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 Sabaea, 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:
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