Chaps. 25-28.

Chap. 25.—The Ariani and the Adjoining Nations.

We will now proceed to give some further particulars relative to the four Satrapies, of which we have postponed further mention [Mentioned already, towards the conclusion of c. of the present Book. See p. 51.] till the present occasion.

(23). After passing the nations in the vicinity of the Indus, we come to the mountain districts. The territory of Capisene formerly had a city, called Capisa, [This place was included in the district of the Paropanisus or Hindoo Koosh. It is doubtful whether Pliny is correct in saying that it was destroyed by Cyrus, as we have no reason for supposing that he ever advanced so far to the north-east. It is supposed by some that Capisene represents the valley of the Kabul river, and Capisa the town on the Indus, now known as Peshawar. Lassen, in his researches, has found in the Chinese annals a kingdom called Kiapiche, in the valley of Ghurbend, to the east of Bamian. It is not improbable that Capisa and Kiapiche were different forms of the same name.] which was destroyed by Cyrus. Arachosia [See the Notes in p..] has a river and a city of the same name; the city was built by Semiramis; by some writers it is called Cophen. The river Erymanthus [The principal river of Drangiana, which rises in the lower range of the Paropanisus or Hindoo Koosh, and enters Lake Zarah. Its present name is Ilmend or Helmend. Burnouf has supposed it to be the same as the Arachotus; but Professor Wilson is of opinion that the Arachotus was one of the tributaries of the Erymanthus or Erymandrus, and probably the modern Arkand-Ab.] flows past Parabeste, [Parisot takes the meaning of this word to be “valley,” and is of opinion that it is the modern Chabul; not to be confounded, however, with the country of Cabul, to the east of which it is situate.] which belongs to the Arachosii. Writers make the Dexendrusi come next, forming the boundary of the Arachotæ on the southern side, and of the Paropanisadæ on the north. The city of Cartana [Now called Birusen, according to Parisot, and not the city of Cabul, as supposed by Hardouin.] lies at the foot of Caucasus; in later times it has been called Tetragonis. [Or the “four-cornered city.”] This region lies over against that of the Bactri, who come next, and whose chief city is Alexandria, [This place has not been identified. It has been suggested that it is the same as the modern city of Candahar; but that was really Alexandria of the Paropanisadæ, quite a different place.] so called from the name of its founder. We then come to the Syndraci, [Inhabiting the district now called Arassen, according to Parisot.] the Dangalæ, [Inhabiting the modern Danra, according to Parisot.] the Parapinæ, [Inhabitants of the modern Parasan, according to Parisot.] the Catuces, and the Mazi: and then at the foot of Caucasus, to the Cadrusi, whose town [The modern Candahar is generally supposed to occupy its site.] was built by Alexander.

