-quote-

"The Egyptians had traded in the Red Sea, importing spices from the "Land of Punt" and from Arabia. Indian goods were bought in Arabian vessels to Aden. Rawlinson identifies the long-debated "ships of Tarshish," as a Tyrian fleet equipped at Ezion-Geber that made several trading voyages to the east bringing back gold, silver, ivory and precious stones. These goods were transhipped at the port of Ophir.

According to Himanshu Prabha Ray (2003)
“ In the ancient period, it would seem that South Arabia and the Horn of Africa were the major suppliers of incense, while in modern times the commercial centre for the trade in gums has been Aden and Oman. Early ritual texts from Egypt show that incense was being bought to the upper Nile by traders, but perhaps the most spectacular evidence of this trade is provided by the frescos dated to around 1500 BCE on the walls of the temple at Thebes commemorating the journey of a fleet that the Queen of Egypt had sent to the Land of Punt.6 Five ships are depicted in these reliefs, piled high with treasure, and one of them shows thirty-one small incense trees in tubs being carried on board.

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Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense_route

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