dine when he was Mafter of this Place, in order to free himself from the Vifits of the Turkish Gallies, or at least oblige them to haften their Departure on ac count of the Danger and Incommodioufnefs of the Harbour; so that the Shipping lying at Anchor have no other Shelter at prefent but a fmall Ledge of Rocks about a Mile diftant from the Shore on the North Side of the City. It is nevertheless a Place of confiderable Trade, exporting Oil, Afhes, Soap, Raifons of Damafcus, Rice, Glue, Turkey Leather, and abundance of Silk, which is its chief Commodity. The neighbouring Country is full of Mulberry-Trees, underneath which they preferve their Silk-Worms in little Huts, where they thrive very well, unless they are hurt by violent Claps of Thunder. From the European Nations they take Sattins, Damasks, Cloths of light Colours, and Paper.

THIS City is the Seat of a Turkish Bafhaw, who refides in an old unfinish'd Palace built by the Emir Faccardine. The ufual Garrifon of the Place confifts of four or five hundred Men, who are partly in the Town, and partly in the Caftles. The greatest Part of the Inhabitants are Turks, who have fourteen or fifteen Mofques here; but the Latins and Greeks have each of them a Church, the Maronites a Chapel, and the Jews a Synagogue. All manner of Provifions are cheap here, and the Country full of Game, efpecially Hares, Partridges, &c. which multiply furprizingly, the People in thefe Parts not taking much Delight either in Fowling or Hunting.

As to the Antiquities of Sidon, they are moft of them obfcured and buried by the Turkish Buildings; but fome Latin Infcriptions are to be found in the neighbouring Fields and Gardens. They pretend, indeed, to fhew a Monument of very high Antiquity, no less than the Tomb of Zebulun; which ftands in a fmall Chapel in a Garden, and is held in great Veneration by the Jews. The Tomb confifts only of VOL. III. D

two

two Stones, the one fuppofed to be at the Head, the other at the Feet of the Deceafed.. Their Distance is about ten Foot, which therefore, according to this Tradition, must have been the Stature of that Patri arch.

If we confider the ancient Sidonians in particular, or rather the Phenicians in general, we fhall find them making a confiderable Figure both in facred and profane Hiftory. Much is faid of their Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures; and they had certainly a very happy Genius and Frame of Mind, capable of any Undertaking. Arithmetick and Aftronomy either took rife among them, or were brought by them to great Perfection, and applied to the Affairs of Trade and Navigation, and Architecture. From them thofe excellent Sciences flow'd into Greece, together with their Letters, which they had from Cadmus* the Son of Agenor. They were very early addicted to philofophical Exercises of the Mind, infomuch that Mofchus, a Sidonian, taught the Doctrine of Atoms before the Trojan War; from whom it was probably learnt by

Some pretend that thefe Characters or Letters were Egyptian, and that Cadmus himfelf was a Native of Egypt, and not of Phoenicia and the Egyptians who are ready to afcribe to themselves the Invention of every Art, and boast a greater Antiquity than any other Nation, give to their Mercury (whom very many Authors take to be Mofes) the Honour of inventing Letters. Most of the Learned however agree, that Cadmus carried the Phanician or Syrian Letters into Greece, and that thofe Letters were Hebraic; the Hebrews, as a fmall Nation, being comprehended under the

general Name of Syrians. Fo Jeph Scaliger, in his Notes on the Chronicon of Eufebius, proves, that the Greek Letters, and thofe of the Latin Alphabet form'd from them, derive their Original from the ancient Phanieżan Letters, which are the fame with the Samaritan, and were used by the Jews before the Babylonish Captivity. Cadmus carried but fixteen Letters into Greece; four being added by Palamedes at the Siege of Troy, above two hundred and fifty Years lower than Cadmus and four more by Simonides, a long Time after.

Leucippus

Leucippus and Democritus, but was afterwards most cultivated and improved by Epicurus. Phenicia long continued to be one of the Seats of Learning, and both Tyre and Sidon have produced their Philofophers of latter Ages.

BUT how famed foever they were for the Sciences; and for their Difcoveries and Improvements in the learned Way, it is probable they excell'd yet more in their mechanical Skill, than in the Labours of the Brain. The Glafs of Sidon, the Purple of Tyre, and the exceeding fine Linnen they wove, were of their own Produce, their ftaple Manufactures, and faid to have been their own Inventions. And as to their extraordinary Ingenuity in the working of Metals*, Stone, or Timber, and their perfect Knowledge of what was great and ornamental in Architecture, there needs no other Proof of it than the large Share they had in erecting and decorating the Temple at Jerufalem; than which nothing is more known, nor can more redound to their Honour. In a word, they had fuch a Reputation for their juft Tafte, fine Defign, and luxuriant Invention, that Sidonian Workmanship or Contrivance became proverbial, to exprefs whatever was elegant, noble, or pleafing, whether in Building, Apparel, Veffels, Toys or other Curiofities.