Below all these countries, is the line of coast which we come to after leaving the Indus. Ariana [Pliny is thought to have here confounded the extensive district of Ariana with the smaller province of Aria, which only formed a portion of it. Ariana comprehended nearly the whole of what had been previously ancient Persia.] is a region parched by the sun and surrounded by deserts; still, however, as the face of the country is every here and there diversified with well-shaded spots, it finds communities grouped together to cultivate it, and more especially around the two rivers, known as the Tonberos [The river known in modern times as the Ilincut, according to Parisot.] and the Arosapes. [This is supposed by Forbiger to be the modern Arghasan, one of the tributaries of the Helmend. Parisot says that it was the same as the modern Sat.] There is also the town of Artacoana, [Supposed to be the same as the “Aria civitas,” or “city of Aria” of other authors, which, however, is most probably represented by Alexandria, the modern Herat, situate on the small stream now called the Heri-Rud. At all events, Artacoana (proved by M. Court to be a word of Persian origin—Arde Koun) was, if not the same place, at a very small distance from it. M. Barbie de Bocage is of opinion that it occupied the site of Fushing, a town on the Heri river, one stage from Herat; and by M. Court it is thought to have been at Obeh, near the same place.] and the river Arius, [Now called the Heri-Rud, which runs to the west of Herat.] which flows past Alexandria, [It is said that, judging from a traditional verse still current among the people of Herat, that town is believed to unite the claims of the ancient capital built by Alexander the Great, or indeed, more properly, repaired by him, as he was but a short time in Aria. The distance also from the Caspian Gates to Alexandria favours its identification with the modern Herat.] a city founded by Alexander; this place is thirty stadia in extent. Much more beautiful than it, as well as of much greater antiquity, is Artacabane, [This place does not appear to have been identified.] fortified a second time by Antiochus, and fifty stadia in breadth. We then come to the nation of the Dorisdorsigi, and the rivers Pharnaracotis, [Ansart suggests that the river Pharnacotis is the same as the modern Ferrichround, and the Ophradus probably the Kouchround.] and Ophradus; and then to Prophthasia, [Ansart suggests that the modern name is Zarang. Parisot says that it is Corcharistan.] a city of the Zaraspades, the Drangæ, [The inhabitants of Drangiana, a district at the eastern end of the modern kingdom of Persia, and comprehending part of the present Sejestan or Seistan.] the Evergetæ, [They gave its name to the modern Eudras, according to Parisot.] the Zarangæ, and the Gedrusi; [It is doubtful whether these are the same as the Gedrosi, mentioned by Pliny in c. 23, 24. Parisot censures Hardouin for confounding them, and says that these inhabited the modern Bassar. In Dr. Smith’s Dictionary, they are looked upon as the same people.] the towns of Pucolis, Lyphorta, the desert of the Methorgi, [Parisot says that this is the desert region now known as Eremaier, to the east of Mount Maugracot.] the river Manais, [As Parisot remarks, our author is now approaching the sea-shore; these places, however, do not appear to have been identified.] the nation of the Acutri, the river Eorum, the nation of the Orbi, the Pomanus, a navigable river in the territories of the Pandares, the Apirus in the country of the Suari, with a good harbour at its mouth, the city of Condigramma, and the river Cophes; [Not the same as the river Cophen or Cophes mentioned in c. 24, the modern Kabul. Hardouin takes it to be the same as the Arbis or Arabius of Ptolemy, the modern Hilmend or Ilmend.] into which last flow the navigable streams of the Saddaros, [Parisot seems to think that the modern names of these rivers are the Sal, the Ghir, and the Ilmentel, which, according to him, flow into the Ilmend.] the Parospus, and the Sodanus. Some writers will also have it that Daritis [Situate, according to Ptolemy, in the eastern parts of Media.] forms part of Ariana, and give the length of them both as nineteen hundred and fifty miles, and the breadth one half of that [For this measurement see c..] of India. Others again have spread the Gedrusi and the Pasires over an extent of one hundred and thirty-eight miles, and place next to them the Ichthyophagi Oritæ, [Meaning the “Fish-eating Mountaineers.” According to Parisot they occupied the site of the modern Dulcidan, and Goadel, which are bounded by mountains, whence the name.] a people who speak a language peculiar to themselves, and not the Indian dialect, extending over a space of two hundred miles. Alexander forbade the whole of the Ichthyophagi [Not only the Oritæ, but all those mentioned in the following Chapter. For further particulars as to the Ichthyophagi, see B. vii. c..] to live any longer on fish. Next after these the writers have placed extensive deserts, and then Carmania, Persia, and Arabia.

Chap. 26.—Voyages to India.

