Tarshish; Its Modern Representative.

islands ancl coasts of the nations ? Was the name of the man , Tarshish , perpetuated also by his descendants naming the places after him ? If this be so—and why not— -we shall not be surprised at finding the name Tarshish , or traces of it , in places differing as to clime or position . If we refer again to the I . Kings x ., 22 , we find the record reads— " For the king ( Solomon ) had a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram ; once

in three years came the navy of Tharshish bringing gold and silver , ivory ( margin , elephants' teeth ) , and apes , ancl peacocks . " Another record in I . Chronicles xx ., . 35 to 37 , is , that the ships made by Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah to go to Tarshish were made in Ezion-Gaber . And again ( I . Kings xxii ., 49 ) , they were to go to Ophir for gold . Ezion-Gaber , the port to Tarshish , was at the head of the Red Sea , the now route to India ancl the East Indies . Josephus asserts Ophir to be an Indian region ( see Antiq . Jud ., lib . viii ., c . 6 , sec . 4 ) ; and Ophir and Tarshish are used interchangeably .

Malacca , or the Malayan peninsula , was known as the Golden Chersoneus . We must remember also that India , Ceylon , Malacca , or , in other words , the East Indies , produced the articles enumerated in the list of exports brought by the navy- of the Tharshish . Ophir is declared to be in India by Hesychius and Suidas . Le Poivre , in his " Voy . d ' un Philosophe , etc ., " p . 123 , states that Ophir is still the name used in Sumatra , Malacca , and the Eastern Archipelago to designate the gold

mine . Onescritus , the historian , in the time of Alexander the Great visited Ceylon , and brought back an account of its wealth . The Greeks embarked in the Indian trade , so also did Egypt under the Ptolemies and the Romans . In Tamil , or the language of Ceylon , kapi ( apes ) , is the same as in Hebrew .. Iboha , the Sanscrit for ivory , is in Tamil , ibcm . In the Tamil , tolcei is peacock ; in Hebrew it is tuheyim . We gather from the foregoing statements that the term Tarshish covers a large area of the East Indies .

2 . In Ezekiel xxvii ., 12 ancl 25 , Tyrus was thus addressed : " Tarshish was thy merchant , by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches ; with silver , iron , tin , and lead they traded in thy fairs . The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market ; ancl thou wast replenished , and made very glorious in the midst of the seas . " The Septuagint version translates Tarshish , in these two passages , " Carthage ; " the Vulgate also , in the 25 th verse , translates Tarshishas " Chartaginensis . " Bochart ( Sac . Geog . lib . 3 cvii 165 )

, , , . ., p . , says that Polybius mentions Tarsecum in an account of a league between Rome ancl Carthage . The name " Peni , " or " Pheni , " was a name given to the Carthagenians . Tyre was in Phoenicia . The phrase " Merchant of Tarshish , " in Ezekiel xxxviii ., 13 , is translated in the Septuagint as Carthaginian merchants . The Septuagint translates , " ships of Tarshish , " in Isa . xxiii ., 1 and 14 , I ' ships of Carthage . " Hence , from the above , we find that the term Tarshish is found in another direction , and annlied to a nlace in North Africa ,.

3 . For another fact in connection with Tarshish , we will refer to Jeremiah . x ., 9 : " Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish , ancl gold from Aphaz , the work of the workman ancl of the hands of the founder ; blue and purple is their clothing : they are all the work of the cunning men . " From this statement we conclude that the Tarshish here mentioned was a manufacturing place or country . Ancl it is to be noted that the sacred books

of the Cingalese consisted of silver spread into plates , on which the writing was inscribed . 4 . Another fact concerning Tarshish is to be gleaned from Ezekiel xxxviii ., 13 , and Isaiah Ixv ., 9 . It is that Tarshish must be a merchant power . The first passage states , " Sheba , and Dedan , and all the merchants of Tarshish . " The second , " Surely the isles shall wait for me , and the ships of Tarshish first , " '