The whole line of coast from the Red Sea to the Ganges was dotted with harbors and places of mercantile resort. It is not needful to our purpose to specify the intervening ones, and we pass to those most important to Egyptian commerce, Barygaza, Musiris, and Nelcynda on the western shore of the Indian peninsula. Of these Barygaza,* (now Beroach on the Nerbuddah) was situated furthest north. The approach to this city is accurately described by Arrian, the occasions of pilotage, the effects of the tides, etc. This seems to have been a great emporium and to it were brought a great variety of articles from all the adjacent country, which was thickly settled with villages and cities. Among these, are mentioned as belonging to the Egyptian trade, onyx,† bdellium,‡ murrhine, cotton cloths, nard, myrrh, silk stuffs, raw silk, pepper,|| etc. Among the imports, wines from Italy and Greece, brass, tin, lead, glass,¶ damasked girdles, melilote, orpiment (oavdaoáyn), gold and silver

the other. It is also imported into Djidda from Souahel, (the Aromatum emporium et promontorium of Arrian) on the eastern coast of Africa, beyond Cape Guardafui."-Burckhardt's Nubia, p. 262.

* "The position of Barygaza is remarkable; it appears to stand on an artificial mound; bricks have been found in deep wells in the midst of the city, and the modern buildings are in all probability a superstructure on the very houses of the ancient Barygaza. Col. Tod discovered in it two very rare and valuable coins of the Bactrian kings".-Lieut. Burnes.

† Zenothemis (dicit) Indicam onychem plures habere varietates, igneam, nigram, corneam, cingentibus candidis venis oculi modo, intevenientibus quarundam oculis obliquis venis. Pliny Hist. xxxvii. 24.

The bdellium was produced by a tree of a dark color, of the size of an olive, with a leaf like an oak, and fruit like the caper tree. The bdellium ought to be translucent, resembling wax, odorous, and when rubbed fat-like, and of a bitter and somewhat sourish taste. It was produced in Media, India, and other places. The Indian was most moist and gum-like. Pliny xii. 19.

§ Cacumina in aristas se spargunt; ideo gemina dote nardi spicas et folias celebrant... Sincerum quidem levitate deprehenditur, et colore rufo, odorisque suavitate, et gustu maxime siccante os, sapore jucundo. Pretium spicae in libras x. c. Pliny xii. 26.

|| Pliny xii. 14.

¶ "They (the Egyptians) were not only acquainted with glass, but excelled in the art of staining it of divers hues, and their ingenuity had pointed out to them the mode of carrying various devices directly

money which was exchanged for that of the country at a great profit. Silver vases, musical instruments, beautiful maidens, etc. were carried as presents to the princes of the country.

Musiris, and Nelcynda, the latter of which was situated near the southern extremity of the peninsula, were also much frequented by vessels from Egypt and merchants from Greece. The imports and exports were like those of Barygaza. In addition Arrian mentions pearls of great beauty, malabathrum,* many species of transparent precious stones, diamonds, sapphire, tortoise shell, the pepper called cottonaicum, etc. In early times this navigation was performed in small vessels which crept along the shore, making the circuit of every bay. Hippalus is said to have first discovered the possible course through the ocean, by observing the position of the emporia and the direction of the winds. From him to the times of Arrian, the starting points for the sailor from Egypt were Cana (now Cape Fartaque) on the coast of Arabia, and the Aromatum Emporium (now Cape Guardafui) in Africa.

The account given by Arrian of the commercial intercourse between Egypt and India corresponds substantially with the briefer and less minute statement of Pliny, who also describes the land route which is omitted by Arrian. "The topic is a worthy one," says he,t "for India draws from our empire in no year less than fifty million sesterces, and returns to us merchandize which is sold for a hundred fold. Two miles (millia passuum) from Alexandria is Juliopolis; thence they sail up the Nile to Coptos 303 miles, which distance is accomplished with a north wind in twelve days. From Coptos the journey through the fused substance. Of the early epoch at which glass was known in Egypt, I must observe, that besides our finding the process represented at Beni Hassan and Thebes, I have seen a ball of this substance, which bears the name of Amunneitgori, who lived towards the commencement of the eighteenth dynasty, about 1500 B. C."-Wilkinson's Thebes, p. 258.

Dat et malobathron Syria, arborem folio convoluto, arido colore; ex quo exprimitur oleum ad unguenta. Laudatius tamen ex India venit. In paludibus ibi gigni tradunt lentis modo, odoratius croco, nigricans, scabrumque, quodam salis gustu. Sapor ejus nardo similis esse debet sub lingua. Odor vero in vino suffervefacti antecedit alios. Pliny xii. 59. See also xxii. 47. Arrian gives a fabulous account of its origin, and its various kinds, p. 187.

