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THE 
 
 COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ERYTHR^AN SEA; 
 
 BEING A TRANSLATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PEKIPLUS MAEIS EKYTHR.EI, 
 
 BX AN AKOIfYMOUS WEITEE, 
 AKD OF 
 
 ARRIAN'S ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF NEARKHOS, 
 
 PBOM TUE MOUTH OF THE INDUS TO THE HEiD OF THE 
 PEESIAN GULF. 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTIONS, COMMENTARY, NOTES, 
 >^ -'^ , , ,AN^o ^^^^-^ "»' 
 
 j; W./;'N&CMM :^i 1^;.Edin., 
 
 PRINCIPAL OF THE GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, PATNA ; 
 
 MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH ; 
 
 FELLOW OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 (Reprinted, with additions, from the Indian Antiquary.) 
 
 € nit IX tin: fomtag: 
 
 THICKER, SPINK & Co. ED. SOO. PRESS. 
 
 ^ It ir It : 
 
 TRUBNER & Co. 
 
 1879. 
 
 W, 
 
?38 
 
 UCNRY MORSE STEPHENS 
 BOMBAY : 
 
 PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA, 
 
-ix. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In the Preface to my former work, " Ancient 
 India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian," 
 I informed the reader that it was my intention 
 to pubHsh from time to time translations of the 
 Greek and Latin works which relate to ancient 
 India, until the series should be exhausted, and 
 the present volume is the second instalment 
 towards the fulfilment of that undertaking. 
 It contains a translation of the Periplus (i. e. 
 Circumnavigation) of the Erytlircean Sea, 
 together with a translation of the second part 
 of the IndiJca of Arrian describing the cele- 
 brated voyage made by Nearkhos from the 
 mouth of the Indus to the head of the Persian 
 Gulf. Arrian's narrative, copied from the 
 Journal of the voyage written by Nearkhos 
 himself, forms an admirable supplement to the 
 Periplus, as it contains a minute description of 
 a part of the Erythreean Coast which is merely 
 glanced at by the author of that work. The 
 translations have been prepared from the most 
 approved texts. The notes, in a few instances 
 only, bear upon points of textual criticism, 
 their main object being to present in a concise 
 form for popular reading the most recent results 
 of learned enquiry directed to verify, correct. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 or otherwise illustrate the contents of the 
 narratives. 
 
 The vrarm and unanimous approbation be- 
 stowed upon the first volume of this series, both 
 by the Press in this country and at home, has 
 given me great encouragement to proceed with 
 the undertaking, and a third volume is now in 
 preparation, to contain the IndiJca of Ktesias 
 and the account of India given by Strabo in the 
 loth Book of his Geography. 
 
 Patna College, June 1879. 
 
ANONYMI [ARRIANI UT FERTUR] 
 
 PERIPLTJS MARIS EMTHR^I. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT 
 
 As given in the Qeographi Oraci Minoret, edited by 
 C. MuUer : Paris, 1555. 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND COMMENTARY. 
 
PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA. 
 
 Introduction/ 
 
 The PeripMs of the Erythrcean Sea is the title 
 prefixed to a work which contains the best account 
 of the commerce carried on from the Red Sea and 
 the coast of Africa to the East Indies during the 
 time that Egypt was a province of the Roman em- 
 pire. The Erythraean Sea was an appellation 
 given in those days to the whole expanse of ocean 
 reaching from the coast of Africa to the utmost 
 boundary of ancient knowledge on the East — an 
 appellation in all appearance deduced from the 
 entrance into it by the Straits of the Red Sea, 
 styled Erythraby the Greeks, and not exclud- 
 ing the Gulf of Persia. 
 
 The author was a Greek merchant, who in the 
 first century of the Christian era had, it would 
 appear, settled at Berenike, a great seaport 
 situated in the southern extremity of Egypt, 
 whence he made commercial voyages which carried 
 him to the seaports of Eastern Africa as far as 
 A z a n i a, and to those of Arabia as far as Kane, 
 whence, by taking advantage of the south-west 
 monsoon, he crossed over to the ports lying on 
 the western shores of India. Having made careful 
 
 ^ The Introduction and Commentary embody the main 
 substance of Miiller's Prolegomena and Notes to the 
 Periplus, and of Vincent's Commerce and Navigation of 
 the Ancients so far as it relates specially to that work. The 
 most recent authorities accessible have, however, been also 
 consulted, and the result of their inquiries noted. I may 
 mention particularly Bishop Caldwell's Dravidian Gram- 
 mar, to which I am indebted for the identification of places 
 on the Malabar and Coromandel ooasta. 
 
observations and inquiries regarding the naviga- 
 tion and commerce of these countries, he commit- 
 ted to writing, for the benefit of other merchants, 
 the knovrledge which he had thus acquired. Much 
 cannot be said in praise of the style in which he 
 writes. It is marked by a rude simplicity, which 
 shows that he was not a man of literary culture, 
 but in fact a mere man of business, who in com- 
 posing restricts himself to a narrow round of set 
 phrases, and is indifferent alike to grace, freedom, 
 or variety of expression. It shows further that 
 he was a Greek settled in Egypt, and that he must 
 have belonged to an isolated community of his 
 countrymen, whose speech had become corrupt by 
 much intercourse with foreigners. It presents a 
 very striking contrast to the rhetorical diction 
 which Agatharkhides, a great master of all 
 the tricks of speech, employs in his description of 
 the Erythraian. For all shortcomings, however, 
 iu the style of the work, there is ample compensa- 
 tion in the fulness, variety, accuracy, and utility 
 of the information which it conveys. Such indeed 
 is its superiority on these points that it must be 
 reckoned as a most precious treasure : for to it 
 we are indebted far more than to any other work 
 for most of our knowledge of the remote shores of 
 Eastern Africa, and the marts of India, and the 
 condition of ancient commerce in these parts of 
 the world. 
 
 The name of the author is unknown. In the Hei- 
 delberg MS., which alone has preserved the little 
 work, and contains it after the Periplus of Arrian, 
 the title given is 'Appiavov rrepLTrXovs ttjs' Epvdpas 
 6a\a<ra7)s. Trusting to the correctness of this 
 
title, Stuckius attributed the work to A r r i a n of 
 Nikoraedia, and Fabricius to another Arrian who 
 belonged to Alexandria. 'No one, however, who 
 knows how ancient books are usually treated can 
 fail to see what the real fact here is, viz. that 
 since not only the Periplus Maris Erytlircei, but 
 also the Anonymi Periijlus Ponti Euxini (whereof 
 the latter part occurs in the Heidelberg MS. before 
 Arrian's Ponti Perl^jlus) are attributed to Arrian, 
 and the different Arrians are not distinguished 
 by any indications afforded by the titles, there can 
 be no doubt that the well-known name of the 
 Nikomedian writer was transferred to the books 
 placed in juxtaposition to his proper works, by 
 the arbitrary judgment of the librarians. In fact 
 it very often happens that short works written by 
 different authors are all referred to one and the 
 same author, especially if they treat of the same 
 subject and are published conjointly in the same 
 volume. But in the case of the work before us, 
 any one would have all the more readily ascribed 
 it to Arrian who had heard by report anything 
 of the ParapMs of the Erythraean Sea described 
 in that author's Inclika. On this point there 
 is the utmost unanimity of opinion among 
 writers. 
 
 That the author, whatever may have been his 
 name, lived in Egypt, is manifest. Thus he says 
 in § 29 : " Several of the trees with lis in Egypt 
 weep gum," and he joins the names of the 
 Egyptian months with the Koman, as may be 
 seen by referring to §§ 6, 39, 49, and 56. The place 
 in which he was settled was probably Berenike, 
 since it was from that port he embarked on his 
 
voyages to Africa and Arabia, and since he speaks 
 of the one coast as on the right from Berenike, 
 and the other on the left. The whole tenor of the 
 work proclaims that he must have been a merchant. 
 That the entire work is not a mere compilation 
 from the narratives or journals of other merchants 
 and navigators, but that the author had himself 
 visited some of the seats of trade which he de- 
 scribes, is in itself probable, and is indicated in § 20, 
 where, contrary to the custom of the ancient 
 writers, he speaks in his own person : — " In sailing 
 south, therefore, we stand off from the shore and 
 keep our course down the middle of the gulf." 
 Compare with this what is said in § 48 : ra Tvpos 
 rrjv iyLTVopiav rrjv r)fji,€Tepav. 
 
 As regards the age to which the writer belong- 
 ed : it is first of all evident that he wrote after the 
 times of Augustus, since in § 23 mention is made 
 of the Eoman Emperors. That he was older, 
 however, than Ptolemy the Geographer, is 
 proved by his geography, which knows nothing of 
 India beyond the Ganges except the traditional 
 account current from the days of Eratosthenes to 
 those of Pliny, while it is evident that Ptolemy 
 possessed much more accurate information re- 
 garding these parts. It confirms this view that 
 while our author calls the island of Ceylon P a 1 a i- 
 simoundou, Ptolemy calls it by the name 
 subsequently given to it — S alike. Again, from 
 § 19, it is evident that he wrote before the 
 kingdom of the Nabathseans was abolished by. 
 the Romans. Moreover Pliny (YI. xxvi. 104), in 
 proceeding to describe the navigation to the 
 marts of India by the direct route across the 
 
ocean with the wind called Hippalos, writes to 
 this effect : — " And for a long time this was the 
 mode of navigation, until a merchant discovered 
 a compendious route whereby India was brought 
 so near that to trade thither became very lucra- 
 tive. For, every year a fleet is despatched, car- 
 rying on board companies of archers, since the 
 Indian seas are much infested by pirates. N"or 
 will a description of the whole voyage from Egypt 
 tire the reader, since now for the first time correct 
 information regarding it has been made public." 
 Compare with this the statement of the Pei'iplus 
 in § 57, and it will be apparent that while this 
 route to India had only just come into use in the 
 time of Pliny, it had been for some time in use in 
 the days of our author. Now, as Pliny died in 
 79 A.D., and had completed his work two years 
 previously, it may bo inferred that he had written 
 the 6th book of his Natural History before our 
 author wrote his work. A still more definite in- 
 dication of his date is furnished in § 5, where 
 Zos kales is mentioned as reigning in his 
 times over the Auxumitae. l^ow in a list of the 
 early kings of Abyssinia the name of Z a- 
 Hakale occurs, who must have reigned from 
 77 to 89 A.D. This Za-Hakale is doubtless 
 the Zos kales of the Feriplus, and was the 
 contemporary of the emperors Yespasian, Titus, 
 and Domitian. We conclude, therefore, that the 
 Feriplus was written a little after the death of 
 Pliny, between the years a.d. 80-89. 
 
 Opinions on this point, however, have varied 
 considerably. Salmasius thought that Pliny and 
 oar author wrote at the same time, though their ac- 
 
counts of the same things are often contradictor3^ 
 In support of this view he adduces the statement 
 of the Feriplus (§ 5i), " M uzi r i s, a place in India, 
 is in the kingdom of Keprobotres," when com- 
 pared with the statement of Plipy (YI. xxvi. 104), 
 "Ccolobothras was reigning there when I 
 committed this to writing ;" and argues that since 
 Kepr o'botras and Coelobothras are but 
 different forms of the same name, the two authors 
 must have been contemporary. The inference is, 
 however, unwarrantable, since the name in ques- 
 tion, like that of P a n d 1 6 n, was a common appella- 
 tion of the kings who ruled over that part of India. 
 Dodwell, again, was of opinion that the Feriplus 
 was written after the year a, d. 161, when Marcus 
 Aurelius and Lucius Yerus were joint emperors. 
 He bases, in the first place, his defence of this view 
 on the statement in § 26 : " Not long before our 
 own times the Emperor [Kala-ap) destroyed the 
 place," viz. E u d a i m 6 n-A r a b i a, now Aden. 
 This emi3eror he supposes must have been Trajan, 
 who, according to Eutropius (YIII. 3), reduced 
 Arabia to the form of a province. Eutropius, how- 
 ever, meant by Arabia only that small part of it 
 which adjoins Syria. This Dodwell not only denies, 
 but also asserts that the conquest of Trajan em- 
 braced the whole of the Peninsula — a sweeping 
 inference, which he bases on a single passage 
 in the Feriplus (§ 16) where the south part 
 of Arabia is called t) TrpoiTrj ApajBia, " the First 
 Arabia." From this expression he gathers that 
 Tr'ajan, after his conquest of the country, had 
 divided it into several provinces, designated ac- 
 cording to the order in which tliey were consti- 
 
tilted. The language of the PeriphU, however, 
 forbids us to suppose that there is here any refer- 
 ence to a Roman province. What the passage 
 states is that A z a n i a (in Africa) was by- 
 ancient right subject to the kingdom r^y 7Tpa>rr]s 
 yivojxevrjs {Xeyofxevrjs according to Dodwell) 'Apa^ias, 
 and was ruled by the despot of Mapharitis. 
 
 Dodwell next defends the date he has fixed on 
 by the passage in § 23, where it is said that K h a- 
 r i b a e 1 sought by frequent gifts and embassies 
 to gain the friendship of the emperors {rau 
 avTOKparopoov). He thinks that the time is here 
 indicated when M. Aurelius and L. Yerus were 
 reigning conjointly, a.d. 161-181. There is no 
 need, however, to put this construction on the 
 words, which may without any impropriety be 
 taken to mean 'the emperors for the time being ^ 
 viz. Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. 
 
 Vincent adopted the opinion of Salmasius re- 
 "garding the date of the work, but thinks that the 
 Kaisar mentioned in § 26 was Claudius. " The 
 Romans,'* he says, " from the time they first entered 
 Arabia under ^lius Gallus, had always main- 
 tained a footing on the coast of the Red Sea. They 
 had a garrison at L e u k 6 K 6 m e, in ISTaba- 
 tha3a, where they collected the customs ; and 
 it is apparent that they extended their power 
 down the gulf and to the ports pf the ocean 
 in the reign of Claudius, as the freedman of 
 Annius Plocamus was in the act of collect- 
 ing the tributes there when he was carried out to 
 sea and over to T a p r o b a n 6, If we add to this 
 the discovery of Hippalus in the same reign, we 
 find a better reason for the destruction of Aden at 
 
8 
 
 this time than at any other." The assertion in 
 this extract that the garrison and custom-house 
 atLeuke Kome belonged to the Romans is not 
 warranted by the language of the Periplus, which 
 in fact shows that they belonged to Malikhos 
 the king of the Nabathseans. Again, it is a mere 
 conjecture that the voyage which the freedman of 
 Plocamus (who, according to Pliny, farmed the 
 revenues of the Red Sea) was making along the 
 coast of Arabia, when he was carried away by the 
 monsoon to Taprobane, was a voyage undertaken to 
 collect the revenues due to the Roman treasury. 
 With regard to the word Kaia-ap, which has 
 occasioned so much perplexity, it is most pro- 
 bably a corrupt reading in a text notorious for its 
 corruptness. The proper reading may perhaps 
 be EAI2AP. At any rate, had one of the em- 
 perors in reality destroyed Aden, it is unlikely 
 that their historians would have failed to men- 
 tion such an important fact. 
 
 Schwanbeck, although he saw the weakness of 
 the arguments wibh which Salmasius and Vincent 
 endeavoured to establish their position, never- 
 theless thought that our author lived in the age 
 of Pliny and wrote a little before him, because 
 those particulars regarding the Indian navigation 
 which Pliny says became known in his age agree, 
 on the whole, so well with the statement in the 
 Periplus that they must have been extracted 
 therefrom. No doubt there are, he allows, some 
 discrepancies; but those, he thinks, may be ascribed 
 to the haste or negligence o^ the copyist . A care- 
 ful examination, however, of parallel passages in 
 Pliny and the Periplus show this assertion to be 
 
untenable. Vincent himself speaks with caution 
 on this point : — " There is," he says, " no absolute 
 proof that either copied from the other. But those 
 who are acquainted with Pliny's methods of 
 abbreviation would much rather conclude, if one 
 must be a copyist, that his title to this office is 
 the clearest." 
 
 From these preliminary points we pass on to 
 consider the contents of the work, and these may 
 be conveniently reviewed under the three heads 
 Geography, Navigation, Commerce. In the com- 
 mentary, which is to accompany the translation, 
 the Geography will be examined in detail. Mean- 
 while we shall enumerate the voyages which are 
 distinguishable in the Periplus,^ and the articles of 
 commerce which it specifies. 
 
 I. Voyages mentioned in the Periplus. 
 
 I. A voyage from BerenikS, in the south of 
 Egypt, down the western coast of the Red Sea 
 through the Straits, along the coast of Africa, 
 round Cape Guardafui, and then southward along 
 the eastern coast of Africa as far as Rhapta, a 
 place about six degrees south of the equator. 
 
 II. We are informed of two distinct courses 
 confined to the Red Sea : one from Myos Hormos, 
 in the south of Egypt, across the northern end 
 of the sea to Leuke Kome, on the opposite coast of 
 Arabia, near the mouth of theElanitic Gulf, whence 
 it was continued to Mouza, an Arabian port lying 
 not far westward from the Straits ; the other from 
 Berenike directly down the gulf to this same port 
 
 * The enumeration is Vincent's, altered and abridged. 
 h 
 
w 
 
 III. There is described next to this a voyage 
 from the mouth of the Straits along the southern 
 coast of Arabia round the promontory now called 
 Ras-el-Had, whence it was continued along the 
 eastern coast of Arabia as far as Apologos (now 
 Oboleh), an important emporium at the head of the 
 Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the river 
 Euphrates. 
 
 lY. Then follows a passage from the Straits to 
 India by three different routes : the first by 
 adhering to the coasts of Arabia, Karmania, Ge- 
 drosia, and Indo-Skythia, which terminated at 
 B ar u g a za (Bharoch), a great emporium on the ri- 
 ver Namraadias (the Narmada), at a distance of 
 thirty miles from its mouth; the second from' 
 Kane, a port to the west of Suagros, a great 
 projection on the south coast of Arabia, now Cape 
 Fartaque ; and the third from Cape Guardafui, on 
 the African side — both across the ocean by the 
 monsoon toMouziris and ISTelkunda, great 
 commercial cities on the coast of Malabar. 
 
 Y. After this we must allow a similar voyage 
 performed by the Indians to Arabia, or by the 
 Arabians to India, previous to the performance of 
 it by the Greeks, because the Greeks as late as the 
 reign of Philometor met this commerce in Sabaea. 
 
 YI. We obtain an incidental knowledge of a 
 voyage conducted from ports on the east coast of 
 Africa over to India by the monsoon long before 
 Hippalos introduced the knowledge of that wind 
 to the Roman world. This voyage was connected, 
 no doubt, with the commerce of Arabia, since the 
 Arabians were the great traffickers of antiquity, and 
 held in subjection part of the sea-board of Eastern 
 
11 
 
 Africa. The Indian commodities imported into 
 Africa were rice, ghee, oil of sesamum, sugar, 
 cotton, muslins, and sashes. These commodities, 
 the Periplus informs us, were brought sometimes 
 in vessels destined expressly for the coast of Africa, 
 while at others they were only part of the cargo, 
 out of vessels which were proceeding to another 
 port. Thus we have two methods of conducting 
 this commerce perfectly direct ; and another 
 by touching on this coast with a final destina- 
 tion to Arabia. This is the reason that the 
 Greeks found cinnamon and the produce of India 
 on this coast, when they first ventured to pass 
 the Straits in order to seek a cheaper market thaa 
 Sabaea. 
 
 II. Articles of Commerce mentioneb 
 
 IN THE PeRIPLUS, 
 
 I. Animals: — 
 
 1. TlapOevoi evei^ds Trphs TraWaKiav — Handsome 
 girls for the haram, imported into Barugaza for 
 the king (49).^ 
 
 2. AovXiKa Kp€i(r0-ova — Tall slaves, procured at 
 Opone, imported into Egypt (14). 
 
 3. Sco^ara 6r)XvK.a — Female slaves, procured 
 from Arabia and India, imported into the island 
 of Dioskorides (31). 
 
 4. ^aifiaTa. — Slaves imported from Omana and 
 Apologos into Barugaza (36), and from Moundou 
 and Malao (8, 9). 
 
 5. ''Ittttoi — Horses imported into Kane for the 
 king, and into Mouza for the despot (23, 24). 
 
 * The numerals indicate the sections of the PerijpMs in 
 which the articles are mentioned. 
 
12 
 
 6. ' Kfiiovai vaTTjyol — Sumpter mules imported 
 into Mouza for the despot (24). 
 II. Animal Products : — 
 
 1. BovTvpov — Butter, or the Indian preparation 
 therefrom called ghi, a product of Ariake (41); 
 exported from Barugaza to the Barbarine markets 
 beyond the Straits (14). The word, according to 
 Pliny (xxviii. 9), is of Skythian origin, though 
 apparently connected with Bovs, rvpos. The 
 reading is, however, suspected by Lassen, who 
 would substitute Botr/Liopoi/ or Boarropov, a hind of 
 grain. 
 
 2. Aepfiara 'STjpiKo. — Chinese hides or furs. Ex- 
 ported from Barbarikon, a mart on the Indus (39). 
 Yincent suspected the reading depp-ara, but ground- 
 lessly, for Pliny mentions the Seres sending their 
 iron along with vestments and hides (vestihus 
 pellihusque), and among the presents sent to 
 Yudhishthira by the Saka, Tushara and Kanka 
 skins are enumerated.— ilf«A^5^. ii. 50, quoted by 
 Lassen. 
 
 3. 'EXe^as — Ivory. Exported from Adouli (6), 
 Aualites (8), Ptolemais (3), Mossulon (10), and the 
 ports of Azania (16, 17). Also from Barugaza (49), 
 Mouziris and Il^elkunda (56) ; a species of ivory 
 called Bcicrapr) is produced in Desarene (62). 
 
 4. "Epiov '2-qpiKov — Chinese cotton. Imported 
 from the country of the Thinai through Baktria 
 to Barugaza, and by the Ganges to Bengal, and 
 thence to Dimurike (64). By "'E.pLov Yincent seems 
 to understand silk in the raw state. 
 
 5. Kepara — Horns. Exported from Barugaza to 
 the marts of Omana and Apologos (36). Miiller 
 suspects this reading, thinking it strange that 
 
13 
 
 such an article as horns should be mentioned 
 between wooden beams and logs. He thinks, there- 
 fore, that Kepara is either used in some technical 
 sense, or that the reading Kop/xcai/ or Kopfilav 
 should be substituted— adding that Kopfiovs i^ivov, 
 planks of ebony, are at all events mentioned by 
 Athenaios (p. 201a) where he is quoting Kal- 
 lixenos of Ehodes. 
 
 6. KopaXXiov — Coral. (Sans, pravdla, Hindi 
 mUngd.) Imported into Kane (28), Barbarikon 
 on the Indus (39), Barugaza (49), and Naoura, 
 Tundis, Mouziris, and Nelkunda (56). 
 
 7. AaKKos xP^^H-'^Ti'Vos — Coloured lac. Exported 
 to Adouli from Ariake (6). The Sanskrit word 
 is Idkshd, which is probably a later form of rdhslid, 
 connected, as Lassen thinks, with rdga, from the 
 root raiij, to dye. The vulgar form is Idkkha. 
 Gum-lac is a substance produced on the leaves 
 and branches of certain trees by an insect, both 
 as a covering for its egg and food for its young. 
 It yields a fine red dye.* Salmasius thinks that 
 by "KaKKos xp(^H-^'^i-vos must be understood not lac 
 itself, but vestments dyed therewith. 
 
 8. MapyapLTTjs — Pearl. (Sans. muJcta, Hindi, 
 matt.) Exported in considerable quantity and of 
 superior quality from Mouziris and Kelkunda (66). 
 
 Cf. TTLVLKOV. 
 
 9. N^/xa ^rjpLKov — Silk thread. From the coun- 
 
 * Bhagvanlal Indraji Pandit points out that the colour is 
 called alaJctaka, Prakrit alito : it is used by women for 
 dying the nails and feet, — also as a dye. The gulali or 
 pill-like balls used by women are made with arrowroot 
 coloured with alito, and cotton dipped in it is sold in the 
 bazars under the name of pothi, and used for the same 
 purposes. He has also contributed many of the Sanskrit 
 names, and some notes. 
 
14 
 
 try of the Thinai : imported into Barugaza and 
 the marts of Dimurike (64). Exported from 
 Barugaza (49), and also from Barbarikon on the 
 Indus (39) ." It is called fiera^a by Procopius and all 
 the later writers, as well as by the Digest, and was 
 known without either name to Pliny " — Yincent. 
 
 10. Hlvlklos Koyxos — the Pearl-oyster. (Sans. 
 siikti.) Fished for at the entrance to the Persian 
 Oulf (35). Pearl [ttlvlkov) inferior to the Indian 
 sort ex|5orted in great quantity from the marts of 
 Apologos and Omana(36). A pearl fishery (Ilti/iKoG 
 «oXvjLi/3;/o-is) in the neighbourhood of Kolkhoi, in 
 the kingdom of Pandion, near the island of Epio- 
 doros ; the produce transported to Argalou, in the 
 interior of the country, where muslin robes with 
 pearl inwoven {fiapyapin^es aivboves) were fabri- 
 cated (59). The reading of the MS. is (riv86v€s, 
 f^apynpeiTides XeyojjLevat, for which Salmasius pro- 
 posed to read fiapyapirLbes. Miiller suggests 
 instead at 'Apyapindes, as if the muslin bore the 
 name of the place Argarou or Argulou, where it was 
 made. 
 
 Pearl is also obtained in Taprobane (61) ; is 
 imported into the emporium on the Ganges called 
 'Gange(63). 
 
 11. Hop<j)vpa — Purple. Of a common as well as 
 of a superior quality, imported from Egypt into 
 Mouza (24) and Kane (28), and from the marts of 
 Apologos and Omana into Barugaza (36). 
 
 12. "Pij/oKepcos — Rhinoceros (Sans. Jcliadgad) — 
 the horn or the teeth, and probably the skin. 
 Exported from Adouli (16), and the marts of 
 Azania (7). Bruce found the hunting of the 
 rhinoceros still a trade in Abyssinia. 
 
15 
 
 13. XcXoiVT} — Tortoise (Sans, hachchhapa) or 
 tortoise-shell. Exported from Adouli (6) and 
 Aualites (7) ; a small quantity of tlie genuine and 
 land tortoise, and a white sort with a small shell, ex- 
 ported from Ptolemais (3) ; small shells (XeXwi/apia) 
 exported from Mossulon (10) ; a superior sort 
 in great quantity from Opone (13) ; the mountain 
 tortoise from the island of Menouthias (15); a 
 kind next in quality to the Indian from the marts 
 of Azania (16, 17) ; the genuine, land, white, and 
 mountain sort with shells of extraordinary size 
 from the island of Dioskorides (30, 31) ; a good 
 quantity from the island of Serapis (33) ; the best 
 kind in all the Erythraean — that of the Golden 
 Khersonesos (63), sent to Mouziris and Nelkunda, 
 whence it is exported along with that of the 
 islands off the coast of Dimurike (probably the 
 Laccadive islands) (56) ; tortoise is also procured 
 in Taprobane (61). 
 
 III. — Plants and their products : — 
 
 1. A\6r} — the aloe (Sans, ci^rari*). Exported from 
 Kane (28). The sort referred to is probably the 
 bitter cathartic, not the aromatic sort supposed 
 by some to be the sandalwood. It grows abund- 
 antly in Sokotra, and it was no doubt exported 
 thence to Kane. " It is remarkable," says Vincent, 
 " that when the author of the Feriplus arrives at 
 Sokotra he says nothing of the aloe, and mentions 
 only Indian cinnabar as a gum or resin distilling 
 from a tree : but the confounding of cinnabar with 
 dragon's-blood was a mistake of ancient date and 
 a great absurdity" (II. p. 689). 
 
 2. 'Apa)/xara — aromatics (euwfita, Bvixiafxara.) 
 Exported from Aualites (7), Mossulon (10). Among 
 
16 
 
 the spices of Tabai (12) are enumerated da-v^ri Kal 
 apcofxa Kal fidyXa, and similarly among the com- 
 modities of Opone Kao-aia koI apoofia Kal jxorco ; and 
 in these passages perhaps a particular kind of 
 aromatic (cinnamon ?) may by preeminence be 
 called cipcoiAu. The occurrence, however, in two 
 instances of such a familiar word as aptofxa between 
 two outlandish words is suspicious, and this has 
 led Miiller to conjecture that the proper reading 
 may be dprj^o), which Salmasius, citing Galen, 
 notes to be a kind of cassia. 
 
 3. Ao-v^T] — Asuphe, a kind of cassia. Exported 
 from Tabai (12). " This term," says Yincent, " if 
 not Oriental, is from the Greek dav(prj\os, signi- 
 fiying cheap or ordinary ; but we do not find daixjn] 
 used in this manner by other authors : it may be an 
 Alexandrian corruption of the language, or it may 
 be the abbreviation of a merchant in his invoice." 
 (Asafcetida, Sans, hingu or bdhlika, Mar, king.) 
 
 4. BbeWa, (common form BSeXXioj/), Bdella, 
 Bdellium, produced on the sea-coast of Gedrosia 
 (37); exported from Barbarikon on the Indus 
 (39) ; brought from the interior of India to Baru- 
 gaza (48) for foreign export (49). Bdella is the gum 
 of the Balsamodendron Mukul,a tree growing in Sind, 
 Kathiavad, and the Disa district.^ _It is used both 
 as an incense and as a cordial medicine. The 
 bdellium of Scripture is a crystal, and has nothing 
 in common with the bdellium of the Periplus but 
 its transparency. Oonf . Dioskorid. i. 80 ; Plin. xii. 
 9 ; Galen, Therapeut. ad Glauc. II. p. 106 ; Lassen, 
 
 ^ Sans. Guggula, Guj. GUgal, used as a tonic and for 
 skin and urinary diseases. — B. I. P. 
 
17 
 
 Ind. AIL vol. I. p. 290; Vincent, vol. IT. p. 690; 
 Yule's Marco Polo, vol. II. p. 387. The etymology 
 of the word is uncertain. Lassen suspects it to be 
 Indian. 
 
 6. r/^eip — Gizeir, a kind of cassia exported from 
 Tabai (12). This sort is noticed and described by 
 Dioskorides. 
 
 6. AoKos — Beams of wood. Exported from 
 Barugaza to the marts of Omana and Apologos 
 (36). (? Blackwood.) 
 
 7. AovaKu — Douaka, a kind of cassia. Exported 
 from Malao and Mound ou (8, 9). It was probably 
 that inferior species which in Dioskorid. i. 12, is 
 called duKap or 8a/cap or ddpKa. 
 
 8. 'E^evivai (jiaXayyes — Logs of ebony {JDiospyros 
 melanoxylon.) Exported from Barugaza to the 
 marts of Omana and Apologos (36). 
 
 9. EXaioi/ — Oil {tila). Exported from Egypt to 
 Adouli (6) ; eXaiov c-ricrdynvov, oil of sesame, a 
 product of Ariake (41). Exported from Barugaza 
 to the Barbarine markets (14), and to Moskha in 
 Arabia (32).« 
 
 10. ^Iv^LKov fxeXav — Indigo. (Sans, ntli, Guj. 
 gull.) Exported from Sky thicBarbarikon (39). It 
 appears pretty certain that the culture of the 
 indigo plant and the preparation of the drug have 
 been practised in India from a very remote epoch. 
 It has been questioned, indeed, whether the In- 
 dicum mentioned by Pliny (xxxv. 6) was indigo, 
 but, as it would seem, without any good reason. 
 He states that it was brought from India, and 
 that when diluted it produced an admirable mixture 
 
 * Mahuwa oil (Guj. doliun, Sans, madhuka) is much 
 exported from Bharoch. — B. I. P. 
 
18 
 
 of blue and purple colours. Vide McCuIlocIi*» 
 Commer. Diet. s. v. Indigo. Cf. Salmas. in Exerc. 
 Plin. p. 181. The dye was introduced into Eome 
 only a little before Pliny's time. 
 
 11. KayAca/zoi/ — Kankamon. Exported from Malao 
 and Moundou (8, 10). According- to Dioskorides 
 i. 23, it is the exudation of a wood, like myrrh, and 
 used for fumigation. Cf. Plin. xii. 44. Accord- 
 ing to Scaliger it was gum-lac used as a dye. It 
 is the " dekamalli" gum of the bazars. 
 
 12. Kapirao-os — Karpasus (Sans. kdrpdsa\; Heb. 
 Icarpas,) Gossypium arboretem, fine muslin — a pro- 
 duct of Ariake (41). " How this word found its 
 way into Italy, and became the Latin carhasus, 
 fine linen, is surprising, when it is not found in 
 the Greek language. The Kaptrdanov \lvov of 
 Pausanias {in Atticis), of which the wick was 
 formed for the lamp of Pallas, is asbestos, so called 
 from Karpasos, a city of Crete — Salmas. Plin. 
 Exercit.-p' 178. Conf. Q. Curtius viii. 9 : — ' Carbaso 
 Indi corpora usque ad pedes velant, eorumque rex 
 lectica margaritis circumpendentibus recumbit 
 distinctis auro et purpura carbasis qua indutu& 
 est.' " Vincent II. 699.- 
 
 13. Kaao-ia or Kacria (Sans, kuta, Heb. kiddah and 
 Jeeziah). Exported from Tabai (12) ; a coarse kind 
 exported from Malao and Moundou (8, 9) ; a vast 
 quantity exportedfromMossulon andOp6ne(10, 13). 
 
 " This spice," says "Vincent, " is mentioned fre- 
 quently in the Periplus, and with various ad- 
 ditions, intended to specify the different sorts 
 properties, or appearances of the commodity. It 
 is a species of cinnamon, and manifestly the same 
 as what we call cinnamon at this day ; but dif- 
 
19 
 
 ferent from that of the Greeks and Romans, 
 which was not a bark, nor rolled up into pipes, 
 like ours. Theirs was the tender shoot of the 
 same plant, and of much higher value." " If our 
 -cinnamon," he adds, "is the ancient casia, our casia 
 again is an inferior sort of cinnamon." Pliny 
 (xii. 19) states that the cassia is of a larger size 
 than the cinnamon, and has a thin rind rather 
 than a bark, and that its value consists in being 
 hollowed out. Dioskorides mentions cassia as a 
 product of Arabia, but this is a mistake, Arabian 
 cassia having been an import from India. Hero- 
 dotos (iii.) had made the same mistake, saying 
 that cassia grew in Arabia, but that cinnamon 
 was brought thither by birds from the country 
 where Bacchus was born (India). The cassia 
 shrub is a sort of laurel. There are ten kinds of 
 cassia specified in the PeriplusJ Cf. Lassen, Ind, 
 Alt. I. 279, 283 ; Salmas. Piin. Exercit. p. 1304 ; 
 Galen, de Antidotis, bk. i. 
 
 14. Kivvd^api ^IvdiKov — Dragon's-blood, damu'l 
 nkJiawein of the Arabs, a gum distilled from 
 Pferocarpus Draco, a leguminous tree* in the 
 island of Dioskorides or Sokotra (30). Cinna- 
 bar, with which this was confounded, is the red 
 eulphuret of mercury. Pliny (lib. xxix. c. 8) 
 •distinguishes it as ' Indian cinnabar.' Dragon's- 
 blood is one of the concrete balsams, the prodube 
 of Calamus Draco, a species of rattan palm of 
 the Eastern Archipelago, [of Pterocarpus Draco, 
 «,llied to the Indian Kino tree or Pt. marsupium of 
 
 ' May not some of these be the fragrant root of the husA 
 igrass, Andropogon calamus — aromaticus •^— J. B. 
 
 * A similar gum is obtained from the Palasa (Guj. hhd,- 
 >k3i,ara), the BJiMa of Rajputfina. — B. L P* 
 
20 
 
 South India, and of Dracesna Draco, a liliaceous 
 tree of Madeira and the Canary Islands]. 
 
 15. KdoTos (Sansk. kushta, Mar. choka, Guj. 
 katha and pushkara mula,) — Kostus. Exported 
 from Barbarikon, a mart on the Indus (39), and 
 from Barugaza, which procured it from Kabul 
 through Proklais, &c. This was considered the 
 best of aromatic roots, as nard or spikenard was 
 the best of aromatic plants. Pliny (xii. 25) de- 
 scribes this root as hot to the taste and of con- 
 summate fragrance, noting that it was found at 
 the head of Patalene, where the Indus bifurcates 
 to form the Delta, and that it was of two sorts) 
 black and white, black being of an inferior qual- 
 ity. Lassen states that two kinds are found in 
 India — one in Multan, and the other in Kabul and 
 Kasmir. "The Costus of the ancients is still 
 exported from Western India, as well as from 
 Calcutta to China, under the name of Putchoh, to 
 be burnt as an incense in Chinese temples. Its 
 identity has been ascertained in our own days by 
 Drs. Royle and Falconer as the root of a plant 
 
 which they called AucMandia Gostus 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, at the beginning of last cen- 
 tury, calls it lifjina dulcis (sic), and speaks of it as an 
 export from Sind, as did the author of the Feriplus 
 1600 years earlier." Yule's Marco Polo, vol. II. 
 p. 388. 
 
 16. KpoKos — Crocus, Saffron. (Sans, hasmiraja, 
 Guj. Jcesir, Pers. zafrdJi.) Exported from Egypt to 
 Mouza (24) and to Kane (28). 
 
 17. KvTtepos — Cyprus. Exported from Egypt to 
 Mouza (24). It is an aromatic rush used in medi- 
 cine (Pliny xxi. 18). Herodotos (iv. 71) describes 
 
21 
 
 it as an aromatic plant used by the Skythians 
 for embalming. Kvirepos is probably Ionic for 
 KvTTeipos^KvTreipos IvBlkos of Dioskorides, and 
 Cypria Tierha indica of Pliny. — Perhaps Turmeric, 
 Curcuma longa, or Galingal possibly. 
 
 18. AcVrta, (Lat. lintea) — Linen. Exportedfrom 
 Egypt to Adouli (6). 
 
 19. AijSavos (Heb. lehonah, Arab, luhan, Sans. 
 irivdscL) — Frankincense. Peratic or Libyan frank- 
 incense exported from the Barbarine markets — 
 Tabai (12), Mossulon (10), Malao and Moundou, in 
 small quantities (8, 9) ; produced in great abun- 
 dance and of the best quahty at Akannai (11); 
 Arabian frankincense exported from Kane (28). A 
 magazine for frankincense on the Sakhalitic Gulf 
 near Cape Suagros (30). Moskha, the port whence 
 it was shipped for Kane and Lidia (32) and Indo- 
 Skythia (39). 
 
 Eegarding this important product Yule thus 
 writes : — *' The coast of Hadhramaut is the trae 
 and ancient Xcopa Xi^avocfiopos or \L^ava>ro(f}6poSf 
 indicated or described under those names by The- 
 ophrastus, Ptolemy, Pliny, Pseudo-Arrian, and 
 other classical writers, i.e. the country producing 
 the fragrant gum-resin called by the Hebrews Lebo- 
 nah, by the Arabs Luban and Kundur, by the Greeks 
 lAbanos, by the Komans Thus, in mediaeval Latin 
 Olibanum (probably tbe Arabic al-luban, but popu- 
 larly interpreted as oleum Libani), and in English 
 frankincense, i.e. I apprehend, * genuine incense' 
 or * incense proper.'^ It is still produced in this 
 
 ® What the Brahmans call Tcundaru is the gum of a tree 
 called the DTvlpa-salai ; another sort of it, from Arabia, 
 they call Is&sa, and in KathiavSd it is known as Sesa^ 
 ' \— B.LP. 
 
22 
 
 region and exported from it, but the larger part of 
 that which enters the markets of the world is 
 exported from the roadsteads of the opposite 
 Sumali coast. Frankincense when it first exudes 
 is milky white ; whence the name white incense by 
 which Polo speaks of it, and the Arabic name 
 luhan apparently refers to milk. The elder Mebuhr, 
 who travelled in Arabia, depreciated the Libanos 
 of Arabia, representing it as greatly inferior to that 
 brought from India, called Benzoin. He adds that 
 the plant which produces it is not native, but 
 originally from Abyssinia." — Marco Polo, vol. II. 
 p. 443, &c. 
 
 20. AvKLov — Lycium, Exported from Barbari- 
 kon in Indo-Skythia (39), and from Barugaza (49). 
 Lycium is a thorny plant, so called from being 
 found in Lykia principally. Its juice was used for 
 dying yellow, and a liquor drawn from it was 
 used as a medicine (Celsus v. 26, 30, and vi. 7). 
 It was held in great esteem by the ancients. Pliny 
 (xxiv. 77) says that a superior kind of Lycium 
 produced in India was made from a thorn called 
 also FyxacantJius (box-thorn) Chironia. It is known 
 in India as Ruzot, an extract of the Berberis 
 lycium and B. aristata, both grown on the Hima- 
 layas. Conf. the Xvkiov IvdiKov of Dioskor. i. 133. 
 ( ? Gamboge.) 
 
 21. MayXa — Magla— a kind of cassia mentioned 
 only in the Periplus. Exported from Tabai (12). 
 
 22. MdK€Lp — Macer. Exported from Malao and 
 Moundou (8, 9). According to Pliny, Dioskorides, 
 and others, it is an Indian bark — perhaps a kind of 
 cassia. The bark is red and the root large. The 
 bark was used as a medicine in dysenteries . Pliny 
 
23 
 
 xii. 8 ; Salmasius, 1302. ( ? The KarachdU of the 
 bazars, Kutajatvak). 
 
 23. MaXd^adpou (Sans, tamdlapattra, the leaf 
 oi the Laurua 0«ssm),Malabathruni, Betel. Obtain- 
 ed by the Thinai from the Sesatai and exported to 
 India^° (65) ; conveyed down the Ganges to Gange 
 near its moiith (63) ; conveyed from the interior 
 of India to Mouziris and Nelkunda for export (56). 
 That Malabathrum was not only a masticatory, but 
 also an unguent or perfume, may be inferred from 
 Horace {Odes, II. vii. 89) : — 
 
 . . . ** coronatus nitentes 
 Malabathro Syrio capillos", 
 and from Pliny (xii. 59) : " Dat et Malabathrum 
 Syria, arborum folio convolute, arido colore, ex 
 quo exprimitur oleum ad unguenta: fertiliore 
 ejusdem Egypto : laudatius tamen ex India venit." 
 From Ptolemy (YII. ii. 16) we learn that the best 
 Malabathrum was produced in Kirrhadia — that is, 
 Eangpur. Dioskorides speaks of it as a masti- 
 catory, and was aware of the confusion caused by 
 mistaking the nard for the betel. 
 
 24. MeXt TO KoKdixtvov, to Xeyoficvov aaKxap 
 (Sans. Sarkard, Prakrit sdkara, Arab, sukkar, 
 Latin saccharum) — Honey from canes, called 
 Sugar. Exported from Barugaza to the marts 
 of Barbaria (14). The first Western writer 
 who mentions this article was Theophrastos, who 
 continued the labours of Aristotle in natural his- 
 tory. He called it a sort of honey extracted from 
 reeds. Strabo states, on theauthority of Nearkhos, 
 that reeds in India yield honey without bees. 
 
 *° More likely from Nepal, where it is called tejapdt. — 
 B. I. P. 
 
24 
 
 ^lian {Hist. Anim.) speaks of a kind of honey 
 pressed from reeds which grew among the Prasii. 
 Seneca (Epist. 84) speaks of sugar asakind of honey 
 found in India on the leaves of reeds, which had 
 either been dropped on them from the sky as dew, 
 or had exuded from the reeds themselves. This 
 was a prevalent error in ancient times, e.g. Dios- 
 korides says that sugar is a sort of concreted 
 honey found upon canes in India and Arabia Felix, 
 and Pliny that it is collected from canes like a gum. 
 He describes it as white and brittle between the 
 teeth, of the size of a hazel-nut at most, and used 
 in medicine only. So also Lucan, alluding to the 
 Indians near the Ganges, says that they quaff 
 sweet juices from tender reeds. Sugar, however, 
 as is well known, must be extracted by art from 
 the plant. It has been conjectured that the sugar 
 described by Pliny and Dioskorides was sugar 
 candy obtained from China. 
 
 25. MeXlXciTov — Melilot, Honey-lotus. Export- 
 ed from Egypt to Barugaza (49). Melilot is the 
 Egyptian or ISTymphasa Lotus, or Lily of the Nile, 
 the stalk of which contained a sweet nutritive 
 sub stance which was made into bread. So Vincent ; 
 but Melilot is a kind of clover, so called from 
 the quantity of honey it contains. The nymphaea 
 lotus, or what was called the Lily of the Nile, is 
 not a true lotus, and contains no edible substance. 
 
 26. MoKpoTov. Exported from Moundou (9) and 
 Mossulon (10). It is a sort of incense, mentioned 
 only in the Periplus. 
 
 27. MoT-o) — Moto — a sort of cassia exported from 
 Tabai and Opone (13). 
 
 28. Mupoi/— Myrrh. (Sans, bola.) Exported from 
 
25 
 
 Egypt to Barugaza as a present for the king (49). 
 It is a gum or resin issuing from a thorn found 
 in Arabia Felix, Abyssinia, &c., vide a-fxvpvr] inf. 
 
 29. NapSos (Sans, nalada, * kaskas,' Heb. nerd) 
 Nard, Spikenard. ^^ Gangetic spikenard brought 
 down the Ganges to Gauge, near its mouth (63), and 
 forwarded thence to Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). 
 Spikenard produced in the regions of the Upper 
 Indus and in Indo-Skythia forwarded through 
 Ozene to Barugaza (48). Imported by the Egyp- 
 tians from Barugaza and Barbarikon in Indo- 
 Skythia (49, 39). 
 
 The Nardos is a plant called (from its root 
 being shaped like an ear of corn) va.p8ov a-rdxvs, 
 also vapbocrraxvs, Latin Spica nardi, whence ' spike- 
 nard.' It belongs to the species Valeriana. " No 
 Oriental aromatic," says Vincent, " has caused 
 greater disputes among the critics or writers on 
 natural history, and it is only within these few 
 years that we hare arrived at the true knowledge 
 of this curious odour by means of the inquiries 
 of Sir W. Jones and Dr. Roxburgh. Pliny de- 
 scribes the nard with its spica, mentioning also 
 that both the leaves and the spica are of high 
 value, and that the odour is the prime in all 
 unguents ; the price 100 denarii for a pound. But 
 he afterwards visibly confounds it with the Mala- 
 bathrum or Betel, as will appear from his usage 
 of HadrosphoGrum, Mesosphcerum, and Microsphoe- 
 rtim, terms peculiar to the Betel" — II. 743-4 . See 
 Sir W. Jones on the spikenard of the ancients in 
 As. Bes. vol.11, pp. 416 et seg^., and Roxburgh's 
 
 ^^ Obtained from the root of Nardostachys jata^nKmsi, a 
 native of the eastern Himftlayas. — J. B. 
 d 
 
26 
 
 additionaL remarks on the spikenard of the an* 
 cients, vol. IV. pp. 97 et seq., and botanical observ- 
 ations on the spikenard, pp. 433. See also Lassen, 
 Ind. Alt. vol. I. pp. 288 et seq. 
 
 30. NauTrXios — Nauplius. Exported in small 
 quantity from the marts of Azania (17). The 
 signification of the word is obscure, and the read- 
 ing suspected. For NaYUXios Mijller suggests 
 NaPriXtoy, the Indian cocoanut, which the Arabians 
 call Nardil (Sansk. ndrihela or ndliMra, Guj. 
 ndliySr, Hindi ndliyar). It favours this sugges- 
 tion that cocoanut oil is a product of Zangibar, and 
 that in four different passages of Kosmas Indiko- 
 pleustes nuts are called dpyeXXia, which is either a 
 corrupt reading for vapyeWia, or Kosmas may not 
 haye known the name accurately enough. 
 
 31. 'OdopLov — Muslin. Seric muslin sent from 
 theThinai toBarugaza andDimurike (64). Coarse 
 cottons produced in great quantity in Ariake, 
 carried down from Ozene to Barugaza (48) ; large 
 supplies sent thither from Tagara also (51) ; 
 Indian muslins exported from the markets of 
 Dimurike to Egypt (56). Muslins of every de- 
 scription, Seric and dyed of a mallow colour, export- 
 ed from Barugaza to Egypt (49) ; Indian muslin 
 taken to the island of Dioskorides (31) ; wide Indian 
 muslins called fiovaxr}, mondhM, i. e. of the best 
 and finest sort ; and another sort called crayfia- 
 royr]vr], sagmatogen&y i. e. coarse cotton unfit for 
 spinning, and used for stuffing beds, cushions, &c., 
 exported from Barugaza to the Barbarine markets 
 (14), and to Arabia, whence it was exported to 
 Adouli (6). The meanings given to mondhhe and 
 sagmatoghie (for which other readings have 
 
27 
 
 been suggested) are conjectural. Vincent defends 
 the meaning assigned to 8agm<Uog6n6 by a quota- 
 tion from a passage in Strabo citing Near- 
 khos : — " Fine muslins are made of cotton, but the 
 Makedonians use cotton for flocks, and stuffing 
 of couches." 
 
 32. 'Oij/oy — Wine. Laodikean and Italian wine 
 exported in small quantity to Adouli (6) ; to Aua- 
 lites (7), Malao (8), Mouza (24), Kane (28), Barba- 
 rikon in Indo-Skythia (39) ; the same sorts, 
 together with Arabian wine, to Barugaza (49) ; 
 sent in small quantity to Mouziris and ISTelkunda 
 (56) ; the region inland from Oraia bears the vine 
 (37), which is found also in the dietrict of Mouza 
 (24), whence wine is exported to ."the marts of 
 Azania, not for sale, but to gain the good will of 
 the natives (17). Wine is exported also from 
 the marts of Apologos and Omana to Barugaza 
 (36). By Arabian wine may perhaps be meant 
 palm or toddy wine, a great article of commerce. 
 
 33. "O/xc^aKos ALoa-TroXLTiKrjs x^^Xos — the juice of 
 the sour grape of Diospolis. Exported from 
 Egypt to Aualites (7). This, says Vincent, was 
 the dlpse of the Orientals, and still used as a 
 relish all over the East. Blpse is the rob of 
 grapes in their unripe state, and a pleasant acid. — 
 II. 751. This juice is called by Dioskorides (iv. 7) 
 in one word OjxcfidKiov, and also (v. 12) 'Olvos 
 "OfKJiaKiTrjs. Of. Plin. xii. 27. 
 
 34 "OpvCa (Sansk. vri,7ii) — Rice. Produced in 
 Oraia and Ariake (37, 41), exported from Baru- 
 gaza to the Barbarine markets (14), and to the 
 island of Dioskorides (31). 
 
 35. Uenepi (Sansk. pippali,) long pepper— Pep- 
 
28 
 
 per. Kottonarik pepper exported in large quan- 
 titles from Mouziris and Nelkunda (56) ; long 
 pepper from Barugaza (49). Kottonara was the 
 name of the district, and Kottonarikon the name 
 of the pepper for which the district was famous . 
 Dr. Buchanan identifies Kottonara with Kadatta- 
 nadu, a district in the Calicut country celebrated 
 for its pepper. Dr. Burnell, however, identifies 
 it with Kolatta-Nadu, the district about Telli- 
 cherry, which, he says, is the pepper district. 
 
 36. Tlvpos — Wheat. Exported in small quantity 
 from Egypt to Kane (28), some grown in the dis- 
 trict around Mouza (24). 
 
 37. 2dKxapL — Sugar : see under MeXt. 
 
