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.
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