358 Ansart says that this is the same as the modern town of Muttra or Matra upon the Jumna, and to the north of Agra.
359 Or Clisobora, according to Hardouin. It does not appear to have been identified.
360 In the Indian Peninsula, constituting more especially the presidency of Madras.
361 It is clear that he looks upon the countries of the Indus as lying to the south of the Ganges.
362 Or Hindoo Koosh. In this statement he is supported by Arrian, Strabo, Mela, and Quintus Curtius. It rises, however, a considerable distance on the north-east side of the Himalaya.
363 The modern Jhelum.
364 Some writers suppose that this must be the same as the Hydraotes, or modern Ravi, because the latter is not otherwise found mentioned in the list given by Pliny. The name, however, leaves but little doubt that Pliny had heard of the Acesines under its Indian name of Chandabragha, and out of it has made another river.
365 The modern Sutlej.
366 Probably in the vicinity of the modern Calingapatam; none of the other places seem to be identified.
367 Ansart suggests that the Cesi may be the same race as the modern Sikhs.
368 Perhaps the people of modern Ajmere.
369 These peoples are supposed by Hardouin to have occupied the southern parts of the peninsula now known as Bisnagar, Calicut, and the Deccan, with the Malabar and Coromandel coasts.
370 Hardouin suggests that this people dwelt on the present peninsula of Guzerat.
371 None of these appear to have been identified; indeed, it appears to be next to impossible, owing to the corrupt state in which they have come down to us.
372 Built on the Hydaspes by Alexander after his victory over Porus, B.C. 326, at the spot where he had crossed the river before the battle, and in memory of his celebrated charger Bucephalus, who had expired during the battle from fatigue and old age, or from wounds. The exact site of this place is not known, but the probabilities appear in favour of Jhelum, at which place is the usual passage of the river, or else of Jellapoor, about sixteen miles lower down.
373 Probably the same that is mentioned in c. 21 of the present Book.
374 Parisot supposes that these were the inhabitants of the district which now bears the name of Pekheli.
375 Gedrosia comprehended probably the same district as is now known by the name of Mekran, or, according to some, the whole of modern Beloochistan.
376 The people of the city and district of Arachotus, the capital of Arachosia. M. Court has identified some ruins on the Argasan river, near Kandahar, on the road to Shikarpur, with those of Arachotus; but Professor Wilson considers them to be too much to the south-east. Colonel Rawlinson thinks they are those to be seen at a place called Ulan Robat. He states that the most ancient name of the city, Cophen, (mentioned by Pliny in c. 25 of the present Book), has given rise to the territorial designation. See p. 57.
377 The people of Aria, consisting of the eastern part of Khorassan, and the western and north-western part of Afghanistan. This was one of the most important of the eastern provinces or satrapies of the Persian empire.
378 This was the collective name of several peoples dwelling on the southern slopes of the Hindoo Koosh, and of the country which they inhabited, which was not known by any other name. It corresponded to the eastern part of modern Afghanistan and the portion of the Punjaub lying to the west of the Indus.
379 It is supposed that the Cophes is represented by the modern river of Kabul.
380 The place here alluded to was in the district of Goryæa, at the north-western corner of the Punjaub, near the confluence of the rivers Cophen and Choaspes, being probably the same place as Nagara or Dionysopolis, the modern Nagar or Naggar.
381 The word μήρος, in Greek, signifying a “thigh.”
382 Supposed by some to have been Lower Scinde, and the vicinity of Kurrachee, with its capital Potala.
383 Ansart suggests that these may be the Laccadives. Their name means the “gold” and “silver” islands.
384 Probably an island near the mouths of the Indus.
385 Probably the same as the Bibacta of Arrian. The present name of it is Chilney Isle.
386 Although Poinsinet will not admit its identity, it is now universally agreed among the learned that the island of Taprobana is the modern Ceylon. As Gosselin observes, in the accounts said to have been given of Ceylon by the ambassadors to Claudius, great allowance must be made for the wrong interpretation which, owing to their ignorance of the language, the Romans must have given to much of their narrative.