 38. ^avdapaKT} — Sandarake {chandrasa of the 
 bazars) ; a resin from the Thuja articulata or 
 Callitris quadrivalvis, a small coniferous tree of 
 North Africa; it is of a faint aromatic smell 
 and is used as incense. Exported from Egypt to 
 Barugaza (49) ; conveyed to Mouziris and Nel- 
 kunda (56).!'' 
 
 Sandarake also is a red pigment — red sulphuret 
 of arsenic, as orpiment is thg yellow sulphuret. 
 Cf. Plin. XXXV. 22, Hard. " Juba informs us that 
 sandarace and ochre are found in an island of the 
 Eed Sea, Topazas, whence they are brought to 
 us." 
 
 39. ^avToXiva and a-ao-dfiLva |vXa — Logs of San- 
 dal and Sasame {santalum album). Exported from 
 Barugaza to the marts of Omana and Apologos 
 (36). 2ai/raXim is a correction of the MS, reading 
 a-ayoKiva proposed by Salmasius. Kosmas Indiko- 
 
 *' It is brought now from the Eastern Archipelago.— 
 B. LP. 
 
29 
 
 pleustes calls sandalwood rCabdva. For a-aa-dfiiva 
 of the MS. Stuckius proposed o-j^o-a/xim— a futile 
 emendation, since sesame is known only as a 
 leguminous plant from which an oil is expressed, 
 and not as a tree. But possibly Red Saunders 
 wood {Pterocarpus Santalinus) may be meant. 
 
 40. 2rj(TdfjLivov eXaiov. See "EXaiov. 
 
 41. 2ivd6v€s8ia(f)opoi)TaTaLalTayyr)TLKaL. The finest 
 Bengal muslins exported from the Ganges (63) ; 
 other muslins in Taprobane (61) ; MapyapmSe? (?), 
 made at Argalou and thence exported (59) ; 
 muslins of all sorts and mallow-tinted (ixoXoxi-vai) 
 sent from Ozene to Barugaza (48), exported thence 
 to Arabia for the supply of the market at Adouli 
 (6). 
 
 42. STros- — Corn. Exported from Egypt to 
 Adouli (7), Malao (8) ; a little to Mouza (24), and to 
 Kane (28), and to Muziris and Kelkunda for ships' 
 stores (56) ; exported from Dimurike and Ariake 
 into the Barbarine markets (14), into Moskha (32) 
 and the island of Dioskorides (31) ; exported also 
 from Mouza to the ports of Azania for presents (17). 
 
 43. ^iMvpvr) — Myrrh {vide fxvpov). Exported from 
 Mala6,Moundou,Mossulon (8, 9, 10) ; from Aualites 
 a small quantity of the best quality (7) ; a choice 
 sort that trickles in drops, called Aheirminaia 
 {eKkcKTri Koi aruKTr] d^eipfiivaia), exported from Mouza 
 (24). For 'A^eipfiivaia of the MS. Miiller suggests 
 to read ya^eipjxtvaia, inclining to think that two 
 kinds of myrrh are indicated, the names of which 
 have been erroneously combined into one, viz. the 
 Gabirsean and Minaean, which are mentioned by 
 Dioskorides, Hippokrates, and Galen. There is a 
 Wadi Gabir in Oman. 
 
30 liy 
 
 44. 2Tvpa^ — Storax (Sans, turuska, selarasa of 
 the bazars), — one of the balsams. Exported from 
 Egypt to Kane (28), Barbarikon on the Indus 
 (39), Barugaza (40). Storax -is the produce of 
 the tree Liquidambar orientale] which grows in the 
 south of Europe and the Levant. ^^ The purest 
 kind is storax in grains. Another kind is called 
 styrax calamita, from being brought in masses 
 wrapped up in the leaves of a certain reed. An- 
 other kind, that sold in shops, is semi-fluid. 
 
 45. *oTi/i^ — the Palm or Dates. Exported from 
 the marts of Apologos and Omana to Barugaza 
 (36, 37). 
 
 IV. — Metals and Metallic Articles : — 
 
 1. 'Apytipa arKev-q, apyvpcofxara — Vessels of silver. 
 Exported from Egypt to Mossulon (10), to Bar- 
 barikon on the Indus (39). Silver plate chased or 
 polished {ropvevra or Teropvevfieva) sent as presents 
 to the despot of Mouza (24), to Kane for the king 
 (28). Costly {jSapvTipia) plate to Barugaza for the 
 king (49). Plate made according to the Egyptian 
 fashion to Adouli for the king (6). 
 
 2. ^ApaepLKov — Arsenic {somal). Exported from 
 Egypt to Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). 
 
 3. Arjvdpiov — Denary. Exported in small quan- 
 tity from Egypt to Adouli (6) . Gold and silver 
 denarii sent in small quantity to the marts of 
 Barbaria (8, 13) ; exchanges with advantage for 
 native money at Barugaza (49). 
 
 The denary was a Roman coin equal to about 8|cZ., 
 and a little inferior in value to the Greek drachma. 
 
 4. KaXrts — Kaltis. A gold coin (i/o/xto-/ia) cur- 
 
 *^ In early times it was obtained chiefly from Styrax 
 cffi,cinalis, a native of the same region. — J. B. 
 
31 
 
 rent in the district of the Lower Ganges (63) ; 
 Benfey thinks the word is connected with the 
 Sanskrit kalita, i.e. numeratum. 
 
 6. Kao-o-tVepos (Sans, baiiga, kathila) — Tin. 
 Exported from Egypt to Aualites (7), Malao (8) 
 Kane (28), Barugaza (49), Mouziris and Nelkunda 
 (56). India produced this metal, but not in those 
 parts to which the Egyptian trade carried it. 
 
 6. M6\vj38os — Lead (Sansk. tidga, Guj. sisun). 
 Exported from Egypt to Barugaza, Muziris, and 
 Nelkunda (49, 56). 
 
 7. ' Opeixa^Kos — Orichalcum ( Sans, tripus, Prak. 
 pitala) — Brass. Used for ornaments and cut into 
 small pieces by way of coin. Exported from Egypt 
 to Adouli (6). 
 
 The word means * mountain copper.' Eamusio 
 calls it white copper from which the gold and 
 silver have not been well separated in extracting 
 it from the ore. Gold, it may be remarked, does 
 not occur as an export from any of the African 
 marts, throughout the Periplus. 
 
 8. SiSr/pos, (Tibrjpa cTKevr) — Iron, iron utensils. 
 Exported from Egypt to Malao, Moundou, Tabai, 
 Opone (8, 9, 12, 13). Iron spears, swords and 
 adzes exported to Adouli (6). Indian iron and 
 sword-blades (oro/xcs/Aa) exported to Adouli from 
 Arabia (Ariake ?). Spears (Xdy;^at) manufactured 
 at Mouza, hatchets (TreXv/cta), swords (fxaxai-pai), 
 awls (oTTeVia) exported from Mouza to Azania 
 (17). 
 
 On the Indian sword see Ktesias, p. 80, 4. 
 The Arabian poets celebrate swords made of Indian 
 steel. Of. Plin. xxxiv. 41 : — " Ex omnibus autem 
 generibus palma Serico ferro est." This iron, as 
 
32 
 
 has already been stated, was sent to India along 
 with skins and cloth. Cf. also Edrisi, vol. I. 
 p. 65, ed. Joubert. Indian iron is mentioned in 
 the Pandects as an article of commerce. 
 
 9. ^TijjLfii — Stibium (Sans, sauvirdnjana, Prak. 
 surmd). Exported from Egypt to Barugaza (49), 
 to Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). 
 
 Stibium is a sulphuret of antimony, a dark pig- 
 ment, called kohol, much used in the East for 
 dyeing the eyelids. 
 
 10. XoKkos — Copper (Sans, tdmra) or Brass. 
 Exported from Egypt to Kane (28), to Barugaza 
 (49), Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). Vessels made 
 thereof {XaXKovpyrjuara) sent to Mouza as presents 
 to the despot (24). Driuking-vessels (jroTrjpia) 
 exported to the marts of Barbaria (8, 13). Big and 
 round drinking-cups to Adouli (6). A few {iiiKie^Oa 
 6\iya) toMalao (8) ; ij.eXie<pda xoX<a for cooking with, 
 and being cut into bracelets and anklets for women 
 to Adouli (6). 
 
 Eegarding fie\U(j)6a Yincent says : " No usage 
 of the word occurs elsewhere ; but metals were 
 prepared with several materials to give them 
 colour, or to make them tractable, or malleable. 
 Thus xo^o/3a0a in Hesychius was brass prepared 
 with ox's gall to give it the colour of gold, and 
 used, like our tinsel ornaments or foil, for stage 
 dresses and decorations. Thus common brass was 
 neither ductile nor malleable, but the Cyprian 
 brass was both. And thus perhaps brass, fieXiecfiOa 
 was formed with some preparation of honey." 
 Miiller cannot accept this view. " It is evident," 
 he says, " that the reference is to ductile copper 
 from which, as Pliny says, all impurity has been 
 
33 
 
 tarefully removed by smelting, so that pots, brace- 
 lets, and articles of that sort could be fabricated 
 from it. One might therefore think that the read- 
 ing should be nepUcpda or nvpU^Oa, but in such a 
 case the writer would have . said irepiecfiOou 
 XoXkov. In vulgar speech fieXiecfida is used as 
 a substantive noun, and I am therefore almost 
 persuaded that, just as molten copper, 6 x^^^^^^ 
 6 x^Tos, citprum caldarium, was called rpoxtos, from 
 the likeness in shape of its round masses to 
 hoops, so laminee of ductile copper {plaques de 
 cuivre) might have been called fi€XU<f)6af because 
 shaped like thin honey-cakes, irep.p.aTa jxeKUtpda.'^ 
 
 11. Xpva-os — Gold. Exported from the marts of 
 Apologos and Omana to Barugaza (36). Gold 
 plate — xP^^'^i^"'''" — exported from Egypt to Mouza 
 for the despot (24'), and to Adoulifor the king (6). 
 
 V. Stones : — 
 
 1. \i6ia 8 ia(f)avr)s— Gems (carbuncles ?) found in 
 Taprobane (63) ; exported in every variety from 
 Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). 
 
 2. ASa/iay — Diamonds, (Sans, vajra, piraka). 
 Exported from Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). 
 
 3. KaXXeai/oyXi'^os— Gold-stone, yellow crystal, 
 chrysolith ? Exported from Barbarikon in Indo- 
 Skythia (39), 
 
 It is not a settled point what stone is meant, 
 Lassen says that the Sanskrit word kalydna means 
 ^old, and would therefore identify it with the 
 chrysolith or gold-stone. If this view be correct, 
 the reading of the MS. need not be altered ;into 
 KaWa'ivos, as Salmasius, whom the editors of the 
 Periplus generally follow, enjoins. In support of 
 the alteration Salmasius adduces Pliny, xxxvii. 
 
^4 
 
 B6: — **'Oallais sappbirum imitatur, candidior et 
 litoroso mari similis. Callainas vocant e ttirbido 
 Callaino", and other passages. Schwanbeck, how- 
 ever, maintaining the correctness of the MS. 
 reading, says that _ the Sanskrit word kalydna 
 generally signifies money y but in a more general 
 sense anything beautiful, and might therefore have 
 beenapplied to this gem. Ka]ydna,hG adds, would 
 appear in Greek as KuXkcatos or KaXXcavos rather 
 than KaXkdivos. In like manner kalydni of the 
 Indians appears in our author not as KaXKd'iva, but, 
 as it ought to be, KoXkieva. 
 
 4. Avydos — Alabaster. Exported from Mouza 
 (24). Salmasius says that an imitation of this 
 alabaster was formed of Parian marble, but that 
 the best and original lygdus was brought from 
 Arabia, that is, Mouza, as noted in the Periplus. 
 Gf. Pliny (xxxvi. 8) : — " Lygdinos in Tauro re- 
 pertos . . . antea ex Arabia tantum advehi solitos 
 eandoris eximii." 
 
 5. 'OwxivrjXidLa — Onjx{akika — agate). Sent in 
 vast quantities {TrXeia-Tr)) from Ozene and Paithana 
 to Banigaza (48, 51), and thence exported to 
 Egypt (49). Regarding the onyx mines of Gujarat 
 vide Ritter, Vol. YI. p. .603. 
 
 6. MovppivT], sup. XiOia — Fluor-spath. Sent from 
 Ozene to Barugaza, and exported to Egypt (49). 
 Porcelain made at Diospolis [fiovppLvr] \i6ia rj 
 yevophrj iv AiocrTToXei) exported from Egypt to 
 AdouH (6). 
 
 The reading of the MS. is fioppiurjs. By this 
 is to be understood vitrum murrhinum, a sort of 
 ehina or porcelain made in imitation of cups or 
 vases of murrha, a precious fossil-stone resembling, 
 
5S 
 
 if not identical with, Jlnor-spath, such as is found in 
 Derbyshire. Vessels of this stone were exported 
 from India, and also, as we learn from Pliny, from 
 Karmania, to the Roman market, where they fetched 
 extravagant prices.^* The " cups %aked in Parthian 
 fires" (pocula Partkis focis cocta) mentioned by 
 Propertius (lY. v. 26) must be referred to the 
 former class. The whole subject is one which 
 has much exercised the pens of the learned. "Six 
 hundred writers," says Muller, *' emulously apply- 
 ing themselves to explain what had the best claim 
 to be considered the murrha of the ancients, have 
 advanced the most conflicting opinions. Now it is 
 pretty well settled that the murrhine vases were 
 made of that stone which is called in German 
 jlusspath {spato-Jlmrey\ He then refers to the 
 following as the principal authorities on the 
 subject: — Pliny — xxxiii. 7 et seq.j xxxiii. prooem. 
 Suetonius — Oct. c. 71 ; Seneca — Epist. 123 ; 
 Martial — iv. 86 ; xiv. 43 ; Digest — xxxiii. 10, 3 ; 
 xxxiv. 2. 19 ; Roziere — Memoire sur les Vases mur- 
 rhhis, &c. ; in Description de V Egypt, vol. YI. pp. 
 277 et seq. j Corsi — Delle Pietre antiche, p. 106 ; 
 Thiersch — Ueber die Vasa Murrhina der Alten, in 
 Abhandl. d. Munchn. Akad. 1835, vol. I. pp. 443-509 ; 
 A learned Englishman in the Classical Journal for 
 1810, p. 472; Witzsch in Pauly's Real Encycl. 
 vol. Y. p. 253 ; See also Yincent, vol. II. pp. 723-7. 
 7. 'O^taj/os- Xidos — the Opsian or Obsidian stone, 
 found in the Bay of Hanfelah (5). Pliny says, — 
 '''The opsians or obsidians are also reckoned as a 
 
 ^* Nero gave for one 300 talents = £58,125. They .were 
 ■first seen at Rome in the triumphal procession of Pompey. 
 [May these not have been of emerald, or even ruby ? — J. B.] 
 
36 
 
 sort of glass bearing the likeness of the stone 
 which Obsius (or Obsidius) found in Ethiopia, of 
 a very black colour, sometimes even translucent, 
 hazier than ordinary glass to look through, and 
 when used for mirrors on the walls reflecting 
 but shadows instead of distinct images." (Bk. 
 xxxvi. 37). The only Obsius mentioned in history 
 is a M. Obsius who had been Praetor, a friend of 
 Germanicus, referred to by Tacitus {Ami. IV. 68, 
 71). He had perhaps been for a time prefect of 
 Egypt, and had coasted the shore of Ethiopia at 
 the time when Germanicus traversed Egypt till 
 he came to the confines of Ethiopia. Perhaps, 
 however, the name of the substance is of Greek 
 origin — 'oyjnavds, from its reflecting power. 
 
 8. SaTT^etpos — the Sapphire. ' Exported from " 
 Barbarikon in Indo-Skythia (39). "The ancients 
 distinguished two sorts of dark blue or purple, 
 one of which was spotted with gold. Pliny says it 
 is never pellucid, which seems to make it a 
 different stone from what is now called sapphire." — 
 Vincent (vol. II. p. 757), who adds in a note, " Dr. 
 Burgess has specimens of both sorts, the one with 
 gold spots like lapis lazuli, and not transparent."^* 
 
 9. 'YaKivOos — Hyacinth or Jacinth. Exported 
 from Mouziris and Nelkunda (56). According to 
 Salmasius this is the Euby. In Solinus xxx. 
 it would seem to be the Amethyst (Sansk. 
 pushkardja.) 
 
 10. *YaXos 'apyj7— Glass of a coarse kind. Ex- 
 ported from Egypt to Barugaza (49), to Mouziris 
 andlSTelkunda (56). Vessels of glass {va\a o-Kevrj) ex- 
 
 " Possibly the Lapis Lazuli is meant.— J. B. 
 
37 
 
 ported from Egypt to Barbarikon inlndo-Skythia 
 (39). Crystal of many sorts {XiOias ixikrjs TrXfTara 
 yevj;) exported from Egypt to Adouli, Aualites, 
 Mossulon (6, 7, 10) ; from Moiiza to Azania (17). 
 
 11. Xpva-oXidos — Chrysolite. Exported from 
 Egypt to Barbarikon in Indo-Skythia (39), to 
 Barugaza (43), to Mouziris and ISTelkimda (56). 
 Some take this to be the topaz (Hind, pirojd). 
 
 YI. Wearing Apparel : — 
 
 1. 'lixdrLu (iyvafjia — Cloths undressed. Manu- 
 factured in Egypt and thence exported to Adouli (6). 
 These were disposed of to the tribes of Barbaria 
 — the Troglodyte shepherds of Upper Egypt, 
 Nubia and Ethiopia. 
 
 2. 'I/iarta ^ap^apcKo, aviJ-fj-iKra yeyvaixfieva — 
 Cloths for the Barbarine markets, dressed and 
 dyed of various colours. Exported to Malao and 
 Aualites (8, 7). 
 
 3. 'ifiaTLcrnos ^Apa^iKos — Cloth or coating for the 
 Arabian markets. Exported from Egypt (24). 
 Different kinds are enumerated : — XecpibcoTos, with 
 sleeves reaching to the wrist; 'Ore dnXovs koX 6 
 Koivos, with single texture and of the common sort ; 
 a-KOTovXaros, wrought with figures, checkered : the 
 word is a transliteration of the Latin scutulatus, 
 from scutum, the checks being lozenge-shaped, like 
 a shield : see Juvenal, Sat. ii. I'd ; bidxpvcros, shot 
 with gold ; 7ro\vTeXf)s, a kind of great price sent 
 to the despot of Mouza ; Kolvos koL aTrXovs Kal 
 6 v66os, cloth of a common sort, and cloth of simple 
 texture, and cloth in imitation of a better com- 
 modity, sent to Kane (28) ; Aidcfiopos anXovs, of 
 superior quality and single texture, for the king 
 (28) ; 'AnXovs, of single texture, in great quantity, and 
 
38 
 
 v66os, ftii inferior sort imitating a better, in small 
 qnautitj, sent to Barbarikon in Indo-Skythia (39), 
 'aTrXouff Koi vodos navrolos, and for the king anXovs 
 7ro\vTeXr)s, sent to Barugaza (49) ; ^liJiaTia-fios ov 
 Tvokvs— cloth, in small quantity sent to Muziris 
 and Nelkunda {oQ) ; cvtottlos, of native manufac- 
 ture, exported from the marts of Apologos and 
 Omana to Barugaza (36). 
 
 4. 'AjSoXXat — Riding or watch cloaks. Ex- 
 ported from Egypt to Mouza (oi), to Kane (28). 
 This word is a transliteration of the Latin 
 Aholla. It is supposed, however, to be derived 
 from Greek : a/ijSoXX?;, i. e. dficfulBaiXr}. It was a 
 woollen cloak of close texture — often mentioned 
 in the B/oman writers: e.g. Juven. Sat. iii. 115 
 and iv. 76; Sueton. Calif/, c. 35. Where the word 
 occurs in sec, 6 the reading of the MS, is a(3oXoi^ 
 which Miiller has corrected to d/3oXXai, though 
 Salmasius had defended the original reading. 
 
 5. AiKpocra-ia (Lat. Mantilia utrinque jimhriata) 
 — Cloths with a double fringe. Exported from 
 Egypt to Adouli (6). This word occurs only in the 
 Periplus. The simple KpSaa-iov, however, is met 
 with in Herodian, Epim. p. 72. An adjective 
 bUpoaaros is found in Pollux vii. 72. " We cannot 
 err much," says Yincent, "in rendering the 
 biKpoacria of the Periplus either cloth fringed, with 
 Salmasius, or striped, with Apollonius. Meursius 
 says XevTta ciKpoa-aa are plain linens not striped. 
 
 6. Zcoi/ai TToXvp^LTOL TTTjxvaloi, — Flowcrgd or em- 
 broidered girdles, a cubit broad. Exported from 
 Egypt to Barugaza (49). ^klmtoX — girdles {kdcha) 
 shaded of different colours, exported to Mouza (24). 
 This word occurs only in the Periplus. 
 
89 
 
 7. KavuuKat — Garments of frieze. Exported 
 from Arabia to Adouli (6) ; a pure sort — dnXol — 
 exported to the same mart from Egypt (6). In 
 the latter of these two passages the MS. reading 
 is yavvaKai. Both forms are in use : conf. Latin 
 gaunace — Yarro, de L. L. 4, 35. It means also 
 a fur garment or blanket — vestis stragula. 
 
 8. AcoSiKfs — Quilts or coverlids. Exported in 
 small quantity from Egypt to Mouza (24) and 
 Kane (28). 
 
 9. nepi^a>jLirzra — Sashes, girdles, or aprons. 
 Exported from Barugaza to Adouli (6), and into 
 Barbaria (14). 
 
 10. UoKvyLLTa — Stuffs in which several threads 
 were taken for the woof in order to weave flowers 
 or other objects : Latin polymita and plumatica. 
 Exported from Egypt to Barbarikon in Indo-Sky- 
 thia (39), to Mouziris and Nelkunda [56). 
 
 11. Sayoi 'ApcrivoTjTiKol ycyvafxfxevoi kqI ^elBafjifxevoi 
 — Coarse cloaks made at Arsinoe, dressed and 
 dyed. Exported from Egypt to Barbaria (8, 13). 
 
 12. SroXat 'ApcrivorjTiKaL— Women's robes made 
 at Arsinoe. Exported from Egypt to Adouli (6). 
 
 13. XiTcdves — Tunics. Exported from Egypt to 
 Malao, Moundou, Mossulon (8, 9, 10). 
 
 VII. In addition to the above, works of art are 
 mentioned. 
 
 ^AvdpidvT€s — Images, sent as presents to Khari- 
 bael (48). Cf. Strabo (p. 714), who among the 
 articles sent to Arabia enumerates ropevp-a, ypacf)r]v, 
 nXdapa, pieces of sculpture, painting, statues. 
 
 Movaiicd — Instruments of music, for presents to 
 the king of Ariake (49). 
 
40 
 
 ANONYMI [ARRIANI UT FERTUR] 
 PERIPLUS MARIS ERYTHR^I. 
 
 1. The first of tlie important roadsteads 
 establislied on the Red Sea, and the first also 
 of the great trading marts upon its coast, is the 
 port of M y s-h o r m o s in Egypt. Beyond it 
 
 Coynmentary. 
 
 {!) MyosHormos. — Its situation is deter- 
 mined by the cluster of islands now called 
 Jifatin [lat. 27° 12^ K, long. 33° 55' E.] of 
 which the three largest lie opposite an indenture 
 of the coast of Egypt on the curve of which its 
 harbour was situated [near Ras Abu Somer, a 
 little north of Safajah Island]. It was founded by 
 Ptolemy Philadelphos b. c. 274, who selected it as 
 the principal port of the Egyptian trade with 
 India in preference to Arsinoe,^^ K. IST. E. of Suez, 
 on account of the difficulty and tediousness of the 
 navigation down the Heroopolite Gulf. The vessels 
 bound for Africa and the south of Arabia left its 
 harbour about the time of the autumnal equinox, 
 when the l^orth West wind which then prevailed 
 carried them quickly down the Gulf. Those bound 
 for the Malabar Coast or Ceylon left in July, and 
 if they cleared the Red Sea before the Isb of 
 
 ^" There was another Arsinoe between Ras Dh'ib and 
 Ras Shukhair, lat. 28" 3' N. The few geographical 
 indications added by Mr. Burgess to these comments as they 
 passed through the press are enclosed in brackets. [ ] 
 
41 
 
 at a dist3,nce of 1800 stadia is B e r e n i k e, which 
 is to your right if you approach it by sea, 
 
 September, they had the monsoon to assist their 
 passage across the ocean. MyosHormos was 
 distant from K o p t o s [lat. 26° JST.j, the station on 
 the Nile through which it communicated with 
 Alexandria, a journey of seven or eight days along 
 a road opened through the desert % Philadelphos. 
 The name Myos Hormosis of Greek origin, ar.d 
 may signify either the Harbour of the Mouse, or, 
 more probably, of the Mussel, since the pearl mussel 
 abounded in its neighbourhood. Agatharkhides 
 calls it Aphrodites Hormos, and Pliny 
 Veneris Port us. [Veneris Portus however 
 was probably at Sherm Sheikh, lat. 24° 36' N. Off 
 the coast is Wade Jemal Island, lat. 24° 39' N., 
 long. 36° 8' E., called lambe by Pliny, and perhaps 
 the Aphrodites Island of Ptolemy IV. v. 77.'] 
 Referring to this name Vincent says : " Here if 
 the reader will advert to Aphrodite, the Greek 
 title of Venus, as springing from the foam of 
 the ocean, it will immediately appear that the 
 Greeks were translating here, for the native term 
 to this day is Suffan^e-el-Bahri, ' sponge of the 
 sea' ; and the vulgar error of the sponge being the 
 foam of the sea, will immediately account for 
 Aphrodite." 
 
 The rival of Myos-Hormas was B e r c u i k e, a 
 city built by Ptolemy Philadelphos, who so named 
 it in honour of his mother, who was the daughter 
 of Ptolemy Lagos and Antigone. It was in the 
 same parallel with Syene and therefore not far 
 from the Tropic [lat. 23° 55' N.]. It stood nearly 
 
42 
 
 These roadsteads are both situate at the farthest 
 end of Egypt, and are bays of the Red Sea. 
 
 2. The country which adjoins them on the 
 right below Berenike isBarbaria. Here the 
 sea-board is peopled by the Ikhthyophagoi, 
 who live in scattered huts built in the narrow 
 gorges of the hills, and further inland are the 
 
 at the bottom of Foul Bay (eV jSd^ei rov ^AKaBaprov 
 KoXttov), so called from the coast being foul with 
 shoals and breakers, and not from the impurity of 
 its water, as its Latin name, Sinus Immundus, would 
 lead us to suppose. Its ruins are still per- 
 ceptible even to the arrangement of the streets, 
 and in the centre is a small Egyptian temple 
 adorned with hieroglyphics and bas-reliefs of 
 Greek workmanship. Opposite to the town is 
 a very fine natural harbour, the entrance of which 
 has been deep enough for small vessels, though 
 the bar is now impa^ssable at low water. Its pros- 
 jierity under the Ptolemies and afterwards under 
 the Romans was owing to its safe anchorage and 
 its being, like Myos-Hormos, the terminus of a 
 great road from Koptos along which the traffic 
 of Alexandria with Ethiopia, Arabia, and India 
 passed to and fro. Its distance from Koptos 
 was 258 Roman miles or 11 days' journey. The 
 distance between Myos-Hormos and Berenike is 
 given in the Periplus at 225 miles, but this is 
 considerably above the mark. The difficulty of 
 the navigation may probably have made the 
 distance seem greater than it was in reality. 
 (2) Adjoining Berenike was B a r b a r i a 
 
43 
 
 Berbers, and beyond them the A g r i o p h a- 
 g o i and M o s k h o p h a g o i, tribes under 
 regular government by kings Beyond these 
 again, and still further inland towards the west 
 [is situated the metropolis called Meroe]. 
 
 3. Below the M oskho ph ago i, near the 
 sea, lies a little trading town distant from Bere- 
 
 (^ Bap^apiKYj x^P^) — t^G land about Ras Abtl 
 Fatima [lat. 22^^ 26' N.— Ptol. IV. vii. 28]. The 
 reading of the MS. is ^ Tiarj^apiKri which Muller 
 rejects because the name nowhere occurs in any 
 work, and because if Barbaria is not men- 
 tioned here, our author could not afterwards 
 (Section 6) say rj oXKt) Bap^apta. The Agrio- 
 p h a g o i who lived in the interior are mentioned 
 by Pliny (vi. 35), who says that they lived princi- 
 pally on the flesh of panthers and lions. Yincent 
 writes as if instead of Ayptocfxxyav the reading 
 should be AKpi,8o(f>dycov locust-eaters, who are 
 mentioned by Agatharkhides in his De Mari 
 Erythraeo, Section 58. Another inland tribe 
 is mentioned in connection with them — the M o s- 
 khophagoi, who may be identified with the 
 Rizophagoi or Spermatophagoi of 
 the same writer, who were so named because they 
 lived on roots or the tender suckers and buds 
 of trees, called in Greek fioa-xoi. This being a 
 term applied also to the young of animals, 
 Vincent was led to think that this tribe fed on 
 the brinde or flesh cut out of the living animal as 
 described by Bruce. 
 
 (3) To the south of the Moskhophagoi lies 
 P t o 1 e m a i s T h e r o n, or, as it is called by 
 
44 
 
 nike about 4000 stadia, called P t o 1 e m a i s 
 T her on, from which, in the days of the? 
 Ptolemies, the hunters employed by them used 
 to go np into the interior to catch elephants. In 
 this mart is procared the true (or marine) 
 tortoise-shell, and the land kind also, which, 
 however, is scarce, of a white colour, and smaller 
 size. A little ivory is also sometimes obtain- 
 able, resembling that of A d o u 1 i. This place 
 has no port, and is approachable only by boats. 
 
 Pliny, Ptolemais Epitheras. [On Er-rih 
 island, lat. 18° 9' N., long 38° 27^ E., are the ruins 
 of an ancient town — probably Ptolemais Theron, — 
 Miiller however places Suche here. — Ptol. I. 
 viii. 1. ; IV. vii. 7 ; YIII. xvi. 10]. It was ori- 
 ginally an Ethiopian village, but was extended 
 and fortified by Ptolemy Philadelphos, who made 
 it the depot of the elephant trade, for which its 
 situation on the skirts of the great Nubian forest, 
 where these animals abounded, rendered it pecu- 
 liarly suitable. The Egyptians before this had 
 imported their elephants from Asia, but as the 
 supply was precarious, and the cost of importa- 
 tion very great, Philadelphos made the most 
 tempting offers to the Ethiopian elephant-hunters 
 (Elephantophagoi) to induce them to abstain from 
 eating the animal, or to reserve at least a portion 
 of them for the royal stables. They rejected 
 however all his solicitations, declaring that even 
 for all Egypt they would not forego the luxury o-f 
 their repast. The king resolved thereupon to pro- 
 cure his supplies by employing hunters of his own. 
 
45 
 
 4. Leaving Ptolemais Theron we are con- 
 ducted, at the distance of about 3000 stadia, to 
 A d o u 1 i, a regular and established port of trade 
 situated on a deep bay the direction of which is 
 
 (4) Beyond Ptolemais Theron occur 
 Ad o u 1 e, at a distance, according to the Periplus, 
 of 3000 stadia — a somewhat excessive estimate. 
 The place is called also Adoulei and more 
 commonly Adoulis by ancient writers (Ptol. IV. 
 vii. 8; VIII. xvi. 11). It is represented by the 
 modern ThuUa or Zula [pronounced Azule, — lat. 
 15° 12'— 15° 15' ]Sr.,long. 39' 36' E.].— To the West 
 of this, according to Lord Valentia and Mr. Salt, 
 there are to be found the remains of an ancient 
 city. It was situated on the Adoulikos 
 K o 1 p o s (Ptol. I. XV. 11. ; IV. vii. 8), now called 
 Annesley Bay, the best entrance into Abyssinia. 
 It was erroneously placed by D'Anville at Dokhnau 
 or Harkiko, close to Musawwa [lat. 15° 35' N.] 
 There is much probability in the supposition that 
 it was founded by a party of those Egyptians who, 
 as we learn from Hei"odotos (11. 30), to the number 
 of 240,000 fled from their country in the days of 
 Psammetikhos (b. c. 671—617) and went to as great 
 a distance beyond Meroe, the capital of Ethiopia, as 
 Meroe is beyond Elephantine. This is the account 
 which Pliny (VI. 3-4) gives of its foundation, 
 adding that it was the greatest emporium of the 
 Troglodytes, and distant from Ptolemais 
 a five days' voyage, which by the ordinary reckon- 
 ing is 2,500 stadia. It was an emporium for 
 rhinoceros' hides, ivory and tortoise-shell. It had 
 not only a large seaborne traffic, but was also a 
 
46 
 
 due south. Facing this, at a distance seaward 
 of about 200 stadia from the inmost recess of 
 the bay, lies an island called O r e i n e (or ' the 
 mountainous'), which runs on either side parallel 
 
 caravan station for the traffic of the interior of 
 Africa. Under the Romans it was the liaven 
 of A u X u m e (Ptol. IV. vii. 25, — written also 
 Auxumis, Axumis), now Axum, the capital of the 
 kingdom of Tigre in Abyssinia. A u x u m e was 
 the chief centre of the trade with the interior of 
 Africa in gold-dust, ivory, leather, hides and 
 aromatics. It was rising to great prosperity 
 and power about the time the Periplus was 
 written, which is the earliest work extant in which 
 it is mentioned. It was probably founded by the 
 Egyptian exiles already referred to. Its remain- 
 ing monuments are perfectly Egyptian and not 
 pastoral, Troglodytik, Greek, or Arabian in their 
 character. Its name at the same time retains 
 traces of the term A s m a k, by which, as we 
 learn from Herodofcos, those exiles were design 
 nated/ and Heeren considers it to have been one 
 of the numerous priest-colonies which were sent 
 out from Meroe. 
 
 At Adouli was a celebrated monument, a 
 throne of white marble with a slab of basanite 
 stone behind it, both covered with Greek charac- 
 ters, which in the sixth century of our era were 
 copied byKosmasIndikopleustes. The 
 passage in Kosmos relating to this begins 
 thus : " A d u 1 e is a city of Ethiopia and the 
 port of communication with A x i 6 m i s, and the 
 whole nation of which that city ia the capital. 
 
47 
 
 with the mainland. Ships, that come to trade 
 with Adouli, now-a-days anchor here, to avoid 
 being attacked from the shore ; for in former 
 times when they used to anchor at the very 
 head of the bay, beside an island called 
 Diodoros, which was so close to land that the 
 sea was fordable, the neighbouring barbarians, 
 taking advantage of this, would run across to 
 attack the ships at their moorings. At the 
 distance of 20 stadia from the sea, opposite 
 O r e i n e, is the village of Adouli, which is not 
 of any great size, and inland from this a three 
 
 In this port we carry on our trade from 
 Alexandria and the Elanitik Gulf. The town 
 itself is about a mile from the shore, and as you 
 enter it on the Western side which leads from 
 Axiom is, there is still remaining a chair or 
 throne which appertained to one of the Ptolemys 
 who had subjected this country to his authority." 
 The first portion of the inscription records that 
 Ptolemy Euergetes (247-222 e.g.) received from 
 the Troglodyte Arabs and Ethiopians certain 
 elephants which his father, the second king of the 
 Makedonian dynasty, and himself had taken in 
 hunting in the region of A d u 1 e and trained to 
 war in their own kingdom. The second portion of 
 the inscription commemorates the conquests of an 
 anonymous Ethiopian king in Arabia and Ethiopia 
 as far as the frontier of Egypt. Adouli, it is 
 known for certain, received its name from a tribe 
 so designated which formed a part of the D a n a- 
 k i 1 shepherds who are still found in the neigh- 
 
48 
 
 journey is a city, K o 1 o 6, the first 
 market where ivory can be procured. From 
 Koloe it takes a journey of five days to reach tlie 
 metropoHs of the people called the Auxumi- 
 tai, whereto is brought, through the province 
 called Kyeneion, all the ivory obtained on 
 the other side of the Nile, before it is sent on to 
 Adouli. The whole mass, I may say, of the ele- 
 phants and rhinoceroses which are killed tosupj^ly 
 the trade frequent the uplands of the interior^ 
 though at rare times they are seen near the coast, 
 even in the neighbourhood of Adouli. Besides 
 the islands already mentioned, a cluster consist- 
 
 bourhood of Annesley Bay, in the island of Diset 
 [lat. 15° 28', long. 39o 45', the Diodoros perhaps 
 of the Feriplus] opposite which is the town or 
 station of Masawa (anc. Saba) [lat. 15° 37' N., 
 long. 39° 28' E.], and also in the archipelago of 
 D h a 1 a k, called in the Veriplus, the islands of 
 Alalaiou. The merchants of Egypt, we learn 
 from the work, first traded at Masawwa but after- 
 wards removed to Oreine for security. This is an 
 islet in the south of the Bay of Masawwa, lying 
 20 miles from the coast ; it is a rock as its name 
 imports, and is of considerable elevation. 
 
 A d u 1 i being the best entrance into Abyssinia, 
 came prominently into notice daring the late 
 Abyssinian war. Beke thus speaks of it, " In our 
 recent visit to Abyssinia I saw quite enough to 
 confirm the opinion I have so long entertained, 
 that when the ancient Greeks founded Aclule or 
 Adulis at the mouth of the river Hadas, now only 
 
49 
 
 ing of many small ones lies out in the sea to the 
 right of this port. They hear the name of 
 Alalaion, and yield the tortoises with which 
 the Ikhthyophagoi supply the market, 
 
 5. Below Adouli, about 800 stadia, occurs 
 another very deep bay, at the entrance of which 
 on the right are vastaccumulations of sand, where- 
 in is found deeply embedded the Opsian stone, 
 which is not obtainable anywhere else. The 
 king of all this country, from the M o s k h o- 
 p h a g o i to the other end of B a r b a r i a, is 
 Zoskales, a man at once of penurious 
 
 a river bed except during the rains, though a 
 short way above there is rain all the year round, 
 they knew that they possessed one of the keys of 
 Abyssinia," 
 
 (5) At a distance of about 100 miles beyond 
 A d o u 1 i the coast is indented by another bay now 
 known as Hanfelah bay [near B-as Hanfelah in. 
 lat. U° 44', long. 40" 49' E.] about 100 miles from 
 Annesley Bay and opposite an island called Daj-amsas 
 or Hanfelah. It has wells of good water and a small 
 lake of fresh water after the rains ; the coast is in- 
 habited by the Dunimoeta, a tribe of the Danakil]. 
 This is the locality where, and where only, the Opsian 
 or Obsidian stone was to be found. Pliny calls it an 
 nnknown bay, because traders making for the ports 
 of Arabia passed it by without deviating from 
 their course to enter it. He was aware, as well as 
 our author, that it contained the Opsian stone, of 
 which he gives an account, already produced in the 
 introduction. 
 
50 
 
 habits and of a grasping disposition, but otlieF- 
 wise honourable in his dealings and instructed 
 in the Greek language. 
 
 6. The articles which these places import 
 are the following : — 
 
 'l/xdrio ^ap^a^iKCL, ayva<fia to. iv KiyvnTto yivofAcva 
 — Cloth undressed, of Egyptian manufacture, for 
 the Barbarian market. 
 
 ^ToXai 'Ap(TLvor)TLKat — Robes manufactured at Ar- 
 sinoe. 
 
 'ASdXXat voOoL xP^M''^'^''^^'- — Cloaks, made of a 
 poor cloth imitating a better quality, and dyed. 
 
 AevTLa — Linen s. 
 
 Aifcpdo-o-ta — Striped cloths and fringed. Mantles 
 with a double fringe. 
 
 Aidias vaXrjs ivkeiova yevrj kol ciWrjs ^oppivrjs, tjjs 
 yivofxevTjs eV Aiosnokei — Many sorts of glass or 
 crystal, and of that other transparent stone 
 called Myrrhina, made at Diospolis. 
 
 'OpeixakKos — Yellow copper, for ornaments and 
 cut into pieces to pass for money. 
 
 MeXiecjiOa x^^Ka — Copper fused with honey : for 
 
 (6, 7) From this bay the coast of the gulf, 
 according to our author, has a more easterly 
 direction to the Straits, the distance to which 
 from AdouU is stated at 4,000 stadia, an estimate 
 much too liberal. In all this extent of coast the 
 Perlplus mentions only the bay of the Opsian- 
 stones and conducts us at once from thence to 
 Aualites at the straits. Strabo however, and 
 Juba, and Pliny, and Ptolemy mention several 
 places in this tract, such asArsinoe, Bere- 
 
51 
 
 culinary vessels and cutting into bracelets and 
 anklets worn by certain classes of women. 
 
 2i8r]pos — Iron. Consumed in making spear- 
 heads for hunting the elephant and other animals 
 and in making weapons of war, 
 
 IleXvKia — Hatchets. 
 
 2K€7rapi/a — Adzes. 
 
 Mdxaipai, — Swords. 
 
 HoTT^pia x'^'^^ (TTpoyyvKa /xeyaXa— Drinking 
 vessels of brass, large and round. 
 
 ArjvdpLov oXiyov — A small quantity of denarii ; 
 for the use of merchants resident in the country. 
 
 Oivos AaodiKijvos Kol 'ItoXikos ov noXvs — rWine, 
 Laodikean, i.e. Syrian, from Laodike, (now Latakia) 
 and Italian, but not much. 
 
 "EXaiop ov TToXv — Oil, but not much. 
 
 *Apyu/3a)/xara koX ;(puo-a)/>iara tottikm ^vdfia 
 KaT€(rK€va(rp.€vai. — Gold and silver plate made ac- 
 cording to the fashion of the country for the king. 
 
 'Aj36\Xai — Cloaks for riding or for the camp. 
 
 Kavvd<at anXol — Dresses simply made of skins 
 with the hair or fur on. These two articles of dress 
 are not of much value. 
 
 nike, Epideires, the Grove of Eumenes, 
 the Chase of Puthangelos, the Territory of the 
 Elephantophagoi, &c. The straits are called by 
 Ptolemy D e i r e or D e r e (t. e. the neck), a word 
 which from its resemblance in sound to the Latin 
 Dirae has sometimes been explained to mean 
 "the terrible." (I. xv. 11; IV. vii. 9; YIII. 
 xvi. 12). "The Periplus" Vincent remarks, 
 " makes no mention of Deire, but observes that 
 the point of contraction is close to A b a 1 i t e a 
 
52 
 
 Tliese artides are impm^fced fram the mteyios' 
 parts of Ariake : — 
 
 ^idrjpos 'Iv^iKos — Indian iron. 
 
 2ro/xa)/Lta — Sharp blades. 
 
 '066vLov ^IvbiKov TO TvKaTvrepov, r] Xeyofxevij fjiovax^^ 
 — Monakhe,^^ Indian cotton cloth of great width, 
 
 ^aypaToyrjvaL — Cotton for stuffing. 
 
 Ilept^co/xara— Sashes or girdles. 
 
 KavvaKai — Dresses of skin with th€ hair or fnr on>, 
 
 MoXoxtva — Webs of cloth mallow- tinted. 
 
 2ii/Soi/es 'oXiyai — Fine muslins in small quantity. 
 
 AaKKos x'pw/^Tfi'os — Gum-lae: yielding Lake. 
 
 The articles locally produced for export are 
 ivory, tortoise-shell, and rhinoceros. Most of 
 the goods which supply the market arrive any 
 time from January to September — that is, from 
 Tybi to Thoth. The best season, however, for 
 ships from Egypt to put m hero is about the 
 month of Septeml^er.. 
 
 ©r the Abalitik mart; it is from this mart thai 
 the coast of Africa falling down first to the South 
 and curving afterwards towards the East is styled 
 the Bay of Aualites by Ptolemy, (IV. vii. 
 la, 20, 27, 30, 39,) but in the Periplus this name 
 is confined to a bay immediately beyond the 
 straits which D'Anville has likewise inserted ia 
 his map, but which I did not fully understand 
 till I obtained Captain Cook's chart and found it 
 perfectly consistent with the Periplus.'" It is the 
 gulf of Tejureh or Zeyla. 
 
 ^^ Brvuie„ Travels, vol. III., p. 02.— J. B. 
 
53 
 
 7. From this bay the Arabian Gulf trends 
 eastward, and at Aualites is contracted to 
 its narrowest. At a distance of about 4000 
 stadia (from AdouU), if you still sail along the 
 same coast, you reach other marts ofBarbaria, 
 called the marts beyond (the Straits), which occur 
 in successive order, and which, though harbour- 
 less, afford at certain seasons of the year good 
 and safe anchorage. The first district you come 
 to is that called Aualites, where the passage 
 across the strait to the opposite point of Arabia 
 is shoi'test. Here is a small port of trade, 
 called, like the district, Aualites, which 
 can be approached only by little boats and rafts. 
 The imports of this place are — 
 
 'YaXf] Xidia avfifJiiKTos — Flint glass of various 
 sorts. 
 
 [XvXos-] ALosTToXLTiKris oficfiaicos — Juice of the sour 
 grape of Diospolis. 
 
 The tract of country extending from the Straits 
 to Cape Aromata" (now Guardafui) is called 
 at the present day A d e 1. It is described by 
 Strabo (XVI. iv. 14), who copies his account of it 
 from Artemidoros. He mentions no em]3orium, 
 nor any of the names which occur in the Pe-nplus 
 except the haven of Daphnous. [Bandar Mariyah, 
 lat. 11° 46' N., long. 50' 38' E.] He supplies 
 liowever many particulars regarding the region 
 which are left unnoticed by our author as having 
 no reference to commerce — particulars, however, 
 which prove that these parts which were resorted 
 to in the times of the Ptolemies for elephant- hunt- 
 
54 
 
 *I/iaria ^apjBapiKo. (rvfXjxiKTa yeyvapixeva — Cloths 
 of different kinds worn in Barbaria dressed by 
 the fuller. 
 
 21tos — Corn. 
 
 Olvos — Wine. 
 
 Kaaa-iTepos oXiyos — A little tin. 
 
 The exports, which are sometimes conveyed 
 on rafts across the straits by the Berbers 
 themselves to O k e 1 i s and M o u z a on the 
 opposite coast, are— 
 
 'Apco/iara — Odoriferous gums. 
 
 'EXe^as 'oXt'yo? — Ivory in small quantity. 
 
 XiKcovT] — Tortoise-shell. 
 
 ^jxvpva iXaxlo-TT] dta(j)€pov(ra de ttjs aXXrjs — Myrrh 
 in very small quantity, but of the finest sort. 
 
 McLKeip — Macer. 
 
 The barbarians forming the population of the 
 place are 7'ude and lawless men. 
 
 ing were much better known to the ancients than 
 they were till quite recently known to ourselves. 
 Ptolemy gives nearly the same series of names 
 (IV". vii. 9, 10) as the Periplus, but with some dis- 
 crepancies in the matter of their distances which 
 he does not so accurately state. His list is : D e r e, 
 a city ; Abalitesor Aualites, a mart ; M a 1 a 6, 
 a mart ;Moundou or Mondou, a mart ; 
 Mondou, an island ; Mosulon, a cape and a mart ; 
 Kobe, a mart ; Elephas, a mountain ; A k- 
 kanai or Akannai, a mart; Aromat a, a cape 
 and a mart. 
 
 The mart of Abalitesis represented by the 
 modern Z eyla [lat. iT 22" N., long. 43' 29" E., 
 
55 
 
 8. Beyond Aualites there is another mart, 
 superior to it, called Malao, at a distance 
 by sea of 800 stadia. The anchorage is an 
 open road, sheltered, however, by a cape protrud- 
 ing eastward. The people are of a more peace- 
 able disposition than their neighbours. The 
 imports are such as have been already specified, 
 with the addition of — 
 
 n\eioj/e? x'''''^^^^ — Tunics in great quantity. 
 
 2dyoi ^Apa-ivorjTLKol yeyi/a/x/xevoi koi ^e^afifxevoi — 
 Coarse cloaks (or blankets) manufactured at Arsi- 
 noe, prepared by the fuller and dyed. 
 
 MeXUcbda oXi'ya.— A few utensils made of copper 
 fused with honey. 
 
 2i8?/poy — Iron. 
 
 Arjvdpiov ov noXv xP^o-ovvre Ka\ dpyvpovv — Specie, 
 — gold and silver, but not much. 
 
 The exports from this locality are — 
 
 2/Liupm — Myrrh. 
 
 Ai^avos 6 nepariKos oXiyos — Frankincense which 
 we call peratic, i.e. from beyond the straits, a little 
 only. 
 
 79 miles from the straits.] On the N. shore of the 
 gulf are Abalit and Tejureh. Abalit is 43 miles 
 from the straits, and Tejureh 27 miles from 
 Abalit. This is the Z o u i 1 e h of Ebn Haukal 
 and the Z a 1 e g h of Idrisi. According to the 
 Periplus it was n^ar the straits, but Ptolemy 
 has fixed it more correctly at the distance from 
 them of 50 or 60 miles. 
 
 (8) M a 1 a 6 as a mart was much superior to 
 Abalites, from which our author estimates its 
 distance to be 800 stadia, though it is in reality 
 
 •.a%£:".'4^- , : JS?; 
 
56 
 
 Kaa-cria cTKXrjpoTepa — Cinnamon of a hard grain. 
 
 AovaKa — Douaka {a?i inferior kind of cinnamon). 
 
 KayKUfiop — -The gum (for fumigation) kangka- 
 mon. ' Dekamalli,' gum. 
 
 Mdiceip — The spice macer, which is carried to 
 Arabia. 
 
 2o)fj.aTa (TTravicos — Slaves, a few. 
 
 9. Distant from M a 1 a 6 a two days' sail is 
 the trading port of M o u n d o u, where ships 
 find a safer anchorage by mooring at an island 
 which lies very close to shore. The exports 
 and imports are similar to those of the preced- 
 ing marts, with the addition of the fragrant gum 
 called Mohrotoic, a peculiar product of the place. 
 The native traders here are uncivilized in their 
 manners. 
 
 10. After MoundoUjif you sail eastward 
 as before for two or three days, there comes 
 
 greater. From the description he gives of its 
 situation it must be identified with Berbereh 
 [lat. 10° 25' N., long. 45° V E.]now the most 
 considerable mart on this part of the coast. 
 Vincent erroneously places it between Zeyla and 
 the straits. 
 
 (9) Tiie next mart after Malao is M o u n d o u, 
 which, as we learn from Ptolemy, was also the 
 name of an adjacent island -f- that which is now 
 called Meyec or Burnt-island [lat. 11° 12' N., 
 long. 47° 17' E., 10 miles east of Bandar Jedid]. 
 
 (10) At a distance beyond it of two or three 
 days' sail occurs M o s u 1 o n , which is the name 
 both of a mart and of a promontory. It is mentioned 
 
57 
 
 next M o s u 1 1 o n, where it is difficult to anchor. 
 It imports the same sorts of commodities as 
 have been already mentioned, and also ntensils 
 of silver and others of iron but not so many, 
 and glass-ware. It exports a vast amount 
 of cinnamon (whence it is a port requiring 
 ships of heavy burden) and other fragrant 
 and aromatic products, besides tortoise shell, 
 but in no great quantity, and the incense 
 called moJcrotou inferior to that of Moundou, and 
 frankincense brought from parts further dis- 
 
 by Pliny (VI. 34), who says : " Further on is the 
 bay of A b a 1 i t e s, the island of Diodorus 
 and other islands which are desert. On the main- 
 land, which has also deserts, occur a town G-aza 
 [Bandar Gazim, long. 49" 13' E.], the promontory 
 and port of Mosylon, whence cinnamon is 
 exported. Sesostris led his army to this point 
 and no further. Some writers place one town of 
 Ethiopia beyond it, Baricaza, which lies on the 
 coast. According to Juba the Atlantic Sea 
 begins at the promontory of Mossylon." Juba 
 evidently confounded this promontory with Cape 
 Aromata, and Ptolemy, perhaps in consequence, 
 makes its projection more considerable than it is. 
 D'Anville and Gosselin thought Mossulon 
 was situated near the promontory Mete, where 
 is a river, called the Soal, which they supposed 
 preserved traces of the name of Mossulon. This 
 position however cannot be reconciled with the 
 distances given in the Periplus, which would lead 
 as to look for it where Guesele is placed in the 
 h 
 
58 
 
 tant, and ivory and myrrh thougli in small 
 quantity. 
 
