CHAPTER XXI.
REQUISITES FOR A STATE ENJOYING EXTENSIVE COMMERCE. — ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION OF MEROE. — PROBABLE EXTENT OF HER COMMERCE. — THE FACILITY AFFORDED TO ITS EXTENSION BY MEANS OF THE CAMEL. — COMMERCE OF ARABIA AND INDIA. — ABUNDANCE OF GOLD. — IRON AND GUM. — ETHIOPIAN TRIBUTE TO EGYPT. — DESCRIPTION OF A SPLENDID ETHIOPIAN PROCESSION AT THEBES. — COMMERCE OF THE INTERIOR. — CAUSES OF THE DECLINE OF MEROE. — DIMINUTION OF HER AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. — EXHAUSTION OF MINES. — RIVALRY OF EGYPT. — WARS WITH EGYPT. — ARAB CONQUEST. — PRESENT COMMERCE.
Commerce of Meroe.—The history of nations, and particularly of cities, clearly evinces the extraordinary effects of commerce. Those countries which have attained to any high degree of power and prosperity have been, in a great measure, indebted for them to that source of wealth. A wise government, anxious for the welfare of its subjects, always affords the utmost encouragement and protection to commerce, guarding it against those accidents which endanger its security, and when, from unavoidable circumstances, one branch is closed, seeks to open other channels to its successful activity. In order that a state may carry on extensive commerce, it ought to possess an advantageous position, contiguous to other rich countries, with the opportunity of becoming an emporium for their commodities, and of supplying them with those in which they are deficient. She ought also to enjoy abundant internal resources, derived from agriculture, manufactures, and mines.
A slight examination of the map of this part of Africa will satisfy us that there could not have been a situation, on that immense continent, more admirably adapted for commercial intercourse than Meroe. Placed at a short distance only from the conflux of the Astaboras and the Nile, she was connected, by the former, with that part of Ethiopia now called Abyssinia; and, by the latter, now denominated the Bahr el Azruk, or Blue River, with the provinces of Sennaar, Fazoukl, and, perhaps, with regions still further to the south. It is also highly probable that, by the Bahr el Abiad, or White River, the true Nile, she communicated extensively with vast districts in the interior of Africa. The distance from these rivers, particularly from the Astaboras, to the present ports of Massoua (the ancient Adule) and Souakim, on the Red Sea, whence she received, perhaps, the productions of Arabia and the Indies, was by no means great. Nature seems to have facilitated the intercourse by providing her with the ship of the desert—the camel. By its means, probably, the commerce of Meroe may have been widely diffused into the centre of Africa; to the countries now called Kordofan and Darfour, which are only at a short distance from the Nile; nor is it improbable that a powerful and enterprising nation, such as the Ethiopians then appear to have been, may have extended their caravan trade to the kingdoms of Soudan, Bornou, &c., and possibly even to the now impervious Timbuctoo.
It may be asked, if the profit which the merchants of Meroe could derive from such distant expeditions would repay the cost and hazard; but an examination of the expense of transporting merchandise on camels will remove that objection. In the estimate which I am about to make, of the expenses of sea and land carriage, the rates must, of course, be those of the present day; this, however, will be to the disadvantage of my argument, as navigation, at that remote period, was in a much more imperfect state, and consequently more tedious and expensive, than it now is. I shall select wool, as a bulky article, and, therefore, more difficult to transport by land. I shall suppose a vessel, laden with 1000 bags of wool, of 450 lbs. each, and that its average passage was thirty days, for which the owners received a freight of 1d. per lb., which, I believe, is about the usual rate for a voyage of that length. Supposing, also, that the average sailing of the vessel, allowing for detentions from contrary winds, and for the time occupied in loading and reloading, be fifty miles per day, making thus 1500 miles. Now, the usual load for a camel is 500 lbs., sometimes 600 lbs., so that 450 lbs. is a very moderate calculation; and at the rate the merchandise of the Pasha is now carried down to Cairo, not more than sixty days would be necessary to accomplish the above distance. They charged me eighteen shillings for twenty days, averaging about twenty-five miles per day; therefore the expense of the sixty days, at present, would not exceed two pounds fourteen shillings; about sixteen shillings more than by water.
In ancient times the expense of labour and camels was not likely to differ materially from what it now is; but that of maritime conveyance must have been much larger. We know the number of men that were necessary to impel the boats, and their system of following all the sinuosities of the coasts. Hence the time taken to accomplish a voyage of any extent must have been very long. The period required by Solomon’s vessels to reach the country of Ophir is a proof of the dilatory, and consequently expensive, navigation in that age. As I have stated in my account of Dongolah, 2500 loads of gum, of 450 rotols each, are carried down to Cairo, that is, a distance of about 1800 miles, for 2l., including all expenses; being thirteen per cent. on the value.
This calculation proves, that the cost of land carriage, particularly for the short journeys to the Red Sea, Kordofan, and Darfour, would be only a slight inconvenience; and even the expense of a regular trade to Fezzan and Bornou, by the route which the Mamelukes took, would have been no very heavy burden on the articles. That on which I have chosen to make this calculation, was, as already observed, one of the most disadvantageous that could have been selected. The expense of 18s. (and I, as a traveller, of course paid the highest price), on conveying, for a journey of twenty days, 500 pounds weight of rich Indian stuffs, or of Arabian spices, must have been quite trifling.
Meroe, therefore, enjoyed the advantage, not only of a direct water communication by the Nile, Bahr el Abiad, Bahr el Azruk, and the Astoboras, to an extent of several thousand miles of the vast continent of Africa, but also, by means of the ship of the desert, had an intercourse with her ports on the Red Sea, and could thence open a communication with Arabia, and through it, perhaps, with India. Thus, also, she could exchange her merchandise or the rich natural productions of the centre of Africa. The circumstance mentioned in my topographical description ([page 200.]), that in the reign of the fourth caliph after Mahomet, this country was overrun by a powerful tribe from Yemen, and not from the Hedjas, as was generally supposed, renders it very probable, that that part of Arabia in particular had been deeply engaged in the commerce of Meroe. The knowledge thus obtained of its former wealth and power, its then entirely decayed condition, and the facilities afforded by its ports to invaders, were likely to induce a nation, then in full power, and inflamed by religious zeal, to invade and lay waste that country to which it was formerly, perhaps, tributary, or even subject.
A glance at the map is sufficient to show, that the commerce of the Indies must have been much more easily carried on with Meroe than with Egypt; for, whether the Ethiopians navigated directly to India, or received the produce of that rich country, by the caravans and vessels of the Arabians; in either case, she possessed superior local advantages over Egypt. Her ports on the Red Sea were better, the distance far shorter, and the dangerous navigation of that sea in a great measure avoided.