But before we enter into any details respecting these countries, it will be as well to mention what Onesicritus [See the at the end of this Book.] has stated, who commanded the fleet of Alexander, and sailed from India [By descending the Indus, and going up the Persian Gulf.] into the heart of Persia, and what has been more recently related by Juba; after which I shall speak of the route along these seas which has been discovered in later years and is followed at the present day. The journal of the voyage of Onesicritus and Nearchus has neither the names of the stations, nor yet the distances set down in it; and, first of all, it is not sufficiently explained where Xylenepolis was, and near what river, a place founded by Alexander, and from which, upon setting out, they took their departure. Still, however, the following places are mentioned by them, which are worthy of our notice. The town of Arbis, founded by Nearchus on the occasion of this voyage; the river Nabrus, [Near the mouth of the Indus, Hardouin says.] navigable for vessels, and opposite to it an island, at a distance of seventy stadia; Alexandria, built by Leonnatus [One of Alexander’s most distinguished officers, and a native of Pella. He commanded the division of cavalry and light-armed troops which accompanied the fleet of Alexander down the Indus, along the right bank of the river. The Alexandria here mentioned does not appear to have been identified. It is not to be confounded with Alexandria in Arachosia, nor yet with a place of the same name in Carmania, the modern Kerman.] by order of Alexander in the territories of this people; Argenus, with a very convenient harbour; the river Tonberos, [A river Tomerus is spoken of by Arrian as lying between the Indus and the river Arabis or Arbis.] a navigable stream, around whose banks are the Pasiræ; then come the Ichthyophagi, who extend over so large a tract of coast that it took thirty days [They seem to have dwelt along the shores of the modern Mukran, south of Beloochistan, and probably part of Kerman.] to sail past their territory; and an island known by the names of the “Island of the Sun” [Called Nosala by Arrian. Ansart suggests that it is the island now known by the name of Sengadip. It lay probably off the promontory or headland of the Sun, on the eastern coast of Arabia.] and the “Bed of the Nymphs,” the earth of which is red, and in which every animal instantly dies; the cause of which, however, has not been ascertained. [Mela suggests the reason, but gives to the island a different locality—“over against the mouth of the Indus.” He says that the air of the island is of such a nature as to take away life instantaneously, and appears to imply that the heat is the cause.] Next to these is the nation of the Ori, and then the Hyctanis, [Possibly that now known as the Rud Shur.] a river of Carmania, with an excellent harbour at its mouth, and producing gold; at this spot the writers state that for the first time they caught sight of the Great Bear. [Properly the “Seven Trions.”] The star Arcturus too, they tell us, was not to be seen here every night, and never, when it was seen, during the whole of it. Up to this spot extended the empire of the Achæmenidæ, [The Persian kings, descendants of Achæmenes. He was said to have been reared by an eagle.] and in these districts are to be found mines of copper, iron, arsenic, and red lead.

They next came to the Promontory of Carmania, [Called the Promontory of Harmozon by Strabo, Hardouin says that the modern name is Cape Jash, but recent writers suggest that it is represented by the modern Cape Bombaruk, nearly opposite Cape Mussendom.] from which the distance across to the opposite coast, where the Macæ, a nation of Arabia, dwell, is fifty miles; and then to three islands, of which that of Oracla [Perhaps the modern Kishon, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf; or that may be one of the four islands next mentioned.] is alone inhabited, being the only one supplied with fresh water; it is distant from the mainland twenty-five miles; quite in the Gulf, and facing Persia, there are four other islands. About these islands sea-serpents [The story of Pontoppidan’s Kraken or Korven, the serpent of the Norwegian Seas, is as old as Pliny, we find, and he derived his information from older works.] were seen swimming towards them, twenty cubits in length, which struck the fleet with great alarm. They then came to the island of Athothradus, and those called the Gauratæ, upon which dwells the nation of the Gyani; the river Hyperis, [Forbiger has suggested that this may be the same as the modern Djayrah.] which discharges itself midway into the Persian Gulf, and is navigable for merchant ships; the river Sitiogagus, from which to Pasargadæ [Mentioned again in c. 29 of the present Book. Its modern name is Pasa or Fasa-Kuri, according to Parisot.] is seven days’ sail; a navigable river known as the Phristimus, and an island without a name; and then the river Granis, [Supposed to be the stream called by D’Anville and Thevenot the Boschavir, the river of Abushir or Busheer.] navigable for vessels of small burden, and flowing through Susiane; the Deximontani, a people who manufacture bitumen, dwell on its right bank. The river Zarotis comes next, difficult of entrance at its mouth, except by those who are well acquainted with it; and then two small islands; after which the fleet sailed through shallows which looked very much like a marsh, but were rendered navigable by certain channels which had been cut there. They then arrived at the mouth of the Euphrates, and from thence passed into a lake which is formed by the rivers Eulæus [A river of ancient Susiana, the present name of which is Karun. Pliny states, in c. 31 of the present Book, that the Eulæus flowed round the citadel of Susa; he mistakes it, however, for the Coprates, or, more strictly speaking, for a small stream now called the Shapúr river, the ancient name of which has not been preserved. He is also in error, most probably, in making the river Eulæus flow through Messabatene, it being most likely the present Mah-Sabaden, in Laristan, which is drained by the Kerkbah, the ancient Choaspes, and not by the Eulæus.] and Tigris, in the vicinity of Charax, [Called, for the sake of distinction, Charax Spasinu, originally founded by Alexander the Great. It was afterwards destroyed by a flood, and rebuilt by Antiochus Epiphanes, under the name of Antiochia. It is mentioned in c. 31.] after which they arrived at Susa, [The Shushan of Scripture, now called Shu. It was the winter residence of the kings of Persia, and stood in the district Cersia of the province Susiana, on the eastern bank of the river Choaspes. The site of Susa is now marked by extensive mounds.] on the river Tigris. Here, after a voyage of three months, they found Alexander celebrating a festival, seven months after he had left them at Patale. [The island of Patala or Patale, previously mentioned in c. 23.] Such was the voyage performed by the fleet of Alexander.

