The Aurea
Chersonesus
considered as
Ophir.
Products
obtained there
by means of
barter.
from the shores of the latter to the coasts of the Mediterranean;
Arados and Tylos being afterwards depots for imports from
more distant countries. No doubt the merchandize sought
was brought there in the first instance by land, but probably
afterwards by water also ; and circumstances, otherwise trifling,
go far to show that a remote tract of the east was the seat of
this trade. The Singalese kakyn na.ma, or sweet-wood, cinnamon,
1 together with other Indian articles, such as pepper, fine
linen, or muslin and cotton, have each a Greek name, which
corresponds with the original Sanscrit.2
Moreover, it is expressly stated by Josephus, that, in order
to fetch gold, the shipping of Hiram and Solomon proceeded
to a land, which of old was called Ophir, but is now the Aurea
Chersonesus, and belongs to India.3 As the ancient Egyptian
name of the latter country was Sophir,4 which is nearly that
used in the Septuagint, it is not improbable that the peninsula
of Malacca and the adjoining tracts may represent the Ophir
of Job, David, and Solomon. The name itself is still preserved,
being given to Gounang-passaman, one of the culminating
points of the great chain in the island of Sumatra, a
lofty mountain rising to the height of 13,842 feet.
The country lying between this island and Cape Comorin
produces sandal-wood (which probably represents the algum),
as well as the other objects of the voyage. These were, in all
probability, obtained by barter only, at the expense of much
time in going from place to place; and the delay which
occurred on this account must have been increased by the
necessity of waiting for a change of mOnsoon to return. As
the nature of the flotilla put a direct voyage out of the question,
that to Ophir could have been accomplished only by coasting
along the shores of Arabia, afterwards (supposing Ophir were
1 This name was imported with the commodity. Herod., lib. I I I .
cap. iii.
2 Heeren’s Asiatic ^Researches, vol. I I . p. 421 et seq., Bohn, 1846 compared
with Quatremhre, Mem. de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tome X V pt ii
p. 349-402.
3 Ant., lib. V I I I . cap. 6, s. 4.
* Michaelis, Spicilegium Geog. Ileb., I I . 184.