[1] The Introduction and Commentary embody the main substance of MÜller’s Prolegomena and Notes to the PeriplÛs, 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 Grammar, to which I am indebted for the identification of places on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts.

[2] The enumeration is Vincent’s, altered and abridged.

[3] The numerals indicate the sections of the PeriplÛs in which the articles are mentioned.

[4] BhagvÂnlÂl Indraji PÂ??it points out that the colour is called alaktaka, Prakrit alito: it is used by women for dying the nails and feet,—also as a dye. The gulalÎ 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 Sansk?it names, and some notes.

[5] Sans. Guggula, Guj. GÛgal, used as a tonic and for skin and urinary diseases.—B. I. P.

[6] Mahuw oil (Guj. doliu?, Sans. madhuka) is much exported from Bharoch.—B. I. P.

[7] May not some of these be the fragrant root of the kusÂ, grass, Andropogon calamus—aromaticus?—J. B.

[8] A similar gum is obtained from the PÂlÂsa (Guj. khÂkhara), the DhÂka of RÂjputÂna.—B. I. P.

[9] What the BrÂhmans call ku??aru is the gum of a tree called the DhÛpa-salai; another sort of it, from Arabia, they call IsÊsa, and in KÂ?hiÂvÂ? it is known as Sesagundar.—B. I. P.

[10] More likely from NepÂl, where it is called tejapÂt.—B. I. P.

[11] Obtained from the root of Nardostachys jatamansi, a native of the eastern HimÂlayas.—J. B.

[12] It is brought now from the Eastern Archipelago.—B. I. P.

[13] In early times it was obtained chiefly from Styrax officinalis, a native of the same region.—J. B.

[14] 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.]

[15] Possibly the Lapis Lazuli is meant.—J. B.

[16] 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. []

[17] Bruce, Travels, vol. III., p. 62.—J. B.

[18] From the Tamil arisi, rice deprived of the husk.—Caldwell.

[19] Meaning white village.

[20] “This” (Mons Pulcher) 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.

[21] “The city of Omana is ?o?ar, the ancient capital of Omana, which name, as is well known, it then bore, and Pliny is quite right in correcting 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 PeriplÛs of the ErithrÆan Sea does locate it in Persia, 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 ?o?ar most probably that bore the appellation of Emporium Persarum, in which, as Philostorgius relates, permission was given to Theophilus, the ambassador of Constantine, to erect a Christian church.” The Homna of Pliny may be a repetition of Omana or ?o?ar, which he had already mentioned.—Miles in Jour. R. As. Soc. (N. S.) vol. X. pp. 164-5.—Ed.

[22] Ind. Ant. vol. I. pp. 309-310.

[23] Written in the Ionic dialect.

[24] See infra, note 35.

[25] Geog. of Anc. India, p. 279 sqq.

[26] See Arrian’s Anab. VI. 19. ?a? t??t? ??p? p??te??? e?????s? t??? ?f' ????a?d??? ??p????? ?? ?a? a?t? ?? s????? pa??s?e.

[27] See Arrian, ib.

[28] See id. VI. 23, and Strab. xv. ii. 3, 4.

[29] Strab. ib. 5.

[30] This may perhaps be represented by the modern KhÂu, the name of one of the western mouths of the Indus.

[31] See infra, p. 176, note 17.

[32] The Olympic stadium, which was in general use throughout Greece, contained 600 Greek feet = 625 Roman feet, or 606 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.

[33] 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 OnÊsikritos. Nearkhos, by his silence, leaves it uncertain whether any other officers enumerated in his list accompanied 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 number 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.

[34] So also Plutarch in the Life of Alexander (C. 66) says that in returning from India Alexander had 120,000 foot and 15,000 cavalry.

[35] Sansk. Malava. The name is preserved in the modern Moultan.

[36] Anab. VI. 11.

[37] The general effect of the monsoon Nearkhos certainly knew; he was a native of Crete, and a resident at Amphipolis, both which lie within the track of the annual or Etesian winds, which commencing from the Hellespont and probably from the Euxine sweep the EgÊan 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 attended 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.

[38] 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. 174 and 563, 3rd ed.). There was an Archon called 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 KephisidÔros 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 their 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 corresponded to the 21st of September.

