Chapter III (8)

One of the most celebrated geographers among the ancients, flourished during the reign of Augustus;--we allude to Strabo: his fundamental principles are, the globosity of the earth, and its centripetal force; he also lays down rules for constructing globes, but he seems ignorant of the mode of fixing the position of places by their latitude or longitude, or, at least, he neglects it. In order to render his geographical knowledge more accurate and complete, he travelled over most of the countries between Armenia on the east and Etruria on the west, and from his native country, on the borders of the Euxine sea, to the borders of Ethiopia. The portion of the globe which he describes, is bounded on the north by the Baltic, on the east by the Ganges, on the south by the mouth of the river Senegal, and on the west by Spain. In describing the countries which he himself had visited, he is generally very accurate, but his accounts of those he had not visited, are frequently erroneous or very incomplete. His information respecting Ceylon and the countries of the Ganges, seems to have been derived entirely from the statements brought to Europe by the generals of Alexander.

In the reign of Claudius, the knowledge of the Romans respecting the interior of Africa, was slightly extended by the expedition of Suetonius Paulinus; he was the first Roman who crossed Mount Atlas, and during the winter penetrated through the deserts, which are described as formed of black dust, till he reached a river called the Niger. Paulinus wrote an account of this expedition, which, however, is not extant: Pliny quotes it. In the reign of Claudius, also, the island of Ceylon became better known, in consequence of an accident which happened to the freedman of a Roman, who farmed the customs in the Red Sea. This man, in the execution of his duty, was blown off the coast of Arabia, across the ocean to Taprobane, or Ceylon; here he was hospitably received by the king, and after a residence of six months was sent back, along with ambassadors, to Claudius. They informed the emperor that their country was very extensive, populous, and opulent, abounding in gold, silver, and pearls. It seems probable that the circumstance of the freedman having been carried to Ceylon by a steady and regular wind, and this man and the ambassadors having returned by a wind directly opposite, but as steady and regular, had some influence in the discovery of the monsoon. As this discovery led necessarily to a direct communication between Africa and India, and grea'ly enlarged the knowledge of the Romans respecting the latter country, as well as their commercial connections with it, it will be proper to notice it in a particular manner.

This important discovery is supposed to have been made in the seventh year of the reign of Claudius, answering to the forty-seventh of the Christian era. The following is the account given of it by the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, as translated by Dr. Vincent:

"The whole navigation, such as it has been described from Adan in Arabia Felix and Kanè to the ports of India, was performed formerly in small vessels, by adhering to the shore and following the indention of the coast; but Hippalus was the pilot who first discovered the direct course across the ocean, by observing the position of the ports and the general appearance of the sea; for, at the season when the annual winds peculiar to our climate settle in the north, and blow for a continuance upon our coast from the Mediterranean, in the Indian ocean the wind is constantly to the south west; and this wind has in those seas obtained the name of Hippalus, from the pilot who first attempted the passage by means of it to the east.

"From the period of that discovery to the present time, vessels bound to India take their departure either from Kanè on the Arabian, or from Cape Arometa on the African side. From these points they stretch out to the open sea at once, leaving all the windings of the gulfs and bays at a distance, and make directly for their several destinations on the coast of India. Those that are intended for Limurike waiting some time before they sail, but those that are destined for Barugaza, or Scindi, seldom more than three days."

If we may credit Pliny, the Greek merchants of Egypt for some years after the discovery of the monsoon, did not venture further out to sea than was absolutely necessary, by crossing the widest part of the entry of the Persian Gulf, to reach Patala at the mouth of the Indus; but they afterwards found shorter routes, or rather stretched more to the south, so as to reach lower down on the coast of India: they also enlarged their vessels, carried cargoes of greater value, and in order to beat off the pirates, which then as at present infested this part of the Indian coast, they put on board their vessels a band of archers. Myos Hormos, or Berenice, was the port on the Red Sea from which they sailed; in forty days they arrived at Musiris, on the west coast of India. The homeward passage was begun in December or January, when the north east monsoon commenced; this carried them to the entrance of the Red Sea, up which to their port they were generally favored by southerly winds.

As there is no good reason to believe that the ancients made regular voyages to India, previously to the discovery of the monsoons; yet, as it is an undoubted fact that some of the exclusive productions of that country, particularly cinnamon, were obtained by them, through their voyages on the Red Sea; it becomes an important and interesting enquiry, by what means these productions were brought to those places on this sea, from which the Romans obtained them. In our opinion, the Arabians were the first who introduced Indian productions into the west from the earliest period to which history goes back, and they continued to supply the merchants who traded on the Red Sea with them, till, by the discovery of the monsoon, a direct communication was opened between that sea and India.

At least seventeen centuries before the Christian era, we have undoubted evidence of the traffic of the Arabians in the spices, &c. of India; for in the 27th chapter of Genesis we learn, that the Ishmaelites from Gilead conducted a caravan of camels laden with the spices of India, and the balsam and myrrh of Hadraumaut, in the regular course of traffic to Egypt for sale. In the 30th chapter of Exodus, cinnamon, cassia, myrrh, frankincense, &c. are mentioned, some of which are the exclusive produce of India; these were used for religious purposes, but at the same time the quantities of them specified are so great, that it is evident they must have been easily obtained. Spices are mentioned, along with balm and other productions of Canaan, in the present destined by Jacob for Joseph. These testimonies from holy writ are perfectly in unison with what we learn from Herodotus; this author enumerates oriental spices as regularly used in Egypt for embalming the dead.