387 From ἀντὶ, “opposite,” and χθών, “the earth.” Its people being supposed to be the antipodes of those of Europe.
388 “The ancient race.” As Ansart observes, the island contains a mountain, the name of which is “Adam’s” Peak.
389 Ælian makes the villages to be 750 in number.
390 A general term probably, as already stated, for the great peninsula of India, below the Ganges.
391 This expression has been relied upon by those who do not admit that Ceylon is identical with the ancient Taprobana. But it is not improbable that the passage here referred to is from Cape Comorin to Ceylon, and not from Cape Ramanan Cor, the nearest part of the continent. In such case, the distance would be sixty-five or sixty-six leagues, and we can easily conceive that Greek vessels, sailing from nine to ten leagues per day, might occupy seven days in making the passage from Cape Comorin, past Ramanan Cor, to the coasts of Ceylon.
392 The amphora, as a measure, contained eight congii, or forty-eight sextarii.
393 Or “Septentrio;” “the Seven Trions,” which was more especially employed by the nations of Europe for the purposes of navigation.
394 Parisot suggests that the word “Radijah,” or “Rajah,” denoting the rank which he held, may have been here taken by Pliny for his name.
395 Ptolemy says that the ancient name of the island was Simundi, or Palæsimundi, but speaks of no such city as the one here mentioned, nor indeed of any other of the localities described by Pliny.
396 It is difficult to say whether by this name is meant the modern Cape Comorin, or that known as Ramanan Cor, which is in reality the nearest point to the coast of Ceylon. Perhaps the latter is meant; in which case it is not improbable that the Island of the Sun will be represented by the islet called Rameserum in the maps, or else the one adjoining called Manaar. It must not be confounded with the Island of the Sun, mentioned in c. 26. See p. 60.
397 It is not improbable that he alludes to coral reefs.
398 This assertion Gosselin would either reject as a fabulous falsehood, or as having originated in some misconception on the part of the Romans; for, as he remarks, it is quite impossible that the Pleiades should be a constellation unknown at that time to the people of Ceylon; but, on the other hand, it would be equally true that the Greater Bear was concealed from them.
399 This was also a fable, or else originated in misapprehension of their language on the part of the Romans.
400 Gosselin remarks that their story may have been that for about seven months in the year the shadows fell to the north, and during the remaining five to the south, which would not have been inconsistent with the truth.
401 This also is classed by Gosselin under the head either of fabulous stories or misapprehensions.
402 “Seras—ab ipsis aspici.” It is difficult to say whether this does not mean that they were in sight of the coast of the Seræ. Under any circumstances, the Seræ here spoken of must not be taken for the Seres or supposed Chinese. Gosselin remarks that under this name the people of a district called Sera are probably referred to, and that in fact such is the name of a city and a whole province at the present day, situate on the opposite coast, beyond the mountains which terminate the plains of the Carnatic. It is equally impossible that under the name of “Emodi” Pliny can allude to the Himalaya chain, distant more than 2000 miles. The mountains, on the verge of the plains of the Carnatic, are not improbably those here referred to, and it is not impossible that they may be discerned from the shores of Ceylon. Gosselin is of opinion that the name of the ancient Seræ may still be traced in that of Seringapatam, and of the city of Seringham, situate on the river Godavery.
403 Relative to the Seræ, or inhabitants of the opposite shores.
404 Or “Bacchus.” This means that he wears a long robe with a train; much like the dress, in fact, which was worn on the stage by tragic actors.
405 “Festa venatione absumi, gratissimam eam tigribus elephantisque constare.” Holland gives this sentence quite a different meaning, fancying that it bears reference to the mode in which the guilty king comes to his end, which, indeed, otherwise does not appear to be stated. “But to doe him to death in the end, they appoint a solemne day of hunting, right pleasant and agreable unto tigres and elephants, before which beasts they expose their king, and so he is presently by them devoured.” It is difficult to say, however, where he finds all this.