[39] Regarding the sunken reef encountered by the fleet after leaving Koreatis, Sir Alexander Burnes says: “Near the mouth of the river we passed a rock stretching across the stream, which is particularly mentioned by Nearchus, 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 up the Pitti. “It is vain,” says Captain Wood in the narrative of his Journey to the Source of the Oxus, “in the delta of such a river (as the Indus), to identify existing localities with descriptions handed down to us by the historians 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 rock, Burnes 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 advantage.” The same author thus describes the mouth of the Piti:—“Beginning from the westward we 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.”

[40] All inquirers have agreed in identifying the Kolaka of Ptolemy, and the sandy island of Krokola where Nearchus tarried with his fleet, for one day, with a small island in the bay of KarÂchi. KrÔkala is further described as lying off the mainland of the Arabii. It was 150 stadia, or 17¼ miles, from the western mouth of the Indus,—which agrees exactly with the relative positions of KarÂchi and the mouth of the GhÂra river, if, as we may fairly assume, 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 continued by the fact that the district in which KarÂchi is situated is called Karkalla to this day. Cunningham Geog. of An. India, I. p. 306.

[41] The name of the Arabii is variously written,—ArabitÆ, Arbii, Arabies, Arbies, Aribes, Arbiti. The name of their river has also several forms,—Arabis, Arabius, Artabis, Artabius. It is now called the PurÂli, the river which flows through the present district of Las into the bay of SoumiyÂni. The name of the Oreitai in Curtius is HoritÆ. Cunningham identifies them with the people on the Aghor river, whom he says the Greeks would have named AgoritÆ or AoritÆ, by the suppression of the guttural, of which a trace still remains in the initial aspirate of ‘HoritÆ.’ Some would connect the name with Haur, a town which lay on the route to Firabaz, in Mekran.

[42] This name Sangada, D’Anville thought, survived in that of a race of noted pirates who infested the shores of the gulf of Kachh, called the Sangadians or Sangarians.

[43] “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 importance in the days of the native rulers.”—Wanderings of a Naturalist in India, p. 36.

[44] This island is not known, but it probably lay near the rocky headland of Irus, now called Manora, which protects the port of KarÂchi from the sea and bad weather.

[45] “The name of Morontobara,” says Cunningham, “I would identify with MuÂri, which is now applied to the headland of RÂs MuÂri or Cape Monze, the last point of the Pab range of mountains. BÂra, or BÂri, means roadstead or haven; and Moranta is evidently connected with the Persian Mard a man, of which the feminine is still preserved in KÂsmÎrÎ as Mahrin a woman. From the distances given by Arrian, I am inclined to fix it at the mouth of the Bahar rivulet, a small stream which falls into the sea about midway between Cape Monze and SonmiyÂni.” Women’s Haven is mentioned by Ptolemy and Ammianus Marcellinus. There is in the neighbourhood a mountain now called Mor, 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.

[46] The coast from KarÂchi to the PurÂli has undergone considerable changes, so that the position of the intermediate places cannot be precisely determined. “From Cape Monze to SonmiyÂni,” 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 direction with the coast. These might probably be the vestiges of that narrow channel through which the Greek galleys passed.”

[47] Ptolemy and Marcian enumerate the following places as lying between the Indus and the Arabis: Rhizana, 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 Arabia to be the boundary of the Arabii. His Arabis must therefore be identified not with the PÂrÂli, but with the Kurmut, called otherwise the Rumra or Kalami, where the position of Arrian’s Kalama must be fixed. Pliny (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.

[48] The Arabis or PurÂli discharges its waters into the bay of SonmiyÂni. “SonmiyÂni,” says Kempthorne, “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 off 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 quality of the earth.”

[49] Strabo agrees with Arrian in representing the Oreitai as non-Indian. Cunningham, however, relying on statement 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 Hystaspes, and they were still subject to Persia nearly 12 centuries later when visited by Hwen Thsang.—Geog. of An. Ind. pp. 304 sqq.

[50] Another form is PegadÆ, met with in Philostratos, who wrote a work on India.

[51] To judge from the distances given, this place should be near the stream now called Agbor, on which is situated HarkÂnÂ. It is probably the Koiamba of Ptolemy.

[52] “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.

[53] In another passage of Arrian (Anab. VI. 27, 1,) this ApollophanÊs 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 AristobÛlus.—Vincent.

[54] From the distances given, the TomÊros must be identified with the Maklow or Hingal river; some would, however, make it the BhusÂl. The form of the name in Pliny is Tomberus, and in Mela—Tubero. These authors mention another river in connection with the TomÊros,—the Arosapes or Arusaces.

