has scarcely been surpassed in modern times. Such articles
are said to have been introduced by Menes.1
u T -./‘r Paintings in relief represent the busy occupations of lading
occupations of and unlading the boats employed in the traffic along the N ile ;
t te Egyptians, they also show the nature of the products, as well as the
various employments of the husbandmen, from simple irrigation
to the completion of the process of cultivation, whether of
cotton, flax, barley, rye, or wheat.2 In the days of Joseph
supplies of corn were drawn from Egypt to appease the
famine which prevailed in Judea,3 and about the same time,
in the southern parts of Arabia; where, according to an inscription
stated to have been found in Yemen, the agricultural
products of Egypt were sought at any price,
sci^tiandis- During the viceroyalty of Abderahmen, who governed
TOveredin Yemen in the reign of Moawiyah, the first of the Ommiadan
Caliphs, between the fortieth and fiftieth year of the Hijrah,
a torrent laid bare a sepulchre, containing the body of a female,
who had been interred with regal splendour. A seven-stringed
necklace of the richest pearls adorned her bosom. Her arms
and legs were ornamented with bracelets, armlets, and anklets,
seven of each; on each finger was a ring, also set with a valuable
gem. A casket filled with treasure was placed at her head, and
also a tablet containing the following singular inscription:—
“ In thy name, O God, the God of Himyar, I Tajah,
daughter of Dhu Shefar, sent my purveyor to Egypt; but he
delaying his return, I sent my handmaid with a bushel of silver
to bring me back a bushel of flour. I next sent a measure of
gold, and again a measure of pearls; but receiving nothing for
support, I am shut up here. .Let those who hear my story
learn to commiserate my fate; and should any woman covet
and use one of my ornaments, may she die the same death by
which I have perished.”
The preceding account. claims a particular interest in consequence
of the approximative date which has been ascertained
from it. It is clear that the Himyari character was in use
1 Diod. Sic., lib. I ., cap. iv.
Exod., chap. IX ., v. 31, 3 2 ; jPlin., lib. X IX ., cap. i.
3 Gen., chap. X L I., v. 5 7 ; X L I I ., v. 1, 2 , 5 ; and X L IV ., v. 1.
among the Arabs, at least as far back as the time of Joseph; 1 Ancient
also that a mercantile intercourse was maintained with Egypt Arabia.11*
at that period, probably through the port of Philoteras on the
Ked Sea, near Kosseir, as well as by land. The supposed
exchange of a measure of silver, gold, or pearls, for a similar
quantity of flour, expresses in powerful though figurative language
the misery of Arabia during the famine of that period.
1 The original Arabic of Ib n Hesham Firanzabidius, which was copied for
the author by Mr. Hormuzd Bassam, is here given from Albert Schultens’
Monumenta Vetustiora Arabise, p. 67, and note. Leyden, in Batavorum apud
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