It is sufficiently evident, therefore, that, at a very early period, the productions of India were imported into Egypt. That the Arabians were the merchants who imported them, is rendered highly probable from several circumstances. The Ishmaelites, mentioned in the 37th chapter of Genesis, are undoubtedly the Nabathians, whose country is represented by all the geographers, historians, and poets, as the source of all the precious commodities of the east; the ancients, erroneously supposing that cinnamon, which we know to be an exclusive production of India, was the produce of Arabia, because they were supplied with it, along with other aromatics, from that country. The proof that the Nabathians and the Ishmaelites are the same, is to be found in the evident derivation of the former name, from Nebaioth, the son of Ishmael. The traditions of the Arabians coincide with the genealogy of the Scriptures, in regarding Joktan, the fourth son of Shem, as the origin of those trihes which occupied Sabæa and Hadraumaut, or the incense country; Ishmael as the father of the families which settled in Arabia Deserta; and Edom as the ancestor of the Idumeans, who settled in Arabia Petræa.

Eight hundred years before the Christian era, the merchandize of the Sabeans is particularly noticed by the prophet Isaiah; and even long before his time, we are informed, that there were no such spices as the Queen of Sheba gave to Solomon. That Sheba is Sabæa, or Arabia Felix, we learn from Ezekiel:--"The merchants of Sheba and Ramah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones and gold." Six hundred and fifty years after Isaiah bore his testimony to the commerce of Sabæa, we have the authority of Agatharcides, that the merchants of this country traded to India; that the great wealth and luxury of Sabæa were principally derived from this trade; and that, at the time when Egypt possessed the monopoly of the Indian trade, with respect to Europe, the Sabeans enjoyed a similar advantage with regard to Egypt.

Having thus established the fact, that, from the earliest period of which we have any record, the Arabians were the merchants who brought the cinnamon, &c. of India into the west, we must, in the next place, endeavour to ascertain by what means and route this commerce was carried on; and we think we can prove that the communication between Arabia and India, at a very early period, was both by sea and land.

There were many circumstances connected with Arabia and the Arabians, which would necessarily turn their thoughts to maritime affairs, and when they had once embarked in maritime commerce, would particularly direct it to India. The sea washed three sides of the peninsula of Arabia: the Arabians were not, like the Egyptians, prejudiced, either by their habits or their religion, against the sea. The monsoons must have been perceived by them, from part of the sea-coast lying within their influence; and it can hardly be supposed that a sea-faring people would not take advantage of them, to embark in such a lucrative trade as that of India. "There is no history which treats of them which does not notice them as pirates, or merchants, by sea, as robbers, or traders, by land. We scarcely touch upon them, accidentally, in any author, without finding that they were the carriers of the Indian Ocean." From the earliest period that history begins to notice them, Sabæa, Hadraumaut, and Oman, are described as the residences of navigators; and as these places are, in the earliest historians, celebrated for their maritime commerce, it is reasonable to suppose that they were equally so before the ancient historians acquired any knowledge of them.

We cannot go farther back, with respect to the fact of the Arabians being in India, than the voyage of Nearchus; but in the journal of this navigator, we find manifest traces of Arabian navigators on the coast of Mekran, previous to his expedition: he also found proofs of their commerce on the coast of Gadrosia, and Arabic names of places--a pilot to direct him, and vessels of the country in the Gulf of Persia. Large ships from the Indus, Patala, Persis, and Karmania came to Arabia, as early as the time of Agatharcides; and it is probable that these ships were navigated by Arabians, as the inhabitants of India were not, at this time, and, indeed, never have been celebrated for their maritime enterprize and skill. The same author mentions a town, a little without the Red Sea, from whence, he says, the Sabeans sent out colonies or factories into India, and to which the large ships he describes came with their cargoes from India. This is the first historical evidence to prove the establishment of Arabian factories and merchants in the ports of India. In the time of Pliny, the Arabians were in such numbers on the coast of Malabar, and at Ceylon, that, according to that author, the inhabitants of the former had embraced their religion, and the ports of the latter were entirely in their power. Their settlements and commerce in India are repeatedly mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, and likewise their settlements down the coast of Africa to Rhaptum, before it was visited by the Greeks from Egypt. For, besides their voyages from India to their own country, they frequently brought Indian commodities direct to the coast of Africa. At Sabaea, the great mart of the Arabian commerce with India, the Greeks, as late as the reign of Philometor, purchased the spices and other productions of the east. As there was a complete monopoly of them at this place, in the hands of the Arabians, the Greek navigators and merchants were induced, in the hopes of obtaining them cheaper, to pass the Straits of Babelmandeb, and on the coast of Africa they found cinnamon and other produce of India, which had been brought hither by the Arabian traders.

The evidence of the land trade between Arabia and India, from a very early period, is equally clear and decisive: Petra, the capital of Arabia Petrea, was the centre of this trade. To it the caravans, in all ages, came from Minea, in the interior of Arabia, and from Gherra, in the Gulf of Persia,--from Hadraumaut, on the Ocean, and some even from Sabaea. From Petra, the trade again spread in every direction--to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, and other places of less consequence, all lying on routes terminating in the Mediterranean.