[55] Similar statements are made regarding this savage race by Curtius IX. 10, 9; DiodÔros XVII. 105; Pliny VI. 28; Strabo p. 720; Philostratos V. Ap. III., 57. Cf. Agatharkhides passim.—MÜller.

[56] Its modern representative is doubtless RÂs Malin, Malen or Moran.

[57] 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 this statement been represented as a mendacious writer. Schmieder and Gosselin attempt to vindicate him 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. MÜller, 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 OnÊsikritos 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 his 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 gente Oretam Mons est Maleus nomine, juxta quem umbrae aestate in Austrum, hieme in Septemtrionem 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 Malana 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 Indian people, whereas the Journal had a little before made the Arabies to be the last people of Indian descent living in this direction.

[58] This country, which corresponds generally to Mekran, was called also Kedrosia, Gadrosia, or Gadrusia. The people were an Ârianian race akin to the Arakhosii, Arii, and Drangiani.

[59] Bagisara, says Kempthorne, “is now known by the name of Arabah or Hormarah Bay, and is deep and commodious with good anchorage, sheltered from all winds but 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 inhabitants were a few fowls, some dried fish, and goats. They grew 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 Pasira of Arrian, and evidently survives in the present name of the bay and the headland of Araba.

[60] Kolta.—A place unknown. It was situated on the western side of the isthmus which connects RÂs Araba with the mainland.

[61] A different form is Kaluboi. Situated on the river now called Kalami, or Kumra, or Kurmut, the Arabis of Ptolemy, who was probably misled by the likeness of the name to Karbis as the littoral district was designated here.

[62] Other forms—Karnine, Karmina. The coast was probably called Karmin, if Karmis is represented in Kurmat. The island lying twelve miles off the mouth of the Kalami is now called Astola or Sangadip, which Kempthorne 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 purpose of food, but they traffic with the shell to China, where it is made into a kind of paste, and then into combs, ornaments, &c., in imitation of tortoise-shell. The carcasses caused a stench almost unbearable. The only land animals we could see on the island were rats, and they were swarming. They feed chiefly on the dead turtle. The island was once famous as the rendezvous of the Jowassimee pirates.” Vincent quotes Blair to this effect regarding the island:—“We were warned by the natives at Passence that it would 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 mentioned afterwards (chap. xxxi.), under the name of Nosala, was 100 stadia distant from the coast, it was probably the same as Karnine.

[63] Another form of the name is Kysa.

[64] 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 greatly 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 RÂs Koppa (the Kophas of the text) is barely 500 stadia. According to Ptolemy and Marcian Karmania begins at Mosarna, but according to Arrian much further westward, at Badis near Cape Jask.

[65] “From the name given to this pilot I imagine that he was an inhabitant of Hydriakos, a town near the bay of Churber or Chewabad.... Upon the acquisition of HydrakÊs 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.

[66] 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. Apoll. III. 56), whose description of the place is in close agreement with Arrian’s.

[67] t?s? ?v?s??. Another reading, not so good however, is, t?s? ???t?s?? 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.

[68] In Ptolemy a place is mentioned called Derenoibila, which may be the same as this. The old name perhaps survives in the modern Daram or Durum, the name of a highland on part of the coast between Cape Passence and Cape Guadel.

[69] The name appears to survive in a cognominal Cape—RÂs 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 with cord made from the bark of date trees and called kair, the whole being then smeared over with dammer or pitch.—Kempthorne.

[70] According to Ptolemy and Marcianus this place lay 400 stadia to the west of the promontory of Alambator (now RÂs Gnadel). Some trace of the word may be recognized in RÂs 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 navigator; 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 prominent feature of this coast.”

[71] The little town attached by Nearchus lay on Gwattar Bay. The promontory in its neighbourhood called Bagia is mentioned by Ptolemy and Marcianus, the latter of whom gives its distance from Kyiza at 250 stadia, which is but half the distance as given by Arrian. To the west of this was the river Kaudryaces or Hydriaces, the modern Baghwar Dasti or Muhani river, which falls into the Bay of Gwattar.

[72] 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 Tiz,—perhaps the modern representative of Tisa, a place in those parts mentioned by Ptolemy, and which may have been the Talmena of Arrian.

[73] The name is not found elsewhere. It must have been situated on a bay enclosed within the two headlands RÂs Fuggem and RÂs Godem.

[74] Kanate probably stood on the site of the modern Kungoun, which is near RÂs Kalat, and not far from the river Bunth.

[75] 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 Marcian his Ommana. See ante p. 104 note.

