Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-05-28
EASTWARD TO THE INDIES.
attempts, Ancient and Modern,
TO fHd ShOrteP Routes To Indid,
CHINA and Japan Early com
ptettOH Of the iSHez Canal.

The link which binds the civilis alton of
the most ancient time to the most modern
which mites the age Of Solomon, King of
the Jews, of Hiram, Ruler Of the PL@ui-
clans, and Of Carthage in her days Of com
mercial glory, to this living and breathing
century is the trade with the Iiios. For
three thousand years the nations have been
seeking the most convenient route to the
Orient, East and West have they sought
II. This year OF grace behOlds the Eastern
quest ended in the opening of the Sutz Ca
nal, aud the dream of Western explorers
fulfilled in the Completion of tho Pacific
Railroad.
In the SONS Of early sv'gatcrs who
looked to the East as E,dorado, in the wild
tales Of their child like seamen, AMI in their
vague traditions of eastern lands TO be
reached by sailing westward, which aIated
in to the main from islands lying far to sea
On the outposts Of discovery, is hidden the
romance of history. Thence came the myths
OF the Arg1nau's, of the fortunate Islands
and the Garden of the Hesperides, OF the
Kugiom of Prester John, and the marvel
Jus Isle Of St. Brandon. thence came the
hope Of the Earthly Paradise, and the dream
OF the Fountain of Immortal Youth. Along
the route to India and Cathay lay all these
NouutES 10 leIHDb tlle Odlllb udNlEh'
l Though the course of empire moved stead
lily Westward. still on tie Orient his eyes
were fixed. The Indies, enriched by centu-
ries Of tradition and wrapped in mysterious
splendors were the lode. stone which drew
he SHY of the explorer cas- ward and west
ward till the girdle of discovery encirced
the globe,
The ancient cities Of Jerusalem, Of Tyre,
and of S.don, knew India as the land Of
gold and spices. Many writers suppose the
rich city of o hr to have stood at one Of
the mouths of the Indus. When the ships
! OF Hiram, King of Tyre, then the leader in
commerce, set sail for Tarshish and Ophir,
solomon, King of Israel, privately sent his
own ships in their track TO discover the way
thither. And after the two rulers had made
peace, and Hiram had furnished Solomon
with fr-wood and cedar-wood from the
mountains OF Lebanon for the sacred tenn
Pile, he also sent his own pilots to guide the
Hebrew ships to CHR that they might bring
thence "gold, and slmond-trees, and ivory,
and peacocks."
| In what direction these ships sailed, and
| indeed what part of the world Tarshish and
| Ophir were really situate, is not now GER
/ tain. Some historians conjecture that Ophir
was merely a synonym for rich countries
far off, as afte, ward in the days of C,lum-
bus, ''the land of Cathsy" and "the Indies"
were vague, inde6nite terms 10 geography.
SIX centuries after Solomon, when the old
glory of Phonicia was growing dim, Alex
exander of Macedon made his triumphal
m arch to the Est lie led his armies from
the Hsllespont to the Indus, and plundercd
scores Of rich cities. After he had reeled
! 5--aa with victorious orgies 10 the borders OF
Asia Minor, bis Admiral, N1archus, led his
ships from the mouth of the Indus, up the
! n -. N.,Ir 4 ,a - nf Ennhra
ties, aud gave the world the first survey of
any coast OF India recorded in history.