† vi. 26.

is continued on camels, the stations* being arranged for the convenience of watering. The first is called Hydreum 32 miles ; the second on a mountain, a day's journey; the third another Hydreum, 95 miles from Coptos, again on a mountain; next at the Hydreum Apollinis, 184 miles from Coptos; again on a mountain; next at a new Hydreum, from Coptos 233 miles. There is also another old Hydreum called the Troglodytic, where a garrison is stationed 2 miles from the road and 4 miles from the new Hydreum. Next they reach Berenice, which is a port of the Red Sea 258 miles from Coptos. But since they travel the greater part of the way by night on account of the heat, and rest during the day, the whole journey from Coptos to Berenice is completed on the twelfth day. The route by sea is begun in mid-summer before the rising of the dog star or immediately after. In about 30 days, they reach Ocelis in Arabia, or Cave in the country of frankincense. There is also a third port called Musa, which

We extract a description of two of these stations from Wilkinson's Notes on a part of the Eastern Desert of Upper Egypt, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 2. p. 48. "It consists

of two towers; there are no remains of houses within, and there is scarcely more than room in some places, for a man to pass between the well and the rock. The other is the kind of fort usual in these stations, supplied with what I suppose to have been a well, and with convenient houses or rooms; it is fortified with towers; those at the entrance had a staircase leading up to the top; on the outside is a walled enclosure, containing large apartments, probably intended to receive the stones from Dokhán, the merchandize from Myos Hormos, the beasts of burden, and the men who accompanied them, while the fort would be set apart for the soldiers or permanent residents, who had the superintendence of the necessary supply of water always kept at these places, or were posted here to give additional assistance if required to those who passed, and to repair the roads. From this station a surperb road led through the plain and over the beds of torrents, which run between these nountains during the rainy season. It was in some parts forty-eight or fifty feet wide; along the sides were placed stones which had been cleared from it, and which afterwards served to mark its limits; at intervals were larger heaps, and on the heights, at the side, piers of stones regularly built to serve as road-marks; which last being out of the reach of the torrents are generally in good preservation. But in most places there are no other vestiges of a road, which having for ages been exposed to the force of those water courses, has at length been swept away."-This road and these stations, as has been already intimated, were constructed by Ptolemy Philadelphus.

navigators bound to India do not make, nor indeed any except those who traffic in frankincense and the aromatics of Arabia. Inland is a city; its palace is called Saphar, and another Save; It is better for those who sail for India to start from Ocelis. Thence by aid of the wind Hippalus they sail in 40 days to the first emporium of India, Musiris. This place is not an eligible one as a place of destination, on account of the pirates who infest the neighborhood, and who occupy a place called Nitrias ; neither does it abound in articles of merchandize. Besides, the station where ships lie is distant from the shore, and the cargoes are loaded and unloaded by means of boats. At the time I write, Celebothras is king there.

A more convenient port is in the country of the Necanides, called Barace. There reigns Pandion in an inland city called Modusa, far distant from the emporium. The region from which pepper is brought to Barace in canoes, (monoxylis lintribus) is called Cottonara. From India they return in the beginning of the Egyptian month Thybi, our December, so that they return in the same year in which they sailed. They sail from India with a southeast wind (vento Vulturno), and when they have entered the Red Sea with a south or southwest, (Africo vel Austro)."

A similar representation of the extent of the Indian trade, which he speaks of as a matter well understood is given by Strabo. He calls Alexandria the greatest mart in the world, and affirms that in the reign of Ptolemy Auletes the most careless and improvident of all her princes, the revenues of Egypt were 12,500 talents. "What," he exclaims, "should we think it to be now, economized with so much care, and augmented to such a degree by the Indian and Troglodytic trade. Formerly not twenty vessels dared to pass beyond the straits of the Arabian Gulf; but now large fleets sail to India and the extremities of Ethiopia, from which most precious freight is brought to Egypt, and thence conveyed to other countries, so that the revenues on both imports and exports are doubled." The modern commerce between India and Egypt is striking

iii. 433, 4. In the introduction to his Geography of India, he complains that of the traders who go from Egypt to India, few have penetrated so far as the Ganges, and that those few are private adventurers who make no valuable contribution to the history of the countries.

ly similar to that described by Arrian and Pliny. We have an account of this, from the pen of a very intelligent traveller, Lieut. Alexander Burnes, originally communicated to the Geographical Society of Bombay.

"From Mandavee, (the principal sea-port of Kutch on the west coast of India) a maritime communication is kept up with Zanguebar and the whole east coast of Africa, with the Red Sea and Arabia, with the Persian Gulf, etc. The vessels used in this extensive commerce, vary in size from twenty to two hundred tons. They carry a large sail, have two masts and are never decked. . . . The most valuable branch of trade carried on from Kutch is with the eastern coast of Africa, or as it is here called Swally. Twelve vessels have returned from thence a distance of nearly three thousand miles, within these few days, laden with ivory, rhinoceros' hides and other valuable articles. . . . In the beginning of this year (1835) the boat named Veerasil sailed from Mandavee; she is of about thirty tons burthen, was commanded by a Moslem, and had besides the master, a crew of five Moslems, three Rajpoots, and a young negro boy. The cargo consisted of the coarsest cotton cloth, the sale of which was managed by a Hindoo. From Mandavee they stretched out at once to sea; made the coast of Arabia, touched at Maculla and Aden, disposing of their goods as they proceeded, till they reached Barbar' on the sea of Babool Mandeb, and outside the straits of that name. The country called Barbar is inhabited by the Somaulies; there is no town and no harbor, though the anchorage is safe and good. Barbar is annually frequented by about one hundred vessels from different parts of India, during which time a regular fair is held with the inhabitants, who come from inland with camels. In return for the cloth, which is the staple article of commerce, they give goats, coffee, gum, and ghee, but chiefly dollars, which they bring from Hurrar, a two months' journey in the interior. Camels are exceedingly numerous; caravans of 400 and 500 come and go at a time. The Somaulies appeared to be a mixture of the Hottentots and the Arabs; they are a noble looking race, very tall and elegantly formed."

Our limits forbid us to enter upon a not less interesting topic, the caravan trade of Egypt with Central and Western Africa.