The Gherrheans, who were a Babylonian colony settled in that part of Arabia, which extends along the south coast of the Persian Gulf, are the earliest conductors of caravans upon record. They are first mentioned by Agatharcides, who compares their wealth with that of the Sabeans, and describes them as the agents for all the precious commodities of Asia and Europe: he adds that they brought much wealth into Syria, and furnished a variety of articles, which were afterwards manufactured or resold by the Phoenicians. But the only route by which Syria and Phoenicia could have been supplied by them, was through Petra. The particular articles with which their caravans were loaded, according to Strabo, were the produce of Arabia, and the spices of India. Besides the route of their caravans, across the whole peninsula to Petra, it appears that they sometimes carried their merchandize in boats up the Euphrates to Babylon, or even 240 miles higher up, to Thapsacus, and thence dispersed it in all directions by land.

The exact site of the country of the Mineans cannot be certainly fixed; but it is probable that it was to the south of Hedjaz, to the north of Hadraumaut, and to the eastward of Sabaea. According to Strabo, their caravans passed in seventy days from Hadraumaut to Aisla, which was within ten miles of Petra. They were laden with aloes, gold, myrrh, frankincense, and other aromatics.

We can but faintly and obscurely trace the fluctuations in the trade of Petra, in the remote periods of history. We know that Solomon was in possession of Idumea, but whether it was subdued by Nebuchadnezzar is doubtful. This sovereign, however, seems to have formed some plan of depriving the Gherrheans of the commerce of the Gulf of Persia. He raised a mound to confine the waters of the Tigris: he built a city to stop the incursions of the Arabs, and opened a communication between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. After this there is no account of Idumea till some years subsequent to the death of Alexander the Great: at this period two expeditions were sent into it against its capital, Petra, by Antigonus, both of which were unsuccessful. These expeditions were undertaken about the years 308 and 309 before Christ. The history of Idumea, from this period, is better ascertained: harassed by the powerful kingdoms of Syria and Egypt,--contiguous to both of which it lay,--it seems to have been governed by princes of its own, who were partly independent, and partly under the influence of the monarchs of Syria and Egypt. About sixty-three years before Christ, Pompey took Petra; and, from that period, the sovereigns of Idumea were tributary to the Romans. This city, however, still retained its commerce, and was in a flourishing condition, as we are informed by Strabo, on the authority of his friend Athenedorus, who visited it about thirty-six years after it. He describes it as built on a rock, distinguished, however, from all the rocks in that part of Arabia, from being supplied with an abundant spring of water. Its natural position, as well as art, rendered it a fortress of importance in the desert. He represents the people as rich, civilized, and peaceable; the government as regal, but the chief power as lodged in a minister selected by the king, who had the title of the king's brother. Syllaeus, who betrayed Elius Gallus, appears to have been a minister of this description.

The next mention that occurs of the trade of Petra is in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, the date of which, though uncertain, there is good reason to fix in Nero's reign. According to this work, Leuke Kome, at the mouth of the Elanitic Gulf, was the point of communication with Petra, the capital of the country, the residence of Malachus, the king of the Nabathians. "Leuke Kome, itself, had the rank of a mart in respect to the small vessels which obtained their cargoes in Arabia, for which reason there was a garrison placed in it, under the command of a centurion, both for the purpose of protection, and in order to collect a duty of twenty-five in the hundred." In the reign of Trajan, Idumea was reduced into the form of a Roman province, by one of his generals; after this time it not does fall within our plan to notice it, except merely to state, that its subjection does not seem to have been complete or permanent, for during the latter empire, there were certainly sovereigns of this part of Arabia, in some degree independent, whose influence and alliance were courted by the Romans and Persians, whenever a war was about to commence between these two powers.

From this sketch of the trade of the Arabians from the earliest period, we may conclude, in the first place, that when navigation was in its infancy, it was confined, or almost entirely so, to a land trade carried on by caravans; and that Petra was the centre to which these caravans tended from the east and the south, bringing with them from the former the commodities of India, and from the latter the commodities of the more fertile part of Arabia. From Petra, all these goods were again transported by land to the shores of the Mediterranean and to Egypt. In the second place, when navigation became more commonly known and practised, (and there is good reason to believe that it was known and practised among the Arabians, especially those near the Persian Gulf, at a very early period,) a portion of the Indian commodities, which before had been carried by land to Petra were brought by sea to Sabaea. It appears that in the age of Agatharcides, the monopoly of the trade between India and Europe by this route was wholly possessed by the Sabeans; that, in order to evade the effects of this monopoly, the Greeks of Egypt found their way to Aden and Hadraumaut, in Arabia, and to Mosullon on the coast of Africa. Here they met with other Arabians, who at this time also traded to India, and sold them Indian goods at a cheaper rate. And, lastly, we have seen that these ports on the southern coast of Arabia, and on the coast of Africa, were frequented by the merchants of Egypt, till, by the discovery of the monsoon, their ships were enabled to sail directly to India. It is undoubtedly true that before this discovery, single ships occasionally reached India by adhering to the coast all the way, but the direct communication was very rare. After the nature of the monsoon was thoroughly understood, and it was ascertained that complete dependence could be placed on its steadiness and regularity, and that by its change, the ships could be brought as safely and quickly back from India, as they had reached it, the ancients, who at first only ventured to the mouth of the Indus, gradually made their way down the western coast of the Indian peninsula.

