On The North And East Lay Syria, An
Extensive Country, Covered With A Deep Rich Soil, Producing An Abundant
Variety Of Valuable Articles.
With this country, and much beyond it, to the
east, the means and opportunities of communication and commerce were
Easy,
by the employment of the camel; while, on the other hand, the caravans that
carried on the commerce of Asia and Africa necessarily passed through
Phoenicia, or the adjacent parts of Palestine.
Egypt, in some respects, was still more advantageously situated for
commerce than Phoenicia: the trade of the west of Asia, and of the shores
of the Mediterranean lay open to it by means of that sea, and by the Nile
and the Red Sea a commercial intercourse with Arabia, Persia, and India
seemed almost to be forced upon their notice and adoption. It is certain,
however, that in the earliest periods of their history, the Egyptians were
decidedly averse to the sea, and to maritime affairs, both warlike and
commercial. It would be vain and unprofitable to explain the fabulous cause
assigned for this aversion: we may, however, briefly and, incidentally
remark that as Osiris particularly instructed his subjects in cultivating
the ground; and as Typhon coincides exactly in orthography and meaning with
a word still used in the East, to signify a sudden and violent storm, it is
probable that by Typhon murdering his brother Osiris, the Egyptians meant
the damage done to their cultivated lands by storms of wind causing
inundations.
As the situation of Palestine for commerce was equally favourable with that
of Phoenicia, it is unnecessary to dilate upon it.
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