 11. After leaving Mosullon, and sailing 
 past a place called Neiloptolemaios, and 
 past Tapatege and the Little Laurel-grove, 
 you are conducted in two days to Cape E 1 e- 
 
 latest description given of this coast. Yincent on 
 very inadequate grounds would identify it with 
 Barbara or Berbera. [Miiller places it at Bandar 
 Barthe and Has Antarah, long. 49° 35'' E.] 
 
 (11) After Mosul on occurs Cape Elephant, 
 at some distance beyond Neiloptolemaios, 
 Tapatege, and the Little Laurel-grove. At the 
 Cape is a river and the Great Laurel-grove called 
 A k a n n a i. Sfcrabo in his account of this coast 
 mentions a Neilospotamia which however can 
 hardly be referred to this particular locality 
 which pertains to the region through which the 
 Khori or San Pedro flows, of which Idrisi (I. 45) 
 thus writes : " At tw-o journeys' distance from 
 Markah in the desert is a river which is subject 
 to risings like the ll^ile and on the banks of which 
 they sow dhorra." Regarding Cape Elephant 
 Vincent says, " it is formed by a mountain conspi- 
 cuous in the Portuguese charts under the name 
 of Mount Felix or Felles from the native term 
 Jibel Fil, literally, Mount Elephant. The cape 
 [Ras Filik, 800 ft. high, lat. \V hT IS"., long. 50'> 
 37^ E.] is formed by the land jutting up to the 
 North from the direction of the coast which is 
 nearly East and West, and from its northern- 
 most point the land falls off again South-East to 
 R,as 'A sir — Cape Guardafun, the Arornata of the 
 
59 
 
 p h a n t. Here is a stream called Elephant 
 River, and the Great Laurel-grove called A kan- 
 nai, where, and where only, is produced the 
 peratic frankincense. The supply is most abun- 
 dant, and it is of the very finest quality. 
 
 12. After this, the coast now inclining to the 
 south, succeeds the mart of A r o m a t a, and a 
 
 ancients. We learn from Captain Saris, an Eng- 
 lish navigator, that there is a river at Jibel Fil. 
 In the year 16H he stood into a bay or harbour 
 there which he represents as having a safe 
 entrance for three ships abreast : he adds also that 
 several sorts of gums very sweet in burning were 
 still purchased by the Indian ships from Cambay 
 which touched here for that purpose in their 
 passage to Mocha." The passage in the Periplus 
 where these places are mentioned is very corrupt. 
 Vincent, who regards the greater D a p h n 6 n 
 (Laurel-grove) as a river called A k a n n a i, says, 
 "Neither place or distance is assigned to any 
 of these names, but we may well allot the rivers 
 Daphnon and Elephant to the synonymous town 
 and cape ; and these may be represented by the 
 modern Mete and Santa Pedro." [Miiller places 
 Elephas at Eas el Eil, long. 50^ 37^ E., and Akan- 
 nai at Umiah Bandar, long. 50° 56' E., but they 
 may be represented by Ras Ahileh, where a river 
 enters through a lagoon in 11" 46', and Bonah 
 a town with wells of good water in lat. 11° 58' N., 
 long. 60° bV E.] 
 
 (12) We come now to the great projection 
 Cape Aromata, which is a continuation of Mount 
 Elephant. It is called in Arabic Jerd HafAn 
 
60 
 
 bluflf headland running out eastward wliicTa 
 forms the termination of the Barbarine coast. 
 The roadstead is an open one, and at certain 
 seasons dangerous, as the place lies exposed to 
 
 or Eas Asir ; in Idrisi, Oarfouna, whence the 
 name by which it is generally known. [The South 
 point ll"" 40^ is Ras Shenarif or Jerd Hafun • 
 the JN". point 11° 5V is Ras 'Asir.] It formed 
 the limit of the knowledge of this coast in the 
 time of Strabo, by whom it is called !N" o t o u 
 K e r a s or South Horn. It is described as a 
 very high bluff point and as perpendicular as if 
 it were scai-ped. [Jerd Hafun is 2500 feet high,] 
 The current comes round it out of the gulf with 
 such violence that it is not to be stemmed with- 
 out a brisk wind, and during the South-We&t 
 Monsoon, the moment you are past the Cape to 
 the North there is a stark cahn with insufferable 
 heat. The current below Jerd Haftin is noticed by 
 the Periphh as setting to the South, and is there 
 perhaps equally subject to the change of the 
 monsoon. With this account of the coast from 
 the straits to the great Cape may be compared 
 that which has been given by Strabo, XYI. iv. 14 : 
 " From D e i r e the next country is that which 
 bears aromatic plants. The first produces myrrh 
 and belongs to the Ichthyophagi and 
 Creophagi. It bears also the persea, peach or 
 Egyptian almond, and the Egyptian fig. Beyond is 
 Licha, a hunting ground for elephants. There 
 are also in many places standing pools of rain- 
 water. When these are dried up, the elephants 
 with their trunks and tusks dig holes and fijid 
 
61 
 
 the north wind. A coming storm gives warning 
 of its approach bj a pecuHar prognostic, for the 
 sea turns turbid at the bottom and changes its 
 colour. When this occurs, all hasten for refuge 
 
 water. On this coast there are two very large 
 lakes extending as far as the promontory Pytho- 
 laus. One of them contains salt water and is . 
 called a sea ; the other fresh water and is the 
 haunt of hippopotami and crocodiles. On the 
 margin grows the papyrus. The ibis is seen in 
 the neighbourhood of this place. Next is the 
 country which produces frankincense ; it has a 
 promontory and a temple with a grove of poplars. 
 In the inland parts is a tract along the banks of a 
 river bearing the name of I s i s, and another that 
 ■ of N i 1 u s, both of which produce myrrh and frank- 
 incense. Also a lagoon filled with water from the 
 mountains. Next the watch-post of the Lion and 
 the port of Pythangelus. The next tract 
 bears the false cassia. There are many tracts 
 in succession on the sides of rivers on which 
 frankincense grows, and rivers extending to the 
 cinnamon country. The river which bounds this 
 tract produces rushes {(^Xovs) in great abundance. 
 Then follows another river and the port of 
 D a p h n u s, and a valley called A p o 1 1 o's which 
 bears besides frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon. 
 The latter is more abundant in places far in the 
 interior. Next is the mountain Elephas, a 
 mountain projecting into the sea and a creek ; then 
 follows the large harbour ofPsygmus, a water- 
 ing place called that of Cynocephali and the 
 last promontory of this coast N o t u- c e r a s (or the 
 
62 
 
 to the great promontory called T a b a i, which 
 affords a secare shelter. The imports into this 
 mart are such as have been already mentioned ; 
 while its products are cinnamon, gizeir (a finer 
 sort of cinnamoTi), asuphe (a7i ordinary sort), 
 
 Southern Horn). After doubling this cape towards 
 the south we have no more descriptions of harbours 
 or places because nothing is known of the sea-coast 
 beyond this point." [Bohn's Tra7isl.~\ According 
 to Gosselin, the Southern Horn corresponds with 
 the Southern Cape of Bandel-caus, where com- 
 mences the desert coast of Ajan, the ancient 
 Azania. 
 
 According to the Periplus Cape A r 6 m a t a 
 marked the termination of Barbaria and the 
 beginning of Azania. Ptolemy however dis- 
 tinguishes them differeutly, defining the former as 
 the interior and the latter as the sea-board of the 
 region to which these names were applied. 
 
 The description of the Eastern Coast of Africa 
 which now follows is carried, as has been already 
 noticed, as far as R h a p t a, a place about 6 degrees 
 South of the Equator, but which Vincent places 
 much farther South, identifying it with Kilwa. 
 
 The places named on this line of coast are : 
 a promontory called Tabai, a Khersonesos ; 
 O p on e, a mart ; the Little and the Great A p o- 
 k o p a ; the Little and the Great Coast ; the 
 Dromoi or courses of Azania (first that of 
 Serapion, then that of N" i k 6 n) ; a number of 
 rivers ; a succession of anchorages, seven in num- 
 ber ; the Paralaoi islands ; a strait or canal ; 
 the island ofMenouthias; and then R h a p t a, 
 
63 
 
 fragrant gums, magla, moto (afi inferior cinna- 
 raon), and frankincense. 
 
 13. If, on sailing from T a b a i, you follow 
 the coast of the peninsula formed by the pro- 
 montory, you are carried by the force of a strong 
 current to another mart 400 stadia distant, called 
 O p 6 n e, which imports the commodities already 
 mentioned, but produces most abundantly cin- 
 
 beyond which, as the author conceived, the ocean 
 curved round Africa until it met and amalgamated 
 with the Hesperian or Western Ocean. 
 
 (13) Tabai, to which the inhabitants of the Great 
 Cape fled for refuge on the approach of a storm, 
 cannot, as Yincent and others have supposed, be 
 Cape Orfui, for it lay at too great a distance for 
 the purpose. The projection is meant which the 
 Arabs call Banna. [Or, Tabai may be identified 
 with Eas Shenarif, lat. 11° 40' JST.] Tabai, Muller 
 suggests, may be a corruption for Tabannai, 
 
 " From the foreign term Banna," he says, 
 " certain Greeks in the manner of their countrymen 
 invented Panos orPanon or Pano or Panoua 
 Kome. Thus in Ptolemy (I. 17 and IV. 7) after 
 Aromata follows P a n 6 n K o m e, which Mannert 
 has identified with Benua. [Khor Banneh is a salt 
 lake, with a village, inside Eas AliBeshgel, lat. 11° 9'' 
 N., long. 51° 9^E.] Stephenof Byzantium may be 
 compared, who speaks of P a n o s as a village on 
 the Eed Sea which is also called Panon." The 
 conjecture, therefore, of Letronnius that Panon 
 Kome derived its name from the large apes 
 found there, called Panes, falls to the ground. 
 
64 
 
 namon, spice, 7not6, slaves of a very superior 
 sort, claiefly for the Egyptian market, and tor- 
 toise-shell of small size but in large quantity 
 and of the finest quality known. 
 
 14. Ships set sail from Egypt for all these 
 ports beyond the straits about the month of 
 July — thatis, Epiphi. The same markets are 
 also regularly supplied with the products of 
 places far beyond them — A r i a k e and B a r u- 
 g a z a. These products are — 
 
 2irof — Corn. 
 
 *OpvCa^«— Eice. 
 
 BovTvpov — Butter, i. e. ghi. 
 
 "EXatoV (rrjcrdixivov — Oil of sesamum. 
 
 ^Odoviov rj T€ fiovaxfj '^^'' V o-ayiiaToyrjvr) — Fine 
 
 O p 6 n e was situated on the Southern shores 
 ■ of what the Periplus calls a Khersonese, which 
 can only be the projection now called E, a s 
 HafUn or Cape D'Orfui (lat. 10° 25^ N.) • 
 Ptolemy (I. 17) gives the distance of Opone 
 from Pan on K 6m e at a 6 days' journey, from 
 which according to the ^Periplus it was only 
 400 stadia distant. That the text of Ptolemy is 
 here corrupt cannot be doubted, for in his tables 
 the distance between the two places is not far from 
 that which is given in the Periplus. Probably, 
 as Miiller conjectures, he wrote 686v fjfxepas (a day's 
 journey) which was converted into odov rjixep. s (a 
 six-days' journey). 
 
 (14) At this harbour is introduced the mention 
 of the voyage which was annually made between 
 
 ^^ From the Tamil arisi, rice deprived of the husk. — 
 Caldwell. 
 
65 
 
 •cotton called MonaJchS, and a coarse kind for 
 stuffing called Sagmatogene. 
 
 Ilf pi^(B/xara — Sashes or girdles. 
 
 MeXi re KaXdfiivov to Xfyojuevoi' o-aKxapi. — The 
 honey of a reed, called sugar. 
 
 Some traders undertake voyages for this 
 commerce expressly, while others, as they sail 
 along the coast we are describing, exchange 
 their cargoes for such others as they can procure. 
 There is no king who reigns paramount over all 
 this region, but each separate seat of trade is 
 ruled by an independent despot of its own. 
 
 15. After p 6 n e, the coast now trending 
 more to the south, you come first to what ar& 
 called the little and the great A p o k o p a (or 
 Bluffs) of A z a n i a, where there are no har- 
 
 the coast of India and Africa in days previous to 
 the appearance of the Greeks on the Indian Ocean, 
 which has already been referred to, 
 
 (15) After leaving p 6 n e the coast first runs 
 ■due south, then bends to the south-west, and here 
 begins the coast which is called the Little aad the 
 Grea^ Apokopa or Bluffs of A z a m i a, the 
 voyage along which occupies six days. This rocky 
 coast, as we learn from recent explorations, begins 
 at Ras Mabber [about lat. 9^ 25' JS".], which is 
 between 70 and 80 miles distant fromRas Haflin and 
 extends only to R & s-u 1-K h e i 1 [about lat. 7" 45^ 
 N.], which is distant from Ras Mabber about 140 
 miles or a voyage of three or four days only. The 
 length of this rocky coast (called H a z i n e by the 
 Arabs) is therefore much exaggerated in the Peri- 
 
66 
 
 bonrs, bnt only roads in which ships can conv^' 
 niently anchor. The navigation of this coast, 
 the direction of which is now to the south- 
 west, occupies six days. Then follow the Little 
 Coast and the Great Coast, occupying other six 
 days, when in due order succeed the D r o m o i 
 
 pltis. From this error we may infer that our author, 
 who was a very careful observer,. had not personally 
 visited this coast. Ptolemy, in opposition to Mari- 
 nes as well as the Periplus, recognizes but one 
 A p o k o p a, which he speaks of as a bay. Muller 
 concludes an elaborate note regarding the A p o- 
 k o p a by the following quotation from the work of 
 Owen, who made the exploration already referred to, 
 " It is strange that the descriptive term H a z i n e 
 should have produced the names Ajan, Azan* 
 and A z a n i a in many maps and charts, as the 
 country never had any other appellation than 
 Barra Somali or the land of the Somali, 
 a people who have never yet been collected under 
 one government, and whose limits of subjection 
 are only within bow-shot of individual chiefs. 
 The coast of Africa from the Eed Sea to the river 
 Juba is inhabited by the tribe called Somali, 
 They are a mild people of pastoral habits and 
 confined entirely to the coast ; the whole of the 
 interior being occupied by an untameable tribe of 
 savages called Gall a." 
 
 The coast which follows the A p o k o p a, called 
 the Little and the Great Aigialos or Coast, 
 is so desolate that, as Vincent remarks, not a 
 name occurs on it, neither is there an anchorage 
 noticed, nor the least trace of commerce to be 
 
67 
 
 (t>r Courses) of A z a n i a, the one going 
 by the name of Sarapion, and the other 
 by that of Nik on. Proceeding thence, you 
 pass the mouths of numerous rivers, and a suc- 
 cession of other roadsteads lying apart one 
 from another a day's distance either by sea or by 
 
 found. Yet it is of great extent — a six days' 
 voyage according to the Periplus, but, according 
 to Ptolemy, who is here more correct, a voyage of 
 eight days, for, as we have seen, the Periplus has 
 unduly extended the Apokopato the South. 
 
 Next follow the D r o m o i or Courses of 
 A z a n i a, the first called that of Serapion 
 and the other that of Nikon. Ptolemy inter- 
 poses a bay between the Great Coast and the port 
 of S e r a p i 6 n, on which he states there was 
 an emporium called Essina — a day's sail dis- 
 tant from that port. Essina, it would therefore 
 appear, must have been somewhere near where 
 Makdashil [Magadoxo, lat. 2° 3^ N.] was built 
 by the Arabs somewhere in the eighth century A..D. 
 The station called that of N i k 6 n in the Periplus 
 appears in Ptolemy as the mart of Tonike. 
 These names are not, as some have supposed, of 
 Greek origin, but distortions of the native appel- 
 lations of the places into names familiar to Greek 
 ears. That the Greeks had founded any settle- 
 ments here is altogether improbable. At the 
 time when the Periplus was written all the trade 
 of these parts was in the hands of the Arabs of 
 M o u z a. The port of Serapion may be 
 placed at a promontory which occurs in 1° 40'' 
 of N. lat. From this, Tonike, according to 
 
68 
 
 land. There are seven of tbein altogether, and 
 they reach on to the Puralaoi islands and the 
 narrovj strait called the Canal, beyond which, 
 where the coast changes its direction from south- 
 west slightly more to soath, yoa are conducted 
 by a voyage of two days and two nights to M e- 
 
 the tables of Ptolemy, was distant 45', and its 
 position must therefore have agreed with that of 
 Torre or Torra of our modern maps. 
 
 Next occnrs a succession of rivers and road- 
 steads, seven in nnmber, which being passed we 
 are conducted to the Puralaan Islands, and 
 what is called a canal or channel (Stcopv^). These 
 islands are not mentioned elsewhere. They can 
 readily be identified with the two called M a n d a 
 and L a m o u, which are situate at the mouths of 
 large rivers, and are separated from the mainland 
 and from each other by a narrow channel. Vin- 
 cent would assign a Greek origin to the name of 
 these islands. " With a very slight alteration," 
 he says, ^' of the reading, the Puralian Islands 
 (nOp aXtoj/, marine fire,) are the islands of the 
 Fiery Ocean, and nothing seems more consonant 
 to reason than for a Greek to apply the name of 
 the Fiery Ocean to a spot which was the centre? 
 of the Torrid Zone and subject to the perpendi- 
 cular rays of an equinoctial sun." [The Juba 
 islands run along the coast from Juba to about 
 Lat. 1° 60' S., and Manda bay and island is in Lat. 
 2' 12- S.] 
 
 Beyond these islands occurs, after a voyage 
 of two days and two nights, the island of M e- 
 nouthjasor Menouthesias, which it has 
 
69 
 
 nouthias, an island stretching towards sunset, 
 and distant from the mainland about 300 stadia. 
 It is low-ljing and woody, has rivers, and a 
 vast variety of birds, and yields the mountain 
 tortoise, but it has no wild beasts at all, except 
 only crocodiles, which, however, are quite 
 
 been found difficult to identify with any certainty. 
 " It is," says Vincent, " the Eitenediommenouthesias 
 of the Teriplus, a term egregiously strange and 
 corrupted, but out of which the commentators 
 unanimously collect Menoothias, whatever may be 
 the fate of the remaining syllables. That this Me- 
 noothias," he continues, " must have been one of 
 the Zangibar islands is indubitable ; for the dis- 
 tance from the coast of all three, Pemba, Zangibar, 
 and Momfia, affords a character which is indelible ; 
 a character applicable to no other island from 
 Guardafui to Madagascar." He then identifies 
 it with the island of Zangibar, lat. 6° 5' S., in pre- 
 ference to Pemba, 5"" 6^ S., which lay too far out 
 of the course, and in preference to Momfia, 7° 50'' 
 S. (though more doubtfully), because of its being 
 by no means conspicuous, whereas Zangibar was 
 so prominent and obvious above the other two, 
 that it might well attract the particular attention 
 of navigators, and its distance from the mainland 
 is at the same time so nearly in accordance with 
 that given in the Periplus as to counterbalance all 
 other objections. A writer in Smith's Classical 
 Geography, who seems to have overlooked the in- 
 dications of the distances both of Ptolemy and the 
 Periplus, assigns it a position much further to the 
 north than is reconcilable with these distances. 
 
70 
 
 harmless. The boats are here made of planks 
 sewn together attached to a keel formed of a 
 single log of wood, and these are used for fishing 
 and for catching turtle. This is also caught in 
 another mode, peculiar to the island, by lower- 
 ing wicker-baskets instead of nets, and fixing 
 
 He places it about a degree south from the mouth 
 of the River Juba or Goviud, just where an open- 
 ing in the coral-reefs is now found. " The coast- 
 ing voyage," he says, " steering S. W., reached the 
 island on the east side — a proof that it was close 
 to the main. ... It is true the navigator 
 says it was 300 stadia from the mainland ; but as 
 there is no reason to suppose that he surveyed 
 the island, this distance must be taken to signify 
 the estimated width of the northern inlet separat- 
 ing the island from the main, and this estimate 
 is probably much exaggerated. The mode of 
 fishing with baskets is still practised in the Juba 
 islands and along this coast. The formation of 
 the coast of E. Africa in these latitudes — where 
 the hills or downs upon the coast are all formed 
 of a coral conglomerate comprising fragments 
 of madrepore, shell and sand, renders it likely 
 that the island which was close to the main 16 or 
 17 centuries ago, should now be united to it. 
 Granting this theory of gradual transformation of 
 the coast-line, the Menouthias of the FeripUis 
 may be supposed to have stood in what is now 
 the rich garden-land of S h a m b a, where the 
 rivers carrying down mud to mingle with the 
 marine deposit of coral drift covered the choked- 
 up estuary with a rich soil." 
 
71 
 
 them against the mouths of the cavernous 
 rocks which lie out in the sea confronting the 
 beach. 
 
 16. At the distance of a two days' sail from 
 this island lies the last of the marts ofAzania, 
 called R h a p t a, a name which it derives 
 from the sewn boats just mentioned. Ivory is 
 procured here in the greatest abundance, and 
 also turtle. The indigenous inhabitants are 
 
 ■ The island is said in the Periplus to extend 
 towards the West, but this does not hold good 
 either in the case of Zangibar or any other island 
 in this part of the coast. Indeed there is no one 
 of them in which at the present day all the 
 characteristics ofMenouthias are found com- 
 bined. M o m fi a, for instance, which resembles 
 it somewhat in name, and which, as modern 
 travellers tell us, is almost entirely occupied with 
 birds and covered with their dung, does not 
 possess any streams of water. These are found 
 in Zangibar. The author may perhaps have con- 
 fusedly blended together the accounts he had 
 received from his Arab informants. 
 
 ■ (16) We arrive next and finally at E h apt a, the 
 last emporium on the coast known to the author. 
 Ptolemy mentions not only a city of this name, 
 but also a river and a promontory. The name 
 is Greek (from paTrreii/, to sew), and was applied 
 to the place because the vessels there in use 
 were raised from bottoms consisting of single 
 trunks of trees by the addition of planks which 
 were sewn together with the fibres of the cocoa. 
 
72 
 
 men of huge statnre, who live ajpart from each 
 other J every man ruling like a lord his own 
 domain. The whole territory is governed by 
 the despot of Mopharitis, because the 
 sovereignty over it, by some right of old standing, 
 is vested in the kingdom of what is called the 
 First Arabia. The merchants of M o u z a farm 
 its revenues from the king, and employ in trading 
 with it a great many ships of heavy burden, 
 on board of which they have Arabian command- 
 ers and factors who are intimately acquainted 
 with the natives and have contracted marriage 
 
 " It is a singular fact," as Tincent remarks, " that 
 this peculiarity should be one of the first objects 
 which attracted the attention of the Portuguese 
 upon their reaching this coast. They saw them 
 first at Mozambique, where they were called 
 Almeidas, but the principal notice of them in 
 most of their writers is generally stated at 
 Kilwa, the very spot which we have supposed to 
 receive its name from vessels of the same con- 
 struction." Yincent has been led from this coinci- 
 dence to identify Ehapta with Kilwa [lat. 8° 50' S.]. 
 Miiller however would place it not so far south, 
 but somewhere in the Bay of Zangibar, The 
 promontory of Rhaptum, he judges from the 
 indications of the Periplus to be the projection 
 which closes the bay in which lies the island of 
 Zangibar, and which is now known as M o i n a n o- 
 k al li or Point Pouna, lat. 7° S. The parts beyond 
 this were unknown, and the southern coast of 
 Africa, it was accordingly thought by the ancient 
 
73 
 
 with them, and know their language and the 
 navigation of the coast. 
 
 17^ The articles imported into these marts 
 are principally javelins manufactured at Mouza, 
 hatchets, knives, awls, and crown glass of various 
 sorts, to which must be added corn and wine 
 in no small quantity landed at particular ports, 
 not for sale, but to entertain and thereby con- 
 ciliate the barbarians. The articles which these 
 places export are ivory, in great abundance 
 but of inferior quality to that obtained at 
 Adouli, rhinoceros, and tortoise-shell of fine 
 quality, second only to the Indian, and a little 
 
 geographers, began here. Another cape however 
 is mentioned by Ptolemy remoter than Rhaptum 
 and called Prasum (that is the Green Cape) 
 which may perhaps be Cape Delgado, which is 
 noted for its luxuriant vegetation. The same author 
 calls the people of R h a p t a, the R h a p s i o i 
 Aithiopes. They are described in the Periplus 
 as men of lofty stature, and this is still a charac- 
 teristic of the Africans of this coast. The 
 Rh a p s i i were, in the days of our author, subject 
 to the people of Mouza in Arabia just as their 
 descendants are at the present day subject to the 
 Sultan of Maskat. Their commerce moreover still 
 maintains its ancient characteristics. It is the 
 African who still builds and mans the ships while 
 the Arab is the navigator and supercargo. The 
 ivory is still of inferior quality, and the turtle is 
 still captured at certain parts of the coast. 
 
 J 
 
74 
 
 18. These marts, we may say, arc abont tlie 
 last on tlie coast of A z a n i a — the coast, that is, 
 which is on your right as you sail soutli from 
 B e r e n I k e. For beyond these parts an ocearu 
 hitherto unexplored, curves round towards sun- 
 set, and, stretching along the southern ex- 
 tremities of Ethiopia, Libya, and Africa, amalga- 
 mates with the Western Sea. 
 
 1 9. To the left, again, of B e r e n i k e, if you 
 
 (18, 19) Our author having thus described the 
 African coast as Tar southward as it was known on 
 its Eastern side, reverts toBerenike and enters 
 at once on a narrative of the second voyage — that 
 which was made thence across the Northern head 
 of the gulf and along the coast of Arabia to the em- 
 porium of M o u z a near the Straits. The course 
 is first northward, and the parts about B^reniko 
 as you bear away lie therefore now on your left hand. 
 Having touched at M y o s H o r m o s the course 
 on leaving it is shaped eastward across the gulf by 
 the promontory P h a r a n, and L e u k e K o m e^^ 
 is reached after three or four days' sailing. This 
 was a port in the kingdom of the Nabathseans 
 (the Nebaioth of Scripture), situated perhaps near 
 the mouth of the Elanitic Gulf or eastern arm of 
 the Eed Sea, now called the Gulf of Akabah. 
 Much difference of opinion has prevailed as to 
 its exact position, since the encroachment of the 
 land upon the sea has much altered the line of 
 coast here. Mannert identified it wi-th the modern 
 y e nb o [lat. 24° 5' N., long. 38' 3^ E., the port 
 
 ^^ Meaning white village. 
 
/o 
 
 sail eastward from M y o s-H o r m o s across tho 
 adjacent gulf for two days, or perhaps three, you 
 arrive at a place having a port and a fortress " 
 which is called Leuke Kome, and forming the 
 point of communication with Petra, the residence 
 of M a 1 i k h a s, the king of the Nabata3ans. It 
 ranks as an emporium of trade, since small 
 vessels come to it laden with merchandize from 
 Arabia ; and hence an officer is deputed to 
 
 of Medina], Gosselin with Mowilah [lat. IT 
 38' N., long. 35° 28' E.,] Vincent with Eynounah 
 [lat. 28^ 3' N., long. 35° 13' E.-the Onne of 
 Ptolemy], Eeichhard with IstabelAntai, and 
 Rijppel with Wejh [lat. 26^ 13' IST., long. 36' 
 27' E]. Miillcr prefers the opinion held by Bochart, 
 D'Anville, Quatremere, Noel des Vergers, and 
 Bitter, who agree in placing it at the port called 
 Hauara [lat. 24° 59' N., long. 37° 16' E.) men- 
 tioned by Idrisi (I. p. 332), who describes it as a 
 village inhabited by merchants carrying on a con- 
 siderable trade in earthen vases manufactured at 
 a clay-pit in their neighbourhood. Near it lies 
 the island of Hassani [lat. 2-i'' 59' N., long. 
 37° 3' E.], which, as Wellsted reports, is con- 
 spicuous from its white appearance. Leuke 
 Kome is mentioned by various ancient authors, 
 as for instance Strabo, who, in a passage where- 
 in he recounts the misfortunes which befel the 
 expedition which Aelius led into Nabathaea, 
 speaks of the place as a large mart to which and 
 from which the camel traders travel with ease 
 and in safety from Petra and back to Petra 
 
76 
 
 .collect the duties which are levied on imports 
 at the rate of twenty-five per cent, of their 
 value, and also a centurion who commands the 
 garrison by which the place is protected. 
 
 20. Beyond this mart, and quite contiguous 
 to it, is the realm of Arabia, which str^etches to a 
 great distance along the coast of the Red Sea. 
 It is inhabited by various tribes, some speaking 
 the same language with a certain degree of 
 
 with so large a body of men and camels as to 
 differ in no respect from an army. 
 
 The merchandize thus conveyed from L e u k e 
 Kome to Petra was passed on to R h i- 
 n.okoloura in Palestine near Egypt, and 
 thence to other nations, but in his own time the 
 greater part was transported by the Nile to 
 Alexandria. It was brought down from India 
 and Arabia toMyos Hormos, whence it was 
 first conveyed on camels to K o p t o s and thence 
 by the Nile to A 1 e x a n d r i a. The Nabathaean 
 king, at the time when our author visited L e u k e, 
 Kome, was, as he cells us, Malikhas, a name 
 which means * king,' Two Petraean sovereigns so 
 called are mentioned by Josephos, of whom the latter 
 was contemporary with Herod, The Malikhas of 
 the Periplus is however not mentioned in any other 
 work. Tlie Nabathaean kingdom was subverted 
 in the time of Trajan, a.d. 105, as we learn from Dio 
 Cassius (cap. Ixviii. 14), and from Eutropius 
 (viii.2, 9), and from Ammianus Marcellinus (xiv. 8). 
 
 (20) At no great distance from LeukeKome 
 the Nabathaean realm terminates and Arabia. 
 
77 
 
 uniformity, and others a language totally differ- 
 ent. Here also, as on the opposite continent, the 
 sea-board is occupied by Ikhthyophagoi, 
 who live in dispersed huts ; while the men of the 
 interior live either in villages, or where pasture 
 can be found, and are an evil race of men, 
 speaking two different languages. If a vessel 
 is driven from her course upon this shore she 
 is plundered, and if wrecked the crew on 
 escaping to land are reduced to slavery. For 
 this reason they are treated as enemies and cap- 
 tured by the chiefs and kings of Arabia. They 
 are called Kanraitai. Altogether, therefore, 
 the navigation of this part of the Arabian coast 
 is very dangerous : for, apart from the harharitij 
 of its people, it has neither harbours nor good 
 roadsteads, and it is foul with breakers, and 
 girdled with rocks which render it inaccessible. 
 For this reason when sailing south we stand off 
 
 begins. The coast is here described as most dis- 
 mal, and as in every way dangerous to navigation. 
 The inhabitants at the same time are barbarians, 
 destitute of all humanity, who scruple not to 
 attack and plunder wrecked ships and to make 
 slaves of their crews if they escaped to land. The 
 mariner therefore, shunned these inhospitable 
 shores, and standing well out to sea, sailed down 
 the middle of the gulf. The tribe here spoken of 
 was that perhaps which is represented by the 
 H u t e m i of the present day, and the coast be- 
 longed to the part of Arabia now called H e j i d. 
 
78 
 
 from a shore in every way so dreadful, and 
 keep our course down the middle of the gulf, 
 straining our utmost to reach the more ckyilized 
 part of Arabia, which begins at Burnt Island. 
 From this onward the people are under a regu- 
 lar government, and, as their country is pastoral, 
 they keep herds of cattle and camels. 
 
 21. Beyond this tract, and on the shore of a 
 bay which occurs at the termination of the left 
 (or east) side of the gulf, is M o u z a, an estab- 
 lished and notable mart of trade, at a distance 
 
 A more civilized region begins at an island 
 called Burnt island, which answers to the modern 
 Zebayir [about lat. 16" 5' N., long. 42" 12' E.], 
 an island which was till recently volcanic. 
 
 (21) Beyond this is the great emporium called 
 M ouz a, [lat. 13" 43' N., long. 43" 5M4"E.] situated 
 in a bay near the termination of the Gulf, and at a 
 distance from Berenikeof 12,000 stadia. Here 
 the population consists almost entirely of merchants 
 and mariners, and the place is in the highest degree 
 commercial. The commodities of tlie country are 
 rich and numerous (though this is denied by 
 Pliny), and there is a great traffic in Indian 
 articles brought from Barugaza (Bharoch). 
 This port, once the most celebrated and most fre- 
 quented in Yemen, is now the village Musa about 
 twenty-five miles north from Mokha, which has 
 replaced it as a port, the foundation of which dates 
 back no more than 400 years ago. " Twenty miles 
 inland from Mokha," says Vincent, " Niebuhr dis- 
 covered a Musa still existing, which he with great 
 
79 
 
 Boutli from Berenike of not more than 12,000 
 stadia. The whole place is full of Arabian ship- 
 masters and common sailors, and is absorbed 
 in the pursuits of commerce, for with ships of its 
 own fitting out, it trades with the marts beyond 
 the Straits on the opposite coast, and also with 
 B a r u g a z a. 
 
 22. Abovethisa three days' journey ofFlies the 
 city of S a u e, in the district called M o p h a- 
 r i t i s. It is the residence ofKholaibos, the 
 despot of that country. 
 
 probability supposes to be the ancient mart now 
 carried inland to this distance by the recession of 
 the coast." [He must have confounded it with 
 JebelMusa, due east of Mokha, at the com- 
 mencement of the mountain country.] It is a 
 mere village badly built. Its water is good, and 
 is said to be drunk by the wealthier inhabitants 
 of Mokha. Bochart identified Mouza with the 
 M e s h a mentioned by Moses. 
 
 (22) The Periplus notices two cities that lay 
 inland from M o u z a — the 1st Sane, the Save 
 of Pliny (YI. xxvi., 101), and also of Ptolemy 
 (VI. vii., p. 411), who places it at a distance of 
 500 stadia S. E. of Mouza. The position and 
 distance direct us to the city of T a a e s, which lies 
 neara mountain called Saber. Saue belonged to a 
 district called MapharitisorMophareites, 
 a name which appears to survive in the modern 
 M h a r r a s, which designates a mountain lying 
 N. E. from T a a e s. It was ruled byKholaibos 
 (Arabice—Khaleb), whom our author calls a tyrant. 
 
80 
 
 23. A journey of nine days more conducts us 
 to S a p li a r, tlie metropolis ofKliaribael, the 
 rightful sovereign of two contiguous tribes, the 
 Hom.erites and the Sabaitai, and, by 
 means of frequent embassies and presents, the 
 friend of the Emperors. 
 
 and who was therefore probably a Sheikh who had 
 revolted from his lawful chief, and established 
 himself as an independent ruler. 
 
 (23) The other city was S a p h a r, the metro- 
 polis of the Homeritai, i.e. the H i m a r y i — 
 the Arabs of Yemen, whose power was widely 
 extended, not only in Yemen but in distant 
 countries both to the East and West. Saphar is 
 called Sappharby Ptolemy (VI. vii.), who places 
 it in 14°]S[. lat. Philostorgios calls it T a p h a r o n, 
 and Stephen of Byzantium T a r p h a r a. It is now 
 D h a f a r or Dsoffar or Zaphar. In Edrisi (I. p. 
 148) it appears as D h o f a r, and he thus writes of 
 it : — " It is the capital of the district Jahsseb. It 
 was forncierly one of the greatest and most famous 
 of cities. The kings of Yemen made it their 
 residence, and there was to be seen the palace of 
 Zeidan. These structures are now in ruins, and 
 the population has been much decreased, never- 
 theless the inhabitants ,have preserved some 
 remnants of their ancient riches." The ruins 
 of the city and palace still exist in the neigh- 
 bourhood of J e r i m, which I^iebuhr places 
 in 14° 30' N. lat. The distance from S a u e to 
 Saphar in the Periplus is a nine days' journey. 
 Niebuhr accomplished it however in six. Perhaps, 
 as Miiller suggests, the nine days' journey is from 
 
81 
 
 24. The mart of M o u z a has no harbour, but 
 its sea is smooth, and the anchorage good, owing 
 to the sandy nature of the bottom. The com- 
 modities which it imports are — 
 
 Xlopcjivpa, didcfjopos Kal x^Saia — Purple cloth, fine 
 and ordinary. 
 
 "ifi'aTKTfios 'Apa/3t/c6y ;^eipi6c«r6?, ore AttKovs koi 6 
 Kotvbs Koi (TKOTOvXaTos Koi bidxpya-os — Garments 
 made up in the Arabian fashion, some plain and 
 common, and others wrought in needlework and 
 inwoven with gold. 
 
 KpoKos — Saffron. 
 
 KvTrepos — The aromatic rush Kyperos. (Tur- 
 meric ?) 
 
 'oBovLov — Muslins. 
 
 ' A^oXXat — Cloaks . 
 
 Ad>8iK€s ov TToXXai, dTrXot re koX ivTottioi. — Quilts, in 
 small quantity, some plain, others adapted to the 
 fashion of the country. 
 
 Zwrnt o-Ktcerai — Sashes of various shades of colour. 
 
 Mvpov fierpiov — Perfumes, a moderate quantity. 
 
 Xprjfia Uavbv — Specie as much as is required. 
 
 Olvos — Wine. 
 
 Stroff ov noKvs — Corn, but not much. 
 
 Mouzato Saphar. The sovereign of Saphar 
 is called by our author Kharibael, a name 
 which is not found among the Himyaritic kings 
 known from other sources. In Ptolemy tho 
 region is called Elisaron, from a king bearing 
 that name. 
 
 (24) Adjacent to the Homeritai, and subject 
 to them when the Periplus was written, were the 
 Sabaeans, so famous in antiquity for their wealth, 
 
82 
 
 The country produces a little wheat and a 
 great abundance of wine. Both the king and 
 the despot above mentioned receive presents 
 consisting of horses, pack-saddle mules, gold 
 plate, silver plate embossed, robes of great value, 
 and ntensils of brass. M o u z a exports its 
 own local products — myrrh of the finest quality 
 that has oozed in drops from the trees, both the 
 Gabiraoan and Minoean kinds ; white marble (or 
 alabaster), in addition to commodities brought 
 from the other side of the Gulf, all such as were 
 enumerated at A d o n 1 i . The most favourable 
 seasonfor making a voyage to Mouza is themonth 
 of September, — that is Thoth, — but there is 
 nothing to prevent it being made earlier. 
 
 25. If on proceeding from Mouza yon sail 
 by the coast for about a distance of 300 stadia, 
 
 luxury and magnificence. Their country, the 
 S h e b a of Scripture, was noted as the land of 
 frankincense. Their power at one time extended 
 far and wide, but in the days of our author they 
 were subject to the Homerites ruled over by 
 Kharibael, who was assiduous in courting the 
 friendship of Rome. 
 
 (25) At a distance of 300 stadia beyond Mouza 
 we reach the straits where the shores of Arabia 
 and Africa advance so near to each other that the 
 passage between them has only, according to the 
 Periplus, a width of 60 stadia, or 7^ miles. In the 
 midst of the passage lies the island of D i o- 
 d 6 r o s (now Perim), which is about 4| miles long 
 by 2 broad, and rises 230 feet above the level of the 
 
83 
 
 fhere occurs, where the Arabian mainland and 
 the opposite coast of B a r b a r i a at A u a- 
 1 i t e s now approach each other, a channel of no 
 great length which contracts the sea and encloses 
 it within narrow bounds. This is 60 stadia wide, 
 and in crossing it you come midway upon the 
 island of D i o d 6 r o s, to which it is Owing that 
 the passage of the straits is in its neighbourhood 
 exposed to violent winds which blow down 
 from the adjacent mountains. There is situate 
 upon the shore of the straits an Arabian village 
 subject to the same ruler (as Mouza), k e 1 i s 
 by name, which is not so much a mart of com- 
 merce as a place for anchorage and supplying 
 water, and where those who are bound for the 
 interior first land and halt to refresh themselves. 
 
 sea. The straits, according to Moresby, are 14 1 
 geographical miles wide at the entrance between 
 Bab-el-Mandab Cape (near which is Perim) and 
 the opposite point or volcanic peak called J i b e 1 
 S i j an. The larger of the two entrances is 11 miles 
 wide, and the other only l^-. Sfcrabo, Agathemeros, 
 and Pliny all agree with the Periplus in giving 60 
 stadia as the breadth of the straits. The first 
 passage of those dreaded straits was regarded as 
 a great achievement, and was naturally ascribed 
 to Sesostris as the voyage though the straits of 
 Kalpe was ascribed to Herakles. 
 ■. Situated on the shores of the straits was 
 a place called O k e 1 i s. This was not a 
 mart of commerce, but merely a bay with. 
 
84 
 
 26. Beyond O k e 1 i s, the sea again widening" 
 out towards the east, and gradually expanding 
 into the open m^in, there lies, at about the dis- 
 tance of 1,200 stadia, EudaimonArabia, 
 a maritime village subject to that kingdom of 
 which Kharibael is sovereign — a place with good 
 anchorage, and supplied with sweeter and better 
 water than that of Okelis, and standing at 
 the entrance of a bay where the land begins to 
 
 good anchorage and well supplied with water. 
 It ia identical with the modern Ghalla or 
 Cella, which has a bay immediately within the 
 Straits. Strabo following Artemidoros notes here 
 a promontory called A k i 1 a. Pliny (VI. xxxii. 157) 
 mentions an emporium of the same name "ex 
 quo in Indiam navigatur." In xxvi., 104 of the 
 same Book he says : " Indos petentibus utilis- 
 simam est ab c e 1 i egredi." Ptolemy mentions 
 aPseudokelis, which he places at the dis- 
 tance of half a degree from the emporium of 
 Okelis. 
 
 (26) At a distance beyond Okelis of 1,200 
 stadia is the port of EudaimonArabia, which 
 beyond doubt corresponds to 'Aden, [lat. 12o 
 45^ IsT., long. 45° 21' E.] now so well-known as 
 the great packet station between Suez and India. 
 The opinion held by some that Aden is the Eden 
 mentioned by the Prophet Ezekiel (xxvii. 23) is 
 opposed by Bitter and Winer. It is not mention- 
 ed by Pliny, though it has been erroneously 
 held that the Attanae, which he mentions 
 in the following passage, was Aden. "Homnae 
 
85 
 
 retire inwards. It was called Eudaimon (' rich 
 and prosperous'), because in bygone days, when 
 the merchants from India did not proceed 
 to Egypt, and those from Egypt did not venture 
 to cross over to the marts further east, but both 
 came only as far as this city, it formed the com- 
 mon centre of their commerce, as Alexandria 
 receives the wares which pass to and fro 
 between Egypt and the ports of the Mediter- 
 
 et Attanae (v. 1. Athanae) quss nunc oppida 
 maxime celebrari a Persico mari negotiatorea 
 dicunt." (vi. 32.) Ptolemy, who calls it simply 
 Arabia, speaks of it as an emporium, and places 
 after it at the distance of a degree and a half 
 Melan Horos, or Black Hill, 17 miles from 
 the coast, which is in long. 46° 59' E. The place, 
 as the Periplus informs us, received the name 
 of Eudaimon from the great prosperity and 
 wealth which it derived from being the great 
 entrepot of the trade between India and Egypt. 
 It was in decay when that work was written, but 
 even in the time of Ptolemy had begun to show 
 symptoms of returning prosperity, and in the time 
 of Constantine it was known as the ' Eoman Em- 
 porium,' and had almost regained its former con- 
 sequence, as is gathered from a passage in the 
 works of the ecclesiastical historian Philostorgios. 
 It is thus spoken of by Edrisi (I. p. 51) : "'Aden 
 is a small town, but renowned for its seaport 
 whence ships depart that are destined for Sind, 
 India, and China." In the middle ages it became 
 again the centre of the trade between India and 
 
S6 
 
 ranean. Now, however, it lies in ruins, the 
 Emperor having destroyed it not long before 
 our own times. 
 
 27. To Eudaimon Arabia at once suc- 
 ceeds a great length of coast and a bay extend- 
 ing 2,000 stadia or more, inhabited by nomadic 
 tribes and Ikhthyophagoi settled in villages. 
 On doubling a cape which projects from it you 
 come to another trading seaport, Kane, which 
 
 the Hed Sea, and thus regained that wonderful 
 prosperity which in the outset had given it its 
 name. In this flourishing condition it was found 
 by Marco Polo, whose account of its wealth, 
 power and influence is, as Vincent remarks, 
 almost as magnificent as that which Agatharkhides 
 attributed to the Sabseans in the time of the 
 Ptolemies, when the trade was carried on in the 
 same manner. Agatharkhides does not however 
 mention the place by name, but it was probably 
 the city which he describes without naming it as 
 lying on the White Sea without the straits, whence, 
 he says, the Sabseans sent out colonies or factories 
 into India, and where the fleets from Persis, 
 Kar mania and the Indus arrived. The name of 
 Aden is supposed to be a corruption from 
 Eudaimon. 
 
 (27) The coast beyond Aden is possessed partly 
 by wandering tribes, and partly by tribes settled 
 in villages which subsist on fish. Here occurs a 
 bay — that now called Ghubhet-al-Kamar, which 
 extends upwards of 2,000 stadia, and ends in a 
 promontory — that now called Ras-al-Asidah or 
 
87 
 
 is subject to Eleazos, king of the incense 
 country. Two barren islands lie opposite to it, 
 120 stadia oflf — one called r n e 6 n, and tbe 
 other Troullas. At some distance inland 
 from Kane is Sabbath a, the principal city 
 of the district, where the king resides, ilt 
 K a n e is collected all the incense that is pro- 
 duced in the country, this being conveyed to it 
 partly on camels, and partly hij sea on floats 
 
 Sa-l-haf [lat. 13° 58' N., long 48° 9' S.— a cape 
 with a hill near the fishing village of Gillah]. 
 Beyond this lies another great mart called Kane. 
 It is mentioned by Pliny, and also by Ptolemy, 
 who assigns it a position in agreement with the 
 indications given in the Periplus. It has been 
 identified with the port now called Hisn Ghorab 
 [lat. 14° 0^ K long. 48° 19^ E.]. Not far from this 
 is an island called Halani, which answers to the 
 Troullas pf our author. Further south is an- 
 other island, which is called by the natives of the 
 adjacent coast Sikkah, but by sailors Jibtls. 
 This is covered with the dung of birds which in 
 countless multitudes have always frequented it, 
 and may be therefore identified with the r n e 6 n 
 of the Feriplus. Kane was subject to Eleazos, the 
 king of the Frankincense Country, who resided at 
 S a b b a t h a, or as it is called by Pliny (VI. xxxii. 
 155) Sabot a, the capital of the Atramitae or 
 Adramitae, a tribe of Sabeeans from whom the 
 division of Arabia now known as Hadhramaufc 
 takes its name. The position of this city cannot 
 be determined with certainty, Wellsted, who pro- 
 
88 
 
 supported on inflated skins, a local invention, 
 and also in boats. Kane carries on trade 
 with ports across tlie ocean — B a r u g a z a, 
 S k y t h i a, and m a n a , and the adjacent 
 coast of P e r s i s. 
 
 28. From Egypt it imports, like Mouza, 
 corn and a little wheat, cloths for the Arabian 
 
 ceeded into the interior from the coast near Hisn 
 Ghorab through Wadi Meifah, came after a day's 
 journey and a half to a place called !N"akb-el- 
 Hajar, situated in a highly cultivated district, 
 where he found ruins of an ancient city of the 
 Himyarites crowning an eminence that rose gently 
 with a double summit from the fertile plain. The 
 city appeared to have been built in the most solid 
 style of architecture, and to have been protected by 
 a very lofty wall formed of square blocks of black 
 marble, while the inscriptions plainly betokened 
 that it was an old seat of the Himyarites. A 
 close similarity could be traced between its ruins 
 and those of Kane, to which there was an easy 
 communication by the valley of Meifah. This 
 place, however, can hardly be regarded as S a fa- 
 bat h a without setting aside the distances given 
 by Ptolemy, and Wellsted moreover learned from 
 the natives that other ruins of a city of not less 
 size were to be met with near a village called 
 Esan, which could be reached by a three days* 
 journey. — (See Haines, Mem. of the S. Coast of 
 Arah.) 
 
 (28) With regard to the staple product of this 
 region — frankincense, the Periplus informs us that 
 
89 
 
 market, botli of tlie common sort and the plain, 
 and large quantities of a sort that is adulterated ; 
 also copper, tin, coral, styrax, and all the other 
 articles enumei^ted at Mouza. Besides these 
 there are brought also, principally for the king, 
 wrought silver plate, and specie as well as 
 horses and curved images, and plain cloth of 
 a superior quality. Its exports are its indigen- 
 ous products, frankincense and aloes, and such 
 commodities as it shares in common with other 
 marts on the same coast. Ships sail for this 
 port at the same season of the year as those 
 bound for Mouza, but earlier. 
 
 29, As you proceed from Kane the laud 
 
 it was brought for exportation to K a n e. It was 
 however in the first place, if we may credit Pliny, 
 conveyed to the Metropolis. He says (xv. 32) 
 that when gathered it was carried into S a b o t a 
 on camels which could enter the city only by 
 one particular gate, and that to take it by any 
 other route was a crime punished by death. The 
 priests, he adds, take a tithe for a deity named 
 S a b i s, and that until this impost is paid, the 
 article cannot be sold. 
 
 Some writers would identify Sabbatha 
 with Mariabo (Marab), but on insufficient 
 grounds. It has also been conjectured that the 
 name may be a lengthened form of S a b a (Sheba), 
 a common appellation for cities in Arabia- Felix. 
 [Muller places Sabbatha at Sawa, lat. 16° 13' N., 
 long. 48° 9' E.] 
 
 (29) The next place mentioned by our author 
 
 I 
 
90 
 
 retires more and more, and there succeeds 
 another very deep and far-stretching gnlf, 
 Sakhalites by name, and also the frank- 
 incense country, which is mountainous and 
 difl&cult of access, having a dense air loaded 
 with vapours [and] the frankincense exhaled 
 from tlie trees. These trees, which are not of any 
 great size or height, yield their incense in the 
 form of a concretion on the bark, just as several 
 of our trees in Egypt exude gum. The incense 
 is collected by the hand of the king's slaves, and 
 malefactors condemned to this service as a 
 punishment. The country is unhealthy in the" 
 extreme : — pestilential even to those who sail 
 along the coast, and mortal to the poor wretches 
 who gather the incense, who also suffer from 
 lack of food, which readily cuts them off. 
 
 30. Now at this gulf is a promontory, the 
 greatest in the world, looking towards the east, 
 
 after K a n e is a Bay called Sakhalites, which 
 terminates at Suagros, a promontory which 
 looks eastward, and is the greatest cape in the 
 whole world. There was much difference of 
 opinion among the ancient geographers regarding 
 the position of this Bay, and consequently regard- 
 ing that of Cape Suagros. 
 