The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, a work which has been frequently referred to, is rich in materials to illustrate the geographical knowledge and the commercial enterprize of the ancients in the part of the world to which it relates. We have already assigned its date to the age of Nero. Our limits will prevent us from giving a full account of this work; we shall therefore, in the first place, give a short abstract of the geographical knowledge which it displays, and in the next place, illustrate from it, the nature of the commerce carried on, on the Red Sea, the adjacent coasts of Africa and Arabia, and the ports of India, which are noticed in it.

At the time of Strabo, the geography of the ancients did not extend, on the eastern coast of Africa, further to the south than a promontory called Noti Cornu, (the Southern Horn,) which seems to have been in about 12-1/2 degrees north latitude. Beyond this an arid coast, without ports or fresh water, arrested the progress of navigation; but it appears by the Periplus, that this promontory was now passed, and commerce had extended to the port of Rhapta and the isle of Menutias, which are supposed to correspond with Babel Velho and the island of Magadoxa. The author of the Periplus, who seems to have been a merchant personally acquainted with most of the places he describes, had heard of, but not visited the promontory Prasum: he represents the ocean beyond Rhapta as entirely unknown, but as believed to continue its western direction, and after having washed the south coast of Ethiopia, to join the Western Ocean. The whole of the west coast of India, from the Indus to Trapobane, is minutely described in the Periplus. Some of the particulars of the manners and customs of the inhabitants coincide in a striking manner with those of the present day; this observation applies, among other points, to the pirates between Bombay and Goa.

Dr. Vincent, in his learned commentary on the Periplus, gives it as his opinion, that the author of the Periplus never went further than Nelkundah himself, that is, to the boundary between the provinces of Canara and Malabar. The east coast of the Indian peninsula is not traced so minutely nor so accurately as the west coast, though there are names and descriptions in the Periplus, from which it may fairly be inferred, that the author alludes to Cavary, Masulapatam, Calingapatam, Coromandel, and other places and districts of this part of India. The countries beyond the Ganges, the Golden Chersonese, and the countries towards China, are very obscurely noticed in the Periplus, though the information he gives respecting the trade carried on in these parts is much more minute and accurate. His description of the direction of the coast of India, is on the whole, surprisingly consonant to truth: according to him, it tends from north to south, as far as Colchos (Travancore); at this place it bends to the east, and afterwards to the north; and then again a little to the east, as far as the Ganges. He is the first author in whom can clearly be traced the name of the great southern division of India: his term is Dachanabades,--Dachan signifying south, and abad a city; and Decan is still the general name of all the country to the south of Baroche, the boundary assigned by the author. The particulars he mentions of the bay of Cutch, of Cambay, of Baroche, and of the Ghauts, may also be mentioned as proofs of his accuracy with respect to those parts of India, which he visited in person.

Having thus given a sketch of the geographical knowledge contained the Periplus, we shall next attend to the commercial information which it conveys. As this work is divided into two distinct parts, the first comprising the coast of the Red Sea, and of Africa, from Myos Hormos on the former, to Rhapta in the latter: and the second part, beginning at the same place, and including the whole coast of Arabia, both that which lies on the Red Sea, and that which lies on the Ocean, and then stretching from the Gulf of Persia to Guzerat, describing the coast of Malabar, as far as Ceylon, we shall, in our abstract of the commercial intelligence it contains, enumerate the principal imports and exports of the most frequented marts in Africa, (including the Red Sea,) Arabia, and India.

I. The Red Sea and Africa. Myos Hormos is described as the first port of Egypt on the Red Sea; as it lies in twenty-seven degrees north latitude, and Rhapta, the boundary of the Periplus to the south, in nearly ten degrees south latitude, the distance between them will be about 2,500 miles. It is to be supposed, that every thing relating to the geography, navigation, and commerce of the Red Sea, from Myos Hormos to Aduli, on the western side, and Moosa, on the eastern side of it, was well known to the merchants of Egypt, as the author of the Periplus gives no circumstantial account of any port, till he arrives at these places. It appears, also, that till the ships arrived at these places, they kept the mid-channel of the Red Sea, and, consequently, there was no occasion, or indeed, opportunity of describing the intermediate ports. We have already mentioned, that Myos Hormos was fixed on by Ptolemy Philadelphus, in preference to Arsinoe, because the navigation of the western part of the Red Sea, on which the latter was placed, was intricate and tedious. Berenice was afterwards selected, as being still lower down: but it is worthy of remark, that neither Berenice, nor Ptolemais Theron, another port of the Ptolemies, were harbours, but merely roadsteads, though from our author's description, there were an almost infinite number of safe harbours, creeks, bays, &c. in every part of the Red Sea.