406 It is much more probable that they used the shells for the purpose of making roofs for their habitations.
408 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.
410 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.
411 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.
412 Now called Birusen, according to Parisot, and not the city of Cabul, as supposed by Hardouin.
413 Or the “four-cornered city.”
414 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.
415 Inhabiting the district now called Arassen, according to Parisot.
416 Inhabiting the modern Danra, according to Parisot.
417 Inhabitants of the modern Parasan, according to Parisot.
418 The modern Candahar is generally supposed to occupy its site.
419 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.
420 The river known in modern times as the Ilincut, according to Parisot.
421 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.
422 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.
423 Now called the Heri-Rud, which runs to the west of Herat.
424 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.
425 This place does not appear to have been identified.
426 Ansart suggests that the river Pharnacotis is the same as the modern Ferrichround, and the Ophradus probably the Kouchround.
427 Ansart suggests that the modern name is Zarang. Parisot says that it is Corcharistan.
428 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.
429 They gave its name to the modern Eudras, according to Parisot.
430 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.
431 Parisot says that this is the desert region now known as Eremaier, to the east of Mount Maugracot.
432 As Parisot remarks, our author is now approaching the sea-shore; these places, however, do not appear to have been identified.
433 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.
434 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.
435 Situate, according to Ptolemy, in the eastern parts of Media.
437 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.
438 Not only the Oritæ, but all those mentioned in the following Chapter. For further particulars as to the Ichthyophagi, see B. vii. c. 2.
440 By descending the Indus, and going up the Persian Gulf.
441 Near the mouth of the Indus, Hardouin says.
442 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.
443 A river Tomerus is spoken of by Arrian as lying between the Indus and the river Arabis or Arbis.
444 They seem to have dwelt along the shores of the modern Mukran, south of Beloochistan, and probably part of Kerman.
445 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.
446 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.
447 Possibly that now known as the Rud Shur.
448 Properly the “Seven Trions.”
449 The Persian kings, descendants of Achæmenes. He was said to have been reared by an eagle.
450 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.
451 Perhaps the modern Kishon, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf; or that may be one of the four islands next mentioned.
452 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.
453 Forbiger has suggested that this may be the same as the modern Djayrah.
454 Mentioned again in c. 29 of the present Book. Its modern name is Pasa or Fasa-Kuri, according to Parisot.
455 Supposed to be the stream called by D’Anville and Thevenot the Boschavir, the river of Abushir or Busheer.
456 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.
457 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.
458 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.
459 The island of Patala or Patale, previously mentioned in c. 23.
460 Most probably the Cape Ras-el-Bad, the most easterly peninsula of Arabia.
461 35,000,000 francs, according to Ansart, which would amount to £1,400,000 of our money.
462 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.
463 From the Greek ὕδρευμα, a “watering-place.”
464 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.
465 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.
466 Now called Gehla, a harbour and emporium at the south-western point of Arabia Felix.
467 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.
468 Probably the modern Mosch, north of Mokha, near the southern extremity of Arabia Felix.
469 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.
470 Or Favonius, the west wind, previously mentioned in the present Chapter.
471 The modern Mangalore, according to Du Bocage.
472 Or canoes.
473 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.
474 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.
475 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.
476 Ptolemy mentions an inland town of Carmania of the same name.
477 Supposed to be that known now as the Ibrahim Rud, which falls into the Persian Gulf.
478 These sites are unknown.
479 Forms two bays or gulfs in succession.
480 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.
481 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.”
482 From Azania in Æthiopia, mentioned again in c. 34 of the present Book.
483 The maps appear to make it considerably more.
484 The only feature of resemblance appears to be its comparative narrowness at the neck.
485 Or “turtle-eaters.”
486 Different probably from the Cophis mentioned in c. 25, which was also called Arabius or Arbis, and probably represented by the modern Purali.
