beautiful breed of white oxen.[2648]
-----
Footnote 2636:
Dioscor. i. 80.
Footnote 2637:
Id. i. 132. Plin. Nat. Hist. xii. 15.
Footnote 2638:
Dioscor. i. 93. Galen. de Facult. Simpl. Med. p. 205. Plin. Nat. Hist.
xii. 16.
Footnote 2639:
Athen. ii. 82. Galen. de Aliment. Facult. cap. li.
Footnote 2640:
Dioscor. ii. 10.
Footnote 2641:
Id. ii. 71.
Footnote 2642:
Lucian. de Sacrif. § 11.
Footnote 2643:
Lucian. Musc. Encom. § 1. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 77.
Footnote 2644:
Strab. ii. 1. t. i. p. 114. Cf. Diod. Sicul. ii. 37. t. i. p. 169.
Wesseling.
Footnote 2645:
Athen. v. 39.
Footnote 2646:
Beckmann, Hist. of Inventions, iv. 247.
Footnote 2647:
Lucian. Navig. § 23. As the Brahmins looked upon the parrot as a
sacred bird, they did not perhaps permit it to become an article of
commerce, although they had already begun to employ their leisure in
teaching it to imitate the human voice. Ælian. de Nat. Animal. xiii.
18.
Footnote 2648:
Athen. v. 32.
-----
Two kinds of indigo, employed both in painting and dyeing were exported
from Hindùstân.[2649] Of these the one is said to have been a natural
production which exuded from certain canes and hardened in the sun, the
other was artificial, consisting of the substance which adhered to the
copper vessels wherein artificers dyed blue. Having been scraped thence
it was supposed to be dried and introduced into commerce. These accounts
have already, by other authors, been shown to be erroneous, but they
prove at least that indigo was in common use among the ancients, though
we understand nothing of the means by which it was produced, or how it
was cultivated.[2650]
-----
Footnote 2649:
Dioscor. v. 107. See the Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 414.
Footnote 2650:
Beckmann, History of Inventions, iv. 101, seq. Cf. Asiatic Researches,
iii. 414. Hen. van Rheede, Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, p. 102.
-----
The cotton tree appears to have been grown in India[2651] from the
remotest antiquity, where the natives manufactured from it the finest
fabrics, as calicoes, and chintzes, and muslins, regarded even as
superior to the manufactures of Greece.[2652]
-----
Footnote 2651:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 7. 7.
Footnote 2652:
Lucian. de Musca, § 1. Herod. iii. 106.
-----
Another production of Eastern Asia, which was imported into Greece much
earlier than is generally believed, was silk,[2653] of the origin and
natural history of which they had but an imperfect and confused
knowledge. It was understood, however, to be created by the labour of an
insect with eight feet, called ser, about twice the size of the largest
beetle. In other respects it was compared with the spider which suspends
its web from the boughs of trees. These insects they kept in houses, the
temperature of which was regulated according to the change of the
seasons. The fine thread spun by the ser was found twisted about its
legs. They fed them during four years upon the leaves of common panic,
but on the fifth, because they knew they would live no longer, they gave
them green reeds to eat, which was the food in which the creature most
delighted. On this it fed so greedily, that it burst itself, upon which
store of fine thread was found in its bowels.
-----
Footnote 2653:
Pausan. vi. 26. 6, sqq.
-----
The country whence this substance was obtained is said to have been a
kind of delta, situated in a deep recess of the Indian ocean, and
inhabited by a mixed race, half Indian and half Scythian. In this
account there is we see some truth, mingled with a great deal of error.
The greatest care is still taken in China to regulate the temperature of
the houses in which the silkworms are bred, as well as to remove them
beyond the reach of all noises and offensive smells.[2654] With respect
to the figure and food of the insect Pausanias had been misinformed,
though he might have obtained more correct knowledge by passing over
into the island of Ceos, where the silkworm had been found from time
immemorial.[2655]
-----
Footnote 2654:
Hazelquist, Travels, p. 234. Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 428.
Footnote 2655:
Aristot. Hist. Animal. v. 19.
-----
In later ages the merchandise of India, and central Asia was chiefly
conveyed to the countries on the Mediterranean by way of Arabia and the
Red Sea, but at an earlier period it came wholly overland. The exact
course pursued by the caravans in these remote times has not been
accurately described to us; but as the nature of the country has always
remained unchanged, it is to be presumed, that they pursued exactly the
identical tracks which they at present follow. Occasionally some few of
the commodities of Central Asia may have found their way into Greece by
the desert, north of the Caspian, but the more common route lay through
Khawaresmia and Syria, whence they were distributed to the rest of the
western world by the Phœnicians.
The produce of India was probably transported across the Indus at
Attock,[2656] and from thence through one of the nine passes into
Persia, by way of Candahar and Herat, after which the caravan fell into
the road leading to Susa,[2657] Ecbatana, or Persepolis, according as
its destination was the northern or southern part of Mesopotamia.
Sometimes commerce followed the course of rivers, down the Indus for
example, thence along the coast of Persia, and up the Persian gulf and
the Euphrates or the Red Sea. On most of the roads mentioned there
appear to have existed in those ages caravanserais, as at present, where
merchants and travellers were accommodated with lodging, water, and
fuel, being expected to carry along with them whatever provisions they
required. Into this part of the subject, however, it is not my purpose
to enter at any length, since to investigate it thoroughly would require
a separate volume.
-----
Footnote 2656:
Here the ferry-boats, in the present day, are built of hill-cedar,
fastened together with clamps of iron, and ornamented with carvings.
Vigne, Affghanistân, p. 32.
Footnote 2657:
When certain articles of this merchandise, as pepper, for example,
reached Athens, the merchants were sometimes denounced by sycophants
as spies of the great king, and threatened, at least, with the
torture. Antiphon. ap. Athen. ii. 73. Casaub. Animadv. t. vi. p. 445.
-----