Aduli, the first port on the west side of the Red Sea, and the port of communication with Axuma, was, in the age of the Periplus, subject to the same prince, who possessed the whole coast, from Berenice. The exports from this place were confined to ivory, brought from the interior on both sides of the Nile; the horns of the rhinoceros, and tortoise-shell. The imports were very numerous, forming an assortment, as Dr. Vincent justly observes, as specific as a modern invoice: the principal articles were, cloth, manufactured in Egypt, unmilled, for the Barbarian market. The term, Barbarii, was applied to the Egyptians, to the whole western coast of the Red Sea, and was derived from Barbar, the native name of the country inhabited by the Troglodytes, Icthyophagi, and shepherds: as these were much hated and dreaded by the Egyptians, Barbarii became a term of reproach and dread, and in this sense it was adopted by the Greeks and Romans, and has passed into the modern European languages. But to return from this digression,--the other imports were robes, manufactured at Arsinoe; cloths dyed, so as to imitate the Tyrian purple; linens, fringed mantles, glass or crystal, murrhine cups, orichalchum, or mixed metal for trinkets and coin; brass vessels for cooking, the pieces of which, when they happened to be broken, were worn by the women as ornaments; iron, for weapons and other purposes; knives, daggers, hatchets, &c.; brass bowls, wine, oil, gold and silver plate, camp cloaks, and cover-lids: these formed the principal articles of import from Myos Hormos, and as they are very numerous, compared with the exports, it seems surprising that coin should also have been imported, but that this was the case, we are expressly told by the author of the Periplus, who particularizes Roman currency, under the name of Denarii. The following articles imported into Aduli, must have come through Arabia, from India: Indian iron; Indian cottons; coverlids, and sashes made of cotton; cotton cloth, dyed the colour of the mallow-flower, and a few muslins.

The Periplus next passes without the Straits of Babelmandeb: on the African side, four principal marts are mentioned, to all of which the epithet of Tapera, is applied, signifying their position beyond the straits. The first of these marts is Abalitis: as this place had no port, goods were conveyed to the ships in boats and rafts; they were also employed by the natives, in carrying on a trade with the opposite ports of Arabia: what they imported from Arabia, is not specified; but they exported thither gums, a small quantity of ivory, tortoise-shell, and myrrh of the finest quality. This last article being purchased by the Greek merchants, in Sabæa, was regarded by them as a native production of that part of Arabia, when, in reality, as we learn from the Periplus, it was the produce of Africa. There were imported into Abalitis, from Egypt, flint glass, and glass vessels unsorted; unripe grapes from Diospolis, which were used to make the rob of grapes; unmilled cloths, for the Barbaric market; corn, wine, and tin; the last article must have come from Britain.

The next mart is Malao, likewise a roadstead; the imports were the same as those of Abalitis, with the addition of tunics; cloaks manufactured at Arsinoe, milled and dyed; iron, and a small quantity of specie: the exports were, myrrh, frankincense, cassia, inferior cinnamon, substituted for the oriential; gum, and a few slaves. The only article of export peculiar to the third mart, Mundus, was a fragrant gum, which seems to have grown only in its vicinity.

The fourth and last mart mentioned as lying on the African side of the channel, which opens from the Straits of Babelmandeb, is Mosullon; this was the most important mart on the whole coast, and that which gave a specific name to the trade of the ancients: the imports were numerous, comprising, besides those already mentioned, some that were peculiar to this place, such as vessels of silver, a small quantity of iron, and flint glass: the exports were, cinnamon, of an inferior quality; the quantity of this article is noticed as so great, that larger vessels were employed in the trade of this port, expressly for conveying it, than were seen in the other ports of Africa. We are informed by Pliny, that Mosullon was a great market for cinnamon,--and it would seem, from its being conveyed in large vessels by sea, that it came from Arabia. The cinnamon mentioned in the Periplus, is, indeed, particularized as of an inferior quality, which is directly at variance with the authority of Dioscorides, who expressly states that the Mosulletic species is one of prime quality; if this were the case, it must have been Indian. The other exports were gums, drugs, tortoise-shell, incense, frankincense, brought from distant places; ivory, and a small quantity of myrrh. The abundance of aromatic articles, which the Greeks procured on this part of the coast, induced them to give the name of Aromatic to the whole country, and particularly to the town and promontory at the eastern extremity of it. Cape Aromata, the Gardefan of the moderns, is not only the extreme point east of the continent of Africa, but also forms the southern point of entrance on the approach to the Red Sea, and is the boundary of the monsoon. At the marts between Mosullon and this Cape, no articles of commerce are specified, except frankincense, in great abundance and of the best quality, at Alkannai. At the Cape itself, there was a mart, with an exposed roadsted; and to the south of it, was another mart; from both these, the principal exports consisted of various kinds of aromatics.

At Aromata, the Barbaria of the ancients, or the Adel of the moderns, terminates; and the coast of Azania, or Agan, begins. The first mart on this coast is Opone, from which there were exported, besides the usual aromatics and other articles, slaves of a superior description, chiefly for the Egyptian market, and tortoise-shell, also of a superior sort, and in great abundance. There was nothing peculiar in the imports. In this part of his work, the author of the Periplus, mentions and describes the annual voyage between the coast of Africa and India: after enumerating the articles imported from the latter country, which consisted chiefly of corn, rice, butter; oil of Sesanum; cotton, raw and manufactured sashes; and honey from the cane, called sugar; he adds, that "many vessels are employed in this commerce, expressly for the importation of these articles, and others, which have a more distant destination, sell part of their cargoes on this coast, and take in the produce in return." This seems to be the first historical evidence of a commercial intercourse between India and Africa, independent of the voyages of the Arabians; and as the parts from which the ships sailed to India, lay within the limits of the monsoon, it most probably was accomplished by means of it, and directly from land to land, without coasting round by the Gulf of Persia. The ports on the west coast of India, to which the trade was carried on, were Ariake and Barugaza, in Guzerat and Concan.

