and streams favored a perfect system of irrigation, so that the country
presented a picture in striking contrast to its present blasted and
dreary desolation. The nation was also enriched by commerce as well as
by agriculture. Caravans brought from Eastern cities the most valuable
of their manufactures. From Tarshish in Spain ships brought gold and
silver; Egypt sent chariots and fine linen; Syria sold her purple cloths
and robes of varied colors; Arabia furnished horses and costly
trappings. All the luxuries and riches which Tyre had collected in her
warehouses found their way to Jerusalem. Even silver was as plenty as
the stones in the streets. Long voyages to the mouth of the Indus
resulted in a vast accumulation of treasure,--gold, ivory, spices, gums,
perfumes, and precious stones. The nations and tribes subject to Solomon
from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates, and from Syria to the Red Sea,
paid a fixed tribute, while their kings and princes sent rich
presents,--vessels of gold and silver, costly arms and armor, rich
garments and robes, horses and mules, perfumes and spices.

But the prosperity of the realm was not altogether inherited; it was
firmly and prudently promoted by the young king. Solomon made alliances
with Egypt and Syria, as well as with Phoenicia, and peace and plenty
enriched all classes, so that every man sat under his own vine and
fig-tree in perfect security. Never was such prosperity seen in Israel
before or since. Strong fortresses were built on Lebanon to protect the
caravans, and Tadmor in the wilderness to the east became a great centre
of trade, and ultimately a splendid city under Zenobia. The royal
stables contained forty thousand horses and fourteen hundred chariots.
The royal palace glistened with plates of gold, and the parks and
gardens were watered from immense reservoirs. "When the youthful monarch
repaired to these gardens in his gorgeous chariot, he was attended,"
says Stanley, "by nobles whose robes of purple floated in the wind, and