487 Of Harmozon, probably the modern Bombareek.
488 Their district is supposed to denote the vicinity of the modern Ormuz, an island off this coast, which is now known as Moghostan.
489 Taking their name probably from the river Arbis, previously mentioned.
490 The “Port of the Macedonians.”
491 Now the Tab, falling into the Persian Gulf.
492 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.
493 Ptolemy says that this last bore the name of “Alexander’s Island.”
494 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.
495 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. 16 of this Book.
496 The provinces of Parthia have been already mentioned in detail in the preceding Chapters, except Susiana and Elymais, which are mentioned in c. 31.
497 The original Parthia, the modern Khorassan.
499 Or “Wandering Parthians,” lying far to the east.
500 In c. 17 of the present Book.
501 Not to be confounded with the place in Atropatene, mentioned in c. 21 of the present Book.
502 It has been supposed that the modern Damgham corresponds with this place, but that is too near the Portæ Caspiæ. It is considered most probable that the remains of Hecatompylos ought to be sought in the neighbourhood of a place now known as Jah Jirm. It is mentioned in c. 17 and 21 of the present Book.
503 Media occupied the extreme west of the great table-land of the modern Iran. It corresponded very nearly to the modern province of Irak-Ajemi.
504 The Upper and the Lower, as already mentioned.
505 Hardouin suggests that this should be Syrtibolos. His reasons for so thinking will be found alluded to in a note to c. 31. See p. 80, Note 593.
506 Or the “Great Ladder.” The Baron de Bode states, in his Travels in Luristan and Arabistan, that he discovered the remains of a gigantic causeway, in which he had no difficulty in recognizing one of the most ancient and most mysterious monuments of the East. This causeway, which at the present day bears the name of Jaddehi-Atabeg, or the “road of the Atabegs,” was looked upon by several historians as one of the wonders of the world, who gave it the name of the Climax Megale or “Great Ladder.” At the time even of Alexander the Great the name of its constructor was unknown.
507 Which was rebuilt after it was burnt by Alexander, and in the middle ages had the name of Istakhar; it is now called Takhti Jemsheed, the throne of Jemsheed, or Chil-Minar, the Forty Pillars. Its foundation is sometimes ascribed to Cyrus the Great, but more generally to his son, Cambyses. The ruins of this place are very extensive.
508 Its site is unknown; but Dupinet translates it the “city of Lor.”
509 The older of the two capitals of Persia, Persepolis being the later one. It was said to have been founded by Cyrus the Great, on the spot where he gained his victory over Astyages. Its exact site is doubtful, but most modern geographers identify it with Murghab, to the north-east of Persepolis, where there are the remains of a great sepulchral monument of the ancient Persians, probably the tomb of Cyrus. Others place it at Farsa or at Dorab-Gherd, both to the south-east of Persepolis, the direction mentioned by Strabo, but not in other respects answering his description so well as Murghab.
510 It is most probable that he does not allude here to the Ecbatana, mentioned in c. 17 of this Book.
511 There were several mountainous districts called Parætacene in the Persian empire, that being the Greek form of a Persian word signifying “mountainous.”
512 In B. v. c. 21. He returns to the description of Susiana, Elymaïs, and Characene in c. 31 of the present Book.
513 The great seat of empire of the Babylonio-Chaldæan kingdom. It either occupied the site, it is supposed, or stood in the immediate vicinity of the tower of Babel. In the reign of Labynedus, Nabonnetus, or Belshazzar, it was taken by Cyrus. In the reign of Augustus, a small part only of Babylon was still inhabited, the remainder of the space within the walls being under cultivation. The ruins of Babylon are found to commence a little south of the village of Mohawill, eight miles north of Hillah.
