Dec.4] PROCEEDINGS. [1894."That shipsof 'Tartessus' should be built on the Elanitic
gulph,"says Mr. Renouf, "or, that ships should be built there
for the purpose of going to Tartessus, are absurdities too gross
to be admitted, but in order to avoid themonehas hadrecourse
to the gratuitous supposition that because the ships going to
Tartessus must have been great ships, therefore all great ships
were called by the Hebrews "Ships of Tartessus," though they
nevercamefromor were meantto go in that direction." If instead
of Tartessus, the respected writerhad said "Tarshish"or "Tarsus,"
whencethe timber for their constructionwasderived,andwhence
theirdesignation, "ships of Tarshish," therewouldhavebeenno
absurdityattachedto the expression " ships of Tarshish," whether
given to vessels built in the Mediterranean or in the RedSea.
Thereexists a singular scarcityof wood along the coast, even on
the mountains, of Palestine, PhoeniciaandSyria. It is not till we
cometo Casius —the boundary of ancient Phcenike,—that timber
becomesplentiful. Thisscarcityof wood, especiallyin Egypt, led
to wars between the Ptolemies and the Antiochidae, the former
seekingto strengthen theirnavy with woodderived fromTarsus.
Thisappearsto have been the case even in earlier times, as the
placeis noticed underthe name of Tursis or Toursis on a monu
mentrecording the victories of Rhamses III. Thesamethinghas
occurred even in the writer's times, when all Ibrahim Pasha's
ambition, afterreducing Syria,was to push forward to Cilicia, in
orderto procure woodfor the Egyptian fleet,andmostrecklesslydid
he ravage the mountain forests.
OurrespectedPresidentappears to have beenmainlyoccupied
in disproving the identity of Tarshish andTartessus,and mostof
his Scripture quotationsgo to prove this,but do not apply to Tarsus.
He makes capitalout of the history of the prophet Jonah,whichhe
saysis always quotedas a proof thatTarshishwasaccessible by a
shipstartingfromJoppa. " Such shipsas the prophet foundthere,"
he says, " were morelikelyto arrive safelyon the Phoenician coast
than to reach the Straits of Gibraltar, and facethe waters of the
Atlantic. What coulda ship from Joppa have to do with Tar
tessus?" So we say also, but a ship fromJoppacouldhavereached
Tarsusalmostas readily, andquiteas safely, as Phoenicia.
It is unnecessary to enter hereuponthe disputed questionas to
the site of Tartessus, or the still moreobjectionabledoubtsemitted
as to whether sucha place everexisted. Mr. P. le P. Renouf has
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