navigated upwards the one to Opis, which is an emporium for the region round about, and the other to Babylon." This navigation and trade we may suppose to have been at their height during the supremacy of the Chaldeans. For under the dominion of the Persians, both the Tigris and the Euphrates were obstructed by artificial dams.1 No cities of any note are mentioned on the Euphrates. But Arrian in his Indica, says that Nearchus "sailed as far as the mouth of that river to a town of the Babylonian country, called Diridotis, to which merchants from the country which produces it bring frankincense, and the other aromatics which Arabia bears." We have here an active commerce (an emporium) with Arabia, and, which is to be noted, carried on by Arabians. Herodotus informs us that the Chaldeans used a thousand talents of frankincense annually in the temple of Jupiter. Strabo also, on the testimony of Polycletes, mentions an emporium on the lake into which the Tigris flows. These signs of commerce have not yet entirely disappeared. In the report of a Committee of the English House of Commons on Steam Navigation to India, Q. 1579, we have the evidence of Lieut. Col. Colebrooke, that "the remains of ancient works near the mouth of the Euphrates, would indicate that the countries adjacent must have been very populous, and the river a medium of a very extensive commerce.'

by the account of the Arabian ambassadors, and Roman merchants who came thence, not less than 120 Roman miles. The question of the former mouth of the Euphrates is a difficult one, and we have not room to discuss it here. The curious on this subject may profitably consult Vincent on Ancient Commerce Vol. I. and a paper by D'Anville, Memoires d' l'Acadamie d' l'Inscriptions Tom. XXX.

1 These dams xatαggáztαι are ascribed by Arrian, VII.7, and Strabo III. 338, to the fear of the Persians that some predatory fleet might attack them through these rivers. Perhaps they had some reference to irrigation, as Strabo tells us the banks were well peopled, 219. The Persians are well known never to have been in any extent a maritime people, never occupied maritime cities. Pliny tells us that one of the Magi would not travel by sea, considering it unlawful to spit etc. in the sea. A superstitious regard for the element may have had some influence.

2 Cap. XLI.

3 I. 183. Compare III. 97. See also Curtius V. 3. And for an account of the olibanum or frankincense, Asiatic Researches, Vol. I. p. 377.

4 III. 319.

The existence of these emporia would lead us to infer a commerce with the towns on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Accordingly we learn from Aristobulus1 that the inhabitants of Gerrha make much merchandize in vessels to Babylonia, and thence their wares are conveyed by the river to Thapsacus and there distributed in every direction. Gerrha, now El Katif, was situated at the extremity of a deep bay, 200 stadia from the sea, and 2400 from the head of the gulf, and was founded by a colony of Chaldeans. The region abounded in salt, which they doubtless made an article of traffic, and of which the houses of the inhabitants were built. They were also land carriers of the goods and spices of the Arabians. These merchants are represented as having become exceedingly rich by their traffic, as might be expected from its extent, and the high value of the articles in which they traded.

A short distance further on the same side of the Gulf, are the islands of Tylos, Aradus and the Daden or Dedan of the Scriptures, the Bahrein island, which have been so famous in modern times for the pearls in which they abound, and which until rivalled by Ceylon, carried on an immense commerce in them. "There is no place in the world, where more pearls are found, the bottom of the sea being quite covered with the shell fish. The island Bahrein with Kauk is considered the richest bed of pearls. Those in the Persian Gulf are yellow or white; the latter of which are taken to Asia Minor and Constantinople, chiefly for the use of the seraglio. While the pearl of Ceylon shivers in pieces, that of the Persian Gulf is as hard as a rock."3 "Bahrein is a fortified city, upon the isles known either by the sanie name or by the name of Aval. In this little island were once 360 towns and villages. At present, besides the capital, it contains only 60 inhabited villages. The duties on dates and pearls yield an annual revenue of a lack of rupees, 300,000 French livres."4 The value of this article, and its existence in the Persian Gulf, were not unknown to the ancients. The islands were inhabited by a branch of the Phenicians, whose 2 Ib. III. 402.

1 Cited by Strabo, III. 383.

3 Morier first voyage, p. 53.

4 Niebuhr II. 152. English translation.

5 Strabo III. 382. The natives of Tylos (Tyros) and Aradus asserted that the Phenician cities of the same name were colonies from them. The islands contained remains of Phenician origin.

commercial activity would not have the peculiar advantages of their position unemployed. Nearchus, in his voyage in the Persian Gulf found an island near the mouth of it on the eastern shore, which produced many and valuable pearls. Pliny also speaks of Tylos as celebrated for the great number of pearls found there. The character of the inhabitants of these islands, and their nearness to the city of Gerrha, which had direct commercial relations with Babylon, as well as the value of the pearl and its fitness for the Babylonian market, can leave no doubt, that this article as well as their other productions was abundantly exported thither.

