come forth the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield."*

When the traveller who has reached the junction of the two great branches of the Nile turns his face eastward in the direction of the Arabian Gulf, he finds his notice attracted to a variety of tribes whose genealogy it is extremely difficult to determine. The Abyssinians, properly so called, are, we may presume, the descendants of a people who at various times have migrated from the opposite shores of the Red Sea, and who, in pursuit of commerce, or of a safe retreat from powerful enemies, disputed with the natives the possession of their singular country. But we refrain from entering into details on this subject, as we shall have a better opportunity in the next chapter for considering the geographical relations of the several states which extend from Masuah to the borders of Sennaar. We shall therefore at present only bestow a few remarks on an hypothesis, illustrated with not less ingenuity than learning by Heeren, in regard to the early civilization and commerce of the African nations, especially the inhabitants of Meroë, Thebes, and their dependent colonies at Ammonium, Adule, Azab, and Axum.

It is established by the clearest testimony of ancient history, that at a very remote period the Ethiopians carried on a considerable trade, in which the Arabians, long known as navigators and voyagers to India, bore a prominent part, as might indeed be inferred from the relative position of the several countries. Of this international traffic in the southern regions the strongest evidence still remains; and there is no doubt that the gold of Africa, the spices of India, and precious productions of Arabia, occupied the laborious carriers of the desert long before the date of our historical records. The prophet Isaiah notices the commerce of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, in a manner which renders it perfectly clear that these celebrated nations had already enriched themselves by their exertions in this branch of indnstry. "The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine."+

* Chap. xlvi. 9.

† Chap. xlv. 14.

Commerce and religion, we are reminded by the author, were always indissolubly connected in the East. The long journeys in the desert, and the marauding habits of the roving barbarians by whom the wilderness was infested, rendered some spiritual influence necessary for its protection; and hence it is presumed that mercantile transactions were usually conducted in the vicinity of temples, and sometimes within their walls. "Mecca remains still, through its holy sanctuary, the chief mart for the commerce of Arabia." The situation of Nubia has always made it the grand route for caravans between Ethiopia and the countries on this side of the desert. At the present day a communication of that kind is maintained across the waste from Upper Egypt to Sennaar and Atbar, the ancient Meroë. This was indeed the natural emporium for the produce of Inner Africa; being the extreme point of the gold-countries towards the land of the Pharaohs, while, from its proximity to Arabia Felix, it constituted the most appropriate mart for goods conveyed from the remoter East.

Of the vast trade still carried on there modern travellers have given us ample accounts; observing at the same time that the great salt-works, whence the surrounding country is supplied, are but at a short distance from Shendy. The commerce with Egypt being established, it is manifest that Meroë must have extended its traffic far into the south of Africa; and M. Heeren is even inclined to doubt whether the extensive ruins at Axum, Azab, Meroë, and Adule, really belonged to cities, supposing them rather to have been extensive places of trade, adorned with temples, and appropriated to caravans,-an hypothesis to which he is led by the nature of the country, and the wandering life pursued by its inhabitants. In a word, the conclusions which he draws from a minute examination of all the notices which history has preserved relative to those ancient states are, that a commercial intercourse existed between Southern Asia and Africa, between India and Arabia, and thence between these countries and Ethiopia, Libya, and Egypt,that its principal seat for Africa was Meroë, the chief route of which, he thinks, is still pointed out by a chain of ruins extending from the shores of the Indian sea to the Mediterranean, that Adule, Axum, and Azab were links of it between Arabia and Meroë; and that Thebes and Ammo

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nium united the Nile, Egypt, and Carthage, and, finally, that its chief stations were sacerdotal establishments, the head of which was Meroë, whence all the colonies were sent out. Hence he draws an inference, which will not be hastily questioned by any competent judge, that the first seats of commerce were also the first seats of civilization. Exchange of goods led to exchange of ideas; and by this collision of mind was first struck out the sacred flame of humanity.*

The connexion between merchandise and the usages of religion was not confined to the wandering tribes of Africa, but may be traced throughout the ancient world wherever men collected in great numbers to celebrate the rites of a national faith. As the adoration presented to the gods was not thought complete without the addition of more expensive offerings, the worshipper repaired not to the stated festival unless accompanied with beasts for sacrifice, or with frankincense and other spices to perfume the air. The vicinity of a temple was thus naturally converted into a market, more especially at the holy seasons of the year. In the sacred Scriptures the reader will discover numerous facts which establish the view now given of the relation between commerce and piety. Even the consecrated fane at Jerusalem was contaminated by the presence of dealers, who sought their own advantage rather than the honour of the Great Being whom they professed to venerate. similar abuse was long tolerated in the Christian church; and hence most of the periodical transactions of a commercial nature became associated with the names of the more popular saints. Every one knows that the feria, or holydays of the Roman communion, supplied the term for our fairs in all the counties of Great Britain.