In later times it has been considered a well-ascertained fact that the voyage from Syagrus, [Most probably the Cape Ras-el-Bad, the most easterly peninsula of Arabia.] the Promontory of Arabia, to Patale, reckoned at thirteen hundred and thirty-five miles, can be performed most advantageously with the aid of a westerly wind, which is there known by the name of Hippalus.

The age that followed pointed out a shorter route, and a safer one, to those who might happen to sail from the same promontory for Sigerus, a port of India; and for a long time this route was followed, until at last a still shorter cut was discovered by a merchant, and the thirst for gain brought India even still nearer to us. At the present day voyages are made to India every year: and companies of archers are carried on board the vessels, as those seas are greatly infested with pirates.

It will not be amiss too, on the present occasion, to set forth the whole of the route from Egypt, which has been stated to us of late, upon information on which reliance may be placed, and is here published for the first time. The subject is one well worthy of our notice, seeing that in no year does India drain our empire of less than five hundred and fifty millions [,000,000 francs, according to Ansart, which would amount to £1,400,000 of our money.] of sesterces, giving back her own wares in exchange, which are sold among us at fully one hundred times their prime cost.

Two miles distant from Alexandria is the town of Juliopolis. [Pliny is the only writer that mentions this place among the towns of Lower Egypt. Some suppose it to have been Nicopolis, or the City of Victory, founded by Augustus B.C. 29, partly to commemorate the reduction of Egypt to a Roman province, and partly to punish the Alexandrians for their adhesion to the cause of Antony and Cleopatra. Mannert, however, looks upon it as having been merely that suburb of Alexandria which Strabo (B. xvii.) calls Eleusis.] The distance thence to Coptos, up the Nile, is three hundred and eight miles; the voyage is performed, when the Etesian winds are blowing, in twelve days. From Coptos the journey is made with the aid of camels, stations being arranged at intervals for the supply of fresh water. The first of these stations is called Hydreuma, [From the Greek ὕδρευμα, a “watering-place.”] and is distant [From Coptos, the modern Kouft or Keft. Ptolemy Philadelphus, when he constructed the port of Berenice, erected several caravansaries or watering-places between the new city and Coptos. Coptos was greatly enriched by the commerce between Lybia and Egypt on the one hand, and Arabia and India on the other.] twenty-two miles; the second is situate on a mountain, at a distance of one day’s journey from the last; the third is at a second Hydreuma, distant from Coptos ninety-five miles; the fourth is on a mountain; the next to that is at another Hydreuma, that of Apollo, and is distant from Coptos one hundred and eighty-four miles; after which, there is another on a mountain. There is then another station at a place called the New Hydreuma, distant from Coptos two hundred and thirty miles: and next to it there is another, called the Old Hydreuma, or the Troglodytic, where a detachment is always on guard, with a caravansary that affords lodging for two thousand persons. This last is distant from the New Hydreuma seven miles. After leaving it we come to the city of Berenice, [Belzoni found traces of several of the stations here mentioned. The site of Berenice, as ascertained by Moresby and Carless, 1830-3, was nearly at the bottom of the inlet known as the Sinus Immundus, or Foul Bay. Its ruins still exist.] situate upon a harbour of the Red Sea, and distant from Coptos two hundred and fifty-seven miles. The greater part of this distance is generally travelled by night, on account of the extreme heat, the day being spent at the stations; in consequence of which it takes twelve days to perform the whole journey from Coptos to Berenice.

