The commerce of Alexandria was divided into three main branches: 1. The land-trade over Asia and Africa. 2. The sea-trade on the Mediterranean. 3. The sea-trade on the Arabian gulf, and Indian ocean.--With regard to the land-trade of Asia, especially that of India carried on by caravans, Alexandria was obliged to share it with various cities and countries: since one of its chief routes traversed the Oxus, and Caspian, to the Black sea; while the caravans, travelling through Syria and Mesopotamia, spread for the most part among the seaports of Phoenicia and Asia Minor.--The trade over Africa extended far west, and still farther south. Westward it was secured by the close connection between Cyrene and Alexandria; and no doubt followed the same roads as in earlier times: of far greater importance was that carried on with the southern countries, or Aethiopia, into the interior of which they now penetrated, principally for the purpose of procuring elephants. The navigation on the Arabian and Indian seas had likewise for its immediate object the Aethiopian trade, rather than the Indian.--The measures taken by Ptolemy with this view, consisted partly in the building of harbours (Berenice, Myos Hormos) on the Arabian gulf; partly in establishing a caravan from Berenice to Coptos on the Nile, down which latter the goods were further transmitted to their destination; for the canal connecting the Red sea with the Nile, although, perhaps, completed at this time, was nevertheless but little used. The grand deposit for these wares was the lesser harbour of Alexandria, united by a canal with the lake Mareotis, which in its turn communicated by another canal with the Nile; so that the account we receive of the lesser harbour being more thronged and full of bustle than the larger one, need not excite our surprise. With regard to the trade on the Mediterranean, it was shared between Alexandria, Rhodes, Corinth, and Carthage. The chief manufactories appear to have been those of cotton stuffs, established in or near the temples. The best inquiry into the trade of Alexandria will be found in J. C. D. DE SCHMIDT, _Opuscula, res maxime Aegyptiorum illustrantia_, 1765, 8vo. 9. It would be important to know what, in a state like Egypt, was the system of imposts, which under Philadelphus produced 14,800 silver talents, (four millions sterling,) without taking into account the toll paid in grain. In the extreme provinces, such as Palestine, the taxes were annually farmed to the highest bidder, a mode of levy attended with great oppression to the people. The case appears to have been very different with regard to Egypt itself; the customs, however, constituted the main branch of the revenue.