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There is accordingly no small appearance of truth in the observations of Heeren relative to the mutual influence of religion and traffic among barbarous tribes. The sight of a magnificent temple in the wilderness secured at once demand and a protection for the commodities which the wandering merchantmen brought from afar. It may still remain a question, whether the sanctuary was erected for the assurance of the caravan; or whether the Arab and Ethio

* Historical Researches, vol. i. p. 475.

pian bent their course through the desert in a line indicated by those religious establishments. But there can he no reasonable ground for doubt that the dwellers on both shores of the Red Sea respected the worship of Jupiter Ammon, as the means whereby they at once added to their wealth and secured their acquisitions.

We must not neglect to mention that the nomadic tribes, who continue to carry on the trade between Egypt and Abyssinia, appear in the same character in one of those triumphant pageants which Ptolemy Philadelphus exhibited on his accession to the throne. When the procession of the Nubian caravan appeared, "there came," says an ancient writer, "a train of camels, carrying three hundred pounds of frankincense, crocus, cassia, and cinnamon, together with two hundred pounds of other costly spices and drugs. These were followed by a host of Ethiopians armed with lances; one band of these bore six hundred elephants' teeth, another two thousand pieces of ebony, and another sixty vessels of gold, silver, and gold-dust."

But the appearance of Indian produce in the western world was familiar to all classes of men long before the days of the Grecian kings of Egypt. The spices of the East, especially cinnamon, come as early before us as the Mosaical records; and in such quantities, too, as plainly show that they must already have formed an important article of commerce. The holy oil of the sanctuary required the following ingredients : "Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil-olive an hin. And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary it shall be an holy anointing oil."*

The reader will observe that most of the ingredients specified in this sacred order were derived from the shores of Hindostan, and must have been objects of commerce among the traders of Arabia, who repaired thither in ships, year after year, to exchange for them the commodities of

* Exodus xxx. 22, 23, 24, 25.

their own land, as well as of Ethiopia and the more southern parts of the African continent. In the history of the patriarch Joseph, mention is incidentally made of the same traffic carried on by the inhabitants of the desert, the progeny of Ishmael. The earlier annals of this intercourse, which connected in the bonds of mutual benefit and intelligence the most cultivated nations of the ancient world, are irrecoverably lost; and it is in vain that we attempt by conjecture or investigation to supply their absence. The facts of which we are in possession justify a retrospect of not less than four thousand years, if we follow the light of that scriptural chronology which has obtained the sanction of nearly all the learned; and our researches are thereby removed to a period when the nations of Europe had not even begun to assume a settled form, or to dispute with one another the territory on which the foundations of their power were afterward to be laid.

In tracing the progress of civilization in Egypt, we arrived at results which argued a very high antiquity. We found reason to ascribe to the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty the gigantic labours of Thebes, and the magnificent palaces which adorned either side of the Nile in that stupendous capital. What an astonishing era of art, fully two thousand years before the Augustan age at Rome!

But the vast works at Karnac, Luxor, and Medinet Abou are much less ancient than the buildings which have been discovered above the Cataracts. The eye of science has recently been invited to countries which stretch southward along the Upper Nile, and to examine the memorials of kingdoms whose names have not yet been enrolled in the eternal tablets of history. In Nubia and Ethiopia, says a foreign writer, numerous and primeval monuments proclaim so loudly a cultivation contemporary, ay earlier than that of Egypt, that it may be conjectured with the greatest confidence that the arts, sciences, and religion proceeded from Nubia to the lower country of Mizraim; that civilization descended the Nile, built Memphis, and, finally, somewhat later, wrested by colonization the Delta from the sea.

From

Meroë and Axum downwards to the Mediterranean, there arose, as is testified by Diodorus, improved and powerful states, which, though independent of each other, were con