Nor do the Phenicians deferve our Confideration only as learned Men or Artificers, improving themfelves and cultivating their Minds fedately at home;

Homer takes Notice of the Skill of the Sidonians in this Particular; for amongst the Prizes in the Games exhibited at the Funeral of Patroclus, (which are described at large in

the twenty-third Book of the
Iliad) we find one that was
beautifully wrought by those
curious Artificers. This was
according to Mr. Pope's Tranfla
tion of the Paffage,

A Silver Urn that full fix Measures held,
By none in Weight or Workmanship excell'd:
Sidonian Artists taught the Frame to shine;

Elaborate, with Artifice divine.

but it raifes our Admiration to view them as Merchants, Navigators, and Planters of endlefs Colonies abroad. As Merchants, they may be faid at least to have engroffed all the Commerce of the Western World. As Navigators, they were the boldeft, the moft experienced, and the greatest Discoverers of ancient Times; nor had they any Rivals for many Ages. And as Planters of Colonies, they fent out fuch Numbers, that when we confider the fmall Extent of their Country, which was probably little more than the narrow Tract of Ground between Mount Libanus and the Sea, it is furprizing how they could fpare fuch Supplies of People, without leaving their native Seat

almost deftitute of Inhabitants.

WITH refpect to the Trade of the Phenicians, it is probable they took the firit Hints of it from their Neighbours the Syrians, though this will not be allow'd by fome Writers. Be that as it will, having convenient Harbours upon their Coaft, and excellent Materials for Ship-building upon their Mountains, they bent their Thoughts very early to the Advancement of Navigation and Commerce; and, by an extraordinary Application thereto, they foon eclipsed all the neighbouring Nations, and came at length to be confider'd as the first of the Earth for Riches and Splendor, if not for Power. They traded by Sea to all the known Parts they could reach; to the British Ines, commonly understood by the Caffiterides; to Spain, and other Places in the Ocean, both to the North and South of the Streights Mouth; and in general to the Ports of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Palus Maotis; in all which Parts they had Settlements and Correfpondence, and drew from thence what was ufeful to themfelves, or might be fo to others reciprocally. As for their Trade by Land into Syria, and by way of that Country into Mefopotamia, Affyria, Babylonia, Perfia, Arabia, and even the Indies; this may furnish us with fome adequate Idea of what the

Phenicians

Phænicians once were, and of their ancient Splendor and Opulence, when their Country was the great Magazine where every thing might be had that either adminifter'd to the Neceffities or the Luxury of Mankind, and which they undoubtedly knew how to diftribute to the best Advantage.

Now I am speaking of the Navigation of the Phenicians, I might expatiate on their Voyages in the Service of Solomon; but for fear of being tedious, I fhall only mention that memorable one which Necho King of Egypt engaged them to perform, and which they accomplish'd with wonderful Succefs. That Prince having taken into his Service fome of the most skilful Phenician Mariners, fent them out by the Red Sea through the Streights of Babelmandel, to discover the Coafts of Africa; and thefe Men, having fail'd quite round that Part of the World, return'd to Egypt, the third Year after their fetting out, by the Streights of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean; which was a furprizing Voyage to be made in those Days, when they had not the Affiftance of the Compafs. This was perform'd about two thousand one hundred Years before Vafquez de Gama, a Portuguese, (by discovering the Cape of Good Hope in the Year 1497) found out the very fame Way to fail to the Indies, by which thefe Phænicians had come from thence into the Mediterranean*.

Hence it appears, that the Portuguese were only Re-difcoverers of the Cape of Good Hope. And here it may not be amifs to take fome Notice of an Opinion maintain'd by a celebrated Author, that the Phenicians made it a common Practice to trade with India by the Way of the faid Cape, even from the Times of Solomon. This feems incredible in the first Place, be

caufe the Phænicians had no fuch Temptation as we have to undertake fo long and dangerous a Voyage, and which to them must have been much longer than it is to us at prefent. Nor can we fuppofe that the StruEture and Rigging of their Ships were adapted to fo troublesome a Navigation; or that they could furnish themselves with a fufficient Quantity of Stores and