 (30) Some would identify the latter with Eas- 
 el-Had, and others on account of the similarity 
 of the name with Cape Saugra or Saukirah 
 [lat. 18° 8' N., long. 56° 3b' E.], where Ptolemy 
 places a city S u a g r o s at a distance of 6 degrees 
 
91 
 
 and called S u a g r o s, at which is a fortress 
 which protects the country, and a harbour, and 
 a magazine to which the frankincense which is 
 collected is brought. Out in the open sea, 
 facing this promontory, and lying between it 
 and the promontory of A r 6 m a t a, which pro- 
 jects from the opposite coast, though nearer to 
 S u a g r o s, is the island going by the name of 
 Dioskorides, which is of great extent, but 
 
 from Kane. But Suagrosis undoubtedly Ras 
 Fartak [lat. 15° 39^ N., long. 62° 15' E.], which is 
 at a distance of 4 degrees from HisnGhorab, 
 or Kane, and which, rising to the height of 
 2,600 feet oa a coast which is all low-lying, is a 
 very conspicuous object, said to be discernible 
 from a distance of 60 miles out at sea. Eighteen 
 miles west from this promontory is a village 
 called Saghar, a name which might probably 
 have suggested to the Greeks that of S u a g r o s. 
 Consistent with this identification is the passage 
 of Pliny (VI. 32) where he speaks of the island 
 Dioscoridis (Sokotra) as distant from 
 S u a g r o s, which he calls the utmost projection 
 of the coast, 2,240 stadia or 280 miles, which is 
 only about 30 miles in excess of the real distance, 
 2,000 stadia. 
 
 Wifch regard to the position of the Bay of 
 Sakhalites, Ptolemy, followed by Marcianus, 
 places it to the East of Suagros. Marines on the 
 other hand, like the Periplus, places it to the west 
 of it. Miiller agrees with Fresnel in regarding 
 Sakhle, mentioned by Ptolemy (YI. vii. 41) as 
 
^2 
 
 desert and very moist, having rivers and cro- 
 codiles and a great many vipers, and lizards of 
 enormous size, of vfhich the flesh serves for food, 
 while the grease is melted down and used as a 
 substitute for oil. This island does not, bow- 
 ever, produce either the grape or com. The 
 population, which is but scanty, inhabits the 
 north side of the island — that part of it which 
 looks towards the mainland (of Arabia). It 
 
 1^ degree East of Makalleh [lat. 14^ 31' N., long 
 49° 7' W.] as the same with Shehr — which is now 
 the name of all that mountainous region extending 
 from the seaport of Makalleh to the bay in which 
 lie the islands of Kury^a Morya. He therefore 
 takes this to be in the Regio Sakhalites, and 
 rejects the opinion of Ptolemy as inconsistent 
 with this determination. With regard to Shehr 
 or Shehar [lat. W 38' N., long. 49° 22' E.] Yule 
 {M. PoZojII, vol. p. 440, note) says : " Sbihr or Shehr 
 still exists on the Arabian Coast as a town and 
 district about 330 miles east of Aden." The name 
 Shehr in some of the oriental geographies in- 
 cludes the whole Coast up to Oman. The hills of 
 the Shehr and Dhafar districts were the great 
 source of produce of the Arabian frankincense. 
 
 The island of Dioskorides (qow Sokotra) 
 is placed by the Periplus nearer to Cape S u a- 
 g r o s than to Cape A r 6 m a t a — although its dis- 
 tance from the former is nearly double the distance 
 from the latter. The name, though in appearance 
 a Greek one, is in reality of Sanskrit origin ; from 
 Dvtpa Sukhdddra, i.e. insula fortunata, ' Island abode 
 
93 
 
 consists of an intermixture of foreigners, Arabs, 
 Indians, and even Greeks, who resort hither for 
 the purposes of commerce. The island pro- 
 duces the tortoise, — the genuine, the land, and 
 the white sort : the latter very abundant, and 
 distinguished for the largeness of its shell ; also 
 the mountain sort which is of extraordinary size 
 and has a very thick shell, whereof the under- 
 part cannot be used, being too hard to cut, 
 
 of Bliss.' The accuracy of the statements made 
 regarding it in the Periplus is fully confirmed by 
 the accounts given of it by subsequent writers. 
 Kosmas, who wrote in the 6th century, says that 
 the inhabitants spoke Greek, and that he met with 
 people from it who were on their way to Ethiopia, 
 and that they spoke Greek. " The ecclesiastical 
 historian NikephorosKallistos," says Yule, " seems 
 to allude to the people of Sokotra when he says 
 that among the nations visited by the Missionary 
 Theophilus in the time of Constantius, were ' the 
 Assyrians on the verge of the outer Ocean,' 
 towards the East . . . whom Alexander the 
 Great, after driving them from Syria, sent thither 
 to settle, and to this day they keep their 
 mother tongue, though all of the blackest, through 
 the power of the sun's rays.' The Arab voyagers 
 of the 9th century say that the island was 
 colonized with Greeks by Alexander the Great, 
 in order to promote the culture of the Sokotrine 
 aloes ; when the other Greeks adopted Christianity 
 these did likewise, and they had continued to 
 retain their profession of it. The colonizing by 
 
94 
 
 while tlie serviceable part is made into money- 
 boxes, tablets, escritoires, and ornamental articles 
 of that description. It yields also the vegetable 
 dye {Kivvd^api) called Indie am (or Dragon's- 
 blood), which is gathered as it distils from 
 trees. 
 
 31. The island is subject to the king of the 
 frankincense country, in the same way as 
 A-z a n i a is subject to Kharibael and the despot 
 of Mopharitis. It used to be visited by 
 some {merchants) from Mouza, and others on 
 the homeward voyage from Limurik^ and 
 Barugaza would occasionally touch at it, import- 
 ing rice, corn, Indian cotton and female- slaves, 
 who, being rare, always commanded a ready 
 market. In exchange for these commodities 
 they would receive as fresh cargo great quan- 
 tities of tortoise-shell. The revenues of the 
 island are at the present day farmed out by its 
 sovereigns, who, however, maintain a garrison 
 in it for the protection of their interests. 
 
 Alexander is probably a fable, but invented to 
 account for facts." {Marco Polo II. 401.) The aloe, 
 it maybe noted, is not mentioned in the Periplus as 
 one of the products of the island. The islanders, 
 though at one time Christians, are now Muham- 
 madans, and subject as of yore to Arabia. The 
 people of the interior are still of distinct 
 race with curly hair, Indian complexion, and 
 regular features. The coast people are mongrels 
 of Arab and mixed descent. Probably in old times 
 
95 
 
 32. Immediately after Suagros follows a 
 gulf deeply indenting the mainland of m a n a, 
 and having a width of GOO stadia. Beyond it 
 are high mountains, rocky and precipitous, and 
 inhabited by men who live in caves. The 
 range extends onward for 500 stadia, and be- 
 yond where it terminates lies an important 
 harbour called M o s k h a, the appointed port to 
 
 civilization and Greek may have been confined 
 to the littoral foreigners. Marco Polo notes that 
 so far back as the 10th century it was one of the 
 stations frequented by the Indian corsairs called 
 B a w a r i j, belonging to Kachh and Gujarat. 
 
 (32) Eeturniug to the mainland the narrative 
 conducts us next to M o s k h a, a seaport trading 
 with Kane, and a wintering place for vessels 
 arriving late in the season from Malabar and the 
 Gulf of Khambat. The distance of this place from 
 Suagros is set down at upwards of 1,100 stadia, 
 600 of which represent the breadth of a bay which 
 begins at the Cape, and is called Oman a 
 A 1-K a m a r. The occurrence of the two names 
 Omana and Moskha in such close connexion led 
 D'Anville to suppose that Moskha is identical 
 with M a s k a t, the capital of O m a n, the country 
 lying at the south-east extremity of Arabia, and 
 hence that Eas-el-Had, beyond which Maskat lies, 
 must be Cape Suagros. This supposition is, how- 
 ever, untenable, since the identification of Moskha 
 with the modern Ausera is complete. For, 
 in the first place, the Bay of Seger, which begins 
 at Cape Fartak, is of exactly the same measure- 
 
96 
 
 wbicli the SaJckah'tik frankincense is forward- 
 ed. It is regularly frequented by a number 
 of ships from Kane; and such ships as come 
 from Limurike and Barugaza too late in the 
 season put into harbour here for the winter, 
 where they dispose of their muslins, corn, and 
 oil to the king's officers, receiving in exchange 
 frankincense, which lies in piles throughout the 
 
 ment across to Cape Thurbot Ali as the Bay of 
 O m a n a, and again the distance from Cape Thur- 
 bot Ali [lat. 16° 38' N., long. 53' 3' E.] to Kas-al- 
 Sair, the A u s a r a of Ptolemy, corresponds almost 
 as exactly to the distance assigned by our author 
 from the same Cape to M o s k h a. Moreover 
 Pliny (Xll. 35) notices that one particular kind 
 of incense bore the name of Ausaritis, and, as the 
 Periplus states that M o s k h a was the great 
 emporium of the incense trade, the identification 
 is satisfactory. 
 
 There was another Moskha on this coast which 
 was also a port. It lay to the west of Suagros, 
 and has been identified with K e s h i n [lat. 15° 21' 
 N. long. 51" 39'' E.]. Our author, though correct in 
 his description of the coast, may perhaps have erred 
 in his nomenclature ; and this is the more likely 
 to have happened as it scarcely admits of doubt 
 that he had no personal knowledge of South 
 Arabia beyond Kane and Cape Suagros. 
 Besides no other author speaks of an Omana 
 so far to westward as the position assigned to 
 the Bay of that name. The tract immediately 
 beyond Moskha or Ausera is low and fertile, 
 
97 
 
 wTiole of Sakhalitis witlioufc a guard to 
 protect it, as if the locality were indebted to 
 sorae divine power for its security. Indeed, it 
 is impossible to procure a cargo, either publicly or 
 hj connivance, without the king's permission. 
 Should one take furtively on board were it but 
 a single grain, his vessel can by no possibility 
 escape from harbour. 
 
 and is called Dofar or Zhafar, after a famous 
 city now destroyed, but whose ruins are still to be 
 traced between Al-hafah and Addahariz. " This 
 Dhafar," says Yule {Marco Polo II. p. 442 note) 
 ** or the bold mountain above it, is supposed to 
 be the S e p h a r of Genesis X. 30." It is certain 
 that the Himyarites had spread their dominion as 
 far eastward as this place. Marco Polo thus de- 
 scribes Dhafar : — " It stands upon the sea, and has 
 a very good haven, so that there is a great traffic 
 of shipping between this and India ; and the mer- 
 chants take hence great numbers of Arab horses 
 to that market, making great profits thereby. . . . 
 Much white incense is produced here, and I will 
 tell you how it grows. The trees are like small 
 fir-trees ; these are notched with a knife in several 
 places, and from these notches the incense is 
 exuded. Sometimes, also, it flows from the tree 
 without any notch, this is by reason of the great 
 heat of the sun there." Miiller would identify 
 M o s k h a with Zhafar, and accounts for the discre- 
 pancy of designation by supposing that our author 
 had confounded the name M a s k a t, which was 
 the great seat of the traffic in frankincense with 
 
98 
 
 33. From the port of M o s k h a onward to 
 A s i k h, a distance of about 1,500 stadia, rans 
 a range of hills pretty close to the shore, and at 
 its termination there are seven islands bearing 
 the name ofZenobios, beyond which again 
 we come to another barbarous district not 
 subject to any power in Arabia, but to Persis. 
 If when sailing by this coast you stand well out 
 
 the name of the greatest city in the district which 
 actually produced it. A similar confusion he 
 thinks transferred the name of Oman to the 
 same part of the country. The climate of the in- 
 cense country is described as being extremely un- 
 healthy, but its unhealthiness seems to have been 
 designedly exaggerated. 
 
 (33) Beyond M o s k h a the coast is mountain- 
 ous as far as A s i k h and the islands of Zeno- 
 bios — a distance excessively estimated at 1,500 
 stadia. The mountains referred to are 5,000 feet in 
 height, and are those now called Subaha. Asikh is 
 readily to be identified with the H a s e k of Arabian 
 geographers. Edrisi (I. p. 54) says : " Thence 
 (from Marbat) to the town of Hasek is a four 
 days' journey and a two days' sail. Before Hasek 
 are the two islands of K h a r t a n and M a r t a n. 
 Above H a s e k is a high mountain named Sous, 
 which commands the sea. It is an inconsiderable 
 town but populous." This place is now in ruins, 
 but has left its name to the promontory on which 
 it stood [Ras Hasek, lat. 17° 23^ N. long. 55° 20^ 
 E. opposite the island of Hasiki]. The islands of 
 Zenobios are mentioned by Ptolemy as seven in 
 
99 
 
 to sea so as to keep a direct course, then at 
 about a distance from the island ofZenobios 
 of 2,000 stadia you arrive at another island, 
 called that of S ar ap i s, lying off shore, say, 120 
 stadia. It is about 200 stadia broad and 600 
 long, possessing three villages inhabited by a 
 savage tribe of I k h t h y o p h a go i, who speak 
 the Arabic language, and whose clothing con- 
 number, and are those called by Edrisi K h a r t a n 
 and Mart an, now known as the Kuriyan 
 M u r i y a n islands. The inhabitants belonged to 
 an Arab tribe which was spread from Hasek to 
 Kas-el-Had, and was called B e i t or Beni J e n a b i, 
 whence the Greek name. M. Polo in the 31st 
 chapter of his travels " discourseth of the two 
 islands called Male and Female," the position of 
 which he vaguely indicates by saying that " when 
 you leave the kingdom ofKesmacoran (Mek- 
 ran) which is on the mainland, you go by sea 
 some 500 miles towards the south, and then you 
 find the 2 islands Male and Female lying about 
 30 miles distant from one another" (See also 
 Marco Polo, vol. II. p. 396 note.) 
 
 Beyond A s i k h is a district inhabited by 
 barbarians, and subject not to Arabia but to Persis.- 
 Then succeeds at a distance of 200 stadia beyond the 
 islands of Zenobiosthe island of Sarapis» 
 (the Ogyris of Pliny) now called Masira [lat. 20° 
 10 to 20° 42' ]Sr., long. 58° 37' to 58° 59' E.] opposite 
 that part of the coast where Oman now begins. 
 The Periplus exaggerates both its breadth and its 
 distance from the continent. It was still in- 
 
100 
 
 sists of a girdle made from the leaves oftlie 
 cocoa-palm. The island produces in great 
 plenty tortoise of excellent quality, and the 
 merchants of Kane accordingly fit out little 
 boats and cargo-ships to trade with it. 
 
 34. If sailing onward you wind round with 
 the adjacent coast to the north, then as you 
 approach the entrance of the Persian Gulf you 
 
 habited by a tribe of fish-eaters in the time of 
 Ebn Batuta^ by whom it was visited. 
 
 On proceeding from S a r a p i s the adjacent 
 coast bends round, and the direction of the voyage 
 changes to north. The great cape which forms 
 the south-eastern extremity of Arabia called R a s- 
 el-Had [lat. 22° 33^ N. long. 59° 48" E.] is here 
 indicated^ but without being named ; Ptolemy 
 calls itKorodamon (VI. vii. 11.) 
 
 (34) Beyond it, and near the entrance to the 
 Persian Gulf, occurs, according to the Periplus, a 
 group of many islands, which lie in a range along 
 the coast over a space of 2,000 stadia, and are 
 called the islands of K a 1 a i o u. Here our author 
 is obviously in error, for there are but three groups 
 of islands on this coast, which are not by any 
 means near the entrance of the Gulf. They lie 
 beyond Maskat [lat. 23^ 38' N. long. 58° 36" E.] and 
 extend for a considerable distance along the 
 Batinah coast. The central group is that of the 
 Deymaniyeh islands (probably the Damnia of 
 Pliny) which are seven in number, and lie nearly 
 opposite Birkeh [lat 23" 42' N. long. 57" 66' E.]. 
 The error, as Miiller suggests, may be accounted 
 
101 
 
 fall in with a group of islands which lie in a 
 range along the coast for 2,000 stadia, and are 
 called the islands of K a 1 a i o u. The inhabit- 
 ants of the adjacent coast are cruel and 
 treacherous, and see imperfectly in the day- 
 time. 
 
 35. Near the last headland of the islands of 
 Kalaiou is the mountain called K a 1 o n 
 
 for by supposing that the tract of country called 
 El Batinah was mistaken for islands. This tract, 
 which is very low and extremely fertile, stretches 
 from Birkeh [lat. 23° 42^ N. long. 57° 55'' E.] 
 onward to Jibba, where high mountains approach 
 the very shore, and run on in an unbroken chain 
 to the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The islands 
 are not mentioned by any other author, for the 
 Calaeou insulaeof Pliny (VI. xxxii. 150) 
 must, to avoid utter confusion, be referred to the 
 coast of the Arabian Gulf. There is a place called 
 E 1 K i 1 h a t, the Akilla of PHny [lat. 22° 40' N. 
 long. 59°24'E.] — but whether this is connected with 
 the Kalaiou islands of the Periplus is uncertain 
 [Conf. Ind. Ant. vol. IV. p. 48. El Kilkat, south 
 of Maskat and close to Sur, was once a great 
 port.] 
 
 (35) Before the mouth of the Persian Gulf is 
 reached occurs aheightcalled Kal o n (Fair Mount) 
 at the last head of the islands of Papias— r«i/ 
 UaTTLov vfjo-tav. This reading has been altered by 
 Fabricius and Schwanbeck to twv KaXdiov 
 vf]<Ta)P. The Fair Mount, according to Vincent, 
 would answer sufficiently to Cape Fillam, if 
 
102 
 
 (Pulclier),^° to which succeeds, at no great 
 distance, the mouth of the Persian Gulf, 
 where there are very many pearl fisheries. 
 On the left of the entrance, towering to a 
 vast height, are the mountains which bear 
 the name of A s a b o i, and directly opposite 
 
 that be high land, and not far from Fillam are 
 the straits. The great cape which Arabia 
 protrudes at these straits towards Karmania is 
 now called Eas Mussendom. it was seen from the 
 opposite coast by the expedition under Nearkhos, 
 to whom it appeared to be a day's sail distant. 
 'The height on that coast is called Semiramis, and 
 also Strongyle from its round shape. Mussen- 
 dom, the ' Asabon akron' of Ptolemy, Vincent says, 
 " is a sort of Lizard Point to the Gulf; for all the 
 Arabian ships take their departure from it with 
 some ceremonies of superstition, imploring a bless- 
 ing on their -voyage, and setting afloat a toy 
 like a vessel rigged and decorated, which if it is 
 dashed to pieces by the rocks is to be accepted by 
 the ocean as an offering for the escape of the vessel.'' 
 [The straits between the island of Mussendom 
 and the mainland are called El Bab, and this is 
 the origin of the name of the Papise islands. — 
 Miles' Jour. B. A, 8oc. N. S. vol. x. p. 168.] 
 
 The actual width of the straits is 40 miles. 
 Pliny gives it at 50, and the Periplus at 75. Cape 
 Mussendom is represented in the Periplus as in 
 
 "° "This" (Mons Pulcber) says Major-General Miles, "is 
 Jebel Lahrim or Shaum, the loftiest and most conspicuous 
 peak on the whole cape (Mussendom), being nearly 7,000 
 feet high."— Jour. R. As. Soc. (N.S.) vol. X. p. 168.— Ed. 
 
10^ 
 
 on the right you see another mountain high and 
 round, called the hill of S e m i r a m i s. The 
 strait which separates them has a width of 
 600 stadia, and through this opening the Persian 
 Gulf pours its vast expanse of waters far up 
 into the interior. At the very head of this gulf 
 
 Ptolemy by the Mountains of the Asabi which 
 are described as tremendous heights, black, grim, 
 and abrupt. They are named from the tribe of 
 B*eni A sab. 
 
 We enter now the Gulf itself, and here the Peri- 
 plus mentions only two particulars : the famous 
 Pearl Fisheries which begin at the straits and 
 extend to Bahrein, and the situation of a regular 
 trading mart called Apologos, which lies at 
 the very head of the Gulf on the Euphrates, and in 
 the vicinity of Spasinou Kharax. This 
 place does not appear to be referred to in any 
 other classical work, but it is frequently 
 mentioned by Arabian writers under the name of 
 Oboleh or Obolegh. As an emporium it took 
 the place of TeredonorDiridotis, just as 
 Basra (below which it was situated) under the 
 second Khaliphate took the place of Oboleh 
 itself. According to Vincent, Oboleh, or a village 
 that represents it, still exists between Basra and the 
 Euphrates. The canal also is called the canal of 
 Oboleh. KharaxPasinou was situated where 
 the Karun (the Eulaeus of the ancients) 
 flows into the Pasitigris, and is represented 
 by the modern trading town Muhammarah. 
 It was founded by Alexander the Great, and after its 
 
104 
 
 there is a regular mart of commerce, called the 
 city of A p o 1 o g o s, situate near P a s i n o u- 
 K h a r a X and tlie river Euphrates. 
 
 36. If you coast along the mouth of the 
 gulf you are conducted by a six days' voyage to 
 another seat of trade belonging to Persis, called 
 m a n a.*^ Barugaza maintains a regular 
 commercial intercourse with both these Persian 
 
 r 
 
 destruction, was rebuilt by Antiokhos Epiphanes, 
 who changed its name from Alexandreia to Antio- 
 kheia. It was afterwards occupied by an Arab 
 Chief called Pasines, or rather Spasines, who 
 gave it the name by which it is best known. Pliny 
 states that the original town was only 10 miles 
 from the sea, bub that in his time the existing 
 place was so much as 120 miles from it. It was 
 the birth-place of two eminent geographers — 
 Dionysius Periegetes and Isidores. 
 
 (36) After this cursory glance at the great 
 gulf, our author returns to the straits, and at once 
 
 '^^ " The city of Omana is Sobar, the ancient capital of 
 Omana, which name, as is well knovra, it then bore, and 
 Pliny is quite right in correctrng former writers who had 
 placed it in Caramania, on which coast there is no good 
 evidence that there was a place of this name. Nearchus 
 does not mention it, and though the author of the PervplUs 
 of the Erythrcean Sea does locate it in Persis, it is pretty 
 evident he never visited the place himself, and he must 
 have mistaken the information he obtained from others- 
 It was this city of Sohar most probably that bore the ap- 
 pellation of Emporium Persarutn, in which, as Philostorgius 
 relates, permission was given to Theophilus, the ambassador 
 of Constantino, to erect a Christian church." The Homna 
 of Pliny may be a repetition of Omana or Sohar, which 
 he had already mentioned. — Miles in Jo^ir. R. As. Soc. 
 (N. S.) vol. X. pp. 164-5.— Ed. 
 
105 
 
 ports, clespatcliing tliitlier large vessels fveiglited 
 with copper, sandalwood, beams for rafters, 
 horn, and logs of sasamina and ebony. Omana 
 imports also frankincense from Kane, while it 
 exports to Arabia a particular species of vessels 
 called rnadara^ which have their planks sewn 
 together. But both from Apologos and 
 Omana there are exported to Barugaza and 
 to Arabia great quantities of pearl, of mean 
 quality however compared with the Indian sort, 
 together with purple, cloth for the natives, 
 wine, dates in great quantity, and gold and 
 slaves. 
 
 37. After leaving the district of Omana 
 
 conducts us to the Eastern shores of the Ery- 
 thraean, where occurs another emporium belonging 
 to Persis, at a distance from the straits of 6 
 courses or 3,000 stadia. This is Omaua. It is 
 mentioned by Pliny (VI. xxxii. 149) who makes it 
 belong to Arabia, and accuses preceding writers 
 for placing it in Karraania. 
 
 The name of Omana has been corrupted in 
 the MSS. of Ptolemy into Nommana, Nombana, 
 Kommana, Kombana, but Marcian has pre- 
 served the correct spelling. From Omana as from 
 Apologos great quantities of pearl of an inferior 
 sort were exported to Arabia and Barugaza. No 
 part however of the produce of India is mentioned 
 as among its exports, although it was the centre 
 of commerce between that country and Arabia. 
 
 (37) The district which succeeds Omana belongs 
 to the P a r s i d a i, a tribe in Gedrosia next neigh- 
 
106 
 
 fc he country of the Parsidai succeeds, which 
 belongs to another government, and the bay 
 which bears the name ofTerabdoi, from the 
 midst of which a cape projects. Here also is 
 a river lar^e enough to permit tlie entrance of 
 ships, with a small mart at its mouth called 
 O r a i a. Behind it in the interior, at the 
 distance of a seven days'journey from the coast, 
 is the city where the king resides, called Kham- 
 bakia. This district, in addition to corn, pro- 
 duces wine, rice, and dates, though in the tract 
 near the sea, only the fragrant gum called 
 bdellium. 
 
 hours to the Arbitaeon the East. They are 
 mentioned by Ptolemy (YI. xx., p. 439) and by 
 Arrian {Indika xxvi.) who calls them P a s i- 
 r e e s, and notes that they had a small town 
 called P a s i r a, distant about 60 stadia from the 
 sea, and a harbour with good anchorage called 
 Bagisara. The Promontory of the Feriplus is 
 also noted and described as projecting far into the 
 sea, and being high and precipitous. It is the Cape 
 now called Arabahor Urmarah. The Bay 
 into which it projects is called Terabdon, a 
 name which is found only in our author. 
 Vincent erroneously identifies this with the P a r a- 
 g on of Ptolemy, It is no doubt the Bay which 
 extends from Cape Guadel to Cape Monze. The 
 river which enters this Bay, at the mouth of which 
 stood the small mart called O r a i a, was probably 
 that which is now called the Akbor. The royal city 
 
107 
 
 38. After this region, where the coast is 
 already deeply indented by gulfs caused by the 
 land advancing with a vast carve from the east, 
 succeeds the seaboard of Skythia, a region 
 which extends to northward. It is very 
 low and flat, and contains the months of the 
 S i n t h o s (Indus), the largest of all the rivers 
 which fall into the Erythraean Sea, and which, 
 indeed, pours into it such a vast body of water 
 that while you are yet far off from the land at 
 its mouth you find the sea turned of a white 
 colour by its waters. 
 
 The sign by which voyagers before sighting 
 
 which lay inland from the sea a seven days' journey 
 was perhaps, as Mannert has conjectured, 
 Kambakia, mentioned by Arrian {Anah. vi. 21) 
 as the capital of the OreitaiorHoritai. 
 
 (38) We now approach the mouths of the 
 Indus which our author calls the S i n t h o s, trans- 
 literating the native name of it — S i n d h u. In 
 his time the wide tract which was watered by this 
 river in the lower part of its course was called 
 Indoskythia. It derived its name from the 
 Skythian tribes (the S ^ k a of Sansk.) who after 
 the overthrow of the Graeco-Baktrian empire 
 gradually passed southward to the coast, where 
 they established themselves about the year 120 
 B. c, occupying all the region between the Indus 
 and the Narmada. They are called by Dionysios 
 Periegetes Notioi Sky thai, the Southern 
 Skythian s. Our author mentions two cities which 
 
108 
 
 land know that it is near is tKcir meeting "witf* 
 serpents floating o^n the water ; but higher up 
 and on the coasts of Persia the first sign of land 
 is seeing them of a diffei'ent kind, called graai. 
 [Ssbusk.graha — an alligator.] The river has seven 
 mouthsj all shallow, marshy and unfit for navi- 
 gation except only the middle stream, on which 
 is B a r b a r i k o n, a trading seaport. Before 
 this town lies a small islet, and behind it in the 
 interior is M i n n a g a r, the metropolis of 
 Skythia, which is governed, however, by Parthian 
 princes, who are perpetually at strife among 
 themselves, expelling each the other. 
 
 39. Ships accordingly anchor near B a r b a- 
 r i k e , but all their cargoes are conveyed by the 
 river up to the king, who resides in the metro- 
 polis. 
 The articles imported into this emporium are — 
 'l/iari(7/x6s 'airXovs iKavas — Clothing, plain and 
 in considerable quantity. 
 
 belonged to them — B arbarikon and Minna- 
 gar; the former of which was an emporium 
 situated near the sea on the middle and only navi- 
 gable branch of the Indus. Ptolemy has a B a r - 
 b a r e i in the Delta, but the position he assigns 
 to it, does not correspond with that of B a r b a r i - 
 k o n. Mi nn a gar was the Skythian metropolis. 
 It lay inland, on or near the banks of the Indus. 
 
 (39) Ships did not go up to it but remained at 
 Barbarikon, their cargoes being conveyed up 
 the river in small boats. In Ptolemy (VII. i. 61) 
 
109 
 
 'l/iano-/ios uoOos 6v noXvs — Clothing, mixed, not 
 much. 
 
 IloXu/iira — Flowered cottons. 
 
 XpvaoXidov — Yellow-stone, topazes. 
 
 KopdWiov — Coral. 
 
 2Tvpa^ — Storax. 
 
 Ai^avos — Frankincense {L6bdn). 
 
 'YaXd (TKevrj — Glass vessels. 
 
 Apyvpcofxara — Silver plate. 
 
 Xprip,a — Specie. 
 
 Olvos ov TToKvs — Wine, but not much. 
 
 The exports are : — 
 
 K6(TTos — Costus, a spice. 
 
 BSeXXa — Bdellium, a gum. 
 
 AvKiov — A yellow dye {Ruzot). 
 
 NdpBos — Spikenard. 
 
 Ai6os KaWa'ivos — Emeralds or green-stones. 
 
 2a7r0ftpos— Sapphires. 
 
 '2T]piKa deppara — Furs from China. 
 
 'oOoviov — Cottons. 
 
 Njjpa ^rjpiKov — Silk thread. 
 
 'ivdiKov piXav — Indigo. 
 
 the form of the name is B i n a g a r a, which is less 
 correct since the word is composed of Min, the 
 Indian name for the Skythians, and nagar, a city. 
 Ritter considers that T h a t h a is its modern re- 
 presentative, since it is called Saminagar by 
 the Jadeja Rajputs who, though settled in Kachh, 
 derive their origin from that city. To this view 
 it is objected that Thatha is not near the position 
 which Ptolemy assigns to his Binagara. Man- 
 nert places it at B a k k a r, D'Anville at M a n- 
 s u r a, and Vincent at Menhabery mentioned 
 
110 
 
 Ships destined for this port put out to sea 
 when the Indian monsoon prevails — that is, 
 about the month of July or Epiphi. The 
 voyage at this season is attended with danger, 
 bat being shorter is more expeditious. 
 
 by Edrisi (I. p. 164) as distant two stations or 60 
 miles from D a b i 1, which again was three stations 
 or 90 miles from the mouth of the Indus, that is 
 it lay at the head of the Delta. Our author informs 
 us that in his time M i n a g a r was ruled by 
 Parthian princes. The Parthians (the Parada of 
 Sanskrit writers) must therefore have subverted 
 a Skythian dynasty which must have been that 
 which (as Benfey has shown) was founded by 
 Yeukaotschin between the years 30 and 20 
 B.C., or about 30 years only after the famous Indian 
 Mrsb called Sdkdbda (the year of the Saka) being 
 that in which Yikramaditya expelled the Sky thians 
 from Indian soil. The statement of the Periplus 
 that Parthian rulers succeeded the Skythian is 
 confirmed by Parthian coins found everywhere 
 in this part of the country. These sovereigns 
 must have been of consequence, or the trade 
 of their country very lucrative to the merchant 
 as appears by the presents necessary to ensure his 
 protection — plate, musical instruments, handsome 
 girls for the Harem, the best wine, plain cloth of 
 high price, and the finest perfumes. The profits 
 of the trade must therefore have been great, but if 
 Pliny's account be true, that every pound laid out 
 in India produced a hundred at Eome, greater 
 exactions than these might easily have been sup- 
 ported. 
 
Ill 
 
 40. After tlie river S i n t h o s is passed we 
 reach another gulf, which cannot be easily seen. 
 It has two divisions, — the Great and the Little 
 by name, — both shoal with violent and continuous 
 eddies extending far out from, the shore, so that 
 before ever land is in sight ships are often 
 grounded on the shoals, or being caught within 
 the eddies are lost. Over this gulf hangs a 
 promontory which, curving from Ei r i n o n first 
 to the east, then to the south, and finally to the 
 ■west, encompasses the gulf called B a r a k e, 
 in the bosom of which lie seven islands. 
 Should a vessel approach the entrance of 
 this gulf, the only chance of escape for those on 
 board is at once to alter their course and stand 
 out to sea, for it is all over with them if they 
 are once fairly within the womb of B a r a k e , 
 
 (40) The first place mentioned after the Indus 
 is the Gulf of Eirinon, a name of which traces 
 remain in the modern appellation the Ran of 
 Kachh. This is no longer covered with water 
 except during the monsoon, when it is flooded by 
 sea water or by rains and inundated rivers. At 
 other seasons it is not even a marsh, for its bed is 
 hard, dry and sandy ; a mere saline waste almost 
 entirely devoid of herbage, and frequented but by 
 one quadruped — the wild ass. Burnes conjectured 
 that its desiccation resulted from an upheaval 
 of the earth caused by one of those earthquakes 
 which are so common in that part of India. 
 The R a n is connected with the Gulf of Kachh, 
 
112 
 
 which surges with vast and mighty billows, 
 and where the sea, tossing in violent commotion, 
 forms eddies and impetuous whirlpools in every 
 direction. The bottom varies, presenting in 
 places sudden shoals, in others being scabrous 
 with jagged rocks, so that when an anchor 
 grounds its cable is either at once cut through, 
 or soon broken by friction at the bottom. The 
 sign by which voyagers know they are approach- 
 ing this bay is their seeing serpents floating 
 about on the water, of extraordinary size and of 
 a black colour, for those met with lower down 
 and in the neighbourhood of Barugaza are of 
 less size, and in colour green and golden. 
 
 41. To the gulf of B a r a k e succeeds that 
 
 which our author calls the Gulf of B a r a k e. 
 His account of it is far from clear. Perhaps, as 
 Miiller suggests, he comprehended under E i r i- 
 n o n the interior portion of the Gulf of Kachh, 
 limiting the Gulf of B a r a k e to the exterior por- 
 tion or entrance to it. This gulf is called that of 
 Kanthi by Ptolemy, who mentions B a r a k e only 
 as an island, [and the south coast of Kachh is 
 still known by the name of Kantha]. The islands 
 of the PeripZws extend westward from the neigh- 
 bourhood of Navanagar to the very entrance 
 of the Gulf. 
 
 (41) To B a r a k e succeeds the Gulf of Baru- 
 gaza (Gulf ofKhambhat) and the sea-board 
 of the region called A r i a k e. The reading of the 
 MS. here rj npos ^Apa^iKrjs x^P^^ is considered cor- 
 rupt. Miiller substitutes 17 rjir^ipos rrjs ^ApiaKrjs 
 
113 
 
 ©fBarugaza and the mainland of A r i a k ©, 
 a district which. forms the frontier of the king- 
 dom of Mombaros and of all India. The 
 interior part of it which borders on Skythia 
 is called A b e r i a, and its sea-board Suras- 
 t r e n e. It is a region which produces abund- 
 antly corn and rice and the oil of sesamum, 
 butter, muslins and the coarser fabrics which are 
 
 X^pa^i though Msmnert and others prefer AaptK^? 
 X^pas', relying on Ptolemy, who places A r i a k e to 
 the south of Larike, and says that Larike 
 comprehends the peninsula (of Gujarat) Barugaza 
 and the parts adjacent. As A r i a k e was how- 
 ever previously mentioned in the Periplus (sec, 
 14) in connexion with Baragaza, and is afterwards 
 mentioned (sec. 54) as trading with Muziris, it 
 must no doubt have been mentioned by the author 
 in its proper place, which is here, [Bhagvanlal 
 Indraji Pandit has shewn reasons however for 
 correcting the readings into AjSapariK^, the Prakrit 
 form of A parantika, an oldname of the western 
 sea board of India. — Ind. Ant. vol. VII., pp. 259» 
 263.] Eegarding the name Larike, Yule has 
 the following note {Travels of M. Polo vol. II., 
 p. 353) : — " L a r-D e s a, the country of Lar," pro- 
 perly Lat-desa, was an early name for the 
 territory of Gujrat and the northern Konkan, 
 embracing Saimur (the modern Ghaul as I believe) 
 Thana, and Bharoch. It appears in Ptolemy in 
 the form Larike. The sea to the west of that coast 
 was in the early Muhammadan times called the sea 
 of Lar, and the language spoken on its shores is 
 
114 
 
 manufactured from Indian cotton. It has also 
 numerous herds of cattle. The natives are men 
 of large stature and coloured black. The metro- 
 polis of the district is M i n n a g a r, from which 
 
 called by M a s'u d i, L a r i. Abulfeda's authority, 
 Ibn Said, speaks of Lar and Gujarat as identical.'* 
 A r i a k e (Aparantika), our author informs us, 
 was the beginning or frontier of India. That part 
 of the interior of Ariake which bordered on Skythia 
 was called A b e r i a or Abiria (in the MS. erro- 
 neously Iberia). The corresponding Indian word 
 is A b h i r a, which designated the district near 
 the mouths of the river. Having been even in 
 very early times a great seat of commerce, some 
 (as Lassen) have been led to think from a certain 
 similarity of the names that this was the p h i r 
 of scripture, a view opposed by Bitter. Abiria is 
 mentioned by Ptolemy, who took it to be not a part 
 of India but of Indoskythia. The sea-board of 
 Ariake was called Sur as trene, and is mentioned 
 by Ptolemy, who says (YTI. i. 55) it was the region 
 about the mouths of the Indus and the Gulf of 
 Kanthi. It answers to the Sanskrit S u r a s h- 
 t r a. Its capital was M i n n a g a r, — a city which, 
 as its name shows, had once belonged to the Min 
 or Skythians. It was different of course from the 
 Minnagar already mentioned as the capital of Indo- 
 Skythia. It was situated to the south of z e n e- 
 (Ujjayini, orUjjain), and on the road which led from 
 that city to the Eiver Narmada, probably near 
 where Indor now stands. It must have been the 
 capital only for a short* time, as Ptolemy informs 
 us (II. i. 63) that Ozene was in his time the 
 
115 
 
 cotton cloth is exported in great quantity to 
 Barugaza. In this part of the country there 
 are preserved even to this very day memorials 
 of the expedition of Alexander, old temples, 
 foundations of camps, and large wells. The 
 extent of this coast, reckoned from B a r b a- 
 r i k o n to the promontory called P a p i k e, near 
 Astakapra, which is opposite Barugaza, 
 is 3,000 stadia. 
 
 capital ofTiashanes [probably the Chashtana 
 of Coins and the Cave Temple inscriptions]. From 
 both places a great variety of merchandise was 
 sent down the Narmada to Barugaza. 
 
 The next place our author mentions is a pro- 
 montory called P a p i k e projecting into the Gulf 
 of Khambat from that part of the peninsula of 
 Gujarat which lies opposite to the Barugaza coast. 
 Its distance from Barbarikon on the middle mouth 
 of the Indus is correctly given at 3,000 stadia. 
 This promontory is said to be near Astakapra, 
 a place which is mentioned also by Ptolemy, and 
 which (Imc?. Ant. vol. Y. p. 314) has been identified by 
 Colonel Yule with Hastakavapra (now H a- 
 t h a b near Bhaunagar), a name which occurs in 
 a copper-plate grant of Dhruvasena I of Yalabhi. 
 With regard to the Greek form of this name 
 Dr. Biihler thinks it is not derived immediately 
 from the Sanskrit, but from an intermediate old 
 Prakrit word Hastakampra, which had been 
 formed by the contraction of the syllables ava 
 to d, and the insertion of a nasal, according to 
 the habits of the Gujar^tis. The loss of the 
 
116 
 
 42. After P a p i k e there is anotlier gulf, 
 exposed to the violence of the waves and 
 running up to the north. Near its mouth is an 
 island called B a i 6 n e s, and at its very head it 
 receives a vast river called the Mais. Those 
 bound for Barugaza sail up this gulf (which 
 has a breadth of about 300 stadia), leaving the 
 island on the left till it is scarcely visible in the 
 horizon, when they shape their course east for 
 tbe mouth of the river that leads to Barugaza. 
 This is called the Namnadios. 
 
 initial, he adds, may be explained by the difficulty 
 which Gujaratis have now and probably had 1,600 
 years ago in pronouncing the spirans in its proper 
 place. The modern name Hathab or Hathap may 
 be a corruption of the shorter Sanskrit form 
 Hastavapra. 
 
 (42) Beyond Pap ike, we are next informed, 
 there is another gulf running northward into the 
 interior of the country. This is not really another 
 Gulf but only the northern portion of the Gulf 
 of Khambat, which the Periplus calls the Gulf of 
 Barugaza. It receives a great river, the Mais, 
 which is easily identified with the Mahi, and 
 contains an island called B a i 6 n e s [the modern 
 Peram], which you leave on the left hand as you 
 cross over from Astakapra to Barugaza. 
 
 We are now conducted to Barugaza, the 
 greatest seat of commerce in Western India, 
 situated on a river called in the MS. of the Periplus 
 the L-amnaios, which is no doubt an erroneous 
 reading f or N a m a d o s, or Namnados or Namna- 
 
117 
 
 43. The i^assage into the gnlf of B a r u- 
 g a z a is narrow and difficult of access to those 
 approaching it from the sea, for they are carried 
 either to the right or to the left, the left being 
 the better passage of the two. On the right, 
 at the very entrance of the gulf, lies a narrow 
 stripe of shoal, rough and beset with rocks. It 
 is called H e r 6 n e, and lies opposite the village 
 of K a m m 6 n i. On the left side right against 
 this is the promontory of P a p i k e, which lies 
 in front ofAstakapra, where it is difficult to 
 anchor, from the strength of the current and 
 because the cables are cut through by the sharp 
 rocks at the bottom. But even if the passage 
 into the gulf is secured the mouth of the 
 Barugaza river is not easy to hit, since the coast 
 is low and there are no certain marks to be seen 
 until you are close upon them. Neither, if it is 
 discovered, is it easy to enter, from the presence 
 of shoals at the mouth of the river. 
 
 dios. This river is the N a r m a d a. It is called 
 by Ptolemy the Namades. 
 
 (43) Barugaza (Bharoch) which was 30 
 miles distant from its mouth, was both difficult and 
 dangerous of access ; for the entrance to the Gulf 
 itself was, on the right, beset with a perilous stripe 
 (tainia) of rocky shoal called H e r 6 n e, and on the 
 left, (which was the safer course,) the violent 
 currents which swept round the promontory of 
 Papike rendered it unsafe to approach the shore or 
 to cast anchor. The shoal of Herone was opposite 
 
118 
 
 44. For this reason native fishermen ap- 
 pointed by Government are stationed with well- 
 manned long boats called trapjpaga and kotumba 
 at the entrance of the river, whence thej go out 
 as far as Surastreneto meet ships, and pilot 
 them up to Barugaza. At the head of the gulf 
 the pilot, immediately on taking charge of a ship, 
 with the help of his own boat's crew, shifts her 
 head to keep her clear of the shoals, and tows 
 her from one fixed station to another, moving 
 with the beginning of the tide, and dropping 
 anchor at certain roadsteads and basins when it 
 ebbs. These basins occur at points where the 
 river is deeper than usual, all the way up to 
 Barugaza, which is 300 stadia distant from 
 the mouth of the river if you sail up the 
 streani to reach it. 
 
 45. India has everywhere a great abundance 
 of rivers, and her seas ebb and flow with tides 
 of extraordinary strength, which increase with 
 
 a village on the mainland called K a m m 6 n i, 
 the Kamane of Ptolemy (VII. i.), who however 
 places it to the north of the river's mouth. Again, 
 it was not only difficult to hit the mouth of 
 the river, but its navigation was endangered by 
 sandbanks and the violence of the tides, especially 
 the high tide called the * Bore,' of which our author 
 gives a description so particular and so vivid as 
 suffices to show that he was describing what he 
 had seen with his own eyes, and seen moreover 
 for the first time. With regard to the name 
 
119 
 
 the moon, both when new and when full, and 
 for three days after each, but fall off in the 
 intermediate space. About Barugaza they 
 are more violent than elsewhere ; so that all of 
 a sudden you see the depths laid bare, and 
 portions of the land turned into sea, and the 
 sea, where ships were sailing but just before, 
 turned without warning into dry land. The 
 rivers, again, on the access of flood tide rushing 
 into their channels with the whole body of the 
 sea, are driven upwards against their natural 
 course for a great number of miles with a force 
 that is irresistible. 
 
 46. This is the reason why ships frequent- 
 ing this emporium are exposed, both in coming 
 and going, to great risk, if handled by those who 
 are unacquainted with the navigation of the 
 gulf or visit it for the first time, since the impe- 
 tuosity of the tide when it becomes full, having 
 nothing to stem or slacken it, is such that 
 
 Barugaza the following passage, which I quote 
 from Dr. Wilson's Indian Castes (vol. II. p. 113) will 
 elucidate its etymology : — " The Bhargavas 
 derive their designation from Bhargava, the 
 adjective form of B h r i g u, the name of one of 
 the ancient Rishis. Their chief habitat is the dis- 
 trict of Bharoch, which must have got its name from 
 a colony of the school of Bhrigu having been early 
 established in this Kshetra, probably granted to 
 them by some conqueror of the district. In the 
 name Barugaza given to it by Ptolemy, we have 
 
120 
 
 anchors cannot hold against it. Large vessels, 
 moreover, if caught in it are driven athwart from 
 their course by the rapidity of the current till 
 they are stranded on shoals and wrecked, while 
 the smaller craft are capsized, and many that 
 have taken refuge in the side channels, being 
 left dry by the receding tide, turn over on 
 one side, and, if not set erect on props, are 
 filled upon the return of the tide with the very 
 first head of the flood, and sunk. But at new 
 moons, especially when they occur in conjunction 
 with a night tide, the flood sets in with such 
 extraordinary violence that on its beginning to 
 advance, even though the sea be calm, its roar is 
 heard by those living near the river's mouth, 
 sounding like the tumult of battle heard far ofi", 
 and soon after the sea with its hissing waves 
 bursts over the bare shoals. 
 
 47. Inland from Barugaza the country is 
 inhabited by numerous races — the A r a t r i o i, 
 
 a Greek corruption of Bhrigukshetra (the territory 
 oE Bhrigu) or Bhrigukachha (the tongueland of 
 Bhrigu)." Speaking of the Bhargavas Dr. Drum- 
 mond, in his Grammatical Illustrations, says : — 
 " These Brahmans are indeed poor and ignorant. 
 Many of them, and other illiterate Gujaratis, 
 would, in attempting to articulate Bhrigushetra, 
 lose the half in coalesence, and call it Bargacha, 
 whence the Greeks, having no CJi, wrote it Baru- 
 gaza." 
 
 (47) The account of the ' bore' is followed by an 
 
121 
 
 and the A r a k h 6 s i o i, and the Gandaraioi, 
 and the people of P r o k 1 a i s, in which is 
 Boukephalos Alexandreia. Beyond 
 these are the Baktrianoi, a most warlike 
 race, governed by their own independent sover- 
 eign. It was from these parts Alexander issued 
 to invade India when he marched as far as the 
 Ganges, without, however, attacking Limurike 
 and the southern parts of the country. Hence 
 up to the present day old drachmai bearing the 
 
 enumeration of the countries around and beyond 
 Barugaza with which it had commercial relations. 
 Inland are the Aratrioi, Arakhosioi, 
 Gandarioi and the people of Proklais, a 
 province wherein is Boukephalos Alexandreia, 
 beyond which is the Baktrian nation. It has 
 been thought by some that by the Aratrioi are 
 meant the Arii, by others that they were the 
 Arastrds of Sanskrit called Ai'atti in the 
 Prakrit, so that the A r a t r i o i of the Penf/Zits 
 hold an intermediate place between the Sanskrit and 
 Prakrit form of the name. Miiller however says 
 " if you want a people known to the Greeks and 
 Romans as familiarly as the well-known names 
 of the Arakhosii, Gandarii, Peukelitae, you may 
 conjecture that the proper reading is APArrGN in- 
 stead of APATPIQN. It is an error of course on the 
 part of our author when he places Boukephalos 
 (a city built by Alexander on the banks of the 
 Hydaspes, where he defeated Poros), in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Proklais, that is Pekhely in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Peshawar. He makes a still more 
 P 
 
122 
 
 Greek mscripfcions- of Apollodotos and 
 Menander are current in Barugaza. 
 
 48. In the same region eastward is a city 
 called z ^ n e , formerly the capital wherein 
 the king resided. From it there is brought 
 down to Barugaza every commodity for the 
 supply of the country and for export to our 
 cwn markets — onyx-stones, porcelain, fine mus- 
 lins, mallow-coloured muslins, and no small 
 quantity of ordinary cottons. At the same time 
 there is brought down to it from the upper 
 country by way of P r o k 1 a i s, for transmis- 
 sion to the coast, Kattybourine, Patropapigic, 
 and Kabalitic spikenard, and another kind 
 which reaches it by way of the adjacent province 
 of Skythia ; also kostus and bdellium. 
 
 49. The imports of Barugaza are — 
 Olvos TtporjyovfievaS 'ItaXtKos — Wine, principally 
 
 Italian. 
 
 Kai AaoStKrjvos Kol 'ApajSi/cos — Laodikean wine 
 and Arabian. 
 
 XoKkos Koi Ka(T(TLTepop Koi fi6\v^8os — Brass or 
 Copper and Tin and Lead. 
 
 KopdWiov Kal xp^o-6\l0ov — Coral and Gold-stono 
 or Yellow-stone. 
 
 surprising error when he states that Alexander 
 penetrated to the Ganges. 
 
 (48) The next place mentioned in the enu- 
 meration is O z e n e (Ujjain), which, receiving 
 nard through Proklais from the distant regions 
 where it was produced, passed it on to the 
 coast for export to the AVestern World. This 
 
123 
 
 llxaTKTfxos un\ovi Kal v6do9 navTalos — Cloth, plain 
 and mixed, of all sorts. 
 
 UoKvixirai ^^vai irrixvaiai — Variegated sashes half 
 a yard wide. 
 
 "Srvpa^— Storax. 
 
 MeXiXcoTov — Sweet clover, melilot. 
 
 "YaXo? dpyfj — White glass. 
 
 ^avbapuKT] — Gum Sandarach. 
 
 'SripfiL — (Stibium) Tincture for the eyes, — S^lrmd. 
 
 Arjvdpiov xpiJ<^ov Kal dpyvpovv — Gold and Silver 
 specie, yielding a profit when exchanged for native 
 money. 
 
 Mu^oi' ov ^apvTipov ouSe noXi) — Perfumes or un- 
 guents, neither costly nor in great quantity. 
 
 In those times, moreover, there were imported, 
 (is presents to the king, costly silver vases, in- 
 struments of music, handsome young women for 
 concubinage, superior wine, apparel, plain but 
 costly, and the choicest unguents. The exports 
 from this part of the country are — 
 
 NdpSos, Koa-Tos, jSbeXXa, iXecfias — Spikenard, cos- 
 tus, bdellium, ivory. 
 
 ^Ouvxf-VT} XiBla Kal p,ovppivT] — Onyx-stones and 
 porcelain. 
 
 AvKiov — Ruzot, Box-thorn. 
 
 aromatic was a product of three districts, whence 
 its varieties were called respectively the Katty- 
 bourine, the Patropapigic and the Kaholiiic. What 
 places were indicated by the first two names 
 cannot be ascertained, but the last points un- 
 doubtedly to the region round Kabul, since 
 its inhabitants are called by Ptolemy Kabolitai, 
 and Edrisi uses the term Myrobalmos Kabolinos 
 
124 
 
 ^OBouiov navToluv — Cottons of all sorts. 
 
