country. They
collected together into their _okels_ or storehouses such wares and
commodities as they could purchase in their new localities, and,
transmitting them periodically to the coast, shipped them thence to all
parts of the world.

Not only were they acquainted with every part of the Mediterranean, but
they had even made voyages beyond its limits. In the absence, however,
of any specific records of their naval enterprise, the routes they
followed must be a subject of conjecture. They were accustomed to relate
that the gods, after having instructed them in the art of navigation,
had shown them the way to the setting sun, and had led them by their
example to make voyages even beyond the mouths of the ocean. El of
Byblos was the first to leave Syria; he conquered Greece and Egypt,
Sicily and Libya, civilizing their inhabitants, and laying the
foundation of cities everywhere. The Sidonian Astarte, with her head
surmounted by the horns of an ox, was the next to begin her wanderings
over the inhabited earth. Melkarth completed the task of the gods by
discovering and subjugating those countries which had escaped the notice
of his predecessors. Hundreds of local traditions, to be found on all
the shores of the Mediterranean down to Roman times, bore witness to the
pervasive influence of the old Canaanite colonisation. At Cyprus, for
instance, wo find traces of the cultus of Kinyras, King of Byblos and
father of Adonis; again, at Crete, it is the daughter of a Prince of
Sidon, Buropa, who is carried off by Zeus under the form of a bull; it
was Kadmos, sent forth to seek Buropa, who visited Cyprus, Rhodes, and
the Cyclades before building Thebes in Boeotia and dying in the forests
of Illyria. In short, wherever the Phoenicians had obtained a footing,
their audacious activity made such an indelible impression upon the
mind of the native inhabitants that they never forgot those vigorous
thick-set men with pale faces and dark beards, and soft and specious
speech, who appeared at intervals in their large and swift sailing
vessels. They made their way cautiously along the coast, usually keeping
in sight of land, making sail when the wind was favourable, or taking to
the oars for days together when occasion demanded it, anchoring at night
under the shelter of some headland, or in bad weather hauling their
vessels up the beach until the morrow. They did not shrink when it was
necessary from trusting themselves to the open sea,