its three ports,
Ialysos, Lindos*, and Kamiros, afforded them a well-situated base of
operations for further colonisation. On leaving Rhodes, the choice of
two routes presented itself to them. To the south-west they could see
the distant outline of Karpathos, and on the far horizon behind it the
summits of the Cretan chain. Crete itself bars on the south the entrance
to the AEgean, and is almost a little continent, self-contained and
self-sufficing.

* No direct evidence exists to lead us to attribute the
foundation of these towns to the Phoenicians, but the
Semitic origin of nearly all the names is an uncontested
fact.

[Illustration: 297.jpg THE MUREX TRUNCULUS]

It is made up of fertile valleys and mountains clothed with forests,
and its inhabitants could employ themselves in mines and fisheries. The
Phoenicians effected a settlement on the coast at Itanos, at Kairatos,
and at Arados, and obtained possession of the peak of Cythera, where, it
is said, they raised a sanctuary to Astarte. If, on leaving Rhodes, they
had chosen to steer due north, they would soon have come into contact
with numerous rocky islets scattered in the sea between the continents
of Asia and Europe, which would have furnished them with as many
stations, less easy of attack, and more readily defended than posts on
the mainland. Of these the Giblites occupied Melos, while the Sidonians
chose Oliaros and Thera, and we find traces of them in every island
where any natural product, such as metals, sulphur, alum, fuller's
earth, emery, medicinal plants, and shells for producing dyes, offered
an attraction. The purple used by the Tyrians for dyeing is secreted by
several varieties of molluscs common in the Eastern Mediterranean; those
most esteemed by the dyers were the _Murex trunculus_ and the _Murex
Brandaris_, and solid masses made up of the detritus of these shells
are found in enormous quantities in the neighbourhood of many Phoenician
towns. The colouring matter was secreted in the head of the shellfish.
To obtain it the shell was broken by a blow from a hammer, and the small
quantity of slightly yellowish liquid which issued from the fracture was
carefully collected and stirred about in salt water for three days.

[Illustration: 298.jpg DAGGER OF AHMOSIS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin.

It was then boiled in leaden vessels and reduced by simmering over a
slow fire; the remainder was strained through a cloth to free it