 'SrjpiKov — Silk. 
 
 MoXoxivov — Mallow-coloured cottons. 
 
 'Nrjixa — Silk thread. 
 
 Uenepi. fiaKpov — Long pepper and other articles 
 supplied from the neighbouring ports. 
 
 The proper season to set sail for Barugaza 
 from Egypt is the month of July, or Epiphi. 
 
 50. From B a r u g a z a the coast immediate- 
 ly adjoining stretches from the north directly 
 to the south, and the country is therefore called 
 Dakhinabades, because Dakhan in the 
 language of the natives signifies south. Of this 
 country that part which lies inland towards the 
 east comprises a great space of desert country, 
 and large mountains abounding with all kinds 
 of wild animals, leopards, tigers, elephants, huge 
 snakes, hyenas, and baboons of many different 
 sorts, and is inhabited right across to the Ganges 
 by many and extremely populous nations. 
 
 for the * myrobolans of Kabul.' Nard, as Edrisi also 
 observes, has its proper soil in Thibet. 
 
 (50) Barugaza had at the same time com- 
 mercial relations with the Dekhan also. This part 
 of India our author calls Dakhinabades, trans- 
 literating the word Dakshinapath a — (the 
 Dakshina, or the South Country). *' Here," says 
 Vincent, " the author of the Peri;plus gives the true 
 direction of this western coast of the Peninsula, 
 and states in direct terms its tendency to the 
 South, while Ptolemy stretches out the whole 
 angle to a straight line, and places the Gulf of 
 
51. Among the marts in this South Country 
 there are two of more particular importance — 
 P a i t h a n a, which lies south from Barugaza, 
 a distance of twenty days, and T a g a r a, ten 
 days east of Paithana, the greatest city in the 
 country. Their commodities are carried down 
 on wagons to Barugaza along roads of extreme 
 difficulty, — that is, from Paithana a great 
 
 Cambay almost in the same latitude as Cape 
 Comorin." 
 
 (51) In the interior of the Dekhan, the Periplus 
 places two great seats of commerce, Paithana, 
 20 days' journey to the south of Barugaza, and 
 T a g a r a, 10 days' journey eastward from Pai- 
 thana. Paithana, which appears in Ptolemy as 
 Baithana, may be identified with Paithana. 
 T a g a r a is more puzzling. Wilford, Vincent, 
 Mannert, Ritter and others identify it with D e v a- 
 g i r i or Deogarh, near Elura, about 8 miles from 
 Aurangabad. The name of a place called Tagara- 
 pura occurs in a copper grant of land which was 
 found in the island of Salsette. There is however 
 nothing to show that this was a name of Devagiri. 
 Besides, if Paithana be correctly identified, Tagara 
 cannot be Devagiri unless the distances and direc- 
 tions are very erroneously given in the Periplus. 
 This is not improbable, and Tagara may therefore 
 be J u n n a r [i.e. Jftna-nagar = the old city), which 
 from its position must always have been an em- 
 porium, and its Buddha caves belong to about 
 B. c. 100 to A.D. 150 (see ArchcEolog. Surv. of West. 
 India, vol. III., and Elphinstone's History of 
 India, p. 223). 
 
126 
 
 quantity of onyx-stone, and from T a g a r a 
 ordinary cottons in abundance, many sorts of 
 muslins, mallow-coloured cottons, and other 
 articles of local production brought into it from 
 the parts along the coast. The length of the 
 entire voyage as far as Limurikeis 700 
 stadia, and to reach Aigialos you must sail 
 very many stadia further. 
 
 Our author introduces us next to another divi- 
 sion of India, that called Limurike, which 
 begins, as he informs us, at a distance of 7,000 stadia 
 (or nearly 900 miles) beyond Barugaza. This 
 estimate is wide of the mark, being in fact about 
 the distance between Barugaza and the southern 
 or remote extremity of Limurike. In the Indian 
 segment of the Roman maps called from their dis- 
 coverer, the Peutiiiger Tables, the portion of India 
 to which this name is applied is called D a m i- 
 rike. We can scarcely err, says Dr. Caldwell 
 {Dravid. Gram. Intr. page 14), in identifying this 
 name with the Tamil country. If so, the earliest 
 appearance of the name Tamil in any foreign 
 documents will be found also to be most perfectly 
 in accordance with the native Tamil mode of 
 spelling the name. D a m i r i k e evidently means 
 Damir-ike ... In another place in the same map 
 a district is called Scytia Dymirice; and it 
 appears to have been this word which by a mis- 
 take of A for A Ptolemy wrote AvfiipiKr}. The D 
 retains its place however in the Cosmography of 
 the anonymous geographer of Ravenna, who re- 
 peatedly mentions D i m i r i c a as one of the three 
 divisions of India and the one furthest to the East. 
 
127 
 
 62. The local marts whicli occur in order 
 along the coast after Barugaza are A k a- 
 barou, Souppara, Kalliena, a city which 
 was raised to the rank of a regular mart in the 
 times of the elder Saraganes, but after 
 
 He shows also that the Tamil country must 
 have been meant by the name by mentioning 
 M o d u r a as one of the cities it contained. 
 
 (52) Reverting to Barugaza our author next 
 enumerates the- less important emporia having 
 merely a local trade which intervenes between it 
 and D i m u r i k e. These are first Akabarou, 
 Souppara, and Kalliena — followed by 
 Semulla, Mandagora, Palaipatmai, 
 Meligeizara, Buzantion, Toperon, and 
 Turanosboa s, — beyond which occurs a succes- 
 sion of islands, some of which give shelter to 
 pirates, and of which the last is called L e u k e or 
 White Island. The actual distance from Barugaza 
 to Naoura, the first port of Dimurike, is 4,500 
 stadia. 
 
 To take these emporia in detail. Akabarou 
 cannot be identified. The reading is probably cor- 
 rupt. Between the mouths of the Namados and 
 those of the Goaris, Ptolemy interposes Nousaripa, 
 Poulipoula, Ariake Sadinon, and Soupara. N a u- 
 saripais Nausari, about 18 miles to the 
 south of Surat, and Soupara is Supara near 
 Yasai. Benfey, who takes it to be the name of a 
 region and not of a city, regards it as the p h i r 
 of the Bible — called in the Septuagint 2tri0r;pa. 
 S 6 p h i r, it may be added, is the Coptic name for 
 India. Kalliena is now Kalyana near 
 
128- 
 
 Sandanes became its master its tracle waa 
 put under tlie severest restrictions ; for if Greek 
 vessels, even by accident, enter its ports, a guard 
 is put on board and they are taken to Barugaza. 
 53. After Kalliena other local marts oc- 
 
 Bombay [which must have been an important 
 place at an early date. It is named in the 
 Kanheri Bauddha Cave Inscriptions]. It is 
 mentioned by Kosmas (p. 337), who states that 
 it produced copper and sesamum and other 
 kinds of logs, and cloth for wearing apparel. 
 The name Sandanes, that of the Prince who 
 sent Greek ships which happened to put into its 
 port under guard to Barugaza, is thought by 
 Benfey to be a territorial title which indicated 
 that he ruled over Ariake of the Sandineis. 
 [But the elder " Saraganes" probably indicates 
 one of the great Satakarni or Andhrabhritya 
 dynasty.] Ptolemy does not mention Kalliena, 
 though he supplies the name of a place omitted 
 in the Periplus, namely D o u n g a (YII. i. 6) 
 near the mouth of the river B e n d a. 
 
 (53) S e m u 1 1 a (in Ptolemy T i m o u 1 a and 
 S i m u 1 1 aj is identified by Yule with C h e n v a 1 
 or Chaui, a seaport 23 miles south of Bombay ; 
 [but Bhagvanlal Indraji suggests Chimtila in 
 Trombay island at the head of the Bombay 
 harbour ; and this is curiously supported by one 
 of the Kanheri inscriptions in which C h e m A 1 a 
 is mentioned, apparently as a large city, like 
 Supara and Kalyana, in the neighbourhood]. 
 After Simulla Ptolemy mentions Hippo- 
 k o u r a [possibly, as suggested by the same. 
 
129 
 
 cur — S emulla, Mandagora, Palaipat- 
 mai, Melizeigara, Bazantion, Toparon, 
 and Turannosboas. You come next to the 
 islands called Sesekreienai and the island 
 
 a partial translation of Grhodabandar on 
 the Choda nadi in the Thana strait] and B a 1 1 i- 
 p a t n a as places still in Ariake, but M a n d a- 
 gara Buzanteion, Khersonesos, Ar- 
 m a g a r a, the mouths of the river Nanagouna, 
 -and an emporium called N i t r a, as belonging to 
 the Pirate Coast which extended to Dimurike, of 
 which T u n d i s, he says, is the first city. Ptolemy 
 therefore agrees with our author in assigning the 
 Pirate Coast to the tract of country between 
 Bombay and Goa. This coast continued to be 
 infested with pirates till so late a period as the 
 year 1765, when they were finally exterminated by 
 the British arms. M "and a gar a and Palaipat- 
 m a may have corresponded pretty nearly in situa- 
 tion with the towns of Rajapur and Bankut. Yule 
 places them respectively at Bankut and Debal. 
 Melizeigara (Milizeguris or Milizigeris of 
 Ttolemy, Yll.i. 95), Yincent identifies with Jaygadh 
 or Side Jaygadh. The same place appears in Pliny 
 as Sigerus (YI. xxvi. 100). Buzantium may be 
 referredtoabout YijayadrugorEsvantgadh,T o p a- 
 r o n may be a corrupt reading for T o g a r o n, 
 and may perhaps therefore be Devagadh which 
 lies a little beyond Yijayadrug. Turannosboas 
 is not mentioned elsewhere, but it may have been, 
 as Yule suggests, the Banda or Tirakal river. 
 Miiller placed it at Achare. The first island on 
 this part of the coast is Sindhudrug near Malwan, 
 
 2 
 
130 
 
 of the Aigidioi and that of the Kaineitai, 
 near what is called the Khersonesos, places 
 in which are pirates, and after this the island 
 L e u k e (or ' the White') . Then follow N a o n r a 
 
 to which succeeds a group called the Burnt Islands, 
 among which the Yingorla rocks are conspicuous. 
 These are no doubt the Heptanesiaof 
 Ptolemy (VII. i. 95), and probably the S e s i - 
 krienai of the Peripliis. The island Aigidion 
 called that of the Aigidii may be placed at Goa, 
 [but Yule suggests Angediva south of Sadasiva- 
 gadh, in lat. 14° 45'' N., which is better] . Kaineiton 
 may be the island of St. George. 
 
 We come next to IS" a o u r a in Dimurike. This 
 is now Honavar, written otherwise Onore, 
 situated on the estuary of a broad river, the 
 Saravati, on which are tbe falls of GIrsappa, 
 one of the most magnificent and stupendous 
 cataracts in the world. If the N i t r a of Ptolemy 
 (VII. i. 7) and the N i t r i a of Pliny be the same as 
 N a o u r a, then these authors extend the pirate 
 coast a little fuirfcher south than the Ferijplus does. 
 But if they do not, and therefore agree in their 
 views as to where Dimurike begins, the IST i t r a 
 may be placed, Miiller thinks, at Mirjan or Komta, 
 which is not far north from Honavar. [Yule 
 places it at Mangalur.] Miiller regards the first 
 supposition however as the more probable, and 
 quotes at length a passage from Pliny (VI. xxvi. 
 104) referring thereto, which must have been ex- 
 cerpted from some Periplus like our author's, but 
 not from it as some have thought. " To those 
 bound for India it is most convenient to depart 
 
131 
 
 and T u n d I s , the first marts ofLimurike, 
 and after these Mouziris and Nelkunda, 
 the seats of Government. 
 
 54. ,To the kingdom under the sway of 
 
 from Okelis. They sail thence with the wind 
 Hipalus in 40 days to the first emporium of India, 
 Muziris, which is not a desirable place to arrive 
 at on account of pirates infesting the neighbour- 
 hood, who hold a place called E" i t r i a s, while it is 
 not well supplied with merchandize. Besides, 
 the station for ships is at a great distance from 
 the shore, and cargoes have both to be landed and 
 to be shipped by means of little boats. There 
 reigned there when I wrote this a e 1 o b o- 
 t h r a s. Another port belonging to the nation 
 is more convenient, Neacyndon, which is 
 called Be care {sic. codd., Barace, Harduin and 
 Sillig). There reigned Pandion in an inland 
 town far distant from the emporium called M o- 
 d u r a. The region, however, from which they 
 convey pepper to Becare in boats formed from 
 single logs isCottonar a." 
 
 (54) With regard to the names in this extract 
 which occur also in the Periplus the following 
 passages quoted from Dr. Caldwell's Dravidian 
 Grammar will throw much light. He says (Introd. 
 p^ 97^ . — « Muziris appears to be the M u y i r i 
 of Muyiri-kotta. Tyndis is Tundi, and the 
 Kynda, of Nelkynda, or as Ptolemy has it, Mel- 
 kynda, i. e. probably Western kingdom, seems to 
 be K a n n e 1 1 r i, the southern boundary of Kerala 
 proper. One MS. of Pliny writes the second part 
 of this word not Cyndon but Canidon. The first 
 
132 
 
 K e p r o b t r a s°*^ T u n d i s is subject, a village 
 of great note situate near the sea. Mouziris, 
 which pertains to the same realm, is a city 
 at the height of prosperity, frequented as it 
 
 of these places was identified by Dr. Gundert, for 
 the remaining two we are indebted to Dr. Burnell. 
 
 " Cottonara, Pliny ; Kottonarike, Peri'plus, the 
 district where the best pepper was produced. It 
 is singular that this district was not mentioned 
 by Ptolemy. Cottonara was evidently the 
 name of the district. KorrovapiKov the name of the 
 pepper for which the district was famous. Dr. 
 Buchanan identifies Cottonara with K a d a 1 1 a- 
 n a d u, the name of a district in the Calicut country 
 celebrated for its pepper. Dr. Burnell identifies it 
 with K o 1 a 1 1 a-n a d u, the district about Telli- 
 cherry which he says is the pepper district. 
 Kadatta in Malayalam means ' transport, convey- 
 ance,' Nadu, Tam. — Mai., means a district." 
 
 " The prince called Kerobothros by Ptolemy (VII. 
 i. 86) is called Keprobotros by the author of the 
 Periplus. The insertion of tt is clearly an error, 
 but more likely to be the error of a copyist than 
 that of the author, who himself had visited the 
 territories of the prince in question. He is called 
 Caelobothras in Pliny's text, but one of the MSS. 
 gives it more correctly as Celobotras. The name 
 in Sanskrit, and in full is ' Keralaputra,' but both 
 k6ra and AreZaareDravidian abbreviations of Mrald. 
 They are Malayalam however, not Tamil abbrevia- 
 tions, and the district over which Keralaputra ruled 
 is that in which the Malayalam language is now 
 
 =0 j^(j. ^„^. ^oi. I. pp. 309-310. 
 
133 
 
 is by ships from A r i a k e and Greek shi^a frorti 
 Egypt. It lies near a river at a distance from 
 Tundis of 500 stadia, whether this is measured 
 from river to river or by the length of the sea 
 
 spoken" (p. 95). IFrom Ptolemy we learn that the 
 capital of this prince was K a r o u r a, which has 
 been " identified with K a r li r, an important town 
 in the Koimbatur district originally included in the 
 Chera kingdom. Kar^r means the black town . . 
 Ptolemy's word K a r o ii r a represents the Tamil 
 name of the place with perfect accuracy." Nel- 
 kunda, our author informs us, was not subject to 
 this prince but to another called P an d i on. This 
 name, says Dr. Caldwell, " is of Sanskrit origin, 
 and P a n d SB, the form which Pliny, after Megas- 
 thenes, gives in his list of the Indian nations, 
 comes very near the Sanskrit. The more recent 
 local information of Pliny himself, as well as the 
 notices of Ptolemy and the Periplus, supply us with 
 the Dravidian form of the word. The Tamil sign 
 of the masc. sing, is an, and Tamil inserts i eupho- 
 nically after nd, consequently Pandion, and still 
 better the plural form of the word Pandiones, 
 faithfully represents the Tamil masc. sing. Pdn- 
 diyan.'' In another passage the same scholar says : 
 " The Sanskrit Pandya is written in Tamil Pandiya, 
 but the more completely tamilized form Pandi 
 is still more commonly used all over southern 
 India. I derive Pandi, as native scholars always 
 derive the word, from the Sanskrit Paridu, the 
 name of the father of the Pandava brothers." 
 The capital of this prince, as Phny has stated, was 
 M o d u r a, which is the Sanskrit Mathura pro- 
 
134 
 
 voyage, and it is 20 stadia distant from the 
 month of its own river. The distance of N e 1- 
 k u n d a from M o u z i r i s is also nearly 500 
 stadia, whether measured from river to river or 
 
 nounced in the Tamil manner. The corresponding 
 city in Northern India, Mathura, is written by the 
 Greeks Methora. 
 
 Nelkunda is mentioned by various authors un- 
 der varying forms of the name. As has been already 
 stated, it is Melkunda in Ptolemy, who places it in 
 the country of the Aii. In the Peutingerian Table 
 it is Nincylda, and in the Geographer of Eavenna, 
 Nilcinna. At the mouth of the river on which 
 it stands was its shipping port B a k a r e or Becare, 
 according to Miiller now represented by M a r k a r i 
 (lat. 12° N.) Yule conjectures that it must have 
 been between Kanetti and Kolum in Travancore. 
 Eegarding the trade of this place we may quote a 
 remark from Yincent. " We find," he says, " that 
 throughout the whole which the Periflus mentions 
 of India we have a catalogue of the exports and 
 imports only at the two ports of Barugaza and 
 Nelcynda, and there seems to be a distinction fixed 
 between the articles appropriate to each. Fine 
 muslins and ordinary cottons are the principal 
 commodities of the first; tortoise shell, precious 
 stones, silk, and above all pepper, seem to have been 
 procurable only at the latter. This pepper is said 
 to be brought to this port from Cottonara, famous 
 to this hour for producing the best pepper in the 
 world except that of Sumatra, The pre-eminence 
 of these two ports will account for the little that 
 is said of the others by the author, and why he has 
 
135 
 
 by the sea voyage, but it belongs to a different 
 kingdom, that of Pandion. It likewise is 
 situate near a river and at about a distance 
 from the sea of 120 stadia. 
 
 55. At the very mouth of this river lies 
 
 left us so few characters by which we may dis- 
 tinguish one from another." 
 
 Our author on concluding his account of Nel- 
 kunda interrupts his narrative to relate the inci- 
 dents of the important discovery of the monsoon 
 made by that Columbus of antiquity Hippalus. 
 This account, Yincent remarks, naturally excites a 
 curiosity in the mind to enquire how it should 
 happen that the monsoon should have been noticed, 
 by Nearkhos, and that from the time of his voyage 
 for 300 years no one should have attempted a 
 direct course till Hippalus ventured to commit 
 himself to the ocean. He is of opinion that there 
 was a direct passage by the monsoons both in 
 going to and coming from India in use among 
 the Arabians before the Greeks adopted it, and 
 that Hippalus frequenting these seas as a pilot or 
 merchant, had met with Indian or Arabian traders 
 who made their voyages in a more compendious 
 manner than the Greeks, and that he collected 
 information from them which he had both the pru- 
 dence and courage to adopt, just as Columbus, while 
 owing much to his own nautical experience and 
 fortitude was still under obligations to the Por- 
 tuguese, who had been resolving the great problems 
 in the art of navigation for almost a century pre- 
 vious to his expedition. 
 
 (55) Nclkunda appears to have been the 
 
136 
 
 another village, B a k a r e, to which the ships 
 despatched from Nelkunda come down em^ty 
 and ride at anchor off shore while taking in 
 cargo : for the river, it may be noted, has sunken 
 reefs and shallows which make its navigation 
 dij0&cult. The sign by which those who come 
 hither by sea know they are nearing land is 
 their meeting with snakes, which are here of a 
 black colour, not so long as those already men- 
 tioned, like serpents about the head, and with 
 eyes the colour of blood. 
 
 56. The ships which frequent these ports 
 are of a large size, on account of the great 
 •amount and bulkiness of the pepper and betel 
 of which their lading consists. The imports 
 here are principally — 
 
 Xprjfiara nXela-ra — Great quantities of specie. 
 
 XpucrdXi^a — (Topaz ?) Gold-stone, Chrysolite. 
 
 'llxariafjLos anXovs ov ttoXiis — A small assortment 
 of plain cloth. 
 
 TloXv/xira — Flowered robes. 
 
 2rt/A/xi, KopaXXiov — Stibium, a pigment for the 
 eyes, coral. 
 
 "vaXos dpyrj ^"^'^0^ — White glass, copper or 
 brass. 
 
 Kacairepos, p.6Xv^8os — Tin, lead. 
 
 Oivos ov TToXuff, 0)0-61 fie ToaovTov ocTov iv Bapvya^ois 
 — "Wine but not much, but about as much as at 
 Barugaza. 
 
 limit of our author's voyage along the coast of 
 India, for in the sequel of his narrative he defines 
 but vaguely the situation of the places which he 
 
137 
 
 Sai/5apa/c»;— Sandarach (Sindnrd). 
 
 'Apo-ei/tfcoi/— Arsenic (Orpiment), yellow sulphuret 
 of arsenic. 
 
 2iTos oaoi dfiKeaei vols ir^pi to vavKX^piov, 8ia to fx^ 
 Tovs efinopovs avTa xpw^^'- — Corn, only for the use 
 of the ship's company, as the merchants do not 
 sell it. 
 
 The following commodities are brought to it 
 for export: — 
 
 n^nepi fiovoyevms iv ivX totto) tovtwv Ta>v ip.TTopl</iV 
 y^vvu)p.^vov TToKv r^ Xtyofx^vrj KoTTovapiK^ — Pepper in 
 great quantity, produced in only one of these 
 marts, and called the pepper of Kottonara. 
 
 Mapyapirqi iKavos Kai didcfiopos — Pearls in great 
 quantity and of superior quality. 
 
 'EXe'^as — Ivory. 
 
 *066via 2r)piKa — Fine silks. 
 
 NapSos Tf TayyriTiKrj — Spikenard from the Ganges. 
 
 MaXd^aBpov— 'Betel — all brought from countries 
 further east. 
 
 Aidia biacfiavri^ TravToia — Transparent or precious 
 stones of all sorts. 
 
 Abdpas — Diamonds. 
 
 'YaKivdos — Jacinths . 
 
 XcXoitrr} rJT€ Xpvu-ovr]a-LOiTiKr} Koi f] TTcpl Tas vr)<rovi 
 OrfpevofiepT] ra? wpoKetpevat avTrj^ Trj'S Atp.vpiKrjs — Tor- 
 toise- shell from the Golden Island, and another 
 sort which is taken in the islands which lie off the 
 coast of Limurike. 
 
 The proper season to set sail from Egypt for 
 
 notices, while his details are scanty, and sometimes 
 grossly inaccurate. Thus he makes the Malabar 
 Coast extend southwards beyond Cape Comorin 
 
138 
 
 this part of India is abont the month of July — 
 that is, Epiphi. 
 
 57. The whole round of the voyage from 
 Kane and Eudaimon Arabia, which we 
 have just described, used to be performed in 
 small vessels which kept close to shore and 
 followed its windings, but H i p p a 1 o s was the 
 pilot who first, by observing the bearings of the 
 ports and the configuration of the sea, discovered 
 the direct course across the ocean ; whence as, 
 at the season when our own Etesians are 
 blowing, a periodical wind from the ocean like- 
 wise blows in the Indian Sea, this wind, which 
 is the south-west, is, it seems, called in these 
 seas Hippalos [after the name of the pilot who 
 first discovered the passage hy means of it\. 
 From the time of this discovery to the present 
 day, merchants who sail for India either from 
 Kane, or, as others do, from A r 6 m a t a, if 
 Limurike be their destination, must often change 
 their tack, but if they are bound for B a r u- 
 g a z a and S k y t h i a, they are not retarded for 
 more than three days, after which, committing 
 themselves to the monsoon which blows right 
 in the direction of their course, they stand far 
 out to sea, leaving all the gulfs we have men- 
 tioned in the distance. 
 
 as far at least as Kolkhoi (near Tutikorin) on the 
 Coromandel coast, and like many ancient writers, 
 represents Ceylon as stretching westward almost 
 as far as Africa. 
 
139 
 
 68. ^fter Bak are occurs the mountain 
 called Pyrrhos (or the Red) towards the south, 
 near another district of the country called 
 P a r a 1 i a (where the pearl-fisheries are which 
 belong to king Pandion), and a city of the name 
 of K o 1 k h o i. In this tract the first place 
 met with is called B a 1 i t a, which has a good 
 harbour and a village on its shore. Next to 
 this is another place called K o m a r, where is 
 the cape of the same name and a haven. Those 
 who wish to consecrate the closing part of their 
 lives to religion come hither and bathe and 
 engage themselves to celibacy. This is also 
 done by women ; since it is related that the 
 
 (58) The first place mentioned after B a k a r e 
 is P u r r h s, or the Red Mountain, which extends 
 along a district called P a r a 1 i a. ** There are," 
 says Dr. Caldwell (Introd. p. 99), " three Paralias 
 mentioned by the Greeks, two by ^^tolemy . . . 
 one by the author of the Peri-plus. The Paralia 
 mentioned by the latter corresponded to Ptolemy's 
 country of the "Mot, and that of the Kapeot, 
 that is, to South Travancore and South Tinne- 
 velly. It commenced at the Red Cliffs south of 
 Quilon, and included not only Cape Comorin 
 but also KdX;^ofc, where the pearl fishing was car- 
 ried on, which belonged to King Pandion. Dr. 
 Burnell identifies Paralia with Parali, which 
 he states is an old name for Travancore, but I am 
 not quite able to adopt this view." *' Paralia," he 
 adds afterwards, "may possibly have corresponded 
 in meaning, if not in sound, to some native word 
 
140 
 
 goddess (Kumdrt) once on a time resided at the 
 place and bathed. From K o m a r e i (towards the 
 south) the country extends as far as K ol k h o i, 
 where the fishing for pearls is carried on. 
 Condemned criminals are employed in this ser- 
 vice. King Pandion is the owner of the fishery. 
 To Kolkhoi succeeds another coast lying 
 along a gulf having a district in the interior 
 bearing the name ofArgalou. In this single 
 place are obtained the pearls collected near the 
 island ofEpiodoros. From it are exported 
 the muslins called ehargareitides. 
 
 60. Among the marts and anchorages along 
 this shore to which merchants from Limurike 
 
 meaning coast, — viz., Karei." On this coast is a 
 place called B a 1 i t a, which is perhaps the B a m- 
 m a 1 a of Ptolemy (VII. i. 9), which Mannert iden- 
 tifies with Manpalli, a little north of Anjenga. 
 
 (60) We now reach the great promontory called 
 in the PeripUis K o m a r and K o m a r e i. Cape 
 Kumari. ** It has derived its name," says Cald- 
 well, *' from the Sans. Kumdri, a virgin, one of the 
 names of the goddess Durga, the presiding divi- 
 nity of the place, but the shape which this 
 word has taken is, especially in Jeomar, distinc- 
 tively Tamilian." In ordinary Tamil Kumdri 
 becomes Kumari-^ and in the vulgar dialect 
 of the people residing in the neighbourhood of 
 the Cape a virgin is neither Kumari nor Kumari 
 but Kumar pronounced Komar. It is remarkable 
 that this vulgar corruption of the Sanskrit is 
 identical with the name given to the place by the 
 
141 
 
 and the north resort, the most conspicuous are 
 K a m a r a and P o d o u k e and S 6 p a t m a, 
 which occur in the order in which we have 
 named them. In these marts are found those 
 native vessels for coasting voyages which trade 
 as far as Limurike, and another kind called 
 
 author of the Periplus . . . The monthly bathing in 
 honor of the goddess Durga is still continued at 
 Cape Comorin, but is not practised to the same 
 extent as in ancient times . . . Through the con- 
 tinued encroachments of the sea, the harbour the 
 Greek mariners found at Cape Comorin and the 
 fort (^if (fipovpLov is the correct reading for ^pidpiou 
 of the MS.) have completely disappeared ; but a 
 fresh water well remains in the centre of a rock, a 
 little way out at sea. Eegarding K o 1 k h o i, the 
 next place mentioned after Komari, the same 
 authority as we have seen places it {Ind. Ant. vol. 
 VI. p. 80) near Tuticorin. It is mentioned by 
 Ptolemy and in the Pmtinger Tables, where it is 
 called ' Colcis Indorum'. The Gulf of Manaar was 
 called by the Greeks the Colchic Gulf. The Tamiji 
 name of the place Kolkei is almost identical with 
 the Greek. " The place," according to Caldwell, " is 
 now about three miles inland, but there are abund- 
 ant traces of its having once stood on the coast, and 
 I have found the tradition that it was once the seat 
 of the pearl fishery, still surviving amongst its in- 
 habitants. After the sea had retired from KoXxot... 
 a new emporium arose on the coast. This was 
 K a y a 1, ihe Cael of Marco Polo. Kayal in turn 
 became in time too far from the sea . . and Tuti- 
 corin (T il 1 1 r u k u d i) was raised instead by the 
 
142 
 
 sang ar ay made by fastening fcogether large 
 vessels formed eacli of a single timber, and also 
 others called holandiophonta, which are of great 
 bulk and employed for voyages to K h r u s e 
 and the Ganges. These marts import all the 
 commodities which reach Limurike for com- 
 
 Portuguese from the position of a fishing village 
 to that of the most important port on the southern 
 Coromandel coast. The identification of Kolkoi 
 with Kolkei is one of much importance. Being 
 perfectly certain it helps forward other identifica- 
 tions. Kol. in Tamil means ' to slay.' Kei is 
 * hand.' It was the first capital of Pandion. 
 
 The coast beyond K o 1 k h o i, which has an in- 
 land district belonging to it called A r g a 1 o u, is 
 indented by a gulf called by Ptolemy the Argarik — 
 nowPalk Bay. Ptolemy mentions also a promontory 
 called K 6 r u and beyond it a city called A r g e i r o u 
 and an emporium called S a 1 o u r. This Koru 
 of Ptolemy, Caldwell thinks, represents the 
 K 6 1 i s of the geographers who preceded him, 
 and the K o t i of Tamil, and identifies it with 
 " the island promontory of Eamesvarara, the 
 point of land from which there was always the 
 nearest access from Southern India to Ceylon." 
 An island occurs in these parts, called that of 
 Epiodoros, noted for its pearl fishery, on 
 which account Eitter would identify it with 
 the island of Manaar, which Ptolemy, as Mannert 
 thinks, speaks of as Nduiyrjpis (VII. i.95). Miiller 
 thinks, however, it may be compared with Ptole- 
 my's Koru, and so be Eamesvaram. 
 
 This coast has commercial intercourse not only 
 
143 
 
 mercial purposes, absorbing likewise nearly 
 every species of goods brought from Egypt, 
 and most descriptions of all the goods export- 
 ed from Limurike and disposed of on this 
 coast of India. 
 
 61 . Near the region which succeeds, where 
 
 with the Malabar ports, but also with the Ganges 
 jaud the Golden Khersonese. For the trade with 
 the former a species of canoes was used called 
 Sangara. The Malay alam name of these, Caldwell 
 says, is Changddam, in Tula Jangdla, compare 
 Sanskrit Samghddam a raft [Ind. Ant. vol. I. 
 p. 309). The large vessels employed for the 
 Eastern trade were called Kolaiidiophoiita, a name 
 which Caldwell confesses his inability to explain. 
 ' Three cities and ports are named in the order of 
 their occurrence which were of great commercial 
 importance, Kamara, Podouke, and S o p a t- 
 ma. Kamara may perhaps be, as Miiller thinks, 
 the emporium which Ptolemy calls K h a b e r i s, 
 situated at the mouth of the River Khaberos 
 (now, the Kavery), perhaps, as Dr. Burnell sug- 
 gests, the modern KaVeripattam. {Ind. Ant. vol. 
 YII. p. 40). Podouke appears in Ptolemy as 
 Podouke. It is P u d u c h c h e r i, ^. e. ' new 
 town,' now well known as Pondicherry ; so Bohlen, 
 Bitter, and Benfey. [Yule and Lassen place it at 
 Pulikat] . S o p a t m a is not mentioned in 
 Ptolemy, nor can it now be traced. In Sanskrit 
 it transliterates into Su-pattia, L e., fair town. 
 
 (61) The next place noticed is the Island of 
 Ceylon, which is designated Palaisimoun- 
 d o u, with the remark that its former name was 
 
144 
 
 the course of the voyage now bends to the east, 
 there h'es out in the open sea stretching towards 
 the west the island now called P al a i si- 
 mo u n d o u, but by the ancients T a p r o- 
 bane. To cross over to the northern side 
 of it takes a day. In the south part it gradual- 
 ly stretches towards the west till it nearly 
 reaches the opposite coast of A z a n i a. It pro- 
 duces pearl, precious (transparent) stones, 
 muslins, and tortoise-shell. 
 
 62. {Returning to the coast,) not far from the 
 
 Taprobane. This is the Greek transliteration of 
 Tamraparni, the name given by a band of colonists 
 from Magadha to the place where they first 
 landed in Ceylon, and which was afterwards ex- 
 tended to the whole island. It is singular, Dr. 
 Caldwell remarks, that this is also the name of 
 the principal river in Tinnevelly on the opposite 
 coast of India, and he infers that the colony 
 referred to might previously have formed a settle- 
 ment in Tinnevelly at the mouth of the Tamra- 
 parni river — perhaps at Kolkei, the earliest resi- 
 dence of the Pandya kings. The passage in the 
 Periplus which refers to the island is very corrupt. 
 (62) Recurring to the mainland, the narra- 
 tive notices a district called M a s a 1 i a, where 
 great quantities of cotton were manufactured. 
 This is the M a i s 6 1 i a of Ptolemy, the region in 
 which he places the mouths of a river the M a i s 6- 
 1 o s, which Benfey identifies with the Godavari, 
 in opposition to others who would make it the 
 Krishna, which is perhaps Ptolemy's Tuna. The 
 
145 
 
 three marts we have mentioned lies M a s a 1 i a, 
 the seaboard of a country extending far inland. 
 Here immense quantities of fine muslins are 
 manufactured. From Mas alia the course of 
 the voyage lies eastward across a neighbouring 
 bay to Desarene, which has the breed of 
 elephants called Bosare, Leaving Desarene 
 the course is northerly, passing a variety of 
 barbarous tribes, among which are the K ir r h a- 
 d a i, savages whose noses are flattened to the 
 face, and another tribe, that of the Bargusoi, 
 
 name Maisolia is taken from the Sanskrit Maasala, 
 preserved in Machhlipafcana, now Masulipatam, 
 Beyond this, after an intervening gulf running 
 eastward is crossed, another district occurs, Des- 
 arene, noted for its elephants. This is not men- 
 tioned by Ptolemy, but a river with a similar name, 
 the Dosaron, is found in his enumeration of 
 the rivers which occur between the Maisolos and 
 the Ganges. As it is the last in the list it may 
 probably be, as Lassen supposes, the Brahmini. 
 Oar author however places Desarene at a much 
 greater distance from the Ganges, for he peoples 
 the intermediate space with a variety of tribes 
 which Ptolemy relegates to the East of the river. 
 The first of these tribes is that of the Kirradai 
 (Sanskrit, Kiratas), whose features are of the 
 Mongolian type. Next are the Bargusoi, not 
 mentioned by Ptolemy, but perhaps to be identi- 
 fied with the cannibal race he speaks of, the 
 B a r o u s a i thought by Yule to be possibly the 
 inhabitants of the Nikobar islands, and lastly the 
 
146 
 
 as well as the Hippioprosopoior Ma- 
 kroprosopoi (the horse faced or long faced 
 men), who are reported to be cannibals. 
 
 63. After passing these the course turns 
 again to the east, and if you sail with the ocean 
 to your right and the coast far to your left, you 
 reach the Ganges and the extremity of the con- 
 tinent towards the east called K h r u s e (the 
 Golden Khersonese). The river of this region 
 called the Ganges is the largest in India ; 
 it has an annual increase and decrease like the 
 Nile, and there is on it a mart called after it, 
 Gange, through which passes a considerahle 
 traffic consisting of betel, the Gangetic spike- 
 tribe of the long or horse-faced men who were also 
 cannibals. 
 
 (63) When this coast of savages and monsters 
 is left behind, the course lies eastward, and leads 
 to the Ganges, which is the greatest river of 
 India, and adjoins the extremity of the Eastern 
 continent called K h r u s e, or the Golden. Near 
 the river, or, according to Ptolemy, on the third of 
 its mouths stands a great emporium of trade 
 called Gange, exporting Malabathrum and cot- 
 tons and other commodities. Its exact position 
 there are not sufl5cient data to determine. Khruse 
 is not only the name of the last part of the con- 
 tinent, but also of an island lying out in the ocean 
 to eastward, not far from the Ganges. It is the 
 last part of the world which is said to be inhabited. 
 The situation of Khruse is differently defined by 
 different ancient authors. It was not known to 
 
147 
 
 nard, pearl, and the finest of all muslins— those 
 called the Gangetic. In this locality also there 
 is said to be a gold mine and a gold coin called 
 Kaltis. Near this river there is an island of 
 the ocean called K h r u s e (or the Golden), 
 which lies directly under the rising sun and at 
 the extremity of the world towards the east. 
 It produces the finest tortoise-shell that is found 
 throughout the whole of the Erythraean Sea. 
 
 64. Beyond this region, immediately under 
 the north, where the sea terminates outwards, 
 there lies somewhere in T h i n a a very great 
 city, — not on the coast, but in the interior of 
 the country, called Thin a, — from which silk, 
 whether in the raw state or spun into thread 
 
 the Alexandrine geographers. Pliny seems to 
 have preserved the most ancient report circulated 
 regarding it. He says (VI. xxiii. 80) : " Beyond the 
 mouth of the Indus are C h r y s e and A r g y r e 
 abounding in metals as I believe, for I can hardly 
 credit what some have related that the soil consists 
 of gold and silver." Mela (III. 7) assigns to it a very 
 different position, asserting it to be near T a b i s, 
 the last spur of the range of Taurus. He therefore 
 places it where Eratosthenes places T h i n a i, to the 
 north of the Ganges on the confines of the Indian 
 and Skythian oceans. Ptolemy, in whose time the 
 Transgangetic world was better known, refers it 
 to the peninsula of Malacca, the Golden Kher- 
 sonese. 
 
 (64) The last place which the Periplus men- 
 tions is Thinai, an inland city of the T h i n a i or 
 
148 
 
 and woven into cloth, is bronglit by land to 
 Barngaza through Baktria, or by the Ganges to 
 Limurike. To penetrate into Thin a is not 
 an easy undertaking, and but few merchants 
 come from it, and that rarely. Its situation is 
 under the Lesser Bear, and it is said to be con- 
 terminous with the remotest end of Pontos, 
 and that part of the Kaspian Sea which adjoins 
 the Maiotic Lake, along with which it issues by 
 one and the same mouth into the ocean. 
 
 65. On the confines, however, of T h i n a i 
 an annual fair is held, attended by a race of men 
 of squat figure, with their face very broad, but 
 mild in disposition, called the S 6 s a t a i, who in 
 appearance resemble wild animals. They come 
 with their wives and children to this fair, bring- 
 ing heavy loads of goods wrapped up in mats 
 resembling in outward appearance the early 
 leaves of the vine. Their place of assembly is 
 where their own territory borders with that of 
 Thinai ; and here, squatted on the mats on which 
 
 Sinai, having a large commerce in silk and 
 woollen staffs. The ancient writers are not at all 
 agreed as to its position, Colonel Yule thinks it 
 was probably the city described by Marco Polo 
 under the name of Kenjan-fu (that is Si- 
 ngan-fu or Chauggan,) the most celebrated city 
 in Chinese history, and the capital of several of 
 the most potent dynasties. It was the metro- 
 polis of Shi Hwengti of the T'Sin dynasty, pro- 
 perly the first emperor, and whose conquests almost 
 
149 
 
 they cxliibifc their wares, tliey feast for several 
 days, after which they return to their homes in 
 the interior. On observing their retreat the 
 people of Thinai, repairing to the spot, collect the 
 mats on which they had been sitting, and taking 
 out the fibres, which are called loetroi, from the 
 reeds, they put the leaves two and two together, 
 and roll them up into slender balls, through 
 which they pass the fibres extracted from the 
 reeds. Three kinds of Malabathrum are thus 
 made — that of the large ball, that of the middle, 
 and that of the small, according to the size of 
 the leaf of which the balls are formed. Hence 
 there are three kinds of Malabathrum, which 
 after being made up are forwarded to India by 
 the manufacturers. 
 
 Q>Q. All the regions beyond this are unex- 
 plored, being difficult of access by reason of the 
 extreme rigour of the climate and the severe 
 frosts, or perhaps because such is the will of 
 the divine power. 
 
 intersected those of his contemporary Ptoiemy 
 Euergetes— (vide Yule's Travels of Marco Polo, 
 vol. II. p. 21). 
 
THE 
 
 VOYAGE OF NEARKHOS, 
 
 FROM THE INDUS TO THE HEAD OF THE 
 PERSIAN GULF, 
 
 AS DESCRIBED IN THE SECOND PART OF 
 THE INDIKA OF ARRIAN, 
 
 (Feom Chapter XVIII. to the end.) 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM MULLER'S EDITION 
 (As given in the Qeographi Orceci Minorea : Paris, 1856). 
 
 WITH INTRODUGTiON AND NOTES. 
 
THE VOYAGE OF NEARKHOS. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 The coasting voyage from the mouth of the 
 Indus to the head of the Persian Gulf, designed 
 by Alexander the Great, and executed by Nearkhos, 
 may be regarded as the most important achieve- 
 ment of the ancients in navigation. It opened 
 up, as Vincent remarks, a communication between 
 Europe and the most distant countries of Asia, 
 and, at a later period, was the source and origin 
 of the Portuguese discoveries, and consequently 
 the primary cause, however remote, of the British 
 establishments in India. A Journal of this 
 voyage was written by Nearkhos himself, which, 
 though not extant in its original form, has been 
 preserved for us by Arrian, who embodied its 
 contents in his little work on India,^ which he 
 wrote as a sequel to his history of the expedition 
 of Alexander. 
 
 Nearkhos as a writer must be acknowledged to 
 be most scrupulously honest and exact, — for the 
 result of explorations made in modern times 
 along the shores which he passed in the course 
 of his voyage shows that his description of them 
 is accurate even in the most minute particulars. 
 His veracity Was nevertheless oppugned in ancient 
 times by Strabo, who unjustly stigmatises the 
 whole class of the Greek writers upon India as 
 mendacious. " Generally speaking," he says (II. 
 i. 9), " the men who have written upon Indian 
 
 * Written in the Ionic dialect. 
 
154 
 
 affairs were a set of liars. Deimakhos holds tlie 
 first place in the list, Megasthenes comes next, 
 while Onesikritos and Nearkhos, with others of 
 the same class, stammer out a few words of truth/^ 
 {TTapa-^eXkL^ovTes). Strabo, however, in spite of this 
 censure did not hesitate to use Nearkhos as one 
 of his chief authorities for his description of 
 India, and is indebted to him for many facts re- 
 lating to that country, which, however extraordi- 
 nary they might appear to his contemporaries, 
 have been all confirmed by subsequent observa- 
 tion. It is therefore fairly open to doubt whether 
 Strabo was altogether sincere in his ill opinion, 
 seeing it had but little, if any, influence on his prac- 
 tice. We know at all events that he was too much 
 inclined to undervalue any writer who retailed 
 fables, without discriminating whether the Writer 
 set them down as facts, or merely as stories, which 
 he had gathered from hearsay. 
 
 In modern times, the charge of mendacity has 
 been repeated by Hardouin and Huet. There are, 
 however, no more than two passages of the Journal 
 which can be adduced to support this imputa- 
 tion. The first is that in which the excessive 
 breadth of 200 stadia is given to the Indus, and 
 the second that in which it is asserted that at 
 Malana (situated in 25° 17' of N. latitude) the 
 shadows at noon were observed to fall south- 
 ward, and this in the month of November. With 
 regard to the first charge, it may be supposed that 
 the breadth assigned to the Indus was probably 
 that which it was observed to have when in a 
 state of inundation, and with regard to the second, 
 it may be met by the supposition, which is^ quite 
 
155 
 
 admissible, that Arrian may have misapprehended • 
 in some measure the import of the statement as 
 made by Nearkhos, The passage will be after- 
 wards examined,* but in the meantime we may say, 
 with Vincent, that if the difficulty it presents 
 admits of no satisfactory solution, the misstate- 
 ment ought not, as standing alone, to be insisted 
 upon to the invalidation of the whole work. 
 
 But another charge besides that of mendacity 
 has been preferred against the Journal. Dodwell 
 has denied its authenticity. His attack is based 
 on the following passage in Pliny (YT. 23) : — 
 Onesciriti et Nearchi navigatio nee nomina habet 
 mansionum nee spatia. The Journal of Onesicritus 
 and Nearchus has neither the names of the anchorages 
 nor the measure of the distances. From this Dod- 
 well argues that, as the account of the voyage in 
 Arrian contains both the names and the distances, 
 it could not have been a transcript of the Journal 
 of Nearkhos, which according to Pliny gave neither 
 names nor distances. Now, in the first place, it 
 may well be asked, why the authority of Pliny, 
 who is by no means always a careful writer, 
 should be set so high as to override all other 
 testimony, for instance, that of Arrian himself, who 
 expressly states in the outset of his narrative that 
 he intended to give the account of the voyage which 
 had been written by Nearkhos. In the second 
 place, the passage in question is probably corrupt, 
 or if not, it is in direct conflict with the passage 
 which immediately follows it, and contains Pliny's 
 own summary of the voyage in which little else 
 
 * See infra, note 35. 
 
15G 
 
 is given than the names of the anchorages and 
 the distances. Dodwell was aware of the inconsis- 
 tency of the two passages, and endeavoured to 
 explain it away. In this he entirely fails, and 
 there can therefore be no reasonable doubt, that 
 in Arrian's work we have a record of the voyage 
 as authentic as it is veracious. 
 
 Of that record we proceed to give a brief ab- 
 stract, adding a few particulars gathered from other 
 sources. 
 
 The fleet with which Nearkhos accomplished 
 the voyage consisted of war-galleys and transports 
 which had been partly built and partly collected 
 on the banks of the river Hydaspes (now the 
 Jhelam), where Alexander had supplied them with 
 crews by selecting from his troops such men as 
 had a knowledge of seamanship. The fleet thus 
 manned sailed slowly down the Hydaspes, the 
 Akesines, and the Indus, its movements being 
 regulated by those of the army, which, in marching 
 down towards the sea, was engaged in reducing the 
 warlike tribes settled along the banks of these 
 rivers. This downward voyage occupied, according 
 to Strabo, ten months, but it probably did not oc- 
 cupy more than nine. The fleet having at length 
 reached the apex of the Delta formed by the Indus 
 remained in that neighbourhood for some time at 
 a place called Pattala, which has generally been 
 identified with Thatha— a town near to where the 
 western arm of the Indus bifurcates,-— but which 
 Cunningham and others would prefer to identify 
 with Nirankol or Haidarabad.^ From Pattala 
 
 2 Geog. of Anc. India, p. 279 sqq. 
 
157 
 
 Alexander sailed down the western stream of the 
 river, where some of liis ships were damaged and 
 others destroyed by encountering the Bore, a 
 phenomenon as alarming as it was new to the 
 Greeks.* He returned to Pattala, and thence made 
 an excursion down the Eastern stream, which he 
 found less difficult to navigate. On again returning 
 to Pattala he removed his fleet down to a station 
 on the Western branch of the river (at an island 
 called Killouta),^ which was at no great distance 
 from the sea. He then set out on his return to 
 Persia, leaving instructions with Nearkhos to start 
 on the voyage as soon as the calming of the 
 monsoon should render navigation safe. It was 
 the king's intention to march near to the coast, 
 and to collect at convenient stations supplies for 
 the victualling of the fleet, but he found that such 
 a route was impracticable, and he was obliged to 
 lead his army through the inland provinces which 
 lay between India and his destination, Siisa.'' He 
 left Leonnatos, however, behind him in the country 
 of the Oreitai, with instructions to render every 
 assistance in his power to the expedition under 
 Nearkhos when it should reach that part of the 
 coast. 
 
 Nearkhos remained in the harbour at Killouta 
 for about a month after Alexander had departed, 
 and then sailed during a temporary lull in the 
 monsoon, as he was apprehensive of being at- 
 
 * See Arrian's Anab. VI. 19. Kai tovto ovttod irporepov 
 iyPiiBKoai Tols dpcf)' 'AXe^avdpov €K7rXr)^iv fiev Koi avro 
 ov (TfiiKpav napetrx^- 
 
 ^ See Arrian, ib. 
 
 « See id. VI. 23, and Strab. xv. ii 3, 4. 
 
158 
 
 tacked by the natives who had been but imperfectly 
 subjugated, and whose spirit was hostile/ The 
 date on which he set sail is fixed by Vincent as 
 the 1st of October in the year B.C. 326. He pro- 
 ceeded slowly down the river, and anchored first 
 at a place called Stoura, which was only 100 stadia 
 distant from the station they had quitted. Here 
 the fleet remained for two days, when it proceeded 
 to an anchorage only 30 stadia farther down the 
 stream at a place called Kaumana.^ Thence 
 it proceeded to Koreatis (v. 1. Korecstis) — where it 
 again anchored. When once more under weigh its 
 progress was soon arrested by a dangerous rock 
 or bar which obstructed the mouth of the river. ^ 
 After some delay this difficulty was overcome, and 
 the fleet was conducted in safety into the open 
 main, and onward to an island called Krokala 
 (150 stadia distant from the bar), where it re- 
 mained at anchor throughout the day follow- 
 ing its arrival. On leaving this island Nearkhos 
 had Mount Eiros (now Manora) on his right hand, 
 and a low flat island on his left; and this, as 
 Cunningham remarks, is a very accurate de- 
 scription of the entrance to Karachi harbour. 
 The fleet was conducted into this harbour, now 
 so well known as the great emporium of the trade 
 of the Indus, and here, as the monsoon was still 
 blowing with great violence, it remained for four 
 and twenty days. The harbour was so commodious 
 and secure that Nearkhos designated it the Port 
 
 7 Strab. ib. 5. 
 
 * This may perhaps be represented by the raodei'n Khau, 
 the name of one of the western mouths of the Indus. 
 » See infra, p. 176, note 17. 
 