Passengers generally set sail at midsummer, before the rising of the Dog-star, or else immediately after, and in about thirty days arrive at Ocelis [Now called Gehla, a harbour and emporium at the south-western point of Arabia Felix.] in Arabia, or else at Cane, [An emporium or promontory on the southern coast of Arabia, in the country of the Adramitæ, and, as Arrian says, the chief port of the incense-bearing country. It has been identified by D’Anville with Cava Canim Bay, near a mountain called Hissan Ghorab, at the base of which there are ruins to be seen.] in the region which bears frankincense. There is also a third port of Arabia, Muza [Probably the modern Mosch, north of Mokha, near the southern extremity of Arabia Felix.] by name; it is not, however, used by persons on their passage to India, as only those touch at it who deal in incense and the perfumes of Arabia. More in the interior there is a city; the residence of the king there is called Sapphar, [Its ruins are now known as Dhafar. It was one of the chief cities of Arabia, standing near the southern coast of Arabia Felix, opposite the modern Cape Guardafui.] and there is another city known by the name of Save. To those who are bound for India, Ocelis is the best place for embarcation. If the wind, called Hippalus, [Or Favonius, the west wind, previously mentioned in the present Chapter.] happens to be blowing, it is possible to arrive in forty days at the nearest mart of India, Muziris [The modern Mangalore, according to Du Bocage.] by name. This, however, is not a very desirable place for disembarcation, on account of the pirates which frequent its vicinity, where they occupy a place called Nitrias; nor, in fact, is it very rich in articles of merchandize. Besides, the road-stead for shipping is a considerable distance from the shore, and the cargoes have to be conveyed in boats, either for loading or discharging. At the moment that I am writing these pages, the name of the king of this place is Cælobothras. Another port, and a much more convenient one, is that which lies in the territory of the people called Neacyndi, Barace by name. Here king Pandion used to reign, dwelling at a considerable distance from the mart in the interior, at a city known as Modiera. The district from which pepper is carried down to Barace in boats hollowed out of a single tree, [Or canoes.] is known as Cottonara. [The Cottiara of Ptolemy, who makes it the chief city of the Æi, a tribe who occupied the lower part of the peninsula of Hindostan. It has been supposed to be represented by the modern Calicut or Travancore. Cochin, however, appears to be the most likely.] None of these names of nations, ports, and cities are to be found in any of the former writers, from which circumstance it would appear that the localities have since changed their names. Travellers set sail from India on their return to Europe, at the beginning of the Egyptian month Tybis, which is our December, or at all events before the sixth day of the Egyptian month Mechir, the same as [Marcus observes that we may conclude that either Pliny or the author from whom he transcribed, wrote this between the years of the Christian era 48 and 51; for that the coincidence of the 6th of the month Mechir with the Ides of January, could not have taken place in any other year than those on which the first day of Thoth or the beginning of the year fell on the 11th of August, which happened in the years 48, 49, 50, and 51 of the Christian era.] our ides of January: if they do this, they can go and return in the same year. They set sail from India with a south-east wind, and upon entering the Red Sea, catch the south-west or south. We will now return to our main subject.

Nearchus states in his writings that the coast of Carmania [An extensive province of Asia, along the northern shores of the Persian Gulf, supposed to have comprehended the coast-line of the modern Laristan, Kirman, and Moghostan.] extends a distance of twelve hundred and fifty miles. From its frontier to the river Sabis [Ptolemy mentions an inland town of Carmania of the same name.] is one hundred miles. At this spot begins the cultivation of the vine; which with the tillage of the fields, extends as far as the river Ananis, [Supposed to be that known now as the Ibrahim Rud, which falls into the Persian Gulf.] a distance of twenty-five miles. This region is known by the name of Armuzia. The cities of Carmania are Zetis and Alexandria. [These sites are unknown.]

Chap. 28.—The Persian and the Arabian Gulfs.