No mart is mentioned after Opone, till we arrive at Rhapta. This place was so named by the Greeks, because the ships employed by the inhabitants were raised from a bottom composed of a single piece of wood, and the sides were sewed to it, instead of being nailed. In order to preserve the sewing, the whole outside was covered over with some of the gums of the country. It is a circumstance worthy of notice, that when the Portuguese first visited this coast, they found ships of exactly the same materials and construction. At Rhapta, the customs were farmed by the merchants of Moosa, though it was subject to one of the princes of Yeman. Arabian commanders and supercargoes were always employed in their ships, from their experience in the navigation: the imports of Rhapta were, lances, principally manufactured at Moosa; axes, knives, awls, and various kinds of glass: the exports were, ivory, inferior to the Aduli ivory, but cheap, and in great abundance; the horns of the rhinoceros, tortoise shell, superior to any of this coast, but not equal to the Indian; and an article called Nauplius, the nature of which is not known.

At the period when the Periplus was written, the coast was unknown beyond Rhapta; at this place, therefore, the journal of this voyage terminates; but this place, there is every reason to believe that the author visited in person.

The commencement of the second voyage is from Berenice: from this port he conducts us to Myos Hormos, and there across the Red Sea to Leuke Kome in Arabia. This port we have already noticed as in the possession of the Romans, and forming the point of communication with Petra. We have also stated from our author, that at Leuke Kome the Romans kept a garrison, and collected a duty of twenty-five per cent. on the goods imported and exported. From it to the coast below Burnt Island, there was no trade carried on, in consequence of the dangers of the navigation from rocks, the want of harbours, the poverty and barbarism of the natives, who seem to have been pirates, and the want of produce and manufactures.

In the farthest bay of the east or Arabian coast of the Red Sea, about thirty miles from the straits, was Moosa, the regular mart of the country, established, protected, and privileged as such by the government. It was not a harbour, but a road with good anchorage on a sandy bottom. The inhabitants were Arabians, and it was much resorted to by merchants, both on account of the produce and manufactures of the adjacent country, and on account of its trade to India. The imports into Moosa were principally purple cloth of different qualities and prices; garments made in the Arabian manner, with sleeves, plain and mixed; saffron; an aromatic rush used in medicine; muslins, cloaks, quilts, but only a few plain, and made according to the fashion of the country; sashes of various colours; some corn and wine, and coin to pay for the balance of trade. In order to ingratiate the sovereigns of the country, horses, mules, gold plate, silver plate richly embossed, splendid robes, and brass goods were also imported, expressly as presents to them. One of these sovereigns was styled the friend of the Roman emperors. Embassies were frequently sent to him from Rome, and it is probable that for him the presents were chiefly designed. The exports from Moosa were myrrh of the best quality, gum, and very pure and white alabaster, of which boxes were made; there was likewise exported a variety of articles, the produce and manufacture of Aduli, which were brought from that place to Moosa.

We are next directed to the ports beyond the Straits of Babelmandeb. The wind in passing them is described as violent, coming on in sudden and dangerous squalls, in consequence of its confinement between the two capes which formed the entrance to the straits. The first place beyond them, about 120 miles to the east, described in the Periplus, is a village called Arabia Felix: this, there is every reason to believe, is Aden. It is represented in the Periplus as having been a place of great importance before the fleets sailed directly from India to Egypt, or from Egypt to the east. Till this occurred, the fleets from the east met in this harbour the fleets from Egypt. This description and account of it exactly corresponds with what Agatharcides relates: he says it received its name of Eudaimon, (_fortunate,_) on account of the ships from India and Egypt meeting there, before the merchants of Egypt had the courage to venture further towards the eastern marts. Its importance seems to have continued in some degree till it was destroyed by the Romans, probably in the time of Claudius: the object and reason of this act was to prevent the trade, which in his time had begun to direct its course to India, from reverting to this place.

About 200 miles to the east of Aden was the port of Kane. The country in its vicinity is represented as producing a great quantity of excellent frankincense, which was conveyed to Kane by land in caravans, and by sea in vessels, or in rafts which were floated by means of inflated skins. This was a port of considerable trade; the merchants trading to Baragyza, Scindi, Oman, and Persis, as well as to the ports in Africa, beyond the straits. The goods imported were principally from Egypt, and consisted of a small quantity of wheat, wine, cloaths for the Arabian market, common, plain, and mixed; brass, tin, Mediterranean coral, which was in great repute in India, so that the great demand for it prevented the Gauls in the south of France, according to Pliny, from adorning their swords, &c. with it, as they were wont to do; storax, plate, money, horses, statues or images, and cloth. The exports were confined to the produce of the country, especially frankincense and aloes. At Syagros, which is described as a promontory fronting the east, and the largest in the world, there was a garrison for the protection of the place, which was the repository of all the incense collected in these parts.

The island of Dioscorides (Socotra) is next described. It was inhabited on its northern side, (the only part of it that was then inhabited,) by a few Arabians, Indians, and Greeks, who seem to have fixed a permanent or temporary abode here, for the purpose of obtaining tortoise-shell: this was much prized, being of a yellow colour, very hard and durable, and used to make cases, boxes, and writing tables; this and dragon's blood were its chief productions. In exchange for them, there were imported rice, corn, Indian cotton goods, and women slaves.