515 On the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite to the ford of Zeugma; a fortress of considerable importance.
516 Its site is unknown. Dupinet confounds it with the place of this name mentioned in the last Chapter, calling them by the name of Lor.
517 Pliny is wrong in placing Artemita in Mesopotamia. It was a city of Babylonia, in the district of Apolloniatis. The modern Sherbán is supposed to occupy its site.
518 Burnouf, having found the name of these people, as he supposes, in a cuneiform inscription, written “Ayura,” would have them to be called Aroei. The Orei are also mentioned in B. v. c. 20.
519 This Antioch does not appear to have been identified.
520 The mountains of the Gordyæi are mentioned in c. 12.
521 This, as previously mentioned in a Note to c. 16, was the scene of the last great battle between Alexander and Darius, and known as the battle of Arbela. It has been suggested that it may perhaps be represented by a place now called Karnelis. See p. 27.
522 According to Ansart, now called the Lesser Zab, and by the inhabitants the Altun-su, meaning the “Golden river.”
523 According to Parisot, the modern name is Calicala.
524 Strabo speaks of the Aborras, or modern Khabur, as flowing in the vicinity of Anthemusia, the district probably in which the town of Anthermis was situate. According to Isidorus of Charax, it lay between Edessa and the Euphrates. Its site does not appear to have been any further identified. It is called Anthemusia in B. v. c. 21.
525 In B. v. c. 21.
526 In B. v. c. 21.
527 In B. v. c. 21.
528 This canal, leading from the Euphrates to the Tigris, is by some thought, according to Hardouin, to have been the river Chobar, mentioned in Ezekiel, c. i. v. 3.
529 For Arar-Melik, meaning the “River King,” according to Parisot.
530 As to the identity of this, see a Note at the beginning of this Chapter.
531 Meaning Jupiter Uranius, or “Heavenly Jupiter,” according to Parisot, who observes that Eusebius interprets baal, or bel, “heaven.” According to one account, he was the father of king Ninus and son of Nimrod. The Greeks in later times attached to his name many of their legendary fables.
532 The city of Seleucia ad Tigrin, long the capital of Western Asia, until it was eclipsed by Ctesiphon. Its site has been a matter of considerable discussion, but the most probable opinion is, that it stood on the western bank of the Tigris, to the north of its junction with the royal canal (probably the river Chobar above mentioned), opposite to the mouth of the river Delas or Silla (now Diala), and to the spot where Ctesiphon was afterwards built by the Parthians. It stood a little to the south of the modern city of Baghdad; thus commanding the navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the whole plain formed by those two rivers.
533 Ammianus, like Pliny, has ascribed its foundation to the Parthians under Varanes, or Vardanes, of whom, however, nothing is known. It stood in the south of Assyria, on the eastern or left bank of the Tigris. Strabo speaks of it as being the winter residence of the Parthian kings, who lived there at that season, owing to the mildness of the climate. In modern times the site of this place has been identified with that called by the Arabs Al Madain, or the “two cities.”
534 Or Vologeses. This was the name of five kings of Parthia, of the race of the Arsacidæ, Arsaces XXIII., XXVII., XXVIII., XXIX., XXX. It was the first of these monarchs who founded the place here mentioned by Pliny.
535 Or the “City of Vologesus;” certa being the Armenian for “city.”
536 Nothing appears to be known of this place; but Hardouin thinks that it is the same with one called Maarsares by Ptolemy, and situate on the same river Narraga.
537 Parisot says that this river is the one set down in the maps as falling into the Tigris below its junction with the Euphrates, and near the mouths of the two rivers. He says that near the banks of it is marked the town of Nabrahan, the Narraga of Pliny.