Alexander saw the Importance OF close
commerce with the rich L ,st which he had
laid waste. After his conquest OF Egypt, ne
founded the City of Al Xandria, at one OF
the m 1uths Of the Nile, and on his death
death. one of the wisest of his generals, the
first OF the Ptolemies, became its ruler
! Ptolemy found in the sands OF Suez, traces
of q deserted canal begun by the Pharei ans,
to secure water communication TO tncis by
onenirc a massage from the Mediterranean
TO the Rid Sea. According to Herodo,us,
1870 GEO Rlen had persisted upon this vast
work before il was abandoned. PtOlemy
Philadelphus, son Of Ptolemy L, and an
enthusiast in the advancement OF his era
pire in learning and commerce would ialn
nnve continued this canal OF the old Egyp-
tian monarcbs. But his engineers shook
their heads, and asserted with one voice
"The Red Sea is higher 10y three cubils
than the land Of EgSpt. II canal no cu'
4 rough the I.lhmus If Sntz the sea WI
lojd the country aud drown All your PEI,
nile. as once before it swallowed up the hosts
of Pnaroah."
From the time Of tho Ptolemies three
centuries before Christ, to that OF Nasco dc
r CANA. almost thousand years later, Al, X
ndria REMAINED one of the most famous
, entrepots for Eastern commerce. lndial
! products were brought In the Junk' ahc
barks of China and Hindostan to Alden, OF
the Arabian coast. There the WesterI
r merchants, reloading them into their owl
ships, conveyed them up the HE'D Sea u
Sutz Thence they passed through cans
10 the City OF Alexandra, when dlsptuse'
the costly eitts of the East 10 mo clNl' Ge'
world. Thi. Alexandrian canal, like TIA
o of the Pbaraohs. is now choked up will
sand and rubbish, ruin as complete as IN
c crumbled palaces of the grea' city Itself
. But AltxaniIia aud Sucz were not IN
only routes 60 India known to the middl
ayes. The costly trade spread itself by III
A way of famous SamarcSnd mp to the rive
Otus, across to the Caspian Sea, thence I
Z the Euxine, and so into the MedlterraneSr
}. aud ov,r Europe. The chief overland Iont
was through the City of Candahar, by whic
Indian products passed into Persia a
Candabar. the caravans from lspaban an
AGRA intersected those from the Caspia
e Sea. and the merchants from the East an
n the merchants from the West met and eA
changed their wares. There the howe
camels were unloaded of the spices, PEI
IN fumes, precious stones, and rlch SILKS
~ Hindostsp, the tnuslins Of Calieut, and u
p ehaSIe. oC Cashmere. There tho corn trn
, Esypt was poured out beside the dates no
Arabia, and the odors OF wines ana roses
A, Damascus mingled with those OF the oal
- oil and honey from Palestine. The
10 Sr,, busv carayauserais tho hthc-lfanh'
n. Arabian drove his herds of goats and she'
for the markets on the Mediterranean.
There In Persian moonlights the Weste
sings of commerce smoked their pipes Al
Sra9k their coffee listening to the Taste
C. story teller, who recoun,ed the deeds
p. Inc good Haroun al RAshid. or the SING
IN who celebrated the valor oil hnstam, a
Ike chanted dreamy, passionate ones on I
loves of the rose and the nightingale.
~ For eighteen centuries after the buildi
en- of Alexandria these ronteswere worn by I
lie footprints of commerce. Before new I
M discovery began the day Of tho destrJ
nci lion of Carthage had risen and set,
/, glory of the Greeks had departed, tho /
man empire had like an unsubstantial
lon geant faded, and the Christian religion v
. n In it's fifteenth century.
The desire to reach the Indies by sh
TO had become the passion Of great navigate
ant The long wars of the Crusades had invest
'N' the East with additional enchantment.
na> widest tales Of travellers were recei'
,o,t With eager eredulity. Tho romantic
~" counts OF China aud japan brought back
the Marco Polo were no less marvellous Il
ay- the stories Of Sir John Vaudeville, v
- had preceded him by quarter Of cen
ry. Both confirmed the belief that In
-, most remote East the great Prester JohI
va Christian monarch reigned over an imme
Ieet country, aud received tho tribute Of
a. king, In his dominiOns ahounded all /
'nS oious. streams ran with and honey, and o
rial the whole province the river which en-
cled Paradise spread its arms in mani
windipgs. Az the foot Of a mouniain b