ventured to withhold from him the first place in this record of the triumphs of thirty centuries. [Illustration: NOCTILUCA VILIARIS.] CHAPTER IV. THE SHIPS, COMMERCE, AND NAVIGATION OF THE PHOENICIANS--THEIR TRADE WITH OPHIR--SIDON AND TYRE--THEIR VOYAGE ROUND AFRICA--NEW TYRE--A PATRIOTIC PHOENICIAN CAPTAIN--THE EGYPTIANS AS A MARITIME PEOPLE--THEIR SHIPS AND COMMERCE--THE JEWS--THEIR GEOGRAPHY--IDEAS UPON THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH--THE WORLD AS KNOWN TO THE HEBREWS. It is upon the shores of the Mediterranean, alike the sea of the Bible and of mythology, of Mount Ararat and Mount Olympus,--among the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and the Hebrews,--that we must look for the earliest traces of navigation and commerce. The most cursory inspection of a map of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Egypt will show how admirably these countries were situated for trade both by land and sea. The Phoenicians, though confined to the narrow slip of land between Mount Lebanon and the Mediterranean, possessed a safe coast and the admirable harbor of Sidon, while their mountains furnished them an abundant supply of the best woods for ship-building. The confined limits of their own territory prevented them from being themselves producers or manufacturers,--a circumstance which naturally led them to be the carriers of producing and manufacturing nations whose maritime advantages were inferior to their own. The fact, also, that the Jews were prevented by their government, laws, and religion from engaging extensively in commerce, and that the Egyptians were characteristically averse to the sea, augmented the commercial supremacy of the Phoenicians,--a supremacy recognised both in the sacred writings and in profane records.