[76] The place in Ptolemy is called Agrispolis,—in Marcianus, Agrisa. The modern name is Girishk.

[77] Schmieder suggests that instead of the common reading here ?p? t??ta? ??a??? p?????s?? Arrian may have written ?p? ?????? e. p. they make oil from thunnies, i. e. use the fat for oil.

[78] “This description of the natives, with that of their mode of living and the country they inhabit, is strictly correct even to the present day.”—Kempthorne.

[79] Strabo (XV. ii. 12, 13) has extracted from Nearkhos the same passage regarding whales. See Nearchi fragm. 25. Cf. Onesikritos (fr. 30) and Orthagoras in Aelian, N. An. XVII. 6; Diodor. XVII. 106; Curtius X. 1, 11.

[80] The story of the Nereid is evidently an Eastern version of the story of the enchantress KirkÊ. The island here called Nosala is that already mentioned under the name of Karbine, now Asthola.

[81] Karmania extended from Cape Jask to RÂs Nabend, and comprehended the districts now called Moghostan, Kirman, and Laristan. Its metropolis, according to Ptolemy, was Karmana, now Kirman, which gives its name to the whole province. The first port in Karmania reached by the expedition was in the neighbourhood of Cape Jask, where the coast is described 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 appearance, 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.”

[82] Badis must have been near where the village of Jask now stands, beyond which was the promontory now called RÂs 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.

[83] 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 we reached the headland, and saw before us the narrow sea-pass which runs between the farthest rooks of Mesandum and the mainland of the Cape. This strait is called the “Bab” or “gate:” it presents an imposing spectacle, with lofty precipices on either side, and the water flowing deep and black below; the cliffs are utterly bare and extremely well adapted for shivering whatever vessels have the ill luck to come upon them. Hence and 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 a hundred feet and more in height sheer above the water; it bears the name of “SalÂmah” or “safety,” a euphemism of good augury for “danger.” Several small jagged peaks, just projecting above the surface, cluster in its neighbourhood; these bear the endearing name of “BenÂt SalÂmah,” or “Daughters of Salamah.”

[84] This place is not mentioned elsewhere, but must have been situated somewhere in the neighbourhood of the village of Karun.

[85] The Anamis, called by Pliny the Ananis, and by Ptolemy and Mela the Andanis, is now the MinÂb or Ibrahim River.

[86] Other forms—Hormazia, Armizia regio. The name was transferred from the mainland to the island now called Ormus, when the inhabitants fled thither to escape from the Moghals. It is called by Arrian Organa (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 ErythrÉs. The description, however, which he gives of it is more applicable to the island called by Arrian (chap. xxxvii.) OÂrakta (now Kishm) than to Ormus. Arrian’s description of Harmozia is still applicable to the region adjacent to the MÎnÂb. “It is termed,” says Kempthorne, “the Paradise of Persia. It is certainly most beautifully fertile, and abounds in orange groves, orchards containing apples, pears, peaches, and apricots, with vineyards producing a delicious grape, from which was made at one time a wine called Amber rosolia, generally considered the white wine of Kishma; but no wine is made here now.” The old name of Kishma—OÂrakta—is preserved in one of its modern names, Vrokt or Brokt.

[87] DiodÔros (XVII. 106) gives quite a different account of the visit of Nearkhos to Alexander.

[88] The preceding satrap was Sibyrtios, the friend of MegasthenÊs. He had been transferred to govern the Gadrosians and the Arakhotians.

[89] As stated in Note 64, Organa is now Ormuz, 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 decline 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 1 never beheld.”—Two Years’ Travel in Persia, I. pp. 136, 137.

[90] For the legend of ErythrÊs see Agatharkhides De Mari Eryth. I. 1-4 and Strabo XVI. iv. 20. The ErythrÆan Sea 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 ErythrÆan in general. It can hardly be doubted that the epithet ErythrÆan (which means red, Greek e??????) first designated the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, and was afterwards extended to the seas beyond the Straits by those who first explored them. The Red Sea was so called because it washed the shores of Arabia, called the Red Land (Edom), in contradistinction to Egypt, 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, especially 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 speaks of a spring which discharges into the sea a red and ochrous water.”—Cf. Eustath. Comment. 38.

[91] This island is that now called Angar, or Hanjam, 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 300 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.

[92] The island of Pylora 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 Mogos, situated in a bay of the same name. The name may perhaps be preserved in the name of a village in the same neighbourhood, called Dnan Tarsia—now RÂs-el-Djard—described as high and rugged, and of a reddish colour.

