some of the Ichthyophagi who were skilled in their language. In the mean time he directed his naval forces to proceed against the Carthaginians; but the Phoenicians refused to assist him in this purpose, pleading the solemnity of their engagements with that people, and the impiety of committing acts of violence against their own descendants. Such was the conduct of the Phoenicians, and the other armaments were not powerful enough to proceed. Thus therefore the Carthaginians escaped being made tributary to Persia; for Cambyses did not choose to use compulsion with the Phoenicians, who had voluntarily become his dependants, and who constituted the most essential part of his naval power. The Cyprians had also submitted without contest to the Persians, and had served in the Egyptian expedition.

XX. As soon as the Ichthyophagi arrived from Elephantine Cambyses despatched them to Ethiopia. They were commissioned to deliver, with certain presents, a particular message to the prince. The presents consisted of a purple vest, a gold chain for the neck, bracelets, an alabaster box of perfumes,' and a cask of palm wine. The Ethiopians to whom Cambyses sent are reported to be superior to all other men in the perfections of size and beauty: their manners and

1 It seems probable that perfumes in more ancient times were kept in shells. Arabia is the country of perfumes, and the Red Sea throws on the coast a number of large and beautiful shells, very convenient for such a purpose.

That to make a present of perfumes was deemed a mark of reverence and honor in the remotest times amongst the Orientals, appears from Daniel.

Alabaster obtained its name from being frequently used for this purpose the ancient name for the stone was alabastrites, and perfumes were thought to keep better in it than in any other substance. Pliny has informed us of the shape of these vessels, by comparing to them the pearls called elenchi, which are known to have been shaped like pears.

customs, which differ also from those of all other nations, have, besides, this singular distinction-the supreme authority is given to him who excels all his fellow-citizens' in size and proportionable strength.

XXI. The Ichthyophagi on their arrival offered the presents, and thus addressed the king: Cambyses, sovereign of Persia, from his anxious desire of becoming your friend and ally, has sent us to communicate with you, and to desire your acceptance of these presents; from the use of which he himself derives the greatest pleasure.' The Ethiopian prince, who was aware of the object they had in view, made them this answer: The king of Persia has not sent you with these presents from any desire of obtaining my alliance; neither do you speak the truth, who, to facilitate the unjust designs of your master, are come to examine the state of my dominions: if he were influenced by principles of integrity he would be satisfied with his own, and not covet the possessions of another; nor would he attempt to reduce those to servitude from whom he has received no injury. Give him therefore this bow, and in my name speak to him thus :-The king of Ethiopia sends this counsel to the king of Persia: when his subjects shall be able to bend this bow with the same ease that I do, then with a superiority of numbers he may venture to attack the Macrobian Ethiopians. In the mean time, let him be thankful to the gods that the Ethiopians have not been inspired with the same ambitious views of extending their possessions.'

XXII. When he had finished he unbent the bow and placed it in their hands; after which, taking the

1 That the quality of strength and accomplishments of person were in the first institution of society the principal recommendations to honor, is represented by Lucretius.

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purple vest, he inquired what it was, and how it was made: the Ichthyophagi properly explained to him the process by which the purple tincture was communicated; but he told them that they and their vests were alike deceitful. He then made similar inquiries concerning the bracelets and the gold chain for the neck; on their describing the nature of those ornaments he laughed, and conceiving them to be chains,' remarked, that the Ethiopians possessed much stronger. He proceeded, lastly, to ask them the use of the perfumes; and when they informed him how they were

1 We learn from a passage in Genesis, xxiv. 22, that the bracelets of the orientals were remarkably heavy; which seems in some measure to justify the sentiment of the Ethiopian prince, who thought them chains, simply because they were made of gold, which was used for that purpose in his country. See chap. xxiii.

And it came to pass as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands, of ten shekels weight of gold.'

