Upon the absolute refutation of a negative, and proving the reverse, an affirmative, as a necessity, is directly established. Here, then, follows one upon that ground of reasoning: viz.—
Some writers have affirmed that the Fleet could not have been built and manned by the Naval Architects and Pilots of Tyrus, because their city was on the coast of the Mediterranean, and consequently could not reach the Red Sea, except all the Galleys were transported over land,—i. e. across the Isthmus of Suez to the place of departure, and this, say they, would be impossible. Such annotations upon the solemnity of History, only shew those authors' ignorance of the First Book of record and Religion,—for in the Bible it is distinctly written, both in the first Book of Kings (ix. 26, 27), and 2 Chronicles xiii. 17, 18, that Hiram the Great built a Navy for the King of Israel, at Ezion-Geber, near Eloth, in Edom, "on the shore of the Red Sea."
Here, then, is the fact of a fleet having been built by the Tyrians, for a foreign king, on the shores of the Red Sea, and for a voyage to India. Now this Navy was built for Solomon three hundred and eighty-five years before the time of Pharaoh-Necho, the period now under contemplation. Why should not the Tyrians build another Navy upon the borders of the Red Sea, at a later period, for another nation,—and especially when for an expedition calling forth every energy of the renowned Navigators? We apprehend that this affirmative, founded upon a refuted negative, will not now be further questioned even by the most sceptical reader; and besides, it is more than probable, that the Tyrians from the time of Solomon to Pharaoh, had a fleet, or vessels on the Red Sea, and consequently could quickly prepare for any expedition.
The affirmatives will now be established,—we shall then endeavour to describe the voyage, the discoveries, and safe return; and then prove that the entire document has the Seal of Holy-Writ, stamped by the hands of two contemporaneous Prophets of Jerusalem—Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Herodotus says, that the Voyage was successfully accomplished,—that the fleet, pilots, and mariners, were Tyrian.
Let us review the knowledge of this Grecian writer upon the subject. The expedition is recorded to have taken place 607—604 B. C. This is evidently an error, and should be 609 to 606,—for Pharaoh instantly followed his first attempt by the second,—and the first was in 610 B. C. This last arrangement is also supported by the words of Jeremiah. The Greek Historian visited Egypt, and wrote his History about 484 B. C., deriving his knowledge from personal observation, and from the Priests of Memphis. The date, therefore, of his writing, is only a hundred and twenty-two years after the occurrence of the Voyage, and consequently not at so late a period, that the antecedent truth should have been lost. Again. He was writing of the Egyptians, to be read to, and by the Athenians, who were always proud of every glory claimed by the inhabitants of the Nile, because much of Grecian science and knowledge had been derived from Egypt,—consequently Herodotus would have given all the fame to the Egyptians concerning the enterprise, if he could have done so with honesty; therefore, from the above reasoning, the truth of his record is manifest,—for to another nation, to the Tyrians, is he compelled to give the honour of accomplishing the greatest Naval Expedition mentioned in classic History.
We will now produce a proof (the most remarkable to be true) of the accuracy of Herodotus as a writer, and which will establish his authority to be believed, concerning the subject now under consideration. In his second Book of History—the Euterpe—he gives the reigns of the Egyptian Kings down to the Conquest, by Cambyses the Persian. In the course of his writing, we find a minute description of the three classes or manners of embalming the Egyptian mummies.
In the highest class of embalming, he states, "In the first place, with a crooked piece of iron they pull out the brain by the [way of the] nostrils!" [Book ii., sections 86—89.]
So extraordinary a statement might well originally have brought suspicion upon his entire History; but, after a period of nearly 2500 years, his statement is proved to be absolutely correct!—for many Mummies of Egypt examined by Mr. Pettigrew (and others) have been found to have no fracture or incision in the skull: yet upon an after-dissection of the skull by the same eminent surgeon, it has been found that the brain had been extracted: thus proving to demonstration, that it could only have been removed in the manner described by Herodotus! When, therefore, the pages of an Historian are established by scrutinizing Time itself, to have been traced by the pen of Truth, and in such minutiæ,—he may well be believed when recording so important an event as the first circumnavigation of the African Continent.