538 There is great doubt as to the correct spelling of these names.
539 Against the attacks of robbers dwelling on the opposite side; the Attali, for instance.
540 Or “dwellers in tents,” Bedouins, as we call them.
541 B. v. c. 20 and 21.
542 Towards Mahamedieh.
543 Near Antioch and the Orontes: now Seleukeh, or Kepse, near Suadeiah.
544 See B. v. c. 13.
545 The Mediterranean and the Red Sea; the latter including the modern Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
546 Forbiger is of opinion that this is the same as the Didigua or Didugua of Ptolemy. It was situate below Alpamea. D’Anville takes it to be the modern Corna.
547 The modern Turcomania.
548 Now known as the Plain of Chelat, according to Parisot, extending between Chelat, a city situate on a great lake and the river Rosso, falling into the Caspian Sea.
549 Called Diglith by Josephus. Hardouin states that in his time the name given to the river by the natives was Daghela. This name is also supposed to be another form of the Hiddekel of Scripture. See Genesis ii. 14.
550 According to Bochart, this was a corruption of the Eastern name Deghel, from which were derived the forms Deger, Teger, and ultimately Tigris.
551 Ritter has identified this with the modern lake Nazuk, in Armenia, about thirteen miles in length and five in breadth. The water at the present day is said to be sweet and wholesome.
552 Seneca, however, in his Quæst. Nat. B. vi., represents the Tigris here as gradually drying up and becoming gradually smaller, till it disappears.
553 This spot is considered by Parisot to be the modern city of Betlis.
554 A spot where liquid bitumen or naphtha was found.
555 Or probably Arzarene, a province of the south of Armenia, situate on the left bank of the Tigris. It derived its name from the lake Arsene, or the town Arzen, situate on this lake. It is comprehended in the modern Pashalik of Dyár Bekr.
556 Now called the Myrád-chaï. See B. v. c. 24. Ritter considers it to be the southern arm of the Euphrates.
559 The site of this place seems to be unknown. It has been remarked that it is difficult to explain the meaning of this passage of Pliny, or to determine the probable site of Apamea.
560 Hardouin remarks that this is the right arm of the Tigris, by Stephanus Byzantinus called Delas, and by Eustathius Sylax, which last he prefers.
561 According to Ammianus, one of the names of Seleucia on the Tigris was Coche.
562 A river of Susiana, which, after passing Susa, flowed into the Tigris, below its junction with the Euphrates. The indistinctness of the ancient accounts has caused it to be confused with the Eulæus, which flows nearly parallel with it into the Tigris. It is pretty clear that they were not identical. Pliny here states that they were different rivers, but makes the mistake below, of saying that Susa was situate upon the Eulæus, instead of the Choaspes. These errors may be accounted for, it has been suggested, by the fact that there are two considerable rivers which unite at Bund-i-Kir, a little above Ahwaz, and form the ancient Pasitigris or modern Karun. It is supposed that the Karun represents the ancient Eulæus, and the Kerkhah the Choaspes.
563 In c. 26 of the present Book. The custom of the Persian kings drinking only of the waters of the Eulæus and Choaspes, is mentioned in B. xxxi. c. 21.
564 Or the country “by the river.”
565 Pliny is the only writer who makes mention of this place. Parisot is of opinion that it is represented by the modern Digil-Ab, on the Tigris, and suggests that Digilath may be the correct reading.
566 Mentioned in the last Chapter.
567 Now called the Mountains of Luristan.
568 The name of the district of Chalonitis is supposed to be still preserved in that of the river of Holwan. Pliny is thought, however, to have been mistaken in placing the district on the river Tigris, as it lay to the east of it, and close to the mountains.
569 From Arbela, in Assyria, which bordered on it.
570 A great and populous city of Babylonia, near the Tigris, but not on it, and eight parasangs within the Median wall. The site is that probably now called Eski Baghdad, and marked by a ruin called the Tower of Nimrod. Parisot cautions against confounding it with a place of a similar name, mentioned by Pliny in B. xii. c. 17, a mistake into which, he says, Hardouin has fallen.
