74 ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF THE TAMILS the Phoenicians themselves journeyed over Arbia to India, but because they procured in Arabia the merchandise of the East Indies, for which it was at that time the great market. The commerce of the Phoenicians, however, was not confined merely to Southern Arabia, but stretched along the eastern coast on the Persian Gulf; "The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thy land; they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony." Dedan is one of the Baharein Islands, in the Persian Gulf. This shows there was intercourse between Phoenicia and the Persian Gulf on the one hand and between Phoenicia and India on the other. The large countries to which the Phoenician trade extended beyond Dedan could be po other than India ; as sufficiently proved by the commodities Solomon (1016-976 B.C.) continued the trade policy of his father David and entered into a commercial treaty with the King of Tyre. The combined merchant navies co-operated in trade and were able to transport "gold of Ophir" and the East to Palestine. The identification of the Ophir of the Old Testament has been a bone of contention with scholars. Some take it to be Sopārā, the ancient seaport of the Bombay coast; some as the Sanskrit Abhīra or delta of the Indus; others seek for it elsewhere in Arabia or in Mashonaland, etc. It is generally accepted that it must be looked for only in India, and plausibly Sopară, especially because the ivory of Solomon's throne, his precious stones, his 300 shields of beaten gold, the apes and peacocks of his pleasure gardens, the sandalwood pillars of the Temple should have come from India. The Hebrew Shen habbin (Sanskrit Ibha danta) is ivory; the Hebrew kophy (Sanskrit kapi) is ape and the Hebrew tukhim (Tamil tokat) are peacocks.
