18 THE PHŒNICIAN MARINE EXPEDITIONS.

"The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.

"Tharshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.

"Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.

66

They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses, and horsemen, and mules.

"The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand; they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.

"Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.

THE PHOENICIAN MARINE EXPEDITIONS. 19

“Judah and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants; they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.

"Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

แ

Dan also and Javan going to and fro, occupied in thy fairs; bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.

"Dedan was thy merchant in precious. clothes for chariots.

"Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats in these were they thy merchants.

"The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.

"Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.

20

THE MEANING OF TARSHISH.

"These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.

"The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market, and thou wast replenished and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.

66 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters; the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas."-Ezek. xxvii. 3-26.

It would be beside my subject to enter into an investigation, on this occasion, of all the places mentioned in this portion of Scripture. I will therefore confine myself to the meaning of Tarshish, which bears close connexion with the object I have in view. After a rigorous and critical examination of different works written on it, I am led to adopt the view of the profoundly learned Bochart-viz., that the Tarshish of the Scriptures was the Tartessus of Spain, with a district around including Cadiz.* Let us view

*See Appendix B.

WEALTH OF SPAIN AND OF SOLOMON. 21

for a moment the state of Spain in ancient times. Its treasures of gold and silver were immensely vast. We read in Strabo a description of the natives by Posidonius, who, he says, used mangers and barrels of gold and silver. Such a country could not fail being very attractive to the Phoenicians. Indeed, it is a well authenticated fact that the Phoenicians did trade to Carthage and Spain.

But we also read of Israel's monarch (1 Kings, x. 21, 22)-"And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solo

mon.

"For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, &c." Now if Tharshish be Spain, the conclusion is inevitable, the Israelites must have visited the western countries in the days of Solomon.

22

TWO MONUMENTS FOUND IN SPAIN.

The conclusion resulting from the examination of the meaning of Tarshish, is confirmed by two very ancient sepulchral monuments found in Spain. As these monuments attracted the attention of the learned Christian antiquarians about two hundred years ago, it may not be uninteresting to give a short sketch of their history, and especially since they form an important link in the chain of evidence of the very early wanderings of the Jews.

The Duke of Savoy, formerly viceroy of Valencia, presented Francis Gozanga, Bishop of Mantua and General of the Franciscans, with a manuscript which was originally dedicated to Alfonso Duke of Segorbe and Count of Ampurias, written in an antique Spanish dialect, in which the ruins of Saguntum are noticed. After many Roman monuments being described, a sepulchral monument, bearing a Hebrew epitaph, is mentioned as being of far greater antiquity than the Roman monuments; for the characters were more ancient than the square alphabet now in use,