Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/217

ASIATIC NATIONS. 201 back in time with the opposite season and wind. Hitherto we have seen that the commercial inter- course was conducted by one tribe only, by the most enterprising and civilized. In the present case, as the Hindus and maritime Arabs were per- haps nearly in the same state of civilization, in as far at least as navigation was concerned, we dis- cover the trade conducted equally by both, and find the ships of Hindustan in the ports of Sabea or Arabia, as well as those of Arabia in the ports of India. As the Arabs, however, had always dis- played a higher energy of character, it is not im- probable that they conducted the largest share of this trade. In tracing the route of the Indian com- merce to the west, a singular fact occurs to us, that two civilized nations of antiquity, lying in that route, the Persians and the Egyptians, took no share in it, until each mixed with a race of stran- gers of a higher cast of genius than themselves, and partook of their manners and character. This, it is to be presumed, arose out of the peculiarity of their situation, at once destitute of extensive sea coasts, and possessing fertile territories, with the peculiarity of civil polity which arose from those causes, and in which a dislike of maritime enter- prise became naturally a prominent feature. Persia, out of the direct way, received none of the bene- fits of the Indian commerce, but Egypt, a tho- roughfare, participated in the profits, without par- taking of the dangers, of the navigation.