571 Now called Felongia, according to Parisot. Hardouin considers it the same as the Sambana of Diodorus Siculus, which Parisot looks upon as the same as Ambar, to the north of Felongia.
572 Of this Antiochia nothing appears to be known. By some it has been supposed to be the same with Apollonia, the chief town of the district of Apolloniatis, to the south of the district of Arbela.
573 Also called the Physcus, the modern Ordoneh, an eastern tributary of the Tigris in Lower Assyria. The town of Opis stood at its junction with the Tigris.
574 D’Anville supposes that this Apamea was at the point where the Dijeil, now dry, branched off from the Tigris, which bifurcation he places near Samurrah. Lynch, however, has shown that the Dijeil branched off near Jibbarah, a little north of 34° North lat., and thinks that the Dijeil once swept the end of the Median wall, and flowed between it and Jebbarah. Possibly this is the Apamea mentioned by Pliny in c. 27.
575 The son of Seleucus Nicator.
576 More to the south, and nearer the sea.
577 Previously mentioned in c. 26.
578 A part of Mount Zagrus, previously mentioned, according to Hardouin.
579 Its site appears to be unknown. According to Stephanus, it was a city of Persia. Forbiger conjectures that it is the same place as Badaca, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, B. xix. c. 19; but that was probably nearer to Susa.
580 The buryer excepted, perhaps.
581 In c. 28 of the present Book.
582 As mentioned in c. 26 of the present Book.
583 A warlike tribe on the borders of Susiana and the Greater Media. In character they are thought to have resembled the Bakhtiara tribes, who now roam over the mountains which they formerly inhabited. It has been suggested that their name may possibly be connected with the modern Khuzistan.
584 Supposed to be the same as the modern Kirmánshah mountains.
585 As mentioned in a previous Note, (67 in p. 77), Pliny mistakes the Eulæus for the Choaspes. In c. 26 he says that Susa is on the river Tigris.
586 Pliny says this in B. xxxi. c. 21 of both the Eulæus and the Choaspes.
587 Most probably the Hedyphon of Strabo, supposed to be the same as that now called the Djerrabi.
588 Parisot thinks that this is the modern Jessed, in the vicinity of the desert of Bealbanet.
589 Previously mentioned in c. 28.
590 The modern Tab.
591 Now called Camata, according to Parisot.
592 The modern Saurac, according to Parisot. The more general reading is “Sosirate.”
593 Our author has nowhere made any such statement as this, for which reason Hardouin thinks that he here refers to the maritime region mentioned in c. 29 of the present Book (p. 69), the name of which Sillig reads as Ciribo. Hardouin would read it as Syrtibolos, and would give it the meaning of the “muddy district of the Syrtes.” It is more likely, however, that Pliny has made a slip, and refers to something which, by inadvertence, he has omitted to mention.
594 Charax Spasinu, or Pasinu, previously mentioned in c. 26 (see p. 62). The name Charax applied to a town, seems to have meant a fortified place.
595 Called “Eudæmon” by Pliny.
596 The Great, the father of Antiochus Epiphanes.
597 Though this passage is probably corrupt, the reading employed by Sillig is inadmissible, as it makes nothing but nonsense. “Et jam Vipsanda porticus habet;” “and even now, Vipsanda has its porticos.”
598 Dionysius of Charax. No particulars of him are known beyond those mentioned by Pliny.
599 Caius, the son of Marcus Agrippa and Julia, the daughter of Augustus. He was the adopted son of Augustus.
600 See B. iii. c. 1, p. 151, in vol. 1.
601 In B. v. c. 21 and 22.
602 Who called himself the King of kings, and was finally conquered by Pompey.
603 The Mediterranean.
604 See B. v. c. 12.
605 Salmasius thinks that this should be written “Nombei;” but Hardouin remarks that the Nombæi were not of Arabian but Jewish extraction, and far distant from Mount Libanus.
