Note 174 — INTRODUCTION (continued 2)

Benjamin's statements as to India and China are of course very vague, but we must remember he was the first European who as much as mentions China. Having regard to the full descriptions of other countries of the old World by Arabic writers of the Middle Ages, and to the fact that the trade route then was principally by sea on the route indicated by Benjamin, it is surprising that we have comparatively little information about India and China from Arabic sources. In none of their records is the Sea of Nikpa named, and it is not improbable that Benjamin coined this name himself from the root which occurs in the Bible four times; in the Song of Moses (Exod. xv. 8): "The depths were curdled in the heart of the sea" (not "congealed" as the Version has it), Job x. 10: "curdled me like cheese"; and in Zeph. i. 12 and Zech. xiv. 6. The term "the curdling sea" would be very expressive of the tempestuous nature of the China Sea and of some of its straits at certain seasons of the year.