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.
Mocandon, 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 Mocandon 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:
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