159 
 
 of Alexander. It was well sheltered by an island 
 lying close to its mouth, called by Arrian, Bibakta, 
 but by Pliny, Bibaga, and by Philostratos, Biblos. 
 The expedition took its departure from this 
 station on the 3rd of November. It suffered both 
 from stress of weather and from shortness of pro- 
 visions until it reached Kokala on the coast of 
 the Oreitai, where it took on board the supplies 
 which had been collected for its use by the exer- 
 tions of Leonnatos. Here it remained for about 
 10 days, and by the time of its departure the 
 monsoon had settled in its favour, so that the 
 courses daily accomplished were now of much 
 greater length than formerly. The shores, how- 
 ever, of the Ikhthyophagoi, which succeeded to 
 those of the Oreitai, were so miserably barren 
 and inhospitable that provisions were scarcely pro- 
 curable, and Nearkhos was apprehensive lest the 
 men, famished and despairing, should desert the 
 ships. Their sufferings were not relieved till they 
 approached the straits, which open into the Persian 
 Gulf. When within'the straits, they entered the 
 mouth of the river Anamis (now the Minab or Ib- 
 rahim river), and having landed, formed a dockyard 
 and a camp upon its banks. This place lay in Har- 
 mozeia,a most fertile and beautiful district belong- 
 ing to Karmania. ISTearkhos, having here learned 
 that Alexander was not more than a 5 days' 
 journey from the sea, proceeded into the interior 
 to meet him, and report the safety of the expedi- 
 tion. During his absence the ships were repaired 
 and provisioned, and therefore soon after his 
 return to the camp he gave orders for the re- 
 sumption of the voyage. The time speat at Har- 
 
160 
 
 hiozeia was one and twenty days. The fleet 
 again under weigh coasted the islands lying at 
 the mouth of the gulf, and then having shaped 
 its course towards the mainland, passed the 
 western shores of Karmania and those of Persis, 
 till it arrived at the mouth of the Sitakos (now the 
 Kara-Agach), where it was again repaired and 
 supplied with provisions, remaining for the same 
 number of days as at the Anamis. One of the 
 next stations at which it touched was Mesembria, 
 which appears to have been situated in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the modern Bushire. The coast of 
 Persis was difficult to navigate on account of 
 intricate and oozy channels, and of shoals and 
 breakers which frequently extended far out to 
 sea. The coast which succeeded, that of Sousis 
 (from which Persis is separated by the river 
 Arosis or Oroatis, now the Tab) was equally 
 difficult and dangerous to navigate, and there- 
 fore the fleet no longer crept along the shore, 
 but stood out mors into the open sea. At the 
 head of the gulf Sousis bends to westward, 
 and here are the mouths of the Tigris and 
 Euphrates, which appear in those days to have 
 entered the sea by separate channels. It was 
 the intention of Nearkhos to have sailed up the 
 former river, but he passed its mouth unawares, 
 and continued sailing westward till he reached 
 Diridotis (or Teredon), an emporium in Baby- 
 lonia, situated on the Pallacopas branch of the 
 Euphrates. From Diridotis he retraced his course, 
 and entering the mouth of the Tigris sailed up its 
 stream till he reached the lower end of a great 
 lake (not now existing), through which its current 
 
161 
 
 flowed. At the upper end of this lake was a 
 village called Aginis, said to have been 500 stadia 
 distant from Sousa. Nearkhos did not, as has 
 been erroneously supposed by some, sail up the 
 lake to Aginis, but entered the mouth of a river 
 which flows into its south-eastern extremity, 
 called the Pasitigris or Enlaeus, the Ulai of the 
 Prophet Daniel, now the Kariin. The fleet pro- 
 ceeded up this river, and came to a final anchor 
 in its stream immediately below a bridge, which 
 continued the highway from Persis to Sousa. 
 This bridge, according to Hitter and Eawlinson, 
 crossed the Pasitigris at a point near the 
 modern village of Ahwaz. Here the fleet and the 
 army were happily reunited. Alexander on his 
 arrival embraced Nearkhos with cordial warmth, 
 and rewarded appropriately the splendid services 
 which he had rendered by bringing the expedition 
 safely through so many hardships and perils to its 
 destination. The date on which the fleet anchored 
 at the bridge is fixed ])j Vincent for the 24th of 
 February r.. c. 325, so that the whole voyage was 
 performed in 146 days, or somewhat less than 5 
 months. 
 
162 
 
 The following tables show the names, positions, 
 &c., of the different places which occurred on the 
 route taken by the c<xpedition : — 
 
 From the Station on the Indus to the Port of 
 Alexander (Karachi Harbour). 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 
 Stadia^" 
 
 Lat. N. 
 
 Long.E. 
 
 1. Station at 
 
 Killouta. 
 
 2. Stoura 
 
 3. Kaumana ... 
 4 Koreatis 
 
 Near Lari- 
 Bandar. 
 
 Khau *.".'... 
 
 100 
 30 
 20 
 
 120 
 
 2i° 30' 
 
 24- 53' 
 
 67' 28' 
 
 5. Herma 
 
 6. Krokala 
 
 Bar in the 
 Indus. 
 
 
 7. Mount Eiros. 
 
 8. Is. unnamed. 
 
 9. The Port of 
 
 Alexander. 
 
 Manora. 
 Karachi ... 
 
 66° 57' 
 
 '^^ The Olympic stadium, which was in general use 
 thrcraghout Greece, contained GOO Greek feet =625 Roman 
 feet, or 606j English feet. The Roman mile contained 
 eight stadia, being about half a stadium less than an 
 English mile. Not a few of the measurements given by 
 Arrian are excessive, and it has therefore been conjectured 
 that he may have used some standard different from the 
 Olympic, — which, however, is hardly probable. See the 
 subject discussed in Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, S. V* 
 Stadium. 
 
163 
 
 II. 
 
 Coast of the Arables (Sindli). 
 Length of the Coast from the Indus to the 
 
 Arabis R 1000 Stadia. 
 
 Actual length in miles English ... 80 
 Time taken in its navigation 38 Days. 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 Modern 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N. 
 
 ... 
 
 24° 53' 
 
 60 
 300 
 
 300 
 
 24° 48' 
 24° 44' 
 24° 52' 
 25° 13' 
 
 120 
 
 25° 28' 
 
 Long.E. 
 
 Port of Alex 
 
 ander 
 
 Bibahta. 
 Domai Is. .. 
 
 Saranga 
 
 Sakala 
 
 Morontobara 
 Is. unnamed. 
 Arabis U. ... 
 
 Karachi 
 
 Purali R. 
 
 66° 57 
 
 66° 50' 
 66° 34' 
 66° 33' 
 66° 40' 
 
 66° 35' 
 
 III. 
 
 Coast of the Oreitai (Las.) 
 
 Length of the coast (Arrian) 1600 Stadia. 
 
 Do. do. (Strabo) 1800 „ 
 
 Actual length in miles English 100 
 
 Time taken in its navigation 18 Days. 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 1 . Pagala 
 
 2. Kabana 
 
 3. Kokala 
 
 4. Tomcros R. 
 6. Malana .... 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N". 
 
 Near Eas- 
 Katchari. 
 
 Maklow or 
 HingulE, 
 
 Ras Malan 
 
 200 
 400 
 200 
 
 500 
 
 300 
 
 25° 30' 
 25 28' 
 25'-' 21' 
 
 25° 16' 
 
 25° 18' 
 
 Long.E. 
 
 66^ 15' 
 65° 46' 
 65° 36' 
 
 65" 15' 
 
 65° 7' 
 
164 
 
 IV. 
 
 Coast of the Ikhthyophagoi (Mekran or Bclu- 
 chistan). 
 
 Length of the coast (Arrian) 10,000 Stadia. 
 
 Do. do. (Strabo) 7,000 
 
 Actual length in miles English 480 
 
 Time taken in its navigation 20 Days. 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 Modem 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N. 
 
 Long.E. 
 
 1. Bagisara ..» 
 
 On Arabah 
 or Hor- 
 maraBay 
 
 600 
 
 25° 12' 
 
 64° 31' 
 
 2. Tasira 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. Cape unnamed. 
 
 Ras Arabah 
 
 ... 
 
 25° 7' 
 
 64- 29' 
 
 4. Kolta 
 
 Kalami R.. 
 
 200 
 600 
 
 25° 8' 
 25" 21' 
 
 64° 27' 
 
 6. Kalama 
 
 63° 59' 
 
 6. Karhine Is. . 
 
 Asthola or 
 Sanga-dip 
 
 
 
 
 7. Kissa in 
 
 
 200 
 
 25^ 22' 
 
 63° 37' 
 
 Karbis. 
 
 
 
 8. Cape unnamed. 
 
 C. Passence.. 
 
 ... 
 
 25° 15' 
 
 63° 30* 
 
 9. Mosarna ... 
 
 Near do. 
 
 
 
 
 10. Balomon ... 
 
 
 750 
 400 
 200 
 
 25° 12' 
 25° 11 
 
 
 11. Barna 
 
 
 63° 10' 
 
 12. Dendrobosa . 
 
 Daram or 
 
 62° 45' 
 
 
 Duram. 
 
 
 
 
 13. Kophas 
 
 Ras Koppa 
 
 400 
 
 25° 11' 
 
 62° 29' 
 
 14. Kuiza 
 
 Near Ras 
 Ghnnse. 
 
 800 
 
 25° 10' 
 
 61° 56' 
 
 
 
 15. Town an- 
 
 OnGwattar 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 named. 
 
 Bay. 
 
 
 
 
 16. Cape called 
 
 
 ... 
 
 25° ? 
 
 61° 28' 
 
 Bagia. 
 
 
 
 
 
 17. Talmena ... 
 
 On Chau- 
 bar Bay. 
 
 1000 
 
 25° 24' 
 
 60° 40' 
 
 18. Kanasis; 
 
 
 400 
 
 25° 24' 
 
 60° 12' 
 
165 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 19. Anchorage 
 
 unnamed. 
 
 20. Kanate 
 
 21. TaoeiorTroi 
 
 si. 
 
 22. Bagasira .. 
 
 23. Anchorage 
 
 unnamed 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Kungoun. , 
 Near Su- 
 dich River. 
 Girishk ... 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N. Long.E. 
 
 850 
 800 
 
 300 
 1100 
 
 25° 25' 59° 15 
 
 25° 30' 5 8° 42 
 
 25° 38' 
 
 )8° 27' 
 
 Coast of Karmania (Moghistan and Laristan). 
 Length of the coast (Arrian and 
 
 Strabo) 3,700 Stadia. 
 
 Actual length in miles English. . 296 
 Time taken in its navigation ... 19 Days. 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N. 
 
 Long.E. 
 
 1. Anchorage 
 
 
 
 
 
 unnamed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Badis 
 
 Near Cape 
 Bombarek 
 
 
 25° 47' 
 
 57° 48' 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. Anchorage 
 
 
 800 
 
 
 
 unnamed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 4. Cape Maheta 
 
 Cape Mu- 
 
 
 
 
 in Arabia. . 
 
 sendom. 
 
 
 
 
 5. Neoptana ... 
 
 Nr. Karun. 
 
 700 
 
 26° 57' 
 
 57° 1' 
 
 6. Anamis R.... 
 
 Mmab R. . 
 
 100 
 
 27° 11' 
 
 57° 6' 
 
 7. Organa Is. . 
 
 Ormus or 
 Djerun. 
 
 
 
 
 8. Oaraktals. 2 
 
 Kishm ... 
 
 300 
 
 
 
 anchorages 
 
 
 
 
 
166 
 
 Ancient name- 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N. 
 
 Long.E 
 
 9. Island dist. 
 
 Anqar or 
 
 
 
 
 from it 40 
 
 Hanjam. 
 
 
 
 
 stadia. 
 
 
 
 
 
 10. Island 300 
 
 Tombo 
 
 400 
 
 26° 20' 
 
 55° 20' 
 
 stadia from 
 
 
 
 
 
 mainland. 
 
 
 
 
 
 11. Pylorals. ... 
 
 PoUorls. . 
 
 ... 
 
 26° 20' 
 
 54° 35' 
 
 12. Sisidone ... 
 
 Mogos ? ... 
 
 
 
 
 13. Tarsia 
 
 C. Djard... 
 
 300 
 
 26° 20' 
 
 54° 21' 
 
 14. Kataia Is. ... 
 
 Kenn 
 
 300 
 
 26° 32' 
 
 54° 
 
 YI. 
 
 Coast of Persis (Farsistan). 
 
 Length of Coast 4,400 Stadia. 
 
 Actual length in miles English ... 382 
 Time taken in its navigation 31 Days. 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N. 
 
 400 
 
 26° 38 
 
 40 
 
 
 450 
 400 
 
 26° 59' 
 
 27° r 
 
 27° 24' 
 
 600 
 
 27° 48' 
 
 Long.E. 
 
 1. Ila and Ka'i- 
 
 kander Is.. 
 
 2. Island with 
 PearlFishery. 
 
 3. Another an- 
 chorage here. 
 
 4. Mount Okhos 
 
 5. Apostana. ... 
 
 6. Bay un- 
 
 named. 
 
 7. Gogana at 
 
 mouth of 
 Areon R. 
 
 Inderabia 
 Island. 
 
 On it IS 
 
 Nabend 
 Konkan .. 
 
 53° 35' 
 
 53° 20^ 
 52° 55^ 
 52° 25' 
 
 52° 
 
167 
 
 Ancient name. 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in 
 Stadia. 
 
 Lat. N.' 
 
 Long.E. 
 
 8. Sitakos 
 
 9. Hicratis 
 
 10. HeratemisR. 
 
 near it. 
 
 11. Podagron,R. 
 
 12. Mesambria. . 
 
 13. Taoke on 
 
 Grauis, R. 
 
 14. Rliogonis, R. 
 
 Kara- 
 AgachR. 
 
 Near Bu- 
 
 shire. 
 Taaug 
 
 800 
 
 750 
 
 200 
 
 %00 
 
 400 
 
 28" 52' 
 
 29" 
 29° 14' 
 
 29" 27' 
 
 29" 67' 
 30" 4 
 
 50" 45' 
 
 50" 45' 
 50" 30' 
 50" 29' 
 
 15. Brizana, R. . 
 
 
 50" 15' 
 
 16. Arosis or 
 Oroatis, R. 
 
 River Tab. 
 
 49" 30' 
 
 Coast 
 Length of the C 
 Time taken in itt 
 
 VII. 
 of Sousis (] 
 3ast 
 
 <]huzist 
 
 an.) 
 
 2000 Stadia. 
 3 Days. 
 
 s nnviQrn.f.inn 
 
 
 
 
 Anoiont name. 
 
 Modern 
 name. 
 
 Dis- 
 tance in Lat. N. 
 ' Stadia. 
 
 Long E. 
 
 1 Kataderbis R 
 
 
 500 
 600 
 900 
 
 30" 16' 
 30" 12' 
 
 49" 
 
 2. Margastanals 
 
 3. Anchorage 
 
 unnamed. 
 
 4. Diridotisjthe 
 
 end of the 
 sea voyage. 
 
 Near Jebel 
 Sanam. 
 
 47" 35' 
 
168 
 
 Teanslation. 
 
 XVIII. When the fleet formed for Alexander 
 upon the banks of the Hydaspes was now read}^ 
 he provided crews for the vessels by collecting 
 all the Phoenikians and all the Kyprians and 
 Egyptians who had followed him in his Eastern 
 campaigns, and from these he selected such as 
 were skilled in seamanship to manage the vessels 
 and work the oars. He had besides in his army 
 not a few islanders familiar with that kind of 
 work, and also natives both of Ionia and of the 
 Hellespont. The following officers he appointed as 
 Commanders of the different galleys^^ : — 
 
 Makedonians. 
 Citizens of Pella. 
 
 1. Hephaistion, son of Amyntor. 
 
 2. Leonnatos, son of Anteas. 
 
 3. Lysimakhos, son of Agathokles. 
 
 4. Asklepiodoros, son of Timander. 
 
 5. Arkhon, son of Kleinias. 
 
 ^^ This list does not specify those officers who performed 
 the voyage, but such as had a temporary command 
 during the passage down the river. The only names which 
 occur afterwards in the narrative are those of Arkhias and 
 Onesikritos. Nearkhos, by his silence, leaves it uncertain 
 whether any other officers enumerated in his list accom- 
 panied him throughout the expedition. The following are 
 known not to have done so : Hephaistion, Leonnatos, 
 Lysimakhos, Ptolemy, Krateros, Attalos and Peukestas. 
 It does not clearly appear what nxxmber of ships or men 
 accompanied Nearkhos to the conclusion of the voyage. If 
 we suppose the ships of war only fit for the service, 
 30 galleys might possibly contain from two to three 
 thousand men, but this estimation is uncertain. 
 
 See Vincent, I. 118 "sqq. 
 
169 
 
 '6. Demonikos, son of Athenaios. 
 
 7. Arkhias, son of Anaxidotos. 
 
 8. Ophelias, son of Seilenos. 
 
 9. Timanthes, son of Pantiades. 
 
 Of Ainphipolis. 
 
 10. Nearkhos, son of Androtimos, who wrote a 
 Saarrative of the voyage. 
 
 11. Laomedon, son of Larikhos. 
 
 12. Audrosthenes, son of Kallistratos. 
 
 Of Oresis. 
 
 13. Krateros, son of Alexander. 
 
 14. Perdikkas, son of Orontes. 
 
 Of Eordaia. 
 
 15. Ptolemaios, son of Lagos. 
 
 16. Aristonoas, son of Peisaios. 
 
 Of Pydna. 
 
 17. Metron, son of Epikharmos. 
 
 18. Nikarkhides, son of Simos. 
 
 Of Stymphaia. 
 
 19. Attalos, son of Andromenes. 
 
 Of Mieza. 
 
 20. Peukestas, son of Alexander. 
 
 Of Alkomenai. 
 
 21. Peithon, son of Krateuas. 
 
 Of Aigai. 
 
 22. Leonnatos, son of Antipater. 
 
 Of Aloros. 
 
 23. Panto ukhos, son of Nikolaos, 
 
 Of Beroia. 
 24j. Mylleas, son of Zoilos. 
 
 All these were Makedoniani. 
 Greeks,— of Larisa : 
 25. Medios, son of Oxynthemi«. 
 Of Kardia, 
 
170 
 
 26. Eumenes, son of Hieronymofci. 
 
 OfKoa. 
 
 27. Kritoboulos, son of Plato. 
 
 Of Magnesia : 
 
 28. Thoas, son of Menodoros. 
 
 29. Maiander, son of Mandrogenes. 
 
 OfTeoa: 
 
 30. Andron, son of Kabelas. 
 
 Of Soloi in Cyprus : 
 
 31. Nikoklees, son of Pasikrates. 
 
 Of Salamis in Cyprus : 
 
 32. Nithaphon, son of Pnutagoras. 
 
 A Persian was also appointed as a Trierarch ; 
 
 33. Bagoas, son of Pharnoukhes. 
 
 The Pilot and Master of Alexander's own ship 
 Was Onesikritos of Astypalaia, and the Secretary- 
 General of the fleet Euagoras, the son of Eukleon, 
 a Corinthian. Nearkhos, the son of Androtimos, 
 a Kretan by birth, but a citizen of Amphipolis on 
 the Strymon was appointed as Admiral of the 
 expedition. 
 
 "When these dispositions had been all completed, 
 Alexander sacrificed to his ancestral gods, and to 
 such as had been indicated by the oracle; also to 
 Poseidon and Amphitrite and the Nereids, and to 
 Okeanos himself, and to the Eiver Hydaspes, from 
 which he was setting forth on his enterprise ; and 
 to the Akesines into which the Hydaspes pours its 
 stream, and to the Indus which receives both 
 these rivers. He further celebrated the occasion 
 by holding contests in music and gymnastics, 
 and by distributing to the whole army, rank by 
 rank, the sacrificial victims. 
 
 XIX. When all the preparations for the voyag© 
 
171 
 
 had been made, Alexander ordered Krateros, with 
 a force of horse and foot, to go to one side of the 
 Hydaspes ; while Hephaistion commanding a still 
 larger force, which included 200 elephants, should 
 march in a parallel line on the other side. Alex- 
 ander himself had under his immediate command 
 the body of foot guards called the Hypaspists, and 
 all the archers, and what was called the companion- 
 cavalry,— a force consisting in all of 8,000 men. 
 The troops under Ki'ateros and Hephaistion march- 
 ing in advance of the fleet had received instructions 
 where they were to wait its arrival. Philip, whom 
 he had appointed satrap of this region, was des- 
 patched to the banks of the Akesines with another 
 large division, for by this time he had a following 
 of 120,000 soldiers,^^ including those whom he had 
 himself led up from the sea-coast, as well as the 
 recruits enlisted by the agents whom he had 
 deputed to collect an army, when he admitted to 
 his ranks barbarous tribes of all countries in 
 whatever way they might be armed. Then weigh- 
 ing anchor, he sailed down the Hydaspes to its 
 point of junction with the Akesines. The ships 
 numbered altogether 1800, including the long 
 narrow war galleys, the round-shaped roomy mer- 
 chantmen, and the transports for carrying horses 
 and provisions to feed the army. But how the 
 fleet sailed down the rivers, and what tribes 
 Alexander conquered in the course of the voyage, 
 and how he was in danger among the Malli,^^ and 
 
 12 So also Plutarch iu the Life of Alexander (C.66) says 
 that in returning from India Alexander had 120,000 foot 
 and 15,000 cavalry. . ^ . ,-, , 
 
 " Sansk. Malava. The name is preserved in the modern 
 Moultan. 
 
172 
 
 how he was wounded in their couhtiy, and how 
 *Peukestas and Leonnatos covered him with their 
 shields when he fell,— all these incidents have 
 been already related in my other work, that which 
 is written in the Attic dialect.^* My present object 
 is to give an account of the coasting voyage which 
 ISTearkhos accomplished with the fleet when start- 
 ing from the mouths of the Indus he sailed through 
 the great ocean as ftir as the Persian Gulf, called 
 by some the Red Sea. 
 
 XX. Kearkhos himself has supplied a narrative 
 of this voyage, which runs to this effect. Alexan- 
 der, he informs us, had set his heart on navigating 
 the whole circuit of the sea which extends from 
 India to Persia, but tlie length of the voyage made 
 him hesitate^ and the possibility of the destruction 
 of his fleet, should it be cast on son;te desert 
 coast either quite harbourless or too barren to 
 furnish adequate supplies ; in which case a great 
 stain tarnishing the splendour of his former actions 
 would obliterate all his good fortune. His 
 ambition, however, to be always doing some- 
 thing new and astonishing prevailed over all his 
 scruples. Then arose a difficulty as to what com- 
 mander he should choose,, having genius sufficient 
 for working out his plans, and a difficulty also 
 with regard to the men on ship-board how he 
 could overcome their fear, that in being despatch- 
 ed on such a service they were recklessly sent 
 into open peril. Nearkhos here tells us that 
 Alexander consulted him on the choice of a com- 
 mander, and that when the king had mentioned 
 
 " Anab. VI. 11. 
 
173 
 
 one man after another, rejecting all, some because 
 they were not inclined to expose themselves for 
 his sake to danger, others because they were of a 
 timid temper, others because their only thought 
 was how to get home, making this and that 
 objection to each in turn, Nearkhos then proffer- 
 ed his own services in "these terms : " I, then, 
 O king, engage to command the expedition, and, 
 under the divine protection, will conduct the fleet 
 and the people on board safe into Persia, if the sea 
 be that way navigable, and the undertaking with- 
 in the power of man to perform." Alexander 
 made a pretence of refusing the offer, saying that he 
 could not think of exposing any friend of his to the 
 distresses and hazard of such a voyage, but Kear- 
 khos, so far from withdrawing hi§ proposal, only 
 persisted the more in pressing its acceptance upon 
 him. Alexander, it need not be said, warmly 
 appreciated the promptitude to serve him shown 
 by Nearkhos, and appointed him to be com- 
 mander-in-chief of the expedition. When this 
 became known, it had a great effect in calming 
 the minds of the troops ordered on this service 
 and on the minds of the sailors, since they felt 
 assured that Alexander would never have sent 
 forth Nearkhos into palpable danger unless their 
 lives were to be preserved. At the same time the 
 splendour with which the ships were equipped, 
 and the enthusiasm of the officers vying with 
 each other who should collect the best men, and 
 have his complement most effective, inspired even 
 those who had long hung back with nerve for 
 the work, and a good hope that success would 
 crown the undertaking. It added to the cheer- 
 
174 
 
 fulness pervading the army that Alexander him- 
 self sailed out from both the mouths of the Indus 
 into the open main when he sacrificed victims to 
 Poseidon and all the other sea-deities, and pre- 
 sented gifts of great magnificence to the sea ; and 
 so the men trusting to the immeasurable good 
 fortune which had hitherto attended all theprojects 
 of Alexander, believed there was nothing he might 
 not dare— nothing but would to him be feasible. 
 
 XXI. When the Etesian winds, ^^ which con- 
 tinue all the hot season blowing landward from 
 the sea, making navigation on that coast im- 
 practicable, had subsided, then the expedition 
 started on the voyage in the year when Kephi- 
 sidoros was Archon at Athens, on the 20th 
 day of the month Boedromion according to the 
 Athenian Kaleudar, but as the Makedonians and 
 Asiatics reckon * * in the 11th year of the 
 reign of Alexander. ^^ Nearkhos, before putting to 
 
 ^^ The general effect of tlie monsoon Nearkhos certainly 
 knew ; he was a native of Crete, and a resident a.t 
 Aniphipolis, both which lie within the track of the annual 
 or Etesian winds, which commencing from the Hellespont 
 and probably from the Euxine sweep the Egean sea, and 
 stretching quite across the Mediterranean to the coast of 
 Africa, entered through Egypt to Nubia or Ethiopia. Arrian 
 has accordingly mentioned the monsoon by the name of 
 the Etesian winds ; his expression is remarkable, and attend- 
 ed with a precision that does his accuracy credit. These 
 Etesian winds, says he, do not blow from the north in the 
 summer months as with us in the Mediterranean, but from 
 the South. On the commencement of winter, or at latest 
 on the setting of the Pleiades, the sea is said to be navigable 
 till the winter solstice (Anab. VI. 21-1) Vincent I. 43 sq. 
 
 ^° The date here fixed by Arrian is the 2nd of October 
 326 B.C., but the computation now generally accepted 
 refers the event to the year after to suit the chronology of 
 Alexander's subsequent history (see Clinton's F. Hell. II. 
 pp. 17i and 563, 3rd ed.). There was an Ai-chou called 
 
175 
 
 sea sacrifices to Zeus the Preserver, and celebrateSi 
 as Alexander had done, gymnastic games. Then 
 clearing out of harbour they end the first day's 
 voyage by anchoring in the Indus at a creek called 
 StoUraj where they remain for two days. Th6 
 distance of this place from the station they had 
 just left was 100 stadia. On the third day they 
 resumed the voyage, but proceeded no further 
 than 30 stadia, coming to an anchor at another 
 creek, where the water was now salt, for the sea 
 when filled with the tide rah up the creek, and 
 its waters even when the tide receded commingled 
 with the river. The name of this place was Kau- 
 mana. The next day's course, which was of 20 
 stadia only, brought them to Koreatis, where they 
 once more anchored in the river. -When again 
 under weigh their progress was soon interrupted, 
 for a bar was visible which there obstructed the 
 mouth of the Indus ; and the wares were heard 
 breaking with furious roar upon its strand which 
 was wild and rugged. Observing, however, that 
 the bar at a particular part was soft, they made a 
 cutting through this, 5 stadia long, at low water, 
 and on the return of the flood-tide carried the 
 ships through by the passage thus formed into the 
 
 Kephisidoros in office in the year B.C. 323-322 ; so Arrian 
 has here either made a mistake, or perhaps an Archon of 
 the year 326-325 may have died during his tenure of office, 
 and a substitute called Kephisidoros been elected to fill the 
 vacancy. The lacuna marked by the asterisks has been 
 supplied by inserting the name of the Makedonian month 
 Dius. The Ephesians adopted the names of the months 
 used by the Makedonians, and so began theii- year with the 
 month Dius, the first day of which corresponds to the 24th 
 of September. The 20th day of Boedromion of the year 
 B.C. 325 correspouded to the 21st of_September. 
 
1^6 
 
 open sca.^^ Then following the winding of the coast 
 they ran a course of- 120 stadia, and reach Krokala,^^ 
 
 ^'' Regarding the sunken reef encountered by the fleet after 
 leaving Koreatis, Sir Alexander Burnea says: *'Near the 
 mouth of the river we passed a rock stretching across the 
 stream, which is particulai'ly mentioned by Nearchas, who 
 calls it a dangerous rock, and is the more remarkable since 
 there is not even a stone below Tatta in any other part of 
 the Indus." The rock, he adds, is at a distance of six miles 
 lip the Pitti. "It is vaia," says Captain Wood in the 
 narrative of his Journey to the Source of the Oxiis, " in 
 the delta of such a river (as the Indus), to identify existing 
 localities with descriptions handed down to us by the his- 
 torians of Alexander the Great, .... (but) Burnes has, I 
 think, shown that the mouth by which the Grecian fleet 
 left the Indus was the modern Piti. The 'dangerous 
 rock' of Nearchus completely identifies the spot, and as 
 it is still in existence, without any other within a circle of 
 many miles, we can wish for no stronger evidence." With 
 regard to the canal dug through this rack, Burues remarks : 
 " The Greek admiral only availed himself of the experience 
 of the people, for it is yet customary among the natives of 
 Sind to dig shallow canals, and leave the tides or river to 
 deepen them ; and a distance of five stadia, or half a mile, 
 would call for not great labour. It is not to be supposed 
 that sandbanks will continue unaltered for centuries, but 
 I may observe that there was a large bank contiguous to 
 the island, between it and which a passage like that of 
 Nearchus might have been dug with the greatest advan- 
 tage." The same author thus describes the mouth of the 
 Piti : — " Beginning from the westward wo have the Pitti 
 mouth, an embouchure of the Buggaur, that falls into what 
 may be called the Bay of Karachi. It has no bar, but a 
 large sandbank, together with an island outside prevent a 
 direct passage into it from the sea, and narrow the channel 
 to about half a mile at its mouth." 
 
 *" All inquirers have agreed in ideutifyiag the Kolaka 
 of Ptolemy, and the sandy island of Krokola where Near- 
 chus tarried with his fleet for one day, with a small island 
 in the bay of Karachi. Krokala is further described as 
 lying off" the mainland of the Arabii. It was 150 stadia, 
 or I7k miles, from the western mouth of the Indus, — which 
 agi'ees exactly with the relative positions of Karachi and 
 the mouth of the Ghara river, if, as we may fairly assutue, 
 the present coast-line has advanced five or six miles during 
 the twenty-one centuries that have elapsed since the death 
 of Alexander. The identification is confirmed by the fact 
 that the district in which Karachi is situated is called K a r- 
 k a 1 1 a to this day. Cunningham Geog. of An. India, I. p. 306. 
 
177 
 
 a sandy island where they anchored and re- 
 mained all next day. The country adjoining was 
 inhabited by an Indian race called the Arables, 
 whom I have mentioned in my longer work, where 
 it is stated that they derive their name from the 
 River Arabis, which flows through their country 
 to the sea, and parts them from the Oreit'ai.^® 
 Weighing from Krokala they had on their right 
 hand a mountain which the natives called Eiros, 
 and on their left a flat island almost level with 
 the sea, and so near the mainland to which it 
 runs parallel that the intervening channel is 
 extremely narrow. Having quite cleared this pas- 
 sage they come to anchor in a well- sheltered har- 
 bour, which Nearkhos, finding large and com- 
 modious, designated Alexander's Haven. This 
 harbour is protected by an island lying about 2 
 stadia off from its entrance. It is called Bibakta, 
 and all the country round about Sangada.''° The 
 existence of the harbour is due altogether to the 
 island which opposes a barrier to the violence of 
 the sea. Here heavy gales blew from seaward for 
 many days without intermission, and Nearkhos 
 
 ^^ The name of the Arabii is variously written, — Arabitse, 
 Arbii, Arabies, Arbies, Aribes, Arbiti. The name of their 
 river has also several forms, — Arabis, Arabius, Artabis, 
 Artabius. It is now called the P u r a 1 i, the river which 
 flows tnrough the present district of Las into the bay of 
 Sonmiyani. Tlie name of the Oreitai in Curtius is Horitae. 
 Cunningham identifies them with the people on the Aghor 
 river, whom he says the Greeks would have named Agoritsa 
 or Aoritse, by the suppression of the guttural, of which a 
 trace still remains in the initial aspirate of ' Horitae.' Some 
 would connect the name with H a u r, a town which lay on 
 the route to Firabaz, in MekrSn. 
 
 2" This name Sangada, DAnville thought, survived in 
 that of a race of noted pirates who infested the shores of 
 the gulf of Kachh, called the S a n g a d i a n s or Sangariana. 
 
178 
 
 fearing lest the barbarians might, some of them, 
 combine to attack and plunder the camp, fortified 
 his position with an enclosure of stones. Here 
 they were obliged to remain for 24 days. The 
 soldiers, we learn from ISTearkhos, caught mussels 
 and oysters, and what is called the razor-fish, 
 these ]yemg all of an extraordinary size as compared 
 with the sorts found in our own sea."^ He adds 
 that they had no water to drink but what was 
 brackish. 
 
 XXII. As soon as the monsoon ceased they 
 put again to sea, and having run fully 60 stadia 
 came to anchor at a sandy beach under shelter of 
 a desert island that lay near, called Domai.^^ On 
 the shore itself there was no water, but 20 stadia 
 inland ib was procured of good quality. The fol- 
 lowing day they proceeded 300 stadia to Saranga, 
 where they did not arrive till night. They 
 anchored close to the shore, and found water at a 
 distance of about 8 stadia from it. Weighing from 
 Saranga they reach Sakala, a desert place, and 
 anchored. On leaving it they passed two rocks so 
 close to each other that the oar- blades of the 
 galleys grazed both, and after a course of 300 
 stadia they came to anchor at Morontobara.''^ 
 
 ^^ " The pearl oyster abounds in 11 or 12 fathoms of 
 water all along the coast of Scinde. There was a fishery in 
 the harbour of Kurrachee which had been of some impor- 
 tance in the days of the native rulers." — Wanderings of a, 
 Naturalist in India, p, 36. 
 
 '^^ This island is not known, but it probably lay near the 
 rocky headland of Irus, now called M a n o r a, which pro- 
 tects the port of Karachi from the sea and bad weather. 
 
 ^^ " The name of Moron tobara," says Cunningham, " I 
 would identify with Muari, which is now applied to the 
 headland of Ras Muari or Cape Monze, the last point of 
 the Pab range of mountains. Bdra, or Bdri, means a 
 
179 
 
 The harbour here was deep and capacious, and 
 well sheltered all round, and its waters quite 
 tranquil, but the entrance into it was narrow. In 
 the native language it was called Women's Haven, 
 because a woman had been the first sovereign of 
 the place. They thought it a great achievement 
 to have passed those two rocks in safety, for when 
 they were passing them the sea was boisterous 
 and running high. They did not remain in 
 Morontobara, but sailed the day after their arrival, 
 when they had on their left hand an island which 
 sheltered them from the sea, and which lay so 
 near to the mainland that the intervening channel 
 looked as if it had been artificially formed. Its 
 length from one end to the other was 70 stadia.*^* 
 The shore was woody and the island throughout 
 over-grown with trees of every description. They 
 were not able to get fairly through this passage 
 
 roadstead or haven ; and Moranta is evidently connected 
 with the Persian Mard a man, of which the feminine is 
 still preserved in Kasmiri as Mahrin a woman. From the 
 distances given by Arrian, I am incUned to j&x it at the 
 mouth of the B a h a r rivulet, a small stream which falls 
 into the sea about midway between Cape Monze and 
 Sonmiyani." Women's Haven is mentioned by Ptolemy 
 and Amraianus MarcelUnus. There is in the neighbour- 
 hood a mountain now called M o r, which may be a remnant 
 of the name Morontobari. The channel through which the 
 fleet passed after leaving this place no longer exists, and 
 the island has of course disappeared. 
 
 2* The coast from Karachi to the Purali has undergone 
 considerable changes, so that the position cf the interme- 
 diate places cannot be precisely determined. " From Cape 
 Monze to Sonmiyani," says Blair, " the coast bears evident 
 marks of having* suffered considerable alterations from the 
 encroachments of the sea. We found trees which had been 
 washed down, and which afforded us a supply of fuel. In 
 some parts I saw imperfect creeks in a parallel dhection 
 with the coast. These might probably be the vestiges of 
 that narrow channel through which the Greek galleys 
 
180- 
 
 till towards daybreak, for the sea was not only 
 rough, but also shoal, the tide being at ebb. They 
 sailed on continuously, and after a course of 120 
 stadia anchored at the mouth of the river Arabis, 
 where there was a spacious and very fine haven.*^ 
 The water here was not fit for drinking, for the sea 
 ran up the mouths of the Arabis. Having gone, 
 however, about 40 stadia up the river, they found 
 a pool from which, having drawn water, they re- 
 turned to the fleet. Near the harbour is an island 
 high and bare, but the sea around it supplied 
 oysters and fish of various kinds .^° As far as 
 this, the country was possessed by the Arabics, 
 
 *^ Ptolemy and Marcian enumerate tlie following places 
 as lying between the Indus and tlie Arabis : Khizana, 
 Koiamba, Women's Haven, Phagiaura, Arbis. Ptolemy 
 does not mention the Oreitai, but extends the Arabii to the 
 utmost limit of the district assigned to them in Arrian. 
 He makes, notwithstanding the river Arabis to be the 
 boundary of the Arabii. His Arabis must therefore be 
 identified not with the PUr&li, but with the Kurrmit, called 
 otherwise the Rtimra or Kalami, where the position of 
 Arrian's Kalama must be fixed. Phny (vi. 25) places a 
 people whom he calls the Arbii between the Oritae and 
 Karmania, assigning as the boundary between the Arbii 
 and the Oritae the river Arbis. 
 
 ^" The Arabis or Purali discharges its waters into 
 the bay of Sonmiyani. " Sonmiyani," says Kempthrone, 
 " is a small town or fishing village situated at the mouth 
 of a creek which runs up some distance inland. It is 
 governed by a Sheikh, and the inhabitants appear to be 
 very poor, chiefly subsisting on dried fish and rice. A very 
 extensive bar or sandbank runs across the mouth of this 
 inlet, and none but vessels of small burden can get over it 
 even at high water, but inside the water is deep." The 
 inhabitants of the present day are as badly ofi" for water 
 as their predecessors of old. " Everything," says one who 
 visited the place, " is scarce, even water, which is procured 
 by digging a hole five or six feet deep, and as many in 
 diameter, in a place which was formerly a swamp ; and if 
 the water oozes, which sometimes it does not, it serves 
 them that day, and perhaps the next, when it turns quite 
 brackish, owing to the nitrous quahty of the earth." 
 
181 
 
 the last Indian people living in this direction ; 
 and the parts beyond were occupied by the 
 Oreitai.'^' 
 
 XXIII. On weighing from the mouths of the 
 Arabis, they coasted the shores of the Oreitai, and 
 after running 200 stadia reached Pagala,''^ where 
 there was a surf but nevertheless good anchorage. 
 The crew were obliged to remain on board, a 
 party, however, being sent on shore to procure 
 water. They sailed next morning at sunrise, and 
 after a course of about 430 stadia, reached 
 Kabana^° in the evening, where they anchored at 
 some distance from the shore, which was a desert ; 
 the violence of the surf by which the vessels were 
 much tossed preventing them from landing. 
 While running the last course the fleet had been 
 caught in a heavy gale blowing from seaward, 
 when two galleys and a transport foundered. 
 All the men, however, saved themselves by swim- 
 ming, as the vessels at the time of the disaster 
 were sailing close to the shore. They weighed 
 
 *' Strabo agrees with Arrian in representing the Oreitai 
 as non-Indian. Cunningham, however, relying on state- 
 ment made by Curtius, Diodorus and the Chinese pilgrim 
 Hwen Thsang, a most competent observer, considers them 
 to be of Indian origin, for their customs, according 
 to the Pilgrim, were like those of the people of Kachh, and 
 their written characters closely resembled those of India, 
 while their language was only slightly different. The 
 Oreitai as early as the 6th century B.C. were tributary 
 to Darius Hyst&spes, and they were still subject to Persia 
 nearly 12 centuries later when visited by Hwen Thsang. — 
 Geog . of An. Ind. Tpip. S04i sqq. 
 
 *" Another form is Pegadse, met with in Philostratos, 
 who wrote a work on India. 
 
 ^° To judge from the distances given, this place should 
 be near the stream now called Agbor, on which is situated 
 H a r k a n a. It is probably the Koiamba of Ptolemy. 
 
182 
 
 from Kabana about midnight, and having pro- 
 ceeded 200 stadia arrived at Kokala, where the 
 vessels couWj not be drawn on shore, but rode at 
 anchor out at sea. As the men, however, had 
 suffered severely by confinement on board,^° and 
 were very m.uch in want of rest, Nearkhos allowed 
 them to go on shore, where he formed a camp, forti- 
 fying it in the usual manner for protection against 
 the barbarians. In this part of the country Leon- 
 natos, who had been commissioned by Alexander to 
 reduce the Oreitai and settle their affairs, defeated 
 that people and their allies in a great battle, 
 wherein all the leaders and 6,000 men were slain, 
 the loss of Leonnatos, being only 15 of his horse, 
 besides a few foot-soldiers, and one man of note 
 Apollophanes, the satrap of the Gedrosians.^^ A 
 full account, however, of these transactions is 
 given in my other work, where it is stated that for 
 this service Leonnatos had a golden crown placed 
 upon his head by Alexander in presence of the 
 Makedonian army. Agreeably to orders given 
 by Alexander, corn had been here collected for 
 the victualling of the vessels, and stores safficient 
 to last for 10 days were put on board. Here 
 also such ships as had been damaged during the 
 
 3° " In vessels like those of the Greeks, which afforded 
 neither space for motion, nor convenience for rest, the 
 continuing on board at night was always a calamity. 
 When a whole crew was to sleep on board, the suffering 
 was in proportion to the confinement." — Vincent, I. 
 p. 209 note. 
 
 ^^ In another passage of.Arrian (Anab. VI. 27, 1,) this 
 Apollophanes is said to have been deposed from his satrapy, 
 when Alexander was halting in the capital of Gedrosia. 
 In the Journal Arrian follows Nearkhos, in the History, 
 Ptolemy or Aristobulus. — Vincent. 
 
183 
 
 voyage were repaired, while all the mariners that 
 Nearkhos considered deficient in fortitude for 
 the enterprise, he consigned to Leonnatos to be 
 taken on by land, but at the same time he made 
 good his complement of men by taking in exchange 
 others more efficient from the troops under 
 Leonnatos. 
 
 XXIV. From this place they bore away with 
 a fresh breeze, and having made good a course of 
 500 stadia anchored near a winter torrent called 
 the Tomeros, which at its mouth expanded into an 
 estuary .^^ The natives lived on the marshy ground 
 near the shore in cabins close and suffocating. 
 Great was their astonishment when they descried 
 the fleet approaching, but they were not without 
 courage, and collecting in arms on the shore, 
 drew up in line to attack the strangers when 
 landing. They carried thick spears about 6 
 cubits long, not headed with iron, but what was 
 as good, hardened at the point by fire. Their 
 number was about 600, and when Kearkhos 
 saw that they stood their ground prepared to 
 fight, he ordered his vessels to advance, and then 
 to anchor just within bowshot of the shore, for he 
 had noticed that the thick spears of the barbarians 
 . were adapted only for close fight, and were by no 
 means formidable as missiles. He then issued 
 his directions : those men that were lightest 
 equipped, and the most active and best at swim- 
 
 ^* From the distances given, the Tomeros must be 
 identified with the Maklow or Hingal river; some 
 would, however, make it the B h u s a 1. The form of the 
 name in Pliny isTomberus, and in Mela — T u b e r o. 
 These authors mention another river in connection with 
 the Tomeros, — the A r o s a p e s or Ar u s a e e s. 
 
184 
 
 ming were to swim to shore at a given signal : 
 when any one had swum so far that he could 
 stand in the water he was to wait for his next 
 neighbour, and not advance against the barbarians 
 until a file could be formed of three men deep : 
 that done, they were to rush forward shouting the 
 war-cry. The men selected for this service at once 
 plungedinto the sea, and swimming rapidly touched 
 ground, still keeping due order, when forming in 
 file, they rushed to the charge, shouting the war- 
 cry, which was repeated from the ships, whence all 
 the while arrows and missiles from engines were 
 launched against the enemy. Then the barbarians 
 terrified by the glittering arms and the rapidity 
 of the landing, and wounded by the arrows and 
 other missiles, against which they had no protec- 
 tion, being all but entirely naked, fled at once 
 without making any attempt at resistance. Some 
 perished in the ensuing flight, others were taken 
 prisoners, and some escaped to the mountains. 
 Those they captured had shaggy hair, not only 
 on their head but all over their body ; their nails 
 resembled the claws of wild beasts, and were used, 
 it would seem, instead of iron for dividing fish 
 and splitting the softer kinds of wood. Things 
 of a hard consistency they cut with sharp stones, 
 for iron they had none. As clothing they wore 
 the skins of wild beasts, and occasionally also the 
 thick skins of the large sorts of fish.^^ 
 
 XXY. After this action they draw the ships on 
 
 ^^ Similar statements are made regarding this savage 
 race by Curtius IX. 10, 9 ; Diodoros XVII, 105 ; Pliny VI. 
 28 ; Strabo p. 720 ; Philostratos V. Ap. III., 57. Cf . Agathar- 
 khides passim. — Milller. 
 
185 
 
 shore and repair all that had been damaged. On 
 the 6th day they weighed again, and after a course 
 of 300 stadia reached a place called Malana, the 
 last on the coast of the Oreitai.^* In the interior 
 these people dress like the Indians, and use 
 similar weapons, but differ from them in their 
 language and their customs. The length of the 
 coast of the Arabics, measured from the place 
 whence the expedition had sailed, was abovit 1,000 
 stadia, and the extent of the coast of the Oreitai 
 1,600 stadia. Nearkhos mentions that as they sailed 
 along the Indian coast (for the people beyond this 
 are not Indians), their shadows did not fall in the 
 usual direction, for when they stood out a good 
 way to the southward, their shadows appeared to 
 turn and fall southward.^^ Those constellations, 
 
 ^* Its modem representative is doubtless Ras Malin, 
 Malen or Moran. 
 
 33 Such a phenomenon could not of course have 
 been observed at Malana, which is about 2 degrees 
 north of the Tropic, and Nearkhos, as has been already 
 noticed (Introd. p. 155), has on account mainly of thig 
 statement been represented as a mendacious writer. 
 Schmieder and Gosselin attempt to vindicate hixn by 
 suggesting that Arrian in copying his journal had either 
 missed the meaning of this passage, or altered it to bring it 
 into accordance with his own geographical theories. Mullcr, 
 however, has a better and probably the correct explanation 
 to offer. He thinks that the text of Nearkhos which 
 Arrian used contained passages interpolated from One- 
 sikritos and writers of his stamp. The interpolations may 
 have been inserted by the Alexandrian geographers, who, 
 following Eratosthenes, believed that India, lay between 
 the Tropics. In support of this view it is to be noted that 
 Arrian' s account of the shadow occurs in that part of hi3 
 work where he is speaking of Malana of the Oreitai, and 
 that Pliny (VIII. 75) gives a similar account of the shadows 
 that fall on a mountain of a somewhat similar name in the 
 country of that very people. His words are : In Indiae 
 qente Oretum Mons est Maleus nomine, jusota quern 
 wmhrae aestate in Austrum, hieme in Septemtrionem 
 
186 
 
 moreover, which they had been accustomed to see 
 high in the heavens, were either not visible at all, 
 or were seen just on the verge of the horizon, 
 while the Polar constellations which had for- 
 merly been always visible now set and soon after- 
 wards rose again. In this Nearkhos appears to 
 me to assert nothing improbable, for at Syene in 
 Egypt they show a well in which, when the sun 
 is at the Tropic, there is no shadow at noon. In 
 Meroe also objects project no shadow at that 
 particular time. Hence it is probable that the 
 shadow is subject to the same law in India which 
 lies to the south, and more especially in the 
 Indian ocean, which extends still further to the 
 southward. 
 
 XXVI. Next to the Oreitai lies Gedrosia,^^ an 
 inland province through which Alexander led his 
 army, but this with difficulty, for the region was 
 so desolate that the troops in the whole course of 
 the expedition never suffered such direful extre- 
 mities as on this march. But all the particulars 
 
 jaciuntur. Now Pliny was indebted for his knowledge of 
 Mons Maleus to Baeton, who places it however not in the 
 country of the Oreitai but somewhere in the lower Gangetic 
 region among the Suari and Monedes. It would thus 
 appear that what Baeton had said of Mount Maleus was 
 applied to Malaria of the Oreitai, no doubt on account 
 of the likeness of the two names. Add to this that the 
 expression in the passage under consideration, for the 
 people beyond this {Malana) are not Indians, is no doubt 
 an interpolation into the text of the Journal, for it makes 
 the Oreitai to be an ludian people, whereas the Journal had 
 a little before made the Arables to be the last people of 
 Indian descent living in this direction. 
 
 '^ This country, which corresponds generally to M e k- 
 r & n, was called also Kedrosia, Gadrosia, or Gadrusia. The 
 people were an Arianian race akin to the Arakhosii, Arii, 
 and Drangiani. 
 
187 
 
 relating to this I have set dovni in my larger 
 work (VI. 22-27). The seaboard below the Ge- 
 drosians is occupied by a people called the Ikhthyo-- 
 phagi, and along this country the jfleet now pursued 
 Its way. Weighing from Malana about the second 
 watch they ran a course of 600 stadia, and reached 
 Bagisara. Here they found a commodious harbour, 
 and at a distance of 60 stadia from the sea a small 
 town called Pasira, whence the people of the neigh- 
 bourhood were called Pasirees.^^ Weighing early 
 next morning they had to double a headland 
 which projected far out into the sea, and was high 
 and precipitous. Here having dug wells, and got 
 only a small supply of bad water, they rode at 
 anchor that day because a high surf prevented the 
 vessels approaching the shore. They left this 
 place next day, and sailed till they reached Kolta 
 after a course of 200 stadia.^^ Weighing thence at 
 daybreak they reached Kalaraa, after a course of 
 
 *' Bagisara, says Kempthoine, " is now known by the 
 name of Arabah or H ormarah Bay, and is deep and 
 commodious with good anchorage, sheltered from all winds 
 bat those from the southward and eastward. The point 
 which forms this bay is very high and precipitous, and 
 runs out some distance into the sea. A rather large fishing 
 village is situated on a low sandy isthmus about one mile 
 across, which divides the bay from another. . • . • The 
 only articles of provision we could obtain from the inhabi- 
 tants were a few fowls, some dried fish, and goats. They 
 grow no kind of vegetable or corn, a few water-melons 
 being the only thing these desolate regions bring forth. 
 Sandy deserts extend into the interior as far as the eye can 
 reach, and at the back of these rise high mountains." The 
 Rhapua of Ptolemy corresponds to the Bagisara or 
 P a s i r a of Arrian, and evidently survives in the present 
 name of the bay and the headland of Arab a. 
 
 3" K o 1 1 a.— A place unknown. It was situated on the 
 western side of the isthmus which connects Has Araba 
 with the main land. 
 
188- 
 
 600 stadia^ and there anchored.'* Near the beacli 
 was a village around which grew a few palm- 
 trees, the dates o-n which were still green. There 
 was here an island called Karbii^e,- distant fromt 
 the shore about 100 stadia.*° The villagers by way 
 
 3^ A different form is Kaluboi. Situated on the river 
 now called K a 1 a m i, or Kumra, or Kurniut, the Arabia of 
 Ptolemy, who was probably misled by the likeness of the' 
 name to Karbis as the littoral district was designated here. 
 