The first mart beyond Cape Syagros is Moscha, which is represented as much resorted to on account of the sacchalitic incense which is imported there. This was so extremely abundant that it lay in heaps, with no other protection than that which was derived from the gods, for whose sacrifices it was intended. It is added that it was not possible for any person to procure a cargo of it without the permission of the king; and that the vessels were observed and searched so thoroughly, that not a single grain of it could be clandestinely exported. The intercourse between this port and Kane was regular; and besides this, it was frequented by such ships as arrived from India too late in the season: here they continued during the unfavourable monsoon, exchanging muslins, corn, and oil, for frankincense. A small island, which is supposed to be the modern Mazeira, was visited by vessels from Kane to collect or purchase tortoise-shell: the priests in the island are represented in the Periplus as wearing aprons made of the fibres of the cocoa tree: this is the earliest mention of this tree.

Moçandon, the extreme point south of the Gulf of Persia, was the land from which the Arabians, (to use a maritime phrase) took their departure, with various superstitious observances, imploring a blessing on their intended voyage, and setting adrift a small toy, rigged like a ship, which, if dashed to pieces, was supposed to be accepted by the god of the ocean, instead of their ship.

It is impossible to determine from the Periplus, whether the author was personally acquainted with the navigation, ports, and trade of the Gulf of Persia: the probability is that he was not, as he mentions only two particulars connected with it; the pearl fishery, and the town of Apologus, a celebrated mart at the mouth of the Euphrates; the pearl fishery he describes as extending from Moçandon to Bahrain. Apologus is the present Oboleh, on the canal that leads from the Euphrates to Basra.

If the author of the Periplus did not enter the Gulf of Persia, he certainly stretched over, with the monsoon, either to Karmania, or directly to Scindi, or to the Gulf of Cambay; for at these places the minuteness of information which distinguishes the journal again appears.

Omana in Persia is the first mart described; it lay in the province of Gadrosia, but as it is not mentioned by Nearchus, who found Arabs in most other parts of the province, we may conclude that it was founded after his time. The trade between this place and Baragaza in India, was regular and direct, and the goods brought from the latter to the former, seems afterwards to have been sent to Oboleh at the head of the Gulf; the imports were brass, sandal-wood; timber, of what kind is not specified; horn, ebony; this is the first port the trade of which included ebony and sandal-wood: frankincense was imported from Kane. The exports to Arabia and Baragaza were purple cloth for the natives; wine, a large quantity of dates, gold, slaves, and pearls of an inferior quality.

The first place in India to which the merchants of Egypt, while they followed the ancient course of navigation by coasting, were accustomed to trade, was Patala on the Indus; for we have admitted that single vessels occasionally ventured beyond the Straits of Babelmandeb, before the discovery of the monsoon, though the trade from Egypt to India, previously to that discovery, was by no means frequent or regular. The goods imported into Patala were woollen cloth of a slight fabric, linen, woven in checquer work, some precious stones, and some kind of aromatics unknown in India, probably the produce of Africa or Arabia; coral, storax, glass vessels of various descriptions, some plate, money, and wine. From Patala, the Egyptian merchants brought spices, gems of different kinds, particularly sapphires, silk stuffs, silk thread, cotton cloths, and pepper. As Patala is not mentioned in the Periplus, it is probable it was abandoned for Baragaza, a far more considerable mart on the same coast, and most probably Baroche on the Nerbuddah.

Before describing Baragaza, however, the author of the Periplus mentions two places on the Indus, which were frequented for the purposes of commerce: the first near the mouth of the river, called Barbarike; and the other higher up, called Minagara: the latter was the capital of a kingdom which extended as far as Barogaza. As the king of this country was possessed of a place of such consequence to the merchants as Baragaza, and as from his provinces, or through them, the most valuable cargoes were obtained, it was of the utmost moment that his good will and protection should be obtained and preserved. For this purpose there were imported, as presents for him, the following articles, all expensive, and the very best of their kind: plate of very great value; musical instruments; handsome virgins for the haram; wine of the very best quality; plain cloth, but of the finest sort; and perfumes. Besides these presents, there were likewise imported a great quantity of plain garments, and some mixed or inferior cloth; topazes, coral, storax, frankincense, glass vessels, plate, specie, and wine. The exports were costus, a kind of spice; bdellium, a gum; a yellow dye, spikenard, emeralds, sapphires, cottons, silk thread, indigo, or perhaps the indicum of Pliny, which was probably Indian ink: skins are likewise enumerated, with the epithet _serica_ prefixed to them, but of what kind they were cannot be determined: wine is specified as an article of import into this and other places; three kinds of it are particularized: wine from Laodicea in Syria, which is still celebrated for its wine; Italian wine, and Arabian wine. Some suppose that the last was palm or toddy wine, which seems to have been a great article of trade.

