s material. It may not, however, have been
exactly an article of commerce, since the kings appear to have cut it
after their successful expeditions into Syria, and to have carried it
off from Lebanon and Amanus as part of the plunder of the country.

Pearls, which have been found in Assyrian ear rings, must have been
procured from the Persian Gulf, one of the few places frequented by the
shell-fish which produces then. The pearl fisheries in these parts were
pointed out to Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander, and had no doubt been
made to yield their treasures to the natives of the coasts and islands
from a remote antiquity. The familiarity of the author of the book of
Job with pearls is to be ascribed to the ancient trade in them
throughout the regions adjoining the Gulf, which could not fail to bring
them at an early date to the knowledge of the Hebrews.

Engraved stones, generally in the shape of scarabs, seem to have been
largely imported from Egypt into Assyria, where they were probably used
either as amulets or as seals. They have been found in the greatest
plenty at Arban on the lower Khabour, the ancient Sidikan or Shadikanni,
which lies nearly at the extreme west of the Assyrian territory; but
many specimens have likewise been obtained from Nineveh and other of the
central Assyrian cities.

If we were to indulge in conjecture, we might add to this list of
Assyrian importations at least an equal number of commodities which,
though they have not been found in the ancient remains, may be fairly
regarded, on grounds of probability, as objects of trade between Assyria
and her neighbors. Frankincense, which was burnt in such lavish
profusion in the great temple at Babylon, was probably offered in
considerable quantities upon Assyrian altars, and could only have been
obtained from Arabia. Cinnamon, which was used by the Jews from the time
of the Exodus, and which was early imported into Greece by the
Phoenicians, who received it from the Arabians can scarcely have been
unknown in Assyria when the Hebrews were familiar with it. This precious
spice must have reached the Arabians from Ceylon or Malabar, the most
accessible of the countries producing it. Mullins, shawls, and other
tissues are likely to have come by the same route as the cinnamon; and
these may possibly have been among the "blue clothes and broidered work
and rich apparel" which the merchants of Asshur carried to Tyre in
"chests, bound with cords and made