Syria and
Egypt, {23} both of them situated on the borders of the Mediterranean
Sea; and as early as any authentic records extend, those were great and
powerful countries in which agriculture and population had made
great progress, and into which commerce had already brought many of
the luxuries of the East.

The Phoenicians, a people differing in name from those who were
subjected to the Assyrian monarchs, occupied that part of Syria, now
called the Levant, directly on the borders of the Mediterranean Sea;
they were the first who rose to wealth and power by arts and com-

---
{23} Reasons have been given in the preface for not taking any view
of the situation of India, though, by its produce, it appears, at least of
equal antiquity.
-=-

[end of page #20]

merce. Tyre and Sidon were the abodes of commerce long before the
arrival of the Jews in the land of Canaan, situated in the adjacent
country, with whom, in the days of David and Solomon, the
Phoenicians were on terms of friendship and alliance, {24} assisting
the latter to carry on commerce, and enrich his people. (See Appendix
B.) =sic--there is none.=

The whole coast of the Mediterranean lay open to them for navigation,
as did also the Grecian islands, and as their own soil was barren, they
purchased the necessaries of life, giving in exchange the rich stuffs
they had manufactured, and the produce of the East of which they
almost exclusively possessed the commerce.

The Egyptians were possessed of the most fertile soil in the world,
bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the north, and on the east and
west by barren deserts. Their country was of a triangular form, and
watered by the Nile, which, passing through it in its greatest extent,
runs nearly down the middle.

Thus situated, in the country depending on the Nile for its fertility, and
on all sides protected from enemies, it was exceedingly natural to
cultivate the arts of peace, and it was not possible that it should be
divided into many different nations, as in other countries in early
times was the case, when sovereignty rose from parental authority,
and when there was no natural bond between the heads of different
families.

The great abundance with which the inhabitants were supplied, in
years when the Nile overflowed in a favourable manner, and the
uncertainty of future plenty were inducements for accumulation and
foresight, which are not equally necessary in countries where the
important ci