 *° Other forms — K a r n in e, Karmina. The coast was 
 probably called Karmin, if Karmis is represented iU' 
 K u V m a t. The island lying twelve miles off the month 
 of the Kalami is now called Astola or Sang a-d i p, 
 which Kempthrone thus describes : — " Ashtola is a small 
 desolate island about four or five miles in circumference^ 
 situated twelve miles from the coast of Mekran. Its cliffs- 
 rise rather abruptly from the sea to the height of about 
 300 feet, and it is inaccessible except in one place, which is 
 a sandy beach about one mile in extent on the northern 
 side. Great quantities of turtle frequent this island for the 
 purpose of depositing their eggs. Nearchus anchored off it^ 
 and called it Karnine. He says also that he received 
 hospitable entertainment from its inhabitants, their presents 
 being cattle and fish ,• but not a vestige of any habitation 
 now remains. The Arabs come to this island, and kill 
 immense numbers of these turtles, — not for the purjoose of 
 food, but they tratSc with the shell to China, where if is 
 made into a kind of paste, and then into combs, ornaments,- 
 &c., in imitation of tortoise-shell. The caa'casses caused a 
 stench almost unbearable. The only laud animals we could 
 see on the island were rats, and they were swarming. 
 They feed chiefly oa the dead turtle. The island was 
 once famous as the rendezvous of the Jowassiraee pirates." 
 Vincent quotes Blair to this effect regsrding the island : — 
 " We were warned by the natives at Passence that it woal(J 
 be dangerous to approach the island of Asthola, as it was 
 enchanted, and that a ship had been turned into a rock. 
 The superstitious story did not deter us ; we visited the- 
 island, found plenty of excellent turtle, and saw the rock 
 alluded to, which at a distance had the appearance of a ship 
 under sail. The story was probably told to prevent our 
 disturbing the turtle. It has, however, some affinity to the 
 tale of Nearchus's transport." As the enchanted island 
 mentiooed afterwards (chap, xxxi.), under the name erf 
 Ncsala, was 100 stadia distant from the coast, it was 
 probably the same as Karnine. 
 
189 
 
 of showing their liospitality brought presents of 
 sheep and fish to Nearkhos, who says that the^ 
 mutton had a fishy taste like the flesh of sea birds 
 for the sheep fed on fisli, there being no grass in 
 the place. Next day they proceeded 200 stadia, 
 and anchored off a shore near which lay a village 
 called Kissa; 30 stadia inland.*^ That coast was 
 however called Karbis. There they found little 
 boats such as might belong to miserably poor 
 fishermen, but the men themselves they saw 
 nothing of, for they had fled when they observed 
 the ships dropping anchor. No corn was here pro- 
 curable, but a few goats had been left, which were 
 seized and put on board, for in the fleet provisions 
 now ran short. On weighing they doubled a 
 steep promontory, which projected about 150 stadia 
 into the sea, and then put into a well-sheltered 
 haven called Mosarna, where they anchored. Here 
 the natives were fishermen, and here they obtained 
 water.*^ 
 
 XXVII. From this place they took on board, 
 Nearkhos says, as pilot of the fleet, a Gedrosian 
 called Hydrakes, who undertook to conduct them 
 as far as Karmania.*^ Thenceforth until they 
 
 *^ Another form of the name is Kysa. 
 
 *2 The place according to Ptolemy is 900 stadia distant 
 from the Kalami river, but according to Marcianus 1,300 
 stadia. It must have been situated in the neighbourhood 
 of Cape Passence. The distances here are so great 
 exaggerated that the text is suspected to be corrupt or 
 disturbed. From Mosarna to Kophas the distance is 
 represented as 1,750 stadia, and yet the distance from Cape 
 Passence to Ras K o p p a (the Kophas of the text) is barely 
 500 stadia. Accordmg to Ptolemy and Marcian Karmania 
 begins at Mosarna, but according to Arrian much further 
 westward, at Badis near Cape Jask. _ • .i i. 
 
 *' " From the name given to this pilot I imagine that 
 he was an inhabitant of Hydriakus, a town near the bay 
 
190 
 
 reached the Persian Gulf, the voyage was more 
 practicable, and the names of the stations more 
 familiar. Departing from Mosarna at night, 
 they sailed 750 stadia, and reached the coast of 
 Salomon. They touched next at Barna, which 
 was 400 stadia distant.** Here grew many palm 
 trees, and here was a garden wherein were myrtles 
 and flowers from which the men wove chaplets 
 for their hair.*^ They saw now for the first time 
 cultivated trees, and met with natives in a con- 
 dition above that of mere savages. Leaving th is iliey 
 followed the winding of the coast, and arrived at 
 Dendrobosa, where they anchor in the open sea.*'' 
 They weighed from this about midnight, and after 
 a course of about 400 stadia gained the haven of 
 
 of Churber or Chewabad. . . . Upon tlie acquisition of 
 Hydrakes or the Hydriakan two .circumstances occur, 
 that give a new face to the future course of the voyage, 
 one is the very great addition to the length of each day's 
 course ; and the other, that they generally weighed during 
 the night : the former depending upon the confidence they 
 acquired by having a pilot on board ; and the latter on the 
 nature of the land breeze." — Vincent I., p. 244. 
 
 ** This place is called in Ptolemy and Marcianus Badera 
 or Bodera, and may have been situated near the Cape now 
 called Chemaul Bunder. It is mentioned under the form 
 Balara by Philostratos (Vit. ApoU. III. 56), whose descrip- 
 tion of the place is in close agreement with Arrian's. 
 
 *5 TTJa-t KOfirjcnv. Another reading, not so good how- 
 ever, is, T^CTL K(ofir]TT](riv for the village women, but 
 the Greeks were not likely to have indulged in such 
 gallantry. Wearing chaplets in the hair on festive occasions 
 was a common practice with the Greeks. Cf . our author's 
 Anab. V. 2, 8. 
 
 *!' In Ptolemy a place is mentioned called Derenoibila, 
 which may be the same as this. The old name perhaps 
 survives in the modern Da r am or Duram, the name of a 
 highland on part or the coast between Cape Passence and 
 Cape Guadel. 
 
191 
 
 Kophas.*' The inhabitants were fishermen pos- 
 sessed of small and wretched boats, which they 
 did not manage with oars fastened to a row- lock 
 according to the Grecian manner, but with paddles 
 which they thrust on this side, and on that into 
 the water, like diggers using a spade. They found 
 at this^ haven plenty of good water. Weighing 
 about the first watch they ran 800 stadia, and put 
 into Kyiza, where was a desert shore with a high 
 surf breaking upon it.*^ They were accordingly 
 obliged to let the ships ride at anchor and take 
 their meal on board. Leaving this they ran a 
 course of 500 stadia, and came to a small town 
 built on an eminence not far from the shore. On 
 turning his eyes in that direction Nearkhos 
 noticed that the land had some appearance of 
 being cultivated, and thereupon addressing 
 Arkhias (who was the son of Anaxidotos of Pella, 
 and sailed in the Commander's galley, being a 
 Makedonian of distinction) pointed out to him 
 
 *' The name appears to survive in a cognominal Cape — 
 RAs Coppa. The natives use the same kind of boat to 
 this day ; it is a curve made of several small planks nailed 
 or sewn together in a rude manner vrith cord made from 
 the bark of date trees and called kair, the_ whole being 
 then smeared over with dammer or pitch. — Kempthorne. 
 
 ** According to Ptolemy and Marcianus this place lay 
 400 stadia to the west of the promontory of Alambator (now 
 Ras Guadel). Some trace of the word may be recognized 
 in Ras Ghunse, which now designates a point of land 
 situated about those parts. Arrian passes Cape Guadel 
 without notice. " We should be reasonably surprised at 
 this," says Vincent (I. 248), " as the doubling of a cape is 
 always an achievement in the estimation of a Greek navi- 
 gator ; but having now a native pilot on board, it is evident 
 he took advantage of the land-breeze to give the fleet an 
 offing. This is clearly the reason why we hear nothing in 
 Arrian of Ptolemy's Alabagium, or Alambateir, the promi- 
 nent feature of this coast." 
 
192 
 
 that they must take possession of the place, as 
 the inhabitants would not willingly supply the 
 army with food. It could not however be taken 
 by assault, a tedious siege would be necessary, and 
 they were already short of provisions. But the 
 country was one that produced corn as the thick 
 stubble which they saw covering the fields near the 
 shore clearly proved. This proposal being approved 
 of by all, he ordered Arkhias to make a feint of 
 preparing the fleet, all but one ship to sail, while 
 he himself, pretending to be left behind with that 
 ship, approached the town as if merely to view it. 
 XXVIIl. When he approached the walls the 
 inhabitants came out to meet him, bringing a 
 present of tunny-fish broiled in pans (the first 
 instance of cookery among the Ikhthyophagi, al- 
 though these were the very last of them), accom- 
 panied with small cakes and dates. He accepted 
 their offering with the proper acknowledgments, 
 but said he wished to see their town, which he 
 was accordingly allowed to enter. No sooner was 
 he within the gates than he ordered two of his 
 archers to seize the portal by which they had en- 
 tered, while he himself with two attendants and his 
 interpreter mounting the wall hard by, made the 
 preconcerted signal, on seeing which the troops 
 under Arkhias were to perform the service assign- 
 ed to them. The Makedonians, on seeing the 
 signal, immediately ran their ships towards land, 
 and without loss of time jumped into the sea. The 
 barbarians, alarmed at these proceedings, flew to 
 arms. Upon this Nearkhos ordered his interpreter 
 to proclaim that if they wished their city to be pre- 
 served from pillage they must supply his army 
 
ios 
 
 with provisions. They replied that they had noiie, 
 and proceeded to attack the wall, but were repulsed 
 by the archers with Nearkhos, who assailed them 
 with arrows from the summit of the wall. Accord- 
 ingly, when they saw that their city was taken, and 
 on the point of being pillaged, th'ey at once begged 
 Nearkhos to take whatever corn they had, and to 
 depart without destroying the place. JSTearkhos 
 upon this orders Arkhias to possess himself of the 
 gates and the ramparts adjoining, and sends at 
 the same time officers to see what stores were 
 available, and whether these would be all honestly 
 given up. The stores were produced, consisting of 
 a kind of meal made from fish roasted, and a little 
 wheat and barley, for the chief diet of these people 
 was fish with bread added as a relish. The troops 
 having appropriated these supplies returned to the 
 fleet, which then hauled off to a cape in the neigh- 
 bourhoocl called Bagia, which the natives regarded 
 as sacred to the sun.*° 
 
 XXIX. They weighed from this cape about 
 midnight, and having made good a course of 1,000 
 stadia, put into Talmena, where they found a 
 harbour with good auchorage.^° They sailed 
 
 *** The little town attaclced hij Nearchus lay on Gwattar 
 Bay. The promontory in its neighbourhood called Bagia 
 is ixicntioned by Ptolemy and Marciauus, the latter of 
 whom gives its distance from Kyiza at 250 stadia, which 
 is hut half the distance as given by Arrian. To the west 
 ol: this was the river Kaudryaces or Hydriaces, the modern 
 Baghwar Dasti or Muhaui river, which falls into the 
 Bay of Gwattar. 
 
 ^^ A name not found elsewhere. To judge by the 
 distance assigned, it must be placed on what is now called 
 Chaubar Bay, on the shores of which are three towns, one 
 being called T i z, — perhaps the modern representative of 
 Tisa, a place in those parts mentioned by Ptolemy, and 
 which may have been the Talmena of Arrian, 
 
194 
 
 thence to Kanasis, a deserted town 400 stadia 
 distant, where they find a well ready-dug and wild 
 palm-trees.'^ These they cut down, using the 
 tender heads to support life since provisions had 
 again run scarce. They sailed all day and all 
 night suffering great distress from hunger, and 
 then came to an anchor off a desolate coast. 
 IS'earkhos fearing lest the men, if they landed, 
 would in despair desert the fleet, ordered the ships 
 to be moved to a distance from shore. Weighing 
 from this they ran a course of 850 stadia, and 
 came to anchor at Kanate, a place with an open 
 beach and some water-courses.'^^ Weighing again, 
 and making 800 stadia, they reach Taoi, where 
 they drop anchor."^' The place contained some 
 small and wretched villages, which were deserted 
 by the inhabitants upon the approach of the 
 fleet. Here the men found a little food and dates 
 of the palm-tree, beside seven camels left by the 
 villagers which were killed for food. Weighing 
 thence about daybreak they ran a course of 300 
 stadia, and came to anchor at Dagasira, where the 
 people were nomadic.^* Weighing again they 
 sailed all night and all day without intermission, 
 and having thus accomplished a course of 1,100 
 
 ^^ The name is not found elsewhere. It must have been 
 situated on a bay enclosed within the two headlands 
 Eas Fuggem and Ras Godem. 
 
 ^^ Kanate probably stood on the site of the modern 
 K u n g o u n, which is near Ras Kalat, and not far 
 from the river B u n t h. 
 
 ^^ Another and the common form is Troisi. The villages 
 of the Taoi must have been where the Sudich river enters 
 the sea. Here Ptolemy places his Kommana or Nommana 
 and his follower Marcianhis Ommana. See ante p. 104 note. 
 
 ^* The place in Ptolemy is called Agrispolis, — in Mar- 
 cianus, Agrisa. The modern name is G i r i s h k. 
 
195 
 
 stadia, left behind them the nation of the Ikhthyo- 
 phagi, on whose shores they had suffered such 
 severe privations. They could nob approach the 
 beach on account of the heavy surf, but rode at 
 anchor out at sea. In navigating the Ikhthyophagi 
 coast the distance traversed was not much short 
 of 10,000 stadia. The people, as their name 
 imports, live upon fish. Few of them, however, are 
 fishermen, and what fish they obtain they owe 
 mostly to the tide at whose reflux they catch them 
 with nets made for this purpose. These nets are 
 generally about 2 stadia long, and are composed 
 of the bark (or fibres) of the palm, which they 
 twine into cord in the same way as the fibres of 
 flax are twined. When the sea recedes, hardly any 
 fish are found among the -dry sands, but they 
 abound in the depressions of the surface where the 
 water still remains. The fish are for the most part 
 small, though someare caught of a considerable size, 
 these being taken in the nets. The more delicate 
 kinds they eat raw as soon as they are taken out of 
 the water. The large and coarser kinds they dry in 
 the sun, and when properly dried grind into a sort 
 of meal from which they make bread. This meal is 
 sometimes also used to bake cakes with. The cattle 
 as well as their masters fare on dried fish, for the 
 country has no pastures, and hardly even a blade of 
 grass. In most parts crabs, oysters and mussels add 
 to the means of subsistence. Natural salt is found 
 in the country, * * * from these they make oil.^'' 
 
 •» Schmieder suggests that instead of the common 
 reading here ano rovrav eXaiov nouovcnv Arrian may 
 have written otto Bvvviov e. n. they make oil from thun^. 
 nies, i. e. use the fat for oil. 
 
19G 
 
 Certain of their communities inhabit deserts where 
 not a tree grows, and where there are not even 
 wild fruits. Fish ia their sole means of sub- 
 sistence. In some few places, however, they sow 
 with grain some patches of land, and eat the 
 produce as a viand of luxury along with the fish 
 which forms the staple of their diet. The better 
 class of the population in building their houses 
 use, instead of wood, the bones of whales stranded 
 on the coast, the broadest bones being employed 
 in the framework of the doors. Poor people, and 
 these are the great majority, construct their 
 dwellings with the backbones of fish.°° 
 
 XXX. Whales of enormous size frequent the 
 outer ocean, besides other fish larger than those 
 found in the Mediterranean. Nearkhos relates that 
 when they were bearing away from Kyiza, the 
 sea early in the morning was observed to be blown 
 up into the air as if by the force of a whirlwind. 
 The men greatly alarmed enquired of the pilots 
 the nature and cause of this phenomenon, and 
 were informed that it proceeded from the blowing 
 of the whales as they sported in the sea. This 
 report did not quiet their alarm, and through 
 astonishment they let the oars drop from their 
 hands. Nearkhos, however, recalled them to duty, 
 and encouraged them by his presence, ordering 
 the prows of those vessels that were near him to 
 be turned as in a sea-fight towards the creatures 
 as they approached, while the rowers were just 
 then to shout as loud as they could the alala,. 
 
 ^^ "This description of the natives, with that of their 
 mode of living and the country they inhabit, is strictly 
 Qoxxect even to the present day." — Kempthorne. 
 
197 
 
 and swell tho noise by clashing the water rapidly 
 with the oars. The men thus encouraged on 
 seeing the preconcerted signal advanced to action. 
 Then, as they approached the monsters, they 
 shouted the alalaas loud as they could bawl, sound- 
 ed the trumpets, and dashed the water noisily 
 witli the oars. Thereupon the whales, which were 
 seen ahead, plunged down terror-struck into the 
 depths, and soon after rose astern, when they 
 vigorously continued their blowing. The men 
 by loud acclamations expressed their joy at this 
 unexpected deliverance, the credit of which they 
 gave to ISTearkhos, who had shown such admirable 
 fortitude and judgment. 
 
 We learn further, that on many parts of the coast 
 whales are occasionally stranded, being left in 
 shallow water at ebb-tide, and thus prevented 
 from escaping back to sea, and that they are 
 sometimes also cast ashore by violent storms. 
 Thus perishing, their flesh rots away, and gradu- 
 ally drops off till the bones are left bare. These 
 are used by the natives in the construction of their 
 huts, the larger ribs making suitable bearing 
 beams, and the smaller serving for rafters. The 
 jaw- bones make arches for the door-ways, for 
 whales are sometimes five and twenty orgmcB 
 (fathoms) in length.^' 
 
 XXXI. When they were sailing along the. 
 Ikhthyophagi coast, they were told about an 
 island which was said to be about 100 stadia dis- 
 
 »T Strabo (XV. ii. 12, 13) has extracted from NearlAo* 
 tl-ip same passage regardinor whales. See Nearchi fragm. 
 25. Cf Onosikritos (fr. 30) and Ortliagoras in Aelian. N. Au. 
 XVII. 6; Diodor. XVII, lOG; Curtius X. 1, 11. 
 
198 
 
 tant from the mainland, and uninhabited. Its 
 name v\ as JSTosala, and it was according to the local 
 tradition sacred to the sun. No one willingly 
 visited this island, and if any one was carried to 
 it unawares, he was never more seen. Nearkhos 
 states that a transport of his fleet, manned with 
 an Egyptian crew, disappeared not far from this 
 island, and that the pilots accounted for their dis- 
 appearance by saying that they must have landed 
 on the island in ignorance of tho danger which 
 they would thereby incur. Nearkhos, however^ 
 sent a galley of 30 oars to sail round the island, 
 instructing the men not to land, but to approach 
 as near as they could to the shore, and hail the 
 men, shouting out the name of the captain or any 
 other name they had not forgotten. No one an- 
 swered to the call, and Nearkhos says that he 
 . then sailed in person to the island, and com- 
 pelled his company much against their will to 
 go on shore. He too landed, and showed that 
 the story about the island was nothing but an 
 empty fable. Concerning this same island he 
 heard also another story, which ran to this 
 effect : it had been at one time the residence 
 of one of the Nereids, whose name, he says, he 
 could not learn. It was her wont to have inter- 
 course with any man who visited the island, 
 changing him thereafter into a fish, and casting him 
 into the sea. The sun, however, being displeased 
 with the Nereid, ordered her to remove from the 
 island. She agreed to do this, and seek a home 
 elsewhere, but stipulated that she should be 
 cured of her malady. To this condition the sun 
 assented, and then the Nereid, taking pity upon 
 
199 
 
 hhe men whom she had transformed into fish^ 
 restored them to their human shape. These men 
 were the progenitors of the Ikhthyophagi, the 
 line of succession remaining unbroken down to 
 the time of Alexander. Now, for my part I have 
 no praise to bestow on Nearkhos for expending 
 so much time and ingenuity on the not very 
 difficult task of proving the falsehood of these 
 stories, for, to take up antiquated fables merely 
 with a view to prove their falsehood, I can only 
 regard as a contemptible piece of folly. ^^ 
 
 XXXII. To the Ikhthyophagi succeed the 
 Gadrosii, who occupy a most wretched tract of 
 country full of sandy deserts, in penetrating 
 which Alexander and his a.rmy were reduced to 
 the greatest extremities, of whicli an account is to 
 be found in my other work. But this is an in- 
 land region, and therefore when the expedition 
 left the Ikhthyophagi, its course lay along Karma- 
 nia.'^' Here, when they first drew towards shore, 
 
 ^' The story of the Kereid is evidently an Eastern 
 version of the story of the enchantress Kirke. The island 
 here called Nosala is that already mentioned under the 
 name of Karbine, now Asthola. 
 
 ^'Kar mania extended from Cape Jask to Eas 
 Nabend, and comprehended the districts now called 
 Moghostan, Kirman, and Laiistan. Its metropolis, accord- 
 ing to Ptolemy, was K a r m a n a, now Kirman, which 
 gives its name to the whole province. The first port in 
 Karmania reached by the expedition was in the neighbour- 
 hood of Cape Jask, where the coast is desci'ibed as being 
 very rocky, and dangerous to mariners on account of shoals 
 and rocks under water. Kempthorne says- "The cliffs 
 along this part of the coast are very high, and in many 
 places almost perpendicular. Some have a singular appear- 
 ance, one near Jask being exactly of the shape of a quoin 
 or wedge ; and another is a very remarkable peak, being 
 formed by three stones, as if placed by human hands, 
 one on the top of the other. It is very high, and has the 
 resemblance of a chimney." 
 
200 
 
 tkay could not effect a landing, but had to remain 
 all night on board anchored in the deep, because 
 a violent surf spread along the shore and far out 
 to sea. Thereafter the direction of their course 
 changed, and they sailed no longer towards sunset, 
 but turned the heads of the vessels more to 
 the north-west. Karmania is better wooded and 
 produces better fruit than the country either 
 of the Ikhthyophagi or the Oreitai. It is also 
 more grassy, and better supplied with water. 
 They anchor next at Badis, an inhabited place in 
 Karmania, where grew cultivated trees of many 
 different kinds, with the exception of the olive, and 
 where also the soil favoured the growth of the 
 vine and of corn.^° Weighing thence they ran 
 800 stadia, and came to an anchor off a barren 
 coast, whence they descried a headland projecting 
 far out into the sea, its nearest extremity being to 
 appearance about a day's sail distant. Persons 
 acquainted with those regions asserted that this 
 cape belonged to Arabia, and was called Makota, 
 whence cinnamon and other products were exported 
 to the Assyrians .^^ And from this coast where 
 
 ^^ Badis must have been near where the village of Jask 
 now stands, beyond which was the promontory now called 
 Rfls Kerazi or Keroot or Bombarak, which marks the 
 entrance to the Straits of Ormus. This projection is the 
 Cape Karpella of Ptolemy. Badis may be the same as the 
 Kanthatis of this geographer. 
 
 °* Maketa is now called Cape Mesandum in Oman. It is 
 thus described by Palgrave in the Narrative of his Travels 
 through Central and Eastern Arabia (Vol. II. pp. 316-7). 
 The afternoon was already far advanced when wo reached 
 the headland, and saw before us the narrow sea-pass which 
 runs between the farthest rocks of Mesandum and the 
 mainland of the Cape. This strait is called the " Bab" or 
 " gate :" it presents an imposing spectacle, with lofty pre- 
 cipices on either side, and the water flowing deep and black 
 
201 
 
 tiiG fleet was now anchored, and from the headland 
 which they saw projecting into the sea right op- 
 posite, the gulf in. my opinion (which is also that 
 of aSTearkhos) extends up into the interior, and is 
 probably the Red Sea. When this headland was 
 now in view Onesikritos, the chief pilot, proposed 
 that they should proceed to explore it, and by so 
 shaping their courscj escape the distressing passagu 
 up the gulf; but Nearkhos opposed this proposal. 
 Onesikritos, he said, must bo wanting iu ordinary 
 judgment if he did not know with what design 
 Alexander had sent the fleet on this voyage. He 
 certainly had not sent it, because there were no 
 proper means of conducting the whole army safely 
 by land, but his express purpose was to obtain a 
 knowledge of the coasts they might pass on 
 their voyage, together with the harbours and 
 islets, and to have the bays that might occur 
 explored, and to ascertain whether there were 
 towns bordering on the ocean, and whether the 
 countries were habitable or desert. They ought 
 not therefore to lose sight of this object, seeing 
 that they were now near the end of their toils, and 
 especially that they were no longer in want of 
 the necessary supplies for prosecuting the voyage. 
 
 below ; the cliffs are utterly bare aud extremely well adapted 
 for skivering whatever vessels have the ill lack to come 
 upon them. Hence aud from the ceaseless dash of the dark 
 waves, the name of " Mesandum" or " Anvil," a term seldom 
 better applied. But this is not all, for some way out at 
 sea rises a huge square mass of basalt of ahuiidredfeet aud 
 more in height sheer above the water ; it bears the name 
 of " Salnmah^' or " safety," a euphemism of good augviry 
 for " danger." Several small jagged peaks, just projecting 
 above the surface, cluster in its neighbourhood ; these bear 
 the endearing name of " Bcnat Salamah," or " Daughters 
 of Salamah." 
 
202 
 
 He feared, moreover, since the headland stretched 
 towards the south, lest they should find the 
 country there a parched desert destitute of water 
 and insufterably hot. This argument prevailed, 
 and it appears to me that by this counsel Nearkhos 
 saved the expedition, for all accounts represent 
 this capo and the parts adjacent as an arid waste 
 where water cannot possibly be procured. 
 
 XXXIII. On resuming the voyage they sailed 
 close to land, and after making about 700 stadia 
 anchored on another shore called Neoptana.^' 
 From this they weighed next day at dawn, and 
 after a course of 100 stadia anchored at the mouth 
 of the river Auamis^^ in a country called Har- 
 mozeia.^* Here at last they found a hospitable 
 
 ®^ This place is not mentioned elsewhere, but must have 
 been situated somewhere, in the neighbourhood of the 
 village of Karun. 
 
 "' The A n a m i 3, called by Pliny the Ananis, and by 
 Ptolemy and Mela the Andanis, is now the Minab or Ibra- 
 him Elver. 
 
 ^^ Other forms — Hormazia, Armizia regio. The name 
 was transferred from the mainland to the island now called 
 O r m u s, when the inhabitants fled thither to escape from 
 the Moghals. It is called by Arrian Org an a (chap, 
 xxxvii.) The Arabians called it Djerun, a name which it 
 continued to bear up to the 12th century. Pliny mentions 
 an island called Oguris, of which perhaps Djerun is a 
 corruption. He ascribes to it the honour of having been 
 the birthplace of Erythres. The description, however, 
 which he gives of it is more applicable to the island called 
 by Arrian (chap, xxxvii.) Oarakta (now Kishm) than to 
 Ormus. Arrian's description of Harmozia is still appHcable 
 to the region adjacent to the Miuab. " It is termed," says 
 Kempthorne, "the Paradise of Persia. It is certainly most 
 beautifully fertile, and aboiinds in orange groves, orchards 
 containing apples, pears, peaches, and apricots, with vine- 
 yards producing a delicious grape, from which was made 
 at one time a wine called Aanber rosolia, generally consi- 
 dered the white wino of Kishma ; but no wine is made here 
 now." The old name of Kishma— Oarakta— is preserved 
 in one of its modern names, Vrokt or Brokt. 
 
203 
 
 region, one vvliicli was rich in every pro.duction 
 except only the olive. Here accordingly they 
 landed, and enjoyed a welcome respite from their 
 many toils— heightening their pleasure by calling 
 to remembrance what miseries they had suffered 
 at sea and in the Ikhthyophagi country, where 
 the shores were so sterile, and the natives so 
 brute-like, and where they had been reduced to 
 the last extremities of want. Here, also, some of 
 them in scattered parties, leaving the encamp- 
 ment on the shore, wandered inland searching for 
 one thing and another that might supply their 
 several requirements. While thus engaged, they 
 fell in with a man who wore a Greek mantle, 
 and was otherwise attired as a Greek and spoke 
 the Greek language. Those who first discovered 
 him declared that tears started to their eyes, so 
 strange did it appear, after all they had suffered, 
 to see once more a countryman of their own, and. 
 to hear the accents of their native tongue. They 
 asked him whence he came, and who he was. 
 He replied that he had straggled from the army of 
 Alexander, and that the army led by Alexander in 
 person was not far off. On hearing this they hurry 
 the man with shouts of tumultuous joy to the pre- 
 sence of Nearkhos, to whom he repeated all that he 
 had already said, assuring him that the army 
 and the king were not more than a 5 days' march 
 distant from the sea. The Governor of the pro- 
 vince, he added, was on the spot, and he would 
 present him to Nearkhos, and he presented him 
 accordingly. Nearkhos consulted this person re- 
 garding the route he should take in order to 
 reach the king, and then they all went off, and made 
 
204 
 
 their way to the ships. Early next morning the 
 ships by orders of Nearkhos ;werc drawn on shore, 
 partly for repair of the damages which some of 
 them liad suffered on the voyage, and partly 
 because he had resolved to leave here the greater 
 part of his army. Having this in view, he fortified 
 the roadstead with a double palisade, and also 
 with an earthen rampart and a deep ditch extend- 
 ing from the banks of the river to the dockyard 
 where the ships were lying. 
 
 XXXIV. While Nearkhos was thus occupied, 
 the Governor being aware that Alexander was in 
 great anxiety about the fate of this expedition, 
 concluded that he would receive some great advan- 
 tage from Alexander should he be the first to 
 apprize him of the safety of the fleet and of the 
 approaching visit of JSTearkhos. Accordingly ho 
 hastened to Alexander by the shortest route, and 
 announced that Nearkhos was coming from the 
 'fleet to visit him. Alexander, though he could 
 scarcely believe the report, nevertheless received 
 the tidings with all the joy that might have been 
 expected. 
 
 Day after day, however, passed without confirma- 
 tion of the fact, till Alexander, on comparing the 
 distance from the sea with the dafce on which the 
 report had reached him, at last gave up all belief 
 in its truth, the more especially as several of the 
 parties which he had successively despatched to 
 find Nearkhos and escort him to the camp, had 
 returned without him, after going a short distance, 
 and meeting no one, while others who had prose- 
 cuted the search further, and failed to find Nearkhos 
 and his company were still absent. He therefore 
 
205 
 
 ordered Mie Governor into confinement for having 
 brought delusive intelligence and rendered his 
 vexation more acute by the disappointment of bin. 
 hopes, and indeed his looks and perturbation of 
 mind plainly indicated that he was pierced to the 
 heart with a great grief. Meanwhile, however, one 
 of the parties that had been despatched in search 
 of Nearkhos, and his escort being furnished with 
 horses and waggons for their accommodation, fell 
 in on the way with ISTcarkhos and Arkhias, who 
 Avere followed by five or six attendants. At first 
 sight they recognized neither the admiral himself 
 nor Arkhias, so much changed was their appear- 
 ance, their hair long and neglected, their persons 
 filthy, encrusted all over with brine and shrivelled, 
 their complexion sallow from want of sleep and 
 other severe privations. On their asking where 
 Alexander was, they were told the name of the 
 place. Arkhias then, perceiving who they were, 
 said to Nearkhos — " It strikes me, Nearkhos, these 
 men are traversing the desert by the route we 
 pursue, for no other reason than because they have 
 been sent to our relief. True, they did not know us, 
 but that is not at all surprising, for our appearance 
 is so wretched that we are past all recognition. 
 Let us tell them who we are, and ask them why they 
 arc travelling this way." Nearkhos, thinking he 
 spoke with reason, asked the men whither they were 
 bound. They replied that they were searching for 
 Nearkhos and the fleet. " Well ! I am Is^earkhos," 
 said the admiral, *' and this man here is Arkhias, 
 Take us under your conduct, and we will report to 
 Alexander tlie whole history of the expedition.'* 
 XXXV. They were accordingly accommodated 
 
206 
 
 in the waggons, and conducted to the camp. Some 
 of the horsemen, however, wishing to be tlie first 
 to impart the news, hastened forward, and told 
 Alexander that Nearkhos himself, and Arkhias 
 with him, and five attendants, would soon arrive, 
 but to enquiries about the rest of the people in 
 the expedition they had no information to give. 
 Alexander, concluding from this that all the expe- 
 dition had perished except this small band, 
 which had been unaccountably saved, did not so 
 much feel pleasure for the preservation of Near- 
 khos and Arkhias as distress for the loss of his 
 whole fleet. During this conversation Nearkhos 
 and Arkhias arrived. It was not without diffi- 
 culty Alexander after a close scrutiny recognized 
 who the hirsute, ill-clad men who stood before 
 him were, and being confirmed by their misera- 
 able appearance in his belief that the expedition 
 had perished, he was still more overcome with 
 grief. At length he held out his hand to Near- 
 khos, and leading him apart from his attendants 
 and his guards he burst into tears, and wept for a 
 long time. Having, after a good while, recovered 
 some composure, "Nearkhos!" he says, "since you 
 and Arkhias have been restored to me alive, I can 
 bear more patiently the calamity of losing all my 
 fleet ; but tell me now, in what manner did the 
 vessels" and my people perish." " my king !" re- 
 plied Nearkhos, " the ships are safe andthej^eople 
 also, and we are here to give you an account of their 
 preservation." Tears now fell much faster from 
 his eyes than before, but they were tears of joy for 
 the salvation of his fleet which he had given up for 
 lost. ** And where are now my ships," he then 
 
207 
 
 enquired. " They are drawn up on shore," replied 
 Nearkhos, " on the beach of the river Anamis for 
 repairs." Upon this Alexander, swearing by Zeus 
 of the Greeks and Ammon of the Libyans, declared 
 that he felt happier at receiving these tidings 
 than in being the conqueror of all Asia, for, had 
 the expedition been lost, the blow to his peace of 
 mind would have been a counterpoise to all the 
 success he had achieved. 
 
 XXXVI. But the Governor whom Alexander 
 had put into confinement for bringing intelligence 
 that appeared to be false, seeing Nearklios in the 
 camp, sunk on his knees before him, and said : 
 " I am the man who brought to Alexander the 
 news of your safe arrival. You see how I am 
 situated." ISTearkhos interceded with Alexander 
 on his behalf, and he was then liberated. Alexan- 
 der next proceeded to offer a solemn sacrifice in 
 gratitude for the preservation of his fleet unto 
 Zeus the Preserver, and Herakles, and Apollo the 
 Averter of Destruction, and unto Poseidon, and 
 every other deity of ocean. He celebrated like- 
 wise a contest in gymnastics and music, and 
 exhibited a splendid procession wherein a fore- 
 most place was assigned to Nearkhos. Chaplets 
 ■were wreathed for his head, and flowers were 
 showered upon him by the admiring multitude. 
 At the end of these proceedings the king said to 
 Nearkhos, " I do not wish you, Nearkhos, either 
 to risk your life or expose yourself again to the 
 hardships of sea-voyaging, and I shall therefore 
 send some other oSicer to conduct the expedition 
 onward to Sousa." But Nearkhos answered, and 
 said : *' It is my duty, king ! as it is also my 
 
208 
 
 desire, in all things to obey you, but if your object 
 is to gratify mc in some way, do not take the 
 command from me until I complete the voyage 
 by bringing the ships in safety to Soiisa. I have 
 been trusted to execute that part of the under- 
 taking in which all its difficulty and danger lay ; 
 transfer not, then, to another the remaining part, 
 which hardly requires an effort, and that, too, just 
 at the time when the glory of final success ia 
 ready to be won." Alexander scarcely allowed 
 him to conclude his request, which he granted 
 with grateful acknowledgment of his services.^* 
 Then he sent him down again to the coast 
 with only a small escort, believing that the 
 country through which he would pass was 
 friendly. He was not permitted however to 
 pursue his way to the coast without opposition, 
 for the barbarians, resenting the action of 
 Alexander in deposing their satrap, had gathered 
 in full force and seized all the strongholds 
 of Karmania before Tlepolemos, the newly ap- 
 pointed Governor, had yet succeeded in fully 
 establishing his authority. °^ It happened there- 
 fore that several times in the course of a day 
 Nearkhos encountered bands of the insurgents 
 with whom he had to do battle. He there- 
 fore hurried forward without lingering by the 
 way, and reached the coast in safety, though 
 not without severe toil and difficulty. On arriv- 
 
 °5 Diodoros (XVII. IOC) gives quite a difFercnt account of 
 tlie visit of Nearklios to Alexander. 
 
 °* The preceding satrap was Sibyriios, tlie friend of 
 IVIogasthenes. He had been transferred to govern the 
 Gadrosians aud the Araldiotians. 
 
209 
 
 ing he sacrificed to Zeus the Preserver, and cele- 
 brated gymnastic games, 
 
 XXXVII. These pious rites having been duly 
 performed, they again put to sea, and, after passing 
 a desolate and rocky island, arrived at another 
 island, where they anchored. This was one of 
 considerable size and inhabited, and 300 stadia 
 distant from Harmozeia, the harbour which they 
 had last left. The desert island was called Or- 
 gana, and that where they anchored Oiirakta.*"' 
 It produced vines, palm-trees, and corn. Its 
 length is 800 stadia. Mazenes, the chief of this 
 island, accompanied them all the way to Sousa, 
 having volunteered to act as pilot of the fleet. The 
 natives of the island professed to point out the 
 tomb of the very first sovereign of the country, 
 whose name they said was Erythres, after whom 
 the sea in that part of the world was called the 
 Erythraean. ^^ Weighing thence their course lay 
 
 *'' As stated in Note 64, Organa is now Or muz, and 
 Oarakta, Kishm. Ormuz, once so renowned for its wealth 
 and commerce, that it was said of it by its Portuguese 
 occupants, that if the world were a golden ring, Ormuz 
 would be the diamond signet, is now in utter decay. " I 
 have seen," says Palgrave (II. 319), the abasement of Tyre, 
 the decHne of Surat, the degradation of Goa : but in none 
 of those fallen seaports is aught resembling the utter 
 desolation of Ormuz." A recent traveller in Persia 
 (Binning) thus describes the coast : " It presents no view 
 but sterile, barren, and desolate chains of rocks and hills : 
 and the general aspect of the Gulf is dismal and forbidding. 
 Moore's charming allusions to Oman's sea, with its ' banks 
 of pearl and palmy isles' are unfortunately quite visionary; 
 for uglier and more unpicturesque scenery I never beheld." 
 — Two Years' Travel in Persia, I. pp. 136, 137- 
 
 «* For the legend of Erythres see Agatharkhides De 
 Mari Eryth. I. 1-4 and Strabo XVI. iv. 20. The Eryth- 
 rsean-gea included the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and 
 the Red Sea, the last being called also the Arabian Gulf, 
 when it was necessary to distinguish it from the Erythraean 
 
 a 2 
 
210 
 
 along the island, and they anchored on its shores 
 at a place whence another island was visible at a 
 distance of about 40 stadia. They learned that it 
 was sacred to Poseidon, and inaccessible.^^ Next 
 morning, as they were putting out to sea, the ebb- 
 tide caught them with such violence that three of 
 the galleys were stranded on the beach, and the rest 
 of the fleet escaped with difficulty from the surf 
 into deep water. The stranded vessels were how- 
 ever floated off at the return of the tide, and the 
 day after rejoined the fleet. They anchored at 
 another island distant from the mainland some- 
 where about 300 stadia, after running a course 
 of 400 stadia. Towards daybreak they resumed 
 the voyage, passing a desert island which lay on 
 
 in general. It can hardly be donbted that the epithet 
 Erythraean (which means red, Greek ef>v6pos) fii*st 
 designated the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, and was af tei^wards 
 extended to the seas beyond the Straits by those who first 
 explored them. The Eed Sea was so called because it 
 washed the shores of Arabia, called the Eed Land (Edom), 
 in contradistinction to Egj^pt, called the Black Land 
 (Kemi), from the darkness of the soil deposited by the 
 Nile. Some however thought that it received its name 
 from the quantity of red coral found in its waters, especi- 
 ally along the eastern shores, and Strabo says (loc. cit.): 
 " Some say that the sea is red from the colour arising from 
 reflexion either from the sun, which is vertical, or from 
 the mountains, which are red by being scorched with 
 intense heat; for the colour it is supposed may be produced 
 by both of these causes. Ktesias of Knidos speal^s of a 
 spring which discharges into the sea a red and ochrous 
 water." — Cf. Eustath. Comment. 88. 
 
 ^^ This island is that now called A n g a r, or H a n j a m, 
 to the south of Kishm. It is described as being nearly 
 destitute of vegetation and uninhabited. Its hills, of 
 volcanic origin, rise to a height of 300 feet. The other 
 island, distant from the mainland about 800 stadia, is now 
 called the Great Tombo, near which is a smaller island 
 called Little Tombo. They are low, flat, and uninhabited. 
 They are 25 miles distant from the western extremity of 
 Kishm. 
 
211 
 
 their left, called Pylora, and anchored at Sisidone, 
 a small town which could su])ply nothing but water 
 and fish/'^ Here again the natives were fish eaters, 
 for the soil was utterly sterile. Having taken 
 water on board, they weighed again, and having run 
 300 stadia,. anchored at Tarsia, the extremity of a 
 cape which projects far into the sea. The next 
 place of anchorage was Kataia^ a desert island, and 
 very flat.'^ It was said to be sacred to Hermes 
 and Aphrodite. The length of this course was 
 300 stadia. To this island sheep and goats are 
 annually sent by the people of the adjoining con- 
 tinent who consecrate them to Hermes and 
 Aphrodite . These animals were to be seen running 
 about in a wild state, the effect of time and the 
 barren soil. 
 
 XXXVIII. Karmania extends as far as this 
 island, but the parts beyond appertain to Persia. 
 The extent of the Klarmanian coast was 3,700 
 
 ™ The island of P y 1 o r a is that now called Polior. 
 Sisidone appears in other forms— Prosidodone, pro- 
 Sidodone, pros Sidone, pros Dodone. Kempthorne thought 
 this was the small fishing village now called M o g o s, 
 situated in a bay of the same name. The nanie may per- 
 haps be preserved in the name of a village in the same 
 neighbourhood, called Dnan Tarsia— now Ras-el-Dj ard 
 — described as high and rugged, and of a reddish colour. 
 
 " K at ai a is now the island called Kaes or Kenn. 
 Its character has altered, being now covered with dwarf 
 trees, and growing wheat and tobacco. It supplies ships 
 with refreshment, chiefly goats and sheep and a ^few- 
 vegetables. "At morning," says Binning (1.137), we 
 passed Polior, and at noon were running along the South 
 side of the Isle of Keesh, called in our maps Kenn ; a 
 fertile and populous island about 7 miles in length, ihe 
 inhabitants of this, as well as of every other island m the 
 Gulf, are of Arab blood— for every true Persian appears to 
 hate the very sight of the sea." 
 
212 
 
 stadia/^ The people of this province live like the 
 Persians, on whom they border, and they have 
 similar weapons and a similar military system. 
 When the fleet left the sacred island, its course lay 
 along the coast of Persia, and it first drew to land 
 at a place called Ila, where there is a harbour under 
 cover of a small and desert island called Kai- 
 kander.'^ The. distance run was 400 stadia. 
 Towards daybreak they came to another island 
 which was inhabited, and anchored thereon. Near- 
 khos notices that there is here a fishery for 
 pearl as there is in the Indian Sea.'* Having 
 Bailed along the shores of the promontory in 
 which this island terminates, a distance of about 
 40 stadia, they came to an anchor upon its 
 shores. The next anchorage was in the vicinity 
 of a lofty hill called Okhos, where the harbour 
 was well sheltered and the inhabitants were 
 fishermen.'^ Yfeighing thence they ran a course of 
 
 "" The boundary between Karmania and Persis was 
 formed by a range of mountains opposite the island of 
 Kataia. Ptolemy, however, makes Karmania extend 
 much further, to the river Bagradas, now called the 
 NabauorNabend. 
 
 " Kaikander has the other forms — Kekander, Ki- 
 kander, Kaskandrus, Karkundrus, Karskandrus, Sasa3kan- 
 der. This island, which is now called In d er ah ia, or 
 A n d a r a V i a, is about four or five miles from the mainland, 
 having a small town on the north side, where is a safe and 
 coinmodious harbour. The other island me .tioned imme- 
 diately after is probably that now called Busheab. It is, 
 according to Kempthorne, a low, flat island, about eleven 
 miles from the mainland, containing a small town prin- 
 cipally inhabited by Arabs, who live on fish and dates. 
 The harbour has good anchorage even for large vessels. 
 
 ''* The pearl oyster is found from Ras Musendom to the 
 head of the Gulf. There are no famed banks on the Persian 
 aide, but near Bushire there are some good ones. 
 
 '' Apostana was near a place now called S c h e v a r. 
 It is thought that the name may be traced in D a h r a 
 
213" 
 
 400 stadia, which brought them to Apostana, where 
 they anchored. At this station they saw a great 
 many boats, and learned that at a distance of 60 
 stadia from the shore there was a village. From 
 Apostana they weighed at night, and proceeded 
 400 stadia to a bay, on the borders of which many 
 villages were to be seen. Here the fleet anchored 
 under the projection of a cape which rose to a 
 considerable height. '° Palm-trees and other fruit- 
 bearing trees similar to those of Greece, adorned 
 the country round. On weighing thence they 
 sailed in a line with the coast, and after a course of 
 somew^here about 600 stadia reached Gogana, which 
 was an inhabited place, where they anchored at the 
 mouth of a winter torrent called the Areon. It was 
 difficult to anchor, for the approach to the mouth 
 of the river was by a narrow channel, since the 
 ebbing of the tide had left shoals which lay all 
 round in a circle.'' Weighing thence they gained, 
 after running as many as 800 stadia, the mouth of 
 another river called the Sitakos, where also it was 
 troublesome to anchor. Indeed all along the 
 coast of Persis the fleet had to be navigated 
 through shoals and breakers and oozy channels. 
 
 A h b fi n, an adjacent mountain ridge of which Okhos was 
 probably the southern extremity. 
 
 ^° This bay is that on which Naban or Nabend is 
 now situated. It is not far from the river called by Ptolemy 
 the Bagradas. The place abounds with palm-trees as of 
 old. 
 
 '' Gogana is now Konkan or Konaun. The 
 bay lacks depth of water ; a stream still falls into it — the 
 Areon of the text. To the north-west of this place in the 
 interior lay P a s a r g a d a, the ancient capital of Persia, 
 and the burial-place of Kyros, in the neighbourhood of 
 Murghab, a place to the N. E. of Shiraz (30° 24' N . 
 56^ 20' E.). 
 
214 
 
 At the Sitakos they took on board a large supply 
 of provisions, which under orders from the king 
 had been collected expressly for the fleet. They 
 remained at this station one-and- twenty days in 
 all, occupied in repairing and kareening the ships, 
 which had been drawn on shore for the pur- 
 pose/^ 
 
 XXXIX. Weighing thence they came to an 
 inhabited district with a town called Hieratis, 
 after accomplishing a distance of 750 stadia. 
 They anchored in a canal which drew its waters 
 from a river and emptied into the sea, and was 
 called Heratemis.'^ Weighing next morning about 
 sunrise, and sailing by the shore, they reached a 
 winter torrent called the Padargos, where the 
 whole place was a peninsula, wherein were 
 many gardens and all kinds of trees that bear 
 fruit. The name of the place was Mesam- 
 
 " The Sitakos has been identified with the Kara Agach, 
 Mand, Mund or Kakee river, which has a course of 300 
 miles. Its source is near Kodiyan, which lies N. W. of 
 Shiraz. At a part of its course it is called the Kewar 
 Eiver. The meaning of its name is hlaclc wood. In Pliny 
 it appears as the Sitioganus. Sitahon was jprobably the 
 name as Nearkhos heard it pronounced, as it frequently 
 happens that when a Greek writer comes upon a name 
 like an obHque case in Greek, he invents a nominative for it. 
 With regard to the form of the name in Pliny, ' g' is but a 
 phonetic change instead of 'k'. The ' i' is probably an 
 error in transcription for 't'. The Sitakos is probably the 
 Brisoana of Ptolemy, which can have no connexion with the 
 later -mentioned Brizana of our author. See Report on the 
 Persian Gulfhy Colonel Eoss, lately issued. Pliny states 
 that from the moutt of the Sitiogus an ascent could be 
 made to Pasargada, in seven days ; but this is manifestly 
 an error. 
 
 ^' The changes which have taken place along the coast 
 have been so considerable that it is difficult to explain this 
 part of the narrative consistently with the now existing 
 state of things. 
 
215 
 
 bria.^° Weighing from Mesambria and running 
 a course of about 200 stadia,' they reach Taoke 
 on the river Granis, and there anchor. Inland 
 from this lay a royal city of the Persians, dis- 
 tant from the mouths of the river about 200 
 stadia.^^ We learn from ISTearkhos that on their 
 way to Taoke a stranded whale had been observed 
 from the fleet, and that a party of the men having 
 rowed alongside of it, measured it and brought 
 back word that it had a length of 60 cubits. Its 
 skin, they added, was. clad with scales to a depth 
 of about a cubit, and thickly clustered over with 
 parasitic mussels, barnacles, and seaweed. The 
 monster, it was also noticed, was attended by a 
 great number of dolphins, larger than are ever 
 seen in the Mediterranean. Weighing from Taoke 
 they proceeded to Ehogonis, a winter torrent, 
 where they anchored in a safe harbour.^' The 
 course thither was one of 200 stadia. Weighing 
 
 "" The peninsula, which is 10 miles in length and 3 in 
 breadth, lies so low that at times of high tide it i# all but 
 submerged. The modem Abu-S hah r orBushir is 
 situated on it. 
 
 "^ Nearkhos, it is probable, put into the mouth of the 
 river now called by some the Kis ht, by others the Bosha- 
 vir. A town exists in the neighbourhood called G t- a. or 
 Gran, which may have received its name from the Granis. 
 The royal city (or rather palace), 200 stadia distant from this 
 river, is mentioned by Strabo, xv. 3, 3, as being situate on 
 the coast. Ptolemy does not mention the Granis. He 
 makes Taoke to be an inland town, and calls all the district 
 in this part Taokene. Taoke may be the Touag mentioned 
 by Idrisi, which is now represented by Konar Takhta near 
 the Kisht. 
 
 •"^Rhogoni s. — It is written Ehogomanis by Ammiauus 
 Marcellinus, who mentions it as one of the four largest 
 rivers in Persia, the other three being the Vatrachitis, 
 Brisoana, and Bagrada. It is the river at the mouth of 
 which is Bender- Righ or Regh, which is considered now as 
 in the days of Nearkhos to be a day's sail from Bushire. 
 
216 
 
 thence, and running 400 stadia, they arrived at 
 another winter torrent, called Brizana, where they 
 land and form an encampment. They had here 
 difficulty in anchoring because of shoals and 
 breakers and reefs that showed their heads above 
 the sea. They could therefore enter the roads 
 only when the tide was full ; when it receded, the 
 ships were left high and dry.^* They weighed 
 with the next flood tide, and came to anchor at the 
 mouth of a river called the Arosis, the greatest, 
 according to Nearkhos, of all the rivers that in 
 the course of his voyage fell into the outer ocean. ^* 
 XL. The Arosis marks the limit of the pos- 
 sessions of the Persians, and divides them from 
 the Susians. Above the Susians occurs an inde- 
 pendent race called the TJxians, whom I have 
 described in my other work [Anab. VII. 15, 3) as 
 robbers. The length of the Persian coast is 4,400 
 stadia. Persis, according to general report, has 
 three different climates,^' for that part of it which 
 lies along the Erythraean sea, is sandy and barren 
 
 83 "The measures here are neglected in the Journal, 
 for we have only 800 stadia specified from Mesamhria to 
 Brizana, and none from Briza?ia to the Arosis ; but 800 
 stadia are short of 50 miles, while the real distance from 
 Mesambria (Bushir) to the Arosis with the winding of the 
 coast is above 140. In these two points we cannot be 
 mistaken, and therefore, besides the omission of the interval 
 between Brizana and the Arosis, there must be some defect 
 in the Journal for which it is impossible now to account." 
 — Vincent. 1. p. 405. 
 
