exporters of their own commodities; they were the Chinese of the ancient
world, and the ships of all nations, except their own, laded in their
harbours." As soon, however, as it passed from the power of its native
sovereigns, and became subject successively to the Persians, Macedonians,
and Romans, it furnished large fleets, and, as we shall afterwards notice,
under the Greeks, Alexandria became one of the principal commercial cities
in the world. The Greek inhabitants of Egypt were the carriers of the
Mediterranean, as well as the agents, factors, and importers of oriential
produce. The cities which had risen under the former system sank into
insignificance; and so wise was the new policy, and so deeply had it taken
root, that the Romans, upon the subjection of Egypt, found it more
expedient to leave Alexandria in possession of its privileges, than to
alter the course of trade, or to occupy it themselves.

We possess scarcely any notices respecting the construction and equipment
of the Egyptian ships. According to Herodotus, they were made of thorns
twisted together, and their sails of rush mats: they were built in a
particular manner, quite different from those of other nations, and rigged
also in a singular manner; so that they seem to have been the mockery of
the other maritime states in the Mediterranean. But this description can
hardly apply to the Egyptian ships, after they had become powerful at sea,
though the expressions of Herodotus seem to have reference to the Egyptian
ships of his age. There can be no doubt that the vessels that navigated the
Nile, were very rude and singular in their construction; and most probably
the description given by the historian ought to be regarded as exclusively
confined to them. They were built of the Egyptian thorn, which seems to
have been very extensively cultivated, especially in the vicinity of
Acanthus: planks of small dimensions were cut from this tree, which were
fastened together, or rather laid over one another, like tiles, with a
great number of wooden pins: they used no ribs in the construction of their