[93] Kataia 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 (I. 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. The inhabitants of this, as well as of every other island in the Gulf, are of Arab blood—for every true Persian appears to hate the very sight of the sea.”

[94] 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 Naban or Nabend.

[95] Kaikander has the other forms—Kekander, Kikander, Kaskandrus, Karkundrus, Karskandrus, SasÆkander. This island, which is now called Inderabia, or Andaravia, is about four or five miles from the mainland, having a small town on the north side, where is a safe and commodious harbour. The other island mentioned immediately 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 principally inhabited by Arabs, who live on fish and dates. The harbour has good anchorage even for large vessels.

[96] The pearl oyster is found from Ras Musendom to the head of the Gulf. There are no famed banks on the Persian side, but near Bushire there are some good ones.

[97] Apostana was near a place now called Schevar. It is thought that the name may be traced in Dahra AhbÂn, an adjacent mountain ridge of which Okhos was probably the southern extremity.

[98] 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.

[99] GÔgana is now Konkan or Konaun. The bay lacks depth of water; a stream still falls into it—the AreÔn of the text. To the north-west of this place in the interior lay Pasargada, the ancient capital of Persia, and the burial-place of Kyros, in the neighbourhood of MurghÂb, a place to the N. E. of Shiraz (30°24´ N. 56°29´ E.).

[100] 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 River. The meaning of its name is black wood. In Pliny it appears as the Sitioganus. Sitakon was probably the name as Nearkhos heard it pronounced, as it frequently happens that when a Greek writer comes upon a name like an oblique 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 Gulf by Colonel Ross, lately issued. Pliny states that from the mouth of the Sitioganus an ascent could be made to Pasargada, in seven days; but this is manifestly an error.

[101] 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.

[102] The peninsula, which is 10 miles in length and 3 in breadth, lies so low that at times of high tide it is all but submerged. The modern Abu-Shahr or Bushir is situated on it.

[103] Nearkhos, it is probable, put into the mouth of the river now called by some the Kisht, by others the Boshavir. A town exists in the neighbourhood called Gra 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 TaÖkÊ to be an inland town, and calls all the district in this part TaÔkÊnÊ. TaokÊ may be the Touag mentioned by Idrisi, which is now represented by Konar Takhta near the Kisht.

[104] Rhogonis.—It is written Rhogomanis by Ammianus 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.

[105] “The measures here are neglected in the Journal, for we have only 800 stadia specified from Mesambria to Brizana, and none from Brizana 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.

[106] Another form of the name of this river is the Aroatis. It answers to the Zarotis of Pliny, 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 TÂb.

[107] On this point compare Strabo, bk. xv. 3, 1.

[108] It has been conjectured that the text here is imperfect. Schmieder opines that the story about the ambassadors is a fiction.

[109] The bay of Kataderbis is that which receives the streams of the Mensureh and Dorak; at its entrance lie two islands, Bunah and ?eri, one of which is the Margastana of Arrian.

[110] DiridÔtis is called by other writers TerÊdon, and is said to have been founded by Nabukhodonosor. Mannert places it on the island now called Bubian; Colonel Chesney, however, fixes its position at Jebel SanÂm, 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 westward. Hence he had to retrace his course, as mentioned in the next chapter.

[111] This is the EulÆus, now called the KarÛn, one arm of which united with the Tigris, while the other fell into the sea by an independent mouth. It is the Ulai 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 Shat-el-Arab. The courses of the rivers and 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 Choaspes, and the EulÆus, 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 down 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 the Euphrates and the Pasitigris; the whole intermediate space is occupied by a lake which receives the Tigris. On sailing up the Pasitigris 150 stadia is a bridge of rafts leading to Susa from Persis, and is distant from Susa 60 (600?) stadia; the Pasitigris is distant from the Oroatis about 2,000 stadia; the ascent through the lake to the mouth of the Tigris is 600 stadia; near the mouth stands the Susian village Aginis, distant from Susa 500 stadia; the journey by water from the mouth of the Euphrates up to Babylon, through a well-inhabited tract of country, is a distance of more than 3,000 stadia.—Book xv. 3, Bohn’s trans.

[112] The 3rd part of the Indika, the purport of which is to prove that the southern parts of the world are uninhabitable, begins with this chapter.

[113] Here and subsequently meaning the Persian Gulf.

[114] It is not known when or wherefore Ptolemy sent troops on this expedition.