We come now to Baragaza: the author first mentions the produce of the district; it consisted of corn, rice, oil of Sesamum, ghee or butter, and cotton: he then, in a most minute and accurate manner, describes the approach to the harbour; the extraordinarily high tides, the rapidity with which they roll in and again recede, especially at the new moon, the difficult pilotage of the river, are all noticed. On account of these dangers and difficulties, he adds, that pilots were appointed by the government, with large boats, well manned, who put to sea to wait the approach of ships. These pilots, as soon as they come on board, bring the ship's head round, and keep her clear of the shoals at the mouth of the river; if necessary, they tow the ship from station to station, where there is good anchorage; these stations were called Basons, and seem to have been pools retaining the water, after the tide had receded from other parts. The navigation of the river was performed only as long as the tide was favorable; as soon as it turned, the ships anchored in these stations.

The sovereign to whom Baragaza belonged is represented as so very anxious to render it the only mart, that he would not permit ships to enter any of his other harbours; if they attempted it, they were boarded and conducted to Baragaza; at this place were collected all the produce and manufactures of this part of India: some of which were brought down the river Nerbuddah; others were conveyed across the mountains by caravans. The merchandize of Bengal, and even of the Seres, was collected here, besides the produce of Africa, and of the countries further to the south in India. The whole arrangement of this place was correspondent to this extensive commerce, for the author informs us, that such was the despatch in transacting business, that a cargo could be entirely landed and sold, and a new cargo obtained and put on board in the space of three days.

From Ozeni to the east of Baragaza, formerly the capital of the country, there was brought to the latter place for exportation, chiefly the following articles: onyx stones, porcelaine, fine muslins, muslins dyed of the colour of the melon, and common cotton in great quantities: from the Panjab there were brought for exportation, spikenard of different kinds, costus, bdellium, ivory, murrhine cups, myrrh, pepper, &c. The imports were wine, of all the three sorts already mentioned, brass, tin, lead, coral, topazes, cloth of different kinds, sashes, storax, sweet lotus, white glass, stibium, cinnabar, and a small quantity of perfumes: a considerable quantity of corn was also imported; the denarius, both gold and silver, exchanging with profit against the coin of the country, on account of its greater purity.

From Baragaza the author proceeds to a description of the coast of the Decan, which, as we have already mentioned, is remarkable for its accuracy, as well as for its first mentioning the appellation Decan. At the distance of twenty days' journey to the south lies Plithana, and ten days' journey to the east of this is Tagara, both marts of great consequence, and the latter the capital of the country. From these are brought down, through difficult roads, several articles to Baragaza, particularly onyx stones from Plithana, and cottons and muslin from Tagara "If we should now describe, (observed Dr. Vincent) the arc of a circle from Minnagar, on the Indus, through Ougein to Dowlatabad on the Godavery, of which Baroche should be the centre, we might comprehend the extent of the intelligence acquired by the merchant of the Periplus. But allowing that this was the knowledge of the age, and not of the individual only, where is this knowledge preserved, except in this brief narrative? which, with all the corruption of its text, is still an inestimable treasure to all those who wish to compare the first dawning of our knowledge in the east with the meridian light which we now enjoy by the intercourse and conquests of the Europeans. An arc of this sort comprehends near three degrees of a great circle: and if upon such a space, and at such a distance from the coast, we find nothing but what is confirmed by the actual appearance of the country, at the present moment, great allowance is to be made for those parts of the work which are less conspicuous, for the author did certainly not visit every place which he mentions; and there are manifest omissions in the text, as well as errors and corruptions."

The province of Canara, called by the author of the Periplus Limurike, follows in his description the pirate coast; after Limurike, he describes Pandion, corresponding with what is at present called Malabar Proper; this is succeeded by Paralia and Comari, and the description of the west coast of India is terminated by the pearl fishery and Ceylon. There were several small ports in Limurike frequented by the country ships; but the only mart frequented by vessels from Egypt was Musiris: it was likewise a great resort of native vessels from Ariake or Concan. The articles imported were nearly the same as those at Baragaza, but the exports from it were more numerous and valuable: this seems to have arisen from its lying nearer to the eastern and richer parts of India. The principal exports were, pearls in great abundance and extraordinary beauty; a variety of silk stuffs; rich perfumes; tortoise-shell; different kinds of transparent gems, especially diamonds; and pepper in large quantites, and of the best quality.

The port of Nelkundah, which, as we have already remarked, was the limit of our author's personal knowledge, was a place of very great trade; it was much frequented, principally on account of the betel and pepper, which were procured there on very reasonable terms: the pepper is distinguished, in the list of its imports, as the pepper of Cottonara. Besides this article and betel, the only exports were, pearls, ivory, silks, spikenard, precious stones, and tortoise-shell; the imports were chiefly specie, topazes, cloth, stibium, coral, glass, brass, tin, lead, wine, corn, &c.

The ports to the south of Nelkundah are described in a cursory manner in the Periplus; they were frequented principally by the country ships, which carried on a lucrative trade between them and the ports in the north of India. The exports of the island of Trapobane, or Ceylon, are particularized as consisting chiefly of pearls, gems, tortoise-shells, and muslins: cinnamon is not named; an almost decisive proof, if other proof were wanting, that the author of the Periplus had never visited this island. That trading voyages were carried on by the natives from the southern ports of India, not only to the northern ports of the western side of that country, but also to the eastern ports in the Bay of Bengal, and to the farther peninsula itself, we are expressly informed, as our author mentions vessels of great bulk adapted to the voyages made to the Ganges and the Golden Chersonese, in contradistinction to other and smaller vessels employed in the voyages to Limurike.