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] τῇσι κvμῇσιν. Another reading, not so good however, is, τῇσι
κωμήτῇσιν _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 ἀπὸ
τούταν ἔλαιον ποιέουσιν Arrian may have written ἀπὸ θύννων ε. π. _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 ἐρυθρὸς) 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 Ḍeri, 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.