The sea then makes a two-fold indentation [Forms two bays or gulfs in succession.] in the land upon these coasts, under the name of Rubrum [He gives this name to the whole expanse of sea that lies between Arabia and Africa on the west, and India on the east, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.] or “Red,” given to it by our countrymen; while the Greeks have called it Erythrum, from king Erythras, [Or Erythrus. In all probability entirely a mythical personage. The sea having been called in Greek ἐρυθραῖα, or “red”—the legend most probably thence took its rise. No very satisfactory reason has yet been given for its being so called. The Hebrew name of it signifies the “Sedgy Sea.”] or, according to some writers, from its red colour, which they think is produced by the reflection of the sun’s rays; others again are of opinion that it arises from the sand and the complexion of the soil, others from some peculiarity in the nature of the water. (24.) Be this as it may, this body of water is divided into two gulfs. The one which lies to the east is called the Persian Gulf, and is two thousand five hundred miles in circumference, according to Eratosthenes. Opposite to it lies Arabia, the length of which is fifteen hundred miles. On the other side again, Arabia is bounded by the Arabian Gulf. The sea as it enters this gulf is called the Azanian [From Azania in Æthiopia, mentioned again in c. 34 of the present Book.] Sea. The Persian Gulf, at the entrance, is only five [The maps appear to make it considerably more.] miles wide; some writers make it four. From the entrance to the very bottom of the gulf, in a straight line, has been ascertained to be nearly eleven hundred and twenty-five miles: in outline it strongly resembles [The only feature of resemblance appears to be its comparative narrowness at the neck.] the human head. Onesicritus and Nearchus have stated in their works that from the river Indus to the Persian Gulf, and from thence to Babylon, situate in the marshes of the Euphrates, is a distance of seventeen hundred miles.

In the angle of Carmania are the Chelonophagi, [Or “turtle-eaters.”] who cover their cabins with the shells of turtles, and live upon their flesh; these people inhabit the next promontory that is seen after leaving the river Arbis; [Different probably from the Cophis mentioned in c. 25, which was also called Arabius or Arbis, and probably represented by the modern Purali.] with the exception of the head, they are covered all over with long hair, and are clothed in the skins of fishes.

(25.) Beyond their district, in the direction of India, is said to be the desert island of Caicandrus, fifty miles out at sea; near to which, with a strait flowing between them, is Stoidis, celebrated for its valuable pearls. After passing the promontory [Of Harmozon, probably the modern Bombareek.] are the Armozei, [Their district is supposed to denote the vicinity of the modern Ormuz, an island off this coast, which is now known as Moghostan.] joining up to the Carmani; some writers, however, place between them the Arbii, [Taking their name probably from the river Arbis, previously mentioned.] extending along the shore a distance of four hundred and twenty-one miles. Here is a place called Portus Macedonum, [The “Port of the Macedonians.”] and the Altars of Alexander, situate on a promontory, besides the rivers Saganos, Daras, and Salsa. Beyond the last river we come to the promontory of Themisteas, and the island of Aphrodisias, which is peopled. Here Persis begins, at the river Oratis, [Now the Tab, falling into the Persian Gulf.] which separates it from Elymais. [A district of Susiana, extending from the river Eulæus on the west, to the Oratis on the east, deriving its name perhaps from the Elymæi, or Elymi, a warlike people found in the mountains of Greater Media. In the Old Testament this country is called Elam.] Opposite to the coast of Persis, are the islands of Psilos, Cassandra, and Aracia, the last sacred to Neptune, [Ptolemy says that this last bore the name of “Alexander’s Island.”] and containing a mountain of great height. Persis [Persis was more properly a portion only or province of the ancient kingdom of Persia. It gave name to the extensive Medo-Persian kingdom under Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, B.C. 559.] itself, looking towards the west, has a line of coast five hundred and fifty miles in length; it is a country opulent even to luxury, but has long since changed its name for that of “Parthia.” [The Parthi originally inhabited the country south-east of the Caspian, now Khorassan. Under Arsaces and his descendants, Persis and the other provinces of ancient Persia became absorbed in the great Parthian empire. Parthia, with the Chorasmii, Sogdii, and Arii, formed the sixteenth satrapy under the Persian empire. See c. of this Book.] I shall now devote a few words to the Parthian empire.