 "* Another form of the name of this river is the Aroatis. 
 It answers to the Zarotis of PHny, who states that the 
 navigation at its mouth was difficult, except to those well 
 acquainted with it. It formed the boundary between 
 Persis and Susiana. The form Oroatis corresponds to the 
 Zend word aurwat * swift.' It is now called the Tab. 
 
 "^ On this point compare Strabo, bk. xv. 3, 1. 
 
217 
 
 from the violence of the heat, while the part 
 which succeeds enjoys a delightful temperature, 
 for there the mountains stretch towards the pole 
 and the North wind, and the region is clothed 
 with verdure and has well-watered meadows, and 
 bears in profusion the vine and every fruit else 
 but the olive, while it blooms with gardens and 
 pleasure parks of all kinds, and is permeated with 
 crystal streams and abounds with lakes, and lake 
 and stream alike are the haunts of every variety 
 of water-fowl, and it is also a good country for 
 horses and other yoke cattle, being rich in pasture, 
 while it is throughout well- wooded and well- 
 stocked with game. The part, however, which 
 lies still further to the JSTorth- is said to be bleak 
 and cold, and covered with snow, so that, as Near- 
 khos tells us, certain ambassadors from the 
 Euxine Sea, after a very brief journey, met Alex- 
 ander marching forward to Persis, whereat 
 Alexander being greatly surprised, they explained 
 to him how very inconsiderable the distance was.*® 
 I have already stated that the immediate neigh- 
 bours to the Susians are the Uxians, just as the 
 Mardians, a race of robbers, are next neighbours 
 to the Persians, and the Kossaeans to the Medes. 
 All these tribes Alexander subdued, attacking 
 them in the winter time when their country 
 was, as they imagined, inaccessible. He then 
 founded cities to reclaim them from their wander- 
 ing life, and encouraged them to till their lands 
 and devote themselves to agriculture. At the 
 
 "^ It has been conjectured that the text here is imperfect. 
 Schraieder opines that the story about the ambassadors ia 
 a fiction. 
 &2 
 
218 
 
 game time he appointed magistrates armed witli 
 the terrors of the law to prevent them having 
 recourse to violence in the settlement of their 
 quarrels. On weighing from the Arosis the ex- 
 pedition coasted the shores of the Susians. The 
 remainder of the voyage, Nearkhos says, he cannot 
 describe with the same precision ; he can but give 
 the names of the stations and the length of the 
 courses, for the coast was full of shoals and beset 
 with breakers which spread far out to sea, and 
 made the approach to land dangerous. The navi- 
 gation thereafter was of course almost entirely 
 restricted to the open sea. In mentioning their 
 departure from the mouth of the river where they 
 had encamped on the borders of Persis, he states 
 that they took there on board a five days' supply 
 of water, as the pilots had brought to their notice 
 that none could be procured on the way. 
 
 XLI. A course of 500 stadia having been 
 accomplished, their next anchorage was in an 
 estuary, which swarmed with fish, called Kata- 
 derbis, at the entrance of which lay an island 
 called Margastana.^' They weighed at daybreak, 
 the ships sailing out in single file through shoals. 
 The direction of the shoal was indicated by stakes 
 fixed both on the right and the left side, just as posts 
 are erected as signals of danger in the passage 
 between the island of Leukadia and Akaruania to 
 prevent vessels grounding on the shoals. The 
 shoals of Leukadia, however, are of firm sand, and 
 
 "^ The bay of Kataderbis is that which receives the 
 streams of the M e n s ii r e h and D o r a k ; at its entrance 
 lie two islands, Bunah and 9eri, one of which is the Mar- 
 gastana of Arrian. 
 
219 
 
 it is thnseasy to float off vessels should they happen 
 to strand, but in this passage there is a deep' mud 
 on both sides of such, tenacity that if vessels once 
 touched the bottom, they could not by any ap- 
 pliances be got off; for, if they thrust poles into 
 the mud to propel the vessels, these found no 
 resistance or support, and the people who got over- 
 board to ease them off into navigable water found 
 no footing, but sunk in the mud higher than the 
 waist. The fleet proceeded 600 stadia, having 
 such difficulties of navigation to contend with, 
 and then came to an anchor, each crew remaining 
 in their own vessel, and taking their repast on 
 board. From this anchorage they weighed in the 
 night, sailing on in deep water till about the close 
 of the ensuing day, when, after completing a course 
 of 900 stadia, they dropped anchor at the mouth of 
 the Euphrates near a town in Babylonia called 
 Diridotis — the emporium of the sea-borne trade in 
 frankincense and all the other fragrant produc- 
 tions of Arabia, ^^ The distance from the mouth 
 of the Euphrates up stream to Babylon is, accord- 
 ing to ISTearkhos, 3,300 stadia. 
 
 XLII. Here intelligence having been received 
 that Alexander was marching towards Sousa, they 
 retraced their course from Diridotis so as to join 
 
 *' Dirid6tis is called by other writers Teredon, and 
 is sa'd to have been founded by Nabukhodonosor. Mannert 
 places it on the island now called B u b i a n ; Colonel 
 Chesney, however, fixes its position atJebelSanara, 
 a gigantic mound near the Pallacopas branch of the 
 Euphrates, considerably to the north of the embouchure of 
 the present Euphrates. Nearkhos had evidently passed 
 unawares the stream of the Tigris and sailed too far west- 
 ward. Hence he had to retrace his course, as mentioned 
 in the next chapter. 
 
220 
 
 him by sailing up the Pasitigris. They had now 
 Sousis on their left hand, and were coasting the 
 shores of a lake into which the Tigris empties 
 itself, a river, which flowing from Armenia past 
 Ninevehj- a city once of yore great and flourish- 
 ing; encloses between itself and the Euphrates the 
 tract of country which from its position between 
 the two rivers is called Mesopotamia. It is a dis- 
 tance of 600 stadia from the entrance into the lake 
 up to the river's mouth at Aginis, a village in 
 the province of Sousis, distant from the city of 
 Sousa 500 stadia. The length of the voyage along 
 the coast of the Soiisians to the mouth of the 
 Pasitigris was 2,000 stadia.^" Weighing from the 
 
 "^ This is the Eulseus, now called the K ar un, one arm 
 of which united with the Tigris, while the other fell into 
 the sea by an independent mouth. It is the U 1 a i of the 
 prophet Daniel. Pas is said to be an old Persian word, 
 meaning small. By some writers the name Pasitigris 
 was applied to the united stream of the Tigris and 
 Euphrates, now called the S h a t-e 1- A r a b. The courses of 
 the rivers aud the conformation of the country in the parts 
 here have all undergone great changes, and hence the 
 identification of localities is a matter of difficulty and 
 uncertainty. The following extract from Strabo will 
 illustrate this part of the narrative : — 
 
 Polycletus says that the C h o a s p e s, and the E u 1 ae u s, 
 and the Tigris also enter a lake, and thence discharge 
 themselves into the sea ; that on the side of the lake is a 
 mart, as the rivers do not receive the merchandize from the 
 sea, nor convey it dowa to the sea, on account of dams in 
 the river, purposely constructed ; and that the goods are 
 transported by land, a distance of 800 stadia, to Susis : 
 according to others, the rivers which flow through Susis 
 discharge themselves by the intermediate canals of the 
 Euphrates into the single stream of the Tigris, which on. 
 this account has at its mouth the name of Pasitigris. 
 According to Nearchus, the sea-coast of Susis is swampy, 
 and terminates at the river Euphrates; at its mouth is a 
 village which receives the merchandize from Arabia, for the 
 coast of Arabia approaches close to the mouths of tlie 
 Euphrates and the Pasitigris ; the whole intermediate space 
 
221 
 
 month of this river they sailed np its sti'eani 
 through a fertile and popnlous conntry, and 
 having proceeded 150 stadia dropped anchor, 
 awaiting the return of certain messengers whom 
 Nearkhos had sent off to ascertain where the 
 king was. Nearkhos then presented sacrifices to 
 the gods their preservers, and celebrated games, and 
 full of gladness were the hearts of all that had taken 
 part in the expedition. The messengers having 
 returned with tidings that Alexander was approach- 
 ing, the fleet resumed its voyage i*ip the river, 
 and anchored near the bridge by which Alexander 
 intended to lead his army to Sousa. In that same 
 place the troops were reunited, when sacrifices 
 were offered by Alexander for the preservation of 
 fiis ships and his men, and games were celebrated. 
 Nearkhos, whenever he was seen among the 
 troops, was decorated by them with garlands and 
 pelted with flowers. There also both Nearkhos 
 and Leonnatos were crowned by Alexander with 
 golden diadems— Nearkhos for the safety of the 
 expedition by sea, and Leonnatos for the victory 
 which he had gained over the r e i t a i and the 
 neighbouring barbarians. It was thus that the 
 expedition which had begun its voyage from the 
 mouths of the Indus was brought in safety to 
 Alexander. 
 
 occupied by a lake which receives the Tigris. On sailing 
 up the PasHigris 150 stadia is a bridge of rafts leading to 
 Susa from Persis, and is distant from Susa 60 (600 f) stadia ; 
 the Pasitigris is distant from the Oroatis about 2,000 stadia ; 
 the ascent through the lake to the mouth of the ligris is 
 600 stadia; near the mouth stands the feusian village 
 Aginis, distant from Susa 500 stadia ; the journey by Avater 
 from the mouth of the Euphrates up to Babylon, through 
 a well-inhabited tract of country, is a distance ot more 
 than 3,000 stadia."— Book xv. 3, Bohn's trans. 
 
222 
 
 XLIII. Now^° the parts which lie to the right 
 of the E r.y t h r ae a 11°^ Sea beyond tlie reahns of 
 Babylonia belong principally to Arabia, which 
 extends in one direction as far as the sea that washes 
 the shores of P h oe n i k i a and S y r i a n P a 1 e' s- 
 t i n e, while towards sunset it borders on the Egyp- 
 tians in the direction of the Mediterranean 
 Sea. Egypt is penetrated by a gulf which ex- 
 tends up from the great ocean, and as this ocean is 
 connected with the E r y t h r aj a n S e a, this fact 
 proves that a voyage could be made all the way 
 from Babylon to Egypt by means of this 
 gulf. But, owing to the heat and utter sterilit}'- 
 of the coast, no one has ever made this voyage, 
 except, it may be, some chance navigator. For 
 the troops belonging to the army of K a m b y s c s , 
 which escaped from Egypt, and reached S o u s a 
 in safety, and the troops sent by P t o 1 e m y, the 
 son of Lagos, to Seleukos Nikator to 
 Babylon, traversed the A rabian isthmus in 
 eight days altogether.^^ It was a waterless and 
 sterile region, and they had to cross it mounted 
 on swift camels carrying water, travelling only by 
 night, the heat by day being so fierce that they 
 could not expose themselves in the open air. So 
 far are the parts lying beyond this region, which 
 we have spoken of as an isthmus extending from 
 the Arabian Gulf to the E r y t h r se a n Sea 
 
 ^ The 3rd part of the Indika, the purport of which is 
 to prove that the sotithern parts of the world are uninhabit- 
 able, begins with this chapter. 
 
 ^'^ Here and subsequently meaning the Persian Gulf. 
 
 ^'^ It is not known when or wherefore Ptolemy sent 
 troops on this expedition. 
 
223 
 
 from being inhabited, that even the parts which 
 run up further to the north are a desei't of sand. 
 Moreover, men setting forth from the Arabian 
 Gulf in E g y p t, after having sailed round the 
 greater part of Arabia to reach the sea which 
 washes the shores of P e r s i s and S o u s a, have 
 returned, after sailing as far along the coast of 
 Arabia as the water they had on board lasted 
 them, and no further. The exploring party again 
 which Al-exander sent from Babylon with 
 instructions to sail as far as they could along 
 the right-hand coast of the ErythraeanSea, 
 with a view to examine the regions lying in that 
 direction, discovered some islands lying in their 
 route, and touched also at certain points of the 
 mainland of A r a b i a. But as for that cape which 
 Nearkhos states to have been seen by the ex- 
 pedition projecting into the sea right opposite 
 to K a r m a n i a, there is no one who has been 
 able to double it and gain the other side. But if 
 the place could possibly bo passed, either by 
 sea or by land, it seems to me that Alexan- 
 der, being so inquisitive and enterprising, would 
 have proved that it could be passed in both 
 these ways. But again H a n n o the Libyan, 
 setting out from Carthage, sailed out into 
 the ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules, 
 having Libya on his left hand, and the time 
 until his course was shaped towards the rising 
 sun was five-and- thirty days ; but when he steered 
 southward he encountered many difficulties from 
 the want of water, from the scorching heat, 
 and from streams of fire that fell into the sea. 
 K y r e n e, no doubt, which is situated in a some- 
 
224 
 
 what barren part of L i b y a, is verdant, possessed 
 of a genial climate, and well watered, has groves 
 and meadows, and yields abundantly all kinds of 
 useful animals and vegetable products. But this 
 is only the case up to the limits of the area within 
 which the fennel-plant can grow, while beyond 
 this area the interior of Kyrene is but a desert of 
 sand. 
 
 So ends my narrative relating to A 1 e x a n d e r, 
 the son of Philip the Makedonian. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 CHIEFLY GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 Ahhreviations.—B. Bay, C. Cape, G. Gulf, Is. Island or 
 Islands, M. Mountain, R, River. 
 
 Common names are printed in Italics. Many proper 
 names which in the usual orthography begin with C, will 
 be found under K. 
 
 A . Page 
 
 Abalitea 51,54, 55, 57 
 
 Aberia or Abiria 113 
 
 Abhira 114 
 
 Ahollob 38 
 
 Abu-FatimaC 43 
 
 Abu-Shahr, see Bushire. 
 
 Achare 129 
 
 Adel 53 
 
 Aden, see Eudaim&n- 
 
 Arabia. 
 Adouli, 12— S9 passim. 45—49 
 
 Adramitaa 87 
 
 Agbor R 177 n. 
 
 Aginis 161, 220, 221 n. 
 
 Agriophagoi 43 
 
 Agrisa, see Agrispolis. 
 
 Agrispolis 194 n. 
 
 AhileC. 59 
 
 Ahwaz 161 
 
 Aigialos 126 
 
 Aigidioi 130 
 
 Aii 134, 139 
 
 Aka'bahG 74 
 
 Akabarou 127 
 
 Akannai 21, 54, 58, 59 
 
 C2 
 
 Page 
 Akesines R. (Chenab R.) 
 
 156, 170, 171 
 Alabagium C, see Alam- 
 
 bator. 
 
 Alabaster 34 
 
 Alalaiou Is 48, 49 
 
 Alambator 191 n. 
 
 Alexander, Port of, see 
 
 Karachi. 
 Alexander the Great 
 
 passim. 
 
 Alexandria.,... 76 
 
 Aloes ...15,93,94 
 
 Anamis R. . 159 n., 202 n., 207 
 Ananis R., see Anamis R. 
 Andanis R., see Anamis 
 
 R. 
 
 Angediva Is 130 
 
 Anger Is 210 n. 
 
 AnnesleyB 45,48,49 
 
 Antarah C 58 
 
 Antigone 41 
 
 Aparantika 113 
 
 Apokopa 62,65,66,67 
 
 Apollodotos 121 
 
226 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Apolloplianes 182 n. 
 
 Apologos . . . 10—38 jpassim. 
 
 103, 104 
 
 Apostana 212 n., 213 
 
 ArabahC.&B 106,187 
 
 Arabii 177 n. 
 
 Arakhosioi, ...121, 186, 208 n. 
 
 Arastras or Ar atti 121 
 
 Aratrioi 120 
 
 Arbitae 106 
 
 Areon R 2l3n. 
 
 Argalou 14,29,140 
 
 Argaric G 142 
 
 Argeirou 142 
 
 Argyro Is 147 
 
 Ariake . . . 13 — 39 ^passim. 
 
 52, 64, 112, 114 
 
 Ariake Sadinou 127 
 
 Arii 121,186 
 
 Arkhias 169,191,192 
 
 Armagara 129 
 
 Aroatis R., see Arosia R. 
 
 Ar6mata C 59, 62 91, 138 
 
 Aromata (a mart) 59 
 
 Arosapes R 183n. 
 
 ArosisR. ...160, 216 n., 218 
 
 Arsenic 30 
 
 Arsinoe (Suez) 39, 40 
 
 Arsino^ (in Barbaria) ... 50 
 Arusaces R., see Arosapes 
 R. 
 
 AsaboiM. 102, 103 
 
 AsidahO 86 
 
 Asikh 98 
 
 AsirC 58—60 
 
 Asmak 46 
 
 Astakapra 115, 117 
 
 Astola or Ashtola Is.... 188 n. 
 
 Page 
 Atramitae, see Adramitae. 
 
 Attanae 84,85 
 
 Aualites . . . 12 — 37 passim. 
 
 50, 53, 83 
 
 Aurangabad 125 
 
 Ausera 95 
 
 Auxume 46 
 
 Axum, see Auxume. 
 
 Axumitae 5,48 
 
 Azania (Ajan) 1 — 144 passim. 
 Azania, Courses of ...62, Q6, 67 
 
 B 
 
 Bab-el Mandab Straits... 83 
 
 Babylon... 219, 221 n., 222 
 
 Badera or Bodera, see 
 Barna. 
 
 Badis 181, 200 
 
 Bagb'war Dasti R 193n. 
 
 BagiaC 193 
 
 Bagisara 106,187 
 
 Bagradas R 212 n., 
 
 213 n., 215 n. 
 
 Babar R 179 n. 
 
 Bahrein Is 103 
 
 Baiones Is 116 
 
 Bakare 131, 134 
 
 Bakkar 109 
 
 Baktria 12, 148 
 
 Baktrianoi 121 
 
 Ba-l-ha£C 87 
 
 Balita 140 
 
 Balomon 190 
 
 Baltipatna 129 
 
 Bammala 140 
 
 BandaR 129 
 
 Bandar Barthe 58 
 
 BandelCausC 62 
 
INDEX. 
 
 227 
 
 Page 
 
 Bankut 129 
 
 Banna 63 
 
 Barak6G 111,112 
 
 Barbara, see Berbera. 
 
 Barbarei 108 
 
 Barbaria 42, 43, 62 
 
 Barbarikon . . . 12 — 38 pas- 
 sim. 108, 115 
 
 Bargusoi 145 
 
 Baricaza 57 
 
 Barna 190 
 
 Barousai 145 
 
 Barygaza ... 10, 39 passim. 
 
 M, 78, 88, 96, 116—120 
 
 Barygaza G 112,117 
 
 Basra 103 
 
 Batinah 100, 101 
 
 Bdellium 16 
 
 Becare ^.131, 134 
 
 BendaR 128 
 
 Berbora 58 
 
 Berenike 1, 3, 9, 41, 
 
 42, 74. 75, 78 
 Berenike (in Barbaria)... 50 
 
 Betel 23,25 
 
 Bharoch, see Barygaza. 
 
 BhauQagar 115 
 
 Bhusal R., see Tomeros R. 
 
 Bibaktals 159, 177 
 
 Biblos Is., see Bibakta Is . 
 Binagara, see Minnagar. 
 
 Birkeh 100 
 
 BombarakC 200 
 
 Borah 59 
 
 Bore (of rivers) 119, 120, 157 
 Boshavir R., see Kislit. 
 Boukepbalos Alexandreia 12 1 
 Brass 31 
 
 Brisoana R 214 n., 215 n. 
 
 Brizana R 2 16 n . 
 
 Brokt Is 202 n. 
 
 Bubian Is 219 
 
 Buna Is 218 
 
 BunthR 194n. 
 
 Burntisland 78 
 
 Busbealls 212 n. 
 
 Butter 12 
 
 Byzantion 127, 129 
 
 C 
 
 Gael 141 
 
 Caelobotliras 6, 131 
 
 Calaeou Insulae 101 
 
 Calcutta 20 
 
 Cannibals 146 
 
 Canary Is 20 
 
 Carfouna 57 
 
 Carthage 223 
 
 Ceylon, see Taprobane. 
 
 CbaubarB 193 n. 
 
 Cbauggan 148 
 
 Chaul 113, 128 
 
 Chenval 128 
 
 Cliewabad, see Churber. 
 
 Chimula 128 n. 
 
 China 188 n. 
 
 ChoaspesR. 220 n. 
 
 ChodaR 129 
 
 Chrysels 147 
 
 Chrysolite 37 
 
 Churber B 190 n. 
 
 Cinnabar 15,19, 94 
 
 Cinnamon 18, 19 
 
 Coast Little and Great ... 66 
 
 Colcis Indorum 141 
 
 ComorinC. ... 125,137, 139 
 
228 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Copper 32 
 
 Cottouara 131 
 
 D 
 
 Dabil 110 
 
 Dagasira 194 
 
 Dahra Asban 213 n. 
 
 Dakhan 124 
 
 Dakhinabades 124 
 
 DaVsMnapatha 124 
 
 Damirike 126 
 
 Damnia Is 100 
 
 Daphndn 59 
 
 Daplinous 53, 61 
 
 Debal 129 
 
 Deire or Dere 51, 54, 60 
 
 Deimakhos 154 
 
 DelgadoC 73 
 
 Dendrobosa 190 
 
 Deri Is 218n. 
 
 Desarene 12, 145 
 
 Devagiri or Deogiirh 125 
 
 Deymaniyeh Is 100 
 
 Dhafar or Dofar ...80, 81, 97 
 
 Diamonds 33 
 
 Dimyrike . . . 12 — 29 passim . 
 
 94, 96, 121, 126 
 Djerun Is., see Ormus Is. 
 
 Diodoros, Is. 47, 48 
 
 Diodoros Is,, Perim, 67, 82 83 
 
 Dioskorides Is 15, 26, 
 
 27, 29, 91—93 
 
 Diospolis 27, 34, 50, 53 
 
 Disa 16 
 
 Diset Is., see Diod6ros Is. 
 
 Domai la 178 n. 
 
 DorakR ^ 218 n. 
 
 DosarduR 145 
 
 Page 
 
 Bvaclimai 121, 122 
 
 Dragon' s-Blood 94 
 
 Drangiani 186 
 
 E 
 
 Eden 84 
 
 Eirinon G Ill 
 
 EirosM 158, 177, 178 n. 
 
 Elanitic Gulf 9,47,74 
 
 El Bab Straits 102 
 
 Eleazos 87 
 
 Elephant C 58 
 
 Elephant M 54, 58, 61 
 
 Elephant R 59 
 
 Elephantine... 45 
 
 Elephantophagoi 44, 51 
 
 Elisaron 81 
 
 ElKilhat 101 
 
 Elura 125 
 
 Epideires 57 
 
 EpiodSros 14, 140, 142 
 
 Epiphi (July)... 64, 110, 
 
 124, 138 
 
 Er-rib Is 44 
 
 Erythraean Sea — ^its ex- 
 tent... 1, 209 n., 222 n., 
 
 why so called 209 n. 
 
 Erythrcs 202 n., 209 
 
 Esan 88 
 
 Essina 67 
 
 Esvantgadh 129 
 
 Etesian Winds ...138, 174 n. 
 Eudaimon-Arabia (Aden). 
 
 6, 84-80, 138 
 Enlaeus R. ...103, 220 u., 101 
 
 Eunienes, Grove of 57 
 
 Euphrates R. ... 10, 219, 220 
 Eynouna 75 
 
INDEX. 
 
 229 
 
 P Page 
 
 FavtakC 10,91,95 
 
 Felix or Pelles M., see 
 Elephant M. 
 
 FilikC 58 
 
 FillamC 101 
 
 Fluor-spath 34, 35 
 
 Foul Bay 42 
 
 Fran k incense 2 1, 90, 97 
 
 FuggemC 194 n. 
 
 G 
 
 Galla 66 
 
 Gandarioi 121 
 
 Gango 14, 23, 25, 146 
 
 Ganges E 146 
 
 Gaza (Bandar Gazim) ... 57 
 
 Gedrosia 10, 16, 186, 199 
 
 Gersaijpa, Falls of 130 
 
 Ghalla or Cella 84 
 
 GharaE 176 n. 
 
 Gliodabandar 128 
 
 Gbubat-al-Kamar 86 
 
 Ghuuso C 191 
 
 Girishk 194 n. 
 
 Glass 36,37 
 
 Goa 129 
 
 Goaris E 127 
 
 Godavari E 144 
 
 Godem C 194 n. 
 
 G«gana 213 n. 
 
 Gold 33 
 
 Goldstone 33, 122 
 
 Govind E., see Juba E. 
 
 Gram {Alligators) 108 
 
 Granis E 215 n. 
 
 GuadclC 100,191 
 
 Gudrdafui C 9, 10, 68 
 
 Guesele 57 
 
 Gujarat 34, 113, 114 
 
 Gwattar B 193 n. 
 
 H 
 
 Hadas R 48 
 
 Hadhramaut 21,87 
 
 HafiTuC Gi, 65 
 
 Haidarabtid 156 
 
 Halani Is 87 
 
 HanfelahB 35,49 
 
 Hanjam Is., see Angar Is. 
 
 Hanno ^ 223 
 
 Harkaua 181 n. 
 
 Harmozeia 159, 202 n. 
 
 Hasek 98,99 
 
 Hassani Is 75 
 
 Hastakavapra, see Asta- 
 
 kapra. 
 Ha,thab, see Astakapra. 
 
 Hauara 75 
 
 Haur 177 n. 
 
 Hazine (Ajau) 65, 66 
 
 Hejid 77 
 
 Heroopolite Gulf 40 
 
 Ileptanesia 130 
 
 Heratemis 214 
 
 Hercules, Pillars of 223 
 
 Herone 117 
 
 Hieratis 214 
 
 Himaryi 80 
 
 Hingal E., see Tomeros fi. 
 Hippalos ...5, 7, 10, 131, 
 
 135, 138 
 
 Ilippioprosopoi 146 
 
 Hippokoura 128 
 
230 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 HisnGhorab 87, 88,91 
 
 Hoinorites 80, 81 
 
 Homnae 84,104 
 
 Honavar or Onore 130 
 
 Horitai, see Oreitai. 
 Hormara B , see Arabah B. 
 
 Hutemi 77 
 
 Hwen-Thsang 181 n. 
 
 Hyacinth 36 
 
 Hydaspes R. ...156, 168, 171" 
 
 Hydrakes 189 
 
 HydriacosR 193 
 
 Hydriakus 189 n. 
 
 Ilyeno^s 124 
 
 I 
 
 lambe 41 
 
 Ihis 61 
 
 Ikhthyopbagi passim. 
 Ikhtyophagi of Mekran 
 
 described 195 
 
 Ila 212 
 
 Inderabia Is. 212 n. 
 
 IndAgo 17 
 
 Indo-Skytliia 10,25, 107 
 
 Indor 14 
 
 Indus R. . . .107 andpassim. 
 
 Iron 31 
 
 IsisR 61 
 
 Istabel Antai 75 
 
 J 
 
 Jacinth 36 
 
 Jahsseb 80 
 
 JaskC 189, 199 n. 
 
 Jaygadh 129 
 
 Jebel Sanam M 219 n. 
 
 Page 
 
 JerdHafun GO 
 
 Jorim 80 
 
 Jibba 101 
 
 Jibus Is 87 
 
 Jiffatinls 40 
 
 JubaR 66,68, 70 
 
 Junnar 125 
 
 E 
 
 Kabana 181 
 
 Kabolitai 123 
 
 Kabul 20, 123 
 
 Kachb, Gulf of Ill 
 
 Kadattanadu 28, 132 
 
 Kaes or Kcesh Is. ... 211 n. 
 
 Kaikauder Is 212 n. 
 
 Kaineitai 130 
 
 Kakee R., see Sitakos R. 
 
 Kalaiouls 100, 101 
 
 Kalama 187 
 
 Kalami R. ...180 n., 188 n., 189 
 
 KalatC 194 n. 
 
 Kalliena 127 
 
 KalonM 101, 102 
 
 Kalpe, Straits of 83 
 
 Kaltis 147 
 
 Kalyana 127 
 
 Kalybi, see Karbine. 
 
 Kamara 141, 143 
 
 Kammdni 117 
 
 Kanasis 194 
 
 Kanate 194 
 
 Kane...l — 39 passim, 86, 
 
 88, 138 
 
 Kannettri 131,134 
 
 Kanraitai 77 
 
 Kauthatis 200 
 
 Kara-Agach R. ...160, 214 n. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 231 
 
 Page 
 
 Karachi 158, 176 n. 
 
 Karbine 188 n., 199 n. 
 
 Karbis 189 
 
 Karmana, see Kirman. 
 Karmania ...10, 35, 86, 199 n. 
 
 Karoura 133 
 
 Karpasos 18 
 
 KarpellaC 200 
 
 KarumE 103 
 
 Karun 202 n. 
 
 KarxlnK 220 
 
 Ka^mir 20 
 
 Kaspian Sea 148 
 
 Kassia 18, 19 
 
 Kataderbis 218 n- 
 
 Kataials 211 n., 212 n. 
 
 Ktltbiawad 16 
 
 Kaamana 158 
 
 Kaveripattam 143 
 
 KaveryR 143 
 
 KayalC 141 
 
 Kenjan-fu 148 
 
 Kenn Is., see Kataia. 
 
 Keprobotres 6, 132 
 
 Kerala 131 
 
 Keralaputra 132 
 
 Kerazi C 200 
 
 Keroot, see Kerazi C. 
 
 Keshin 90 
 
 Kesmacoran (Mekran) ... 99 
 
 Khaberis 143 
 
 KhaberosR 143 
 
 Kbambat G 95, 112, 116 
 
 Klaaribael 7,39,80 82 
 
 Kbartan Is 90 
 
 KbeilC 65 
 
 Khersonesos, the Golden. 
 
 15, 143, 146 
 
 Page 
 KhersonesoSj iu India, 
 
 129, 130 
 
 KhoriR 58 
 
 Kholaibos 79 
 
 Khryse Is 146 
 
 K il wa (Quiloa) 62, 72 
 
 Killouta Is 157 
 
 Kirrhadia 23, 145 
 
 KirU 199 
 
 Kirman 199 n. 
 
 Kissa 189 
 
 Kishm Is 202 n 
 
 KishtR 215 n. 
 
 Kobe 54 
 
 Koiamba 180 n., 181 n. 
 
 Kokala .: 159, 182 
 
 Kolandiophonta 142, 143 
 
 Kolatta-nadu 132 
 
 Kolis '. 142 
 
 Kolkei 144 
 
 Kolkhoi 14, 138, 141 
 
 Koloe 48 
 
 Kolta 187n. 
 
 Kolum 134 
 
 Komar C 139 
 
 Kommana 194 n. 
 
 Komta 130 
 
 Konkan or Kanoon 213 n. 
 
 Kophas 189 n., 191 
 
 Koppa C., see K6phas. 
 
 Koptos 41,42,76 
 
 Koreatis 158, 175 
 
 Korodaman C ....142 
 
 KoruC 142 
 
 Kossaeans 217 
 
 Kostus 20 
 
 Koti 142 
 
 Kottonara 28, 132 
 
232 
 
 TNDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Kreopliagoi 00 
 
 Ki'ishna R 114 
 
 Krokalals 15S, 176 
 
 Kuraarl (Durga) 140, 141 
 
 Kungoun 194 n 
 
 Kunokepliali 61 
 
 KnrmutR 180 n. 
 
 Kurya Murya Is 92, 99 
 
 Kyeneion 43 
 
 Kyiza 191, 193 n., 196 
 
 Kysa, see Kissa. 
 
 Kyros 213 n- 
 
 Kyrene 223,229 
 
 L 
 
 Lac 13 
 
 Lamnaios E. (Narmada 
 
 R.) 116 
 
 LamoTi Is 68 
 
 Laccadive Is 15 
 
 Lar-Desa, see Larike. 
 
 Larike 113 
 
 Laristan 199 n 
 
 Laurel Grove, the Little. 58 
 Laurel Grove, the Great . 59 
 
 Las 177 n. 
 
 Lead 31 
 
 Leute (White) Is. ...127, 130 
 
 Leuke Kome 7—9, 74, 70 
 
 Licha 60 
 
 Liinyrike, see Dimyrik^. 
 
 Lycium 22 
 
 Lykia 22 
 
 M 
 
 MahberC 65 
 
 Macer 22 
 
 Madura 105 
 
 Page 
 
 Madeira Is 20 
 
 Mahi R., see Mais R. 
 
 Maiotic Lake 148 
 
 MaisR 116 
 
 Mais61usR 144 
 
 Makalleh 91 
 
 Makdoshu (Magadoxo).., 67 
 Maklow R., see Tomeros R. 
 
 Malcroprosdpoi 140 
 
 Malabar 10, 95, 137, 143 
 
 Malahathrum {Betel) 22, 149 
 
 Malacca 147 
 
 Malana 154,185, 187 
 
 Malao.l7 — 39 passim. 54, 55 
 
 Malava 171 n. 
 
 Maleus M 185 n. 
 
 Malikhos 876 
 
 MalinC 185 
 
 Main 171 
 
 Manaar G 141, 142 
 
 Mand R., see Sitakos. 
 
 Manda Is 68 
 
 Mandagora 127, 129 
 
 Mangalur 130 
 
 Manora 158, 178 
 
 ManpuUi 140 
 
 Mansura 109 
 
 Maphai'itis 7 
 
 Mardians 217 
 
 Margastana Is 218 
 
 Mariabo 189 
 
 Markah 158 
 
 Markari 134 
 
 Martan Is 98 
 
 Masalia 144, 145 
 
 Masawwa 45,48 
 
 Masira 99 
 
 Maskat 73,95,97, 100 
 
INDEX. 
 
 233 
 
 Page 
 
 Matliura 133 
 
 Mazenes 209 
 
 Medina 75 
 
 Megasthencs 154, 208 
 
 Mekran 186 
 
 Meligeizara 127, 129 
 
 Meliiot 24 
 
 Menander 121 
 
 Menhabery 109 
 
 Menouthias Is. 15, 62, 69—71 
 
 Mensureh R 218 
 
 Meroe 45, 46, 186 
 
 Mesembria 160, 215 n., 216 n. 
 
 Mesha 79 
 
 Mesopotamia '. 220 
 
 MeteC .57,59 
 
 Methora 134 
 
 Mharras, see Mopharitis. 
 
 MinabR 159, 202ii. 
 
 Minnagar 108—110, 114 
 
 Mirjan 130 
 
 Modura 127, 131, 133 
 
 IMogbostan 199 n. 
 
 Moinanakalu C 72 
 
 Mokha 78 
 
 Mombaros 113 
 
 Mompbia Is 69, 71 
 
 Monedes 186 n. 
 
 Monze 106, 178 n. 
 
 Mopharitis 72, 74, 79 
 
 Moran C, see Malin C. 
 Morontobara ... 178 n., 180 n. 
 
 Mosarna 189 
 
 Moskha 17, 21, 29, 95, 96 
 
 Moskbopbagoi 43, 49 
 
 Mossylou 12 — 39, 'passim. 54 
 Moundou 17 — 39, 'passim. 
 
 54, 57 
 d2 
 
 Page 
 Mouza. .9, 38, passim. 54—82, 
 
 passion. 
 Mouziris 6— 39passMn,... 131 
 
 Mowilah 75 
 
 Mmlri C 178 n 
 
 Mubammara 103 
 
 MubaniR I93n. 
 
 Mtiltan 20, 171 n. 
 
 Murgbab 213 n. 
 
 Muslin 26 
 
 Mussendom or Mesandum 
 
 C 102, 200 n., 212 n. 
 
 Muyiri 131 
 
 Myos Hormos, 9, 40—42, 
 
 74,75 
 Myrrh 24, 25, 29 
 
 Nabatbaea 7, 74, 75 
 
 NabendC 199 
 
 Nabend or Naban R 
 
 212 n., 213 n. 
 
 Nakb-el-Hajar 88 
 
 Namades R., see Narmada 
 
 R. 
 Nammadios R., see Nar- 
 mada R. 
 
 Nanagouna R 129 
 
 Naoura 13,127,130 
 
 Nard 25, 122 
 
 Narmada (Nerbada) R., 
 
 10, 107, 114, 117, 127 
 
 Nausari 127 
 
 Nausaripa 127 
 
 Neacyndon 131 
 
 Nebaiotb, see Nabatbaea. 
 Neiloptolemaios 58 
 
234 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Neilospotamia 58 
 
 Nelkynda ...10— 39 pas- 
 sim. 131—135 
 
 Neoptana 202 
 
 Nepal 23 n. 
 
 Nereid, story of a 198 
 
 Nikobar Is 145 
 
 Nik6n 62,66 
 
 Nineveh. 220 
 
 Nirankol 156 
 
 Nitra or Nitria 129—1 31 
 
 Nosala Is. . . . 188 n., 198, 199 n. 
 NotoTi Kerag ( South 
 Hom)C 60,61 
 
 Oaraktals 202 n., 209 
 
 Oboleh (Obolegh) 10,103 
 
 Ogyrisis 99, 202 n. 
 
 Okelis 54, 83, 84,131 
 
 OkhosM 212,21311. 
 
 Omana (Oman) 12—38 
 
 passim. 88, 92, 95, 98, 
 
 104, 105 
 
 Omana 194 n. 
 
 Onne 75 
 
 Onore 130 
 
 Onyx 34 
 
 Ophir '.114, 127 
 
 Opone 15—31 passim. 62—64 
 Opsian or Obsidian 
 
 Stone 35,36,49 
 
 Oraia 27, 106 
 
 Oreinels 46—48 
 
 Oreitai 107, 177, 181 n. 
 
 OrfuiC 63 
 
 Organa Is 202 n., 209 
 
 Page 
 
 Ormus, Straits of 200 
 
 Ormusis 202 n., 209 n. 
 
 Orneon Is 87 
 
 OroatisR 160 
 
 Ozene (Ujjain) ...25,26, 
 
 29, 34, 114, 122 
 
 P 
 
 PabM 178 n. 
 
 PadargosR 214 
 
 Pagala 181 
 
 Paithana 34, 125 
 
 Palaipatmai 127, 129 
 
 Palaisimoundou (Ceylon) 
 
 4,143 
 
 PalkBay 142 
 
 Pallacopas R 160, 219 n. 
 
 Pandae 133 
 
 Pandion 6, 131, 133, 135, 139 
 
 PanonKome 63,64 
 
 Papiasis 101,102 
 
 PapikeC 115,117 
 
 Papyrus 61 
 
 Parada, see Parthians. 
 
 Parag6nB 106 
 
 Paralaoi Is 62 
 
 Paralia 139 
 
 Parsidai 105 
 
 Parthians 110 
 
 Pasargada 213 n. 
 
 Pasinou Kharax, see Spa- 
 sinou Kharax. 
 
 Pasira 106, 187 
 
 Pasirees 106, 187 
 
 PasitigrisR. ...103, 161, 220 
 
 PassenceC 188 n., 189 
 
 Pattala 156 
 
INDEX. 
 
 235 
 
 Page 
 
 Pearl Fisheries 102, 
 
 103, 141, 178, 212 
 Pegada, see Pagala. 
 
 Pekhely 121 
 
 Pembals 69 
 
 Pepper 27, 28,132 
 
 Peram Is 116 
 
 Perimis 82 
 
 Persian Gulf, aspect of. 209n. 
 Persis, Climates of ...216, 217 
 Persis, Coast of ...86, 88, 212 
 
 Peshawar 121 
 
 Petra 75,76 
 
 Phagiaura 180 n. 
 
 Pharan C 74 
 
 Phoenikia 222 
 
 Pirate Coast 129 
 
 Pirates... 95, 130, 131, 177, 188 
 
 PitiR 176n. 
 
 Plocamus 7, 8 
 
 Podouke 141, 143 
 
 Polior Is 211 n. 
 
 Polymita 39 
 
 Pondicherry 143 
 
 Pontos 148 
 
 Porcelain, see Fluor-spath, 
 
 Poulipoula 127 
 
 PounaC 72 
 
 Prasii 24 
 
 Prasum C 73 
 
 Proklais 20, 121, 122 
 
 Psarametikhos 45 
 
 Pseadokelis 1&4 
 
 Psygmus 61 
 
 Ptolemais Theron ... 12, 
 
 15, 43, 45 
 
 Ptolemy Eaergetes 47 
 
 Ptolemy Lagos 41 
 
 Page 
 Ptolemy Philadelphos . . . 
 
 40, 41, 44 
 
 Puduchcheri 143 
 
 Pulikat 143 
 
 PuraliR 177 n. 
 
 Puthangelos, Chase of ... 51 
 
 Puthangelus 61 
 
 Pylora Is 211 n 
 
 Pyralaoils 68 
 
 Pytholaus 61 
 
 R 
 
 Rajapur 129 
 
 Rambakia 106 
 
 Ramesvaram C 142 
 
 Ran, see Eirinon. 
 
 Ras-al-SairC 96 
 
 Ras-el-Had C. 10, 90, 95, 
 
 99, 100 
 
 Regh 215 n. 
 
 Rhapsioi 73 
 
 Rhapta 9,62, 71 
 
 RhaptumC 72, 73 
 
 Rhapua 187 n. 
 
 Rhinoceros 14 
 
 Rhinokoloura 76 
 
 Rhizana J80 n. 
 
 Rhogonia R 215 n. 
 
 Rice 2f, 64 
 
 Rizophagoi 43 
 
 Rumrah R., see Karraut R. 
 Rungpur 23 
 
 Sabaea 10, 11 
 
 Sabseans 81, 86 
 
 Sabaitai 80 
 
236 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Sabbatha 87—89 
 
 Saber M 79 
 
 Sabota, see Sabbatha. 
 
 Saghar 91 
 
 Saimur 113 
 
 SUka 107 
 
 ^akabda 110 
 
 Sakala 178 
 
 Sakhalitis Eegio 97 
 
 Sakhalites G , 90 
 
 Saklile 91 
 
 Salama C, see Mussen- 
 dom C. 
 
 Salike (Ceylon) 4 
 
 Salour 142 
 
 Salsette Is 125 
 
 Sandalwood 28 
 
 Sandanes 128 
 
 Sandara'ke 28 
 
 Sangada 177 n. 
 
 Sangadlpis 188 n. 
 
 Sangara 142, 143 
 
 San Pedro R 58, 59 
 
 Saue 79, 80 
 
 Saugra C. 90 
 
 Sapbar 80 
 
 Sapphire 36 
 
 Saraganes 127, 128 
 
 Saranga 178 
 
 SaravatiR 130 
 
 Sawa 89 
 
 Scbevar 212 n. 
 
 SegerM 95 
 
 Semiramis M 102, 103 
 
 SemuUa 127, 128, 129 
 
 Sephar 97 
 
 Serapion 62, 67 
 
 Serapisis 15, 99 
 
 Page 
 
 ....23, 148 
 
 Sesekreienai Is 129, 130 
 
 Sesostris 83 
 
 Shadoivs 85 n. 
 
 Skat-el- Arab R 220 n. 
 
 Sbamba 70 
 
 Sheba 82,89 
 
 Shebr 93 
 
 ShenarifC 60 
 
 Shi-Hwengti 148 
 
 Shiraz 213 n. 
 
 Sibyrtios 208 
 
 Sigerus 129 
 
 SijanM 83 
 
 Sikkan Is 87 
 
 Simulla 128 
 
 Sinai (Chinese) 148 
 
 Sindhu, see Sinthos. 
 
 Sindhudrug 129 
 
 Sinthos (Indus R . ) 107 
 
 Sisidone 211 n. 
 
 Sitakos R. IGO, 214 n. 
 
 Sitioganus R., see Sita- 
 kos R. 
 
 Skythia 88, 107,122, 138 
 
 Soal R 57 
 
 Sohar 104 
 
 Sokotra Is., see Diosko- 
 ridcs Is. 
 
 Somali qq 
 
 Sonmiyani..l77n., 179n., 
 
 180 n. 
 
 S6patma 141, 143 
 
 Sophir 127 
 
 Soupara 127 
 
 Sous M 98 
 
 Sousa 220, passim. 
 
 Sousis, Coast of 218 
 
INDEX. 
 
 237 
 
 Spasinou Kharax 103, 104 
 
 Spermatopliagoi 43 
 
 Spilicnard, see Nard. 
 
 Stadium, length of 162 n. 
 
 St. George Is 130 
 
 Stibium 32 
 
 Storax 30 
 
 Stoura 158,175 
 
 Strongyle M 102 
 
 Suari 106 n. 
 
 Subaha M 98 
 
 Suche 44 
 
 SudichE 194 n. 
 
 Sugar 11,23, 65 
 
 Sumatra Is 134 
 
 Supara 127 
 
 Surat 127, 209 n. 
 
 Syagros C....10, 21, 90, 91, 95 
 Syrastrene 113, 114 
 
 Taacs 79 
 
 TabR 160, 216 n. 
 
 Tabai 16—3 1 passi m . 62 
 
 TabisM 147 
 
 Tagara 26, 125, 126 
 
 Talmona 193 
 
 Tamil 126,127 
 
 Ta6ke 215 n. 
 
 Tapatege 58 
 
 Tapbaron, see Sappbar. 
 Taprobane. . . . ; .7—33 pas- 
 sim. 143, 144 
 Tarphara, see Sappbar, 
 Tarsia 211 
 
 Page 
 
 Tejureb G 52,55 
 
 Tellicberry 132 
 
 Terabd6iiB 106 
 
 Teredon, see Dirid6tis. 
 
 Tbana 113 
 
 Tbatha 109, 156 
 
 Thibet 124 
 
 Tbina (Cbina) 147, 148 
 
 Thinai 12, 14,23 
 
 Thdth 52,82 
 
 Tburbot AUG 96 
 
 Tigre 46 
 
 Tigris E 160 
 
 Tiasbanes (Cbasbtana)... 115 
 
 Timoula 128 
 
 Tin 31 
 
 Tinnevelly 139, 144 
 
 TirakalR 129 
 
 Tisa 193 n. 
 
 Tiz 193 n. 
 
 Tlepolemos 208 
 
 Tombols 210 n. 
 
 TomerosE 183 n. 
 
 Tonike 67 
 
 Topazals 28 
 
 Toperon 127 
 
 Torra or Torre ^ 
 
 Touag 215 n. 
 
 Travancore .134, 139 
 
 Troglodytes 45,47 
 
 Troisi 194 n. 
 
 Trombayls 128 
 
 Troullasis 87 
 
 Tunak 144 
 
 Tutikorin 138,141 
 
 Tybi 52 
 
 Tyndis 13, 129, 131 
 
 Tyranosboas 127 
 
238 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Page 
 U 
 
 Ujjain, see Ozene. 
 
 UlaiE 161 
 
 Ulukh Bunder 59 
 
 Urmara C, see Arabah C. 
 Uxians 216 
 
 Valabhi 115 
 
 Vasai 127 
 
 Vatracliitis R 215 n. 
 
 Veueris Portus 41 
 
 Vijayadrug 129 
 
 Vikramaditya 110 
 
 Vingorla Eocks 130 
 
 Vrokt Is., see Brokt Is. 
 
 W 
 
 Wadi Meifah 
 Wejh 
 
 75 
 
 Page 
 
 Whales 196, 215 
 
 Wheat 28 
 
 Wine 27 
 
 Y 
 
 Yemen 78, 80 
 
 Yenbo 74 
 
 Yenkaotschin 110 
 
 Z 
 
 Za Hakale 5 
 
 Zalegh 55 
 
 Zanzibar Is 69, 71 
 
 Zappbar, see Sappbar. 
 
 ZarotisE 216 n. 
 
 Zeyla 54 
 
 Zeyla G 52 
 
 Zcnobiosis 98, 99 
 
 Zbafar 97 
 
 Zoskales 5, 49 
 
 Zouileh 55 
 
 BOMBAY : PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY S PRESS. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 ANCIENT INBIi 
 
 AS DESCRIBED BY 
 
 MEGASTHENES AND ARRIAN; 
 
 BEING 
 
 A TRANSLATION OF THE FRAGMENTS OF MEGASTHENES COLLECTED BY 
 DR. SCHWANBECK, AND OF THE FIRST PART OF THE INDIKA OF ARRIAN. 
 
 THACKER, SPINK & Co.— CALCUTTA. 
 
 TRUBNER & Co.— LONDON. 
 Rs. 2-8. 
 
 Opinions of the Press. 
 
 In rendering the results of Dr. Schwanbeck's industry- 
 accessible to English readers by this translation of the 
 collected fragments of the lost Indika of Megasthenes, per- 
 haps the most trustworthy of the Greek writers on India, 
 Mr. McCrindle would have performed a most valuable 
 service even had he not enriched the original by the addi- 
 tion of copious critical notes, and a translation of Arrian's 
 work on the same subject. — Calcutta Review. 
 
 Mr. McCrindle's translations of the accounts of ancient 
 India by Megasthenes and Arrian is a most valuable con- 
 tribution to our knowledge of the subject in the days when 
 
 Greeks and Romans were ruling the world 
 
 Mr. McCrindle has conferred a great boon on society by 
 translating Dr. Schwanbeck's learned work into English, 
 illustrating it by a valuable map of ancient India, and pub- 
 lishing it at a small price. There is more bond fide informa- 
 tion regarding ancient India in this unpretending volume 
 than is to be found in the great bulk of Sanskrit puranas ; 
 whilst it forms a most valuable adjunct to the mass of tradi- 
 tions and myths which have been preserved in the Hindu 
 epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, &c. — Pioneer. 
 
11 
 
 Mr. J. W. McCrindle of Patiia has given us a readable 
 translation both of Schwanbeck's Megasthenes and of the 
 first part of Arrian's Jwt^iZjo,. Mr. McCrindle deserves the 
 thanks of all who take an interest in Ancient India, and 
 should he be able to fulfil his promise to translate " the 
 entire series of classical works relating to India," he will 
 give an impetus to the study of the early civilization of 
 this country among native as well as European Scholars. 
 His work is well printed, and, as far as we have been able 
 to judge, carefully edited. — The Madras Times. 
 
 Mr. McCrindle, who has already published a portion of 
 the translation of Arrian, reprints these valuable contri- 
 butions to our scanty knowledge of ancient India An 
 
 Introduction and notes add value to the translation, a value 
 which happens to be very great in this case, and to centre 
 in one long note on the identification of the old Palibothra 
 or Pataliputra with the modern Patna. — The Daily Review. 
 
 Mr. McCrindle, who holds a very high position in the 
 Education Department of the Indian Government, has col- 
 lected into a volume some translations which he has lately 
 contributed to the " Indian Antiquary'' from Megasthenes 
 
 and Arrian Strabo and Pliny thought fit to condemn 
 
 the writings of Megasthenes as absolutely false, and incre- 
 dible, although they were glad to copy into their own 
 works much that he had written. We moderns, however, 
 with our longer experience of travellers' tales, and of the 
 vitality of fabulous statements, and practised in com- 
 paring accounts that vary, find much in these fragments 
 that agrees with what we can reasonably conjecture of the 
 past of India We may observe that many of the singu- 
 larities of the human race which are depicted on the famous 
 Mappemonde at Hereford are described by Megasthenes — 
 Mr. McCrindle's volume ends with an excellent transhxtion 
 of the first part of Arrian's Indika. He is to be congra- 
 tulated on having made a very useful contribution to the 
 popular study of Indian A.i\tv\mt\G^.— Westminster Review. 
 
 Other notices of a like favourable import have appeared 
 in the "Englishman," the "Scotsman," the "Saturday" 
 Review," and several Indian vernacular publications. 
 
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