In our allusions to the luxury of the Babyloniaus, the universal practice of carrying walking-sticks was mentioned. These we have every reason to believe from what we know of the soil and productions of that country, must have been imported from abroad. The article is of consequence only as showing the direction of their trade. We can have no doubt that it was brought from Tylos. Theophrastus3 says, "there grows in this island a tree from which very handsome sticks are cut. They are streaked and spotted and very heavy, and are shivered by being struck upon any thing hard." He also speaks of "a kind of timber in that island of which ships were built, which under water was incorruptible. It had been known to last two hundred years. This timber must have been invaluable to the Babylonians if they were themselves a commercial people; and at all events furnished facilities for maritime expeditions, which in that region would not be lost.

Another production of this island, of which great quantities were consumed in Babylonia, and which could not have grown there, was cotton. Pliny informs us that "these trees bear a

1 Strabo 383. 2 Nat. Hist. VI. 32, plurimis margaritis celeberrima. 3 Hist. Plant. V. 6. Pliny, Nat. Hist. XVI. 80 gives the same account of it, on the report of the followers of Alexander. These canes, enchased and mounted, formed a part, doubtless, of the apparatus of men of fashion in Babylon.

4 J. c. Pliny, l. c.

5 We have already spoken of the want of timber trees in Babylonia. Alexander in preparing a fleet, could find no better materials there than cypresses. Arrian, VII. 19.

6 Nat. Hist. XII. 21. He adds that the lesser Tylos, which was about 10 miles distant, produced it much more abundantly.

gourd-like fruit, about the size of a quince, which, when it opens, bursting in its ripeness, discloses balls of a downy substance, from which garments are made;" and Theophrastus,' that the island was almost covered with these trees.

The evidence already adduced of the commercial enterprise of the inhabitants of Gerrha and the neighboring islands, their peculiar means of long voyages, and the ample marts open to them in Babylon and Phenicia,2 would furnish sufficient ground for presuming that their trade extended itself beyond the limits of the Persian gulf, to the remoter regions of India. Of this we have full confirmation in a passage of Arrian.3 Nearchus, just at the entrance of the Persian gulf, saw on the opposite coast a large promontory, extending far into the sea, apparently a day's sail distant, which some of his companions who were acquainted with the country, informed him was a promontory of Arabia, called Maceta ; and that from it cinnamon and other spicery was carried to the Assyrians" (Babylonians). That this was not merely an emporium for that region, but a passage for an extensive foreign trade, appears from the mention of cinnamon, which grows only in the East Indies, and is not found in Arabia. The native country of cinnamon was but vaguely known to the ancients. Herodotus" informs us that the cinnamon dealers were very loth to tell of it, and all the definite knowledge he could gain was that it was the country in which Bacchus was brought up; clearly pointing to the Indian peninsula and islands. The pearls also of India were known to the

1 IV. 9.

? The trade of these islands to Phenicia is proved by occasional allusions to it in the Prophets. Ezekiel 27 15. Isaiah 21: 13, "ye travelling companies of Dedanim," alluding to their caravan trade.

3 Indica Cap. XXXII.

4 On Major Rennel's Map, cape Mussendem, the Mocandon of the Portuguese. Heeren makes it the same with Dsiulfar, which seems to lie further west. This is believed to be the Sabo of Ptolemy, and is perhaps the place spoken of by Pliny XII. 32 as a place of great traffic in frankincense, though elsewhere he seems to speak of the people under the name of Mizi.

5 III. 111. A complete account of the varieties of cinnamon and of the trade in it may be found in Thunberg's Travels, Vol. IV. p. 194 seq. see also Marsden's Sumatra, p. 125.

followers of Alexander, and the establishment of the fishery is attributed to Hercules, indicating a Tyrian origin of the commerce. These might have been obtained from the western coast of the peninsula, but there is no difficulty in supposing they came from Ceylon. Indeed Ceylon was known to the Greeks as early at least as the times of Alexander.1

ARTICLE IV.

ASCENT OF MOUNT ARARAT.

By the Editor.

AMONG the reasons, which have induced us to prepare a brief article upon this celebrated mountain is the fact that the attention of the American churches is about to be called to the countries of Western and Central Asia, as a field for missionary effort. Three or four of our countrymen have already explored a part of the region lying at the foot of Mount Ararat. A line of missionary outposts will soon be formed from Constantinople, along the shores of the Black Sea, and over the ridge of mountains, crossed by the Ten Thousand, to the plains of Persia. The day is not far distant when another series of stations may be established from Aleppo to Susa, including the "Armenia above Assyria" of which Herodotus speaks.

We also wish to lay before our readers the extremely interesting account of Prof. Parrot's ascent to the summit of Ararat, (see For. Quart. Review, No. 30), in contrast with the timid apprehensions of preceding travellers. By dint of the most determined perseverance, the professor has reached a spot inaccessible hitherto, at least since the days of the second father of the human race. His enthusiastic and resolved mind has put to flight the cherished vanities of Armenian monks and the too confident predictions of not a few European tourists.

The first mention of the word Ararat in history is in Gen. 8:4. "And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of

1 Under the name of Taprobane. Pliny refers in his account of it to Onesicritus, Alexander's admiral, VI. 24.