That the bracelet was formerly an ensign of royalty among the orientals, Mr. Harmer, in his Observations on Passages of Scripture, infers from the circumstance of the Amalekite's bringing to David the bracelet which he found on Saul's arm, along with his crown. That it was a mark of dignity there ean be little doubt; but it by no means follows that it was a mark of royalty, though the remark is certainly ingenious. If it was, there existed a peculiar propriety in making it the part of a present from one prince to another. By the Roman generals they were given to their soldiers as a reward of bravery. Small chains were also, in the remotest times, worn round the neck, not only by women but by the men. That these were also worn by princes appears from Judges, viii. 26.

And the weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested, was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian; and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks.' Which last circumstance tends also to prove that they thus also decorated the animals they used, which fashion is to this day observed by people of distinction in Egypt.

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made and applied, he made the same observation as he had before done of the purple robe.1 When he came to the wine, and learned how it was made, he drank it with particular satisfaction; and inquired on what food the Persian monarch subsisted, and what was the longest period of a Persian's life. The king, they told him, lived chiefly on bread; and they then described to him the properties of corn: they added, that the longest period of life in Persia was about eighty years. I am not at all surprised,' said the Ethiopian prince, 'that, subsisting on dung, the term of life is so short among them; and unless,' he continued, pointing to the wine, they mixed it with this liquor, they would not live so long:' for in this he allowed that they excelled the Ethiopians.

XXIII. The Ichthyophagi, in their turn, questioned the prince concerning the duration of life in Ethiopia,

It is a circumstance well known at present, that on the coast of Guayaquil, as well as on that of Guatimala, are found those snails which yield the purple dye so celebrated by the ancients, and which the moderns have supposed to have been lost. The shell that contains them is fixed to rocks that are watered by the sea; it is of the size of a large nut. The juice may be extracted from the animal in two ways; some persons kill the animal after they have taken it out of the shell, they then press it from the head to the tail with a knife, and separating from the body that part in which the liquor is collected, they throw away the rest. When this operation, repeated on several of the snails, hath yielded a certain quantity of the juice, the thread that is to be dyed is dipped in it, and the business is done. The color, which is at first as white as milk, becomes afterwards green, and does not turn purple till the thread is dry.

We know of no color that can be compared to the one we have been speaking of, either in lustre or in permanency.Raynal.

Pliny describes the purpura as a turbinated shell like the buccinum, but with spines on it; which may lead us to suspect the Abbé's account of the snails of a little inaccuracy.T.

and the kind of food there in use: they were told that the majority of the people lived to the age of one hundred and twenty years, but that some exceeded even that period; that their meat was baked flesh, their drink milk. When the spies expressed astonishment at the length of life in Ethiopia, they were conducted to a certain fountain, in which having bathed, they became shining as if anointed with oil, and diffused from their bodies the perfume of violets. But they asserted that the water of this fountain was of so insubstantial a nature, that neither wood, nor any thing still lighter than wood, would float on its surface, but every thing instantly sunk to the bottom. If their representation of this water was true, the constant use of it may probably explain the extreme length of life which the Ethiopians attain. From the fountain they were conducted to the public prison, where all that were confined were secured by chains of gold; for among these Ethiopians brass is the rarest of all the metals. After visiting the prison they saw also what is called the table of the sun.

XXIV. Finally, they were shown their coffins,'

1 Coffins, though anciently used in the East, and considered as marks of distinction, are not now there applied to the dead either by Turks or Christians.

With us,' says Mr. Harmer, in his Observations on Passages of Scripture, the poorest people have their coffins; if the relations cannot afford them, the parish is at the expense. In the East, on the contrary, they are not now at all made use of. Turks and Christians, Thevenot assures us, agree in this. The ancient Jews probably buried their dead in the same manner: neither was the body of our Lord, it should seem, put into a coffin, nor that of Elisha, whose bones were touched by the corpse that was let down a little after into his sepulchre, 2 Kings xiii. 21. That they however were anciently made use of in Egypt, all agree; and antique coffins, of stone and sycamore wood, are still to be seen in that country, not to mention those said to be made of a kind of paste