text: ] These golden dreams speedily vanished as the country became more extensively known: and though the Arab tribes of the desert between Syria and the Euphrates acknowledged a nominal subjection to Rome the intercourse of the Imperial City with Yemen or Arabia Felix was confined to the trade which was carried on over the Red Sea from Egypt and which became the channel through which not only the spices of Arabia but the rich products of India and even the slaves [32] and ivory of Eastern Africa were supplied to the markets of Italy