Book 6 — CHAPTER XIII. EXPORTS FROM AFRICA AND THE EAST.
Reading edition
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 382were exported linen or flax, medicinal roots, perfumes, and aromatic spices.[2405]
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]
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 383Africa, 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]
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.
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]
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 384we 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]
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]
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.
Carthage traded generally in all the productions of the ancient world, her exports consequently were numerous, and among these were magnificent tapestry 385and 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.
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 386which 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]
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 387acacalis, 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]
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.
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]
Egypt, likewise, exported paper,[2474] sails, curiously 388wrought 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 389eaten by the Egyptians, who with its seed made also a kind of bread.[2488]
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]
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. 390In lieu of salt and sulphur alum was sometimes substituted.
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]
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 391from 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]
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]
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 392produced in extremely small quantities, but exhales the most delicious odour.
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]
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:
393There 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.
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]
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 394the 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]
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.
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]
The articles of merchandise supplied to commerce 395by 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]
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]
The plains of the Arabian wastes have in all ages 396been 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]
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 397were 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.
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.
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.
398From 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.
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 399tablets, 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 speciesspecies 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.
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 400from 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.
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.
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 401potages with the green leaves, as the Greeks usually did with rue.[2575]
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.
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.”
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] 402aloes,[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.
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.
403The 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]
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.
404This 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 405kindled, 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]
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]
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 406ivy which, delighting in a cold soil, could not be reconciled to the “temper of that fiery mould.”[2600]
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]
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 407olive 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.
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.
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]
408The Persians also imported furs, but do not appear to have exported them, the use of these articles being little known to the Greeks.[2620]
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.
409Another 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]
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 410hung 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.
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 411Taprobana,[2644] a rich species of marble,[2645] steel of the finest quality,[2646] peacocks,[2647] and a large, beautiful breed of white oxen.[2648]
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]
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]
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 412be 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.
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]
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 413always 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.
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