606 The only resemblance between them is, that each is a peninsula; that of Arabia being of far greater extent than Italy. It will be remarked that here, contrary to his ordinary practice, Pliny makes a distinction between the Red Sea and the Persian Sea or Gulf.
607 “In eandem etiam cœli partem nulla differentia spectat.” A glance at the map will at once show the fallacy of this assertion.
608 In B. v. c. 12 and 21.
609 In c. 30 of the present Book.
610 Mentioned in B. v. c. 21, if, indeed, that is the same Petra.
611 Omana or Omanum was their chief place, a port on the north-east coast of Arabia Felix, a little above the promontory of Syagros, now Ras el Had, on a large gulf of the same name. The name is still preserved in the modern name Oman.
612 In Sitacene, mentioned in the preceding Chapter.
613 Or rather, as Hardouin says, the shore opposite to Charax, and on the western bank of the river.
614 Called Core Boobian, a narrow salt-water channel, laid down for the first time in the East India Company’s chart, and separating a large low island, off the mouth of the old bed of the Euphrates, from the mainland.
615 The great headland on the coast of Arabia, at the entrance of the bay of Doat-al-Kusma from the south, opposite to Pheleche Island.
616 This is the line of coast extending from the great headland last mentioned to the river Khadema, the ancient Achenus.
617 So called from the city of Arabia Felix, built on its shores. Strabo says of this city, “The city of Gerra lies in a deep gulf, where Chaldæan exiles from Babylon inhabit a salt country, having houses built of salt, the walls of which, when they are wasted by the heat of the sun, are repaired by copious applications of sea-water.” D’Anville first identified this place with the modern El Khatiff. Niebuhr finds its site on the modern Koneit of the Arabs, called “Gran” by the Persians; but Foster is of opinion that he discovered its ruins in the East India Company’s Chart, situate where all the ancient authorities had placed it, at the end of the deep and narrow bay at the mouth of which are situated the islands of Bahrein. The gulf mentioned by Pliny is identified by Foster with that of Bahrein.
618 The modern island of Bahrein, according to Brotier, still famous for its pearl-fishery.
619 Now Samaki, according to Ansart. Its ancient name was Aradus.
620 Hardouin takes this to be that which by the Arabians is called by the name of Falg.
621 On the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf.
622 Considered by modern geographers to be identical in situation with the Black Mountains and the Cape of Asabi, and still marked by a town and district named Sabee, close to Cape Mussendom.
623 In the modern district still called Oman.
624 On the opposite coast.
625 He calls it Canis, evidently thinking that “Cynos” was its Greek appellation only: as meaning the “Dogs’” river.
626 Or the mountain “with the Three Peaks.”
627 Stephanus mentions this as an island of the Erythræan Sea. Hardly any of these places appear to have been identified; and there is great uncertainty as to the orthography of the names.
628 From which came the myrrh mentioned by Pliny in B. xii. c. 36.
629 Or the Tent-Dwellers, the modern Bedouins.
630 By some geographers identified with the Ocelis or Ocila, mentioned in c. 26, the present Zee Hill or Ghela, a short distance to the south of Mocha, and to the north of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Hardouin says, however, that it was a different place, Acila being in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf, in which he appears to be correct.
631 Nothing relative to Numenius beyond this fact has been recorded.
632 Hardouin and Ansart think that under this name is meant the island called in modern times Mazira or Maceira.
633 There seem to have been three mythical personages of this name; but it appears impossible to distinguish the one from the other.
634 Or “Dioscoridis Insula,” an island of the Indian Ocean, of considerable importance as an emporium or mart, in ancient times. It lay between the Syagrus Promontorium, in Arabia, and Aromata Promontorium, now Cape Guardafui, on the opposite coast of Africa, somewhat nearer to the former, according to Arrian, which cannot be the case if it is rightly identified with Socotorra, 200 miles distant from the Arabian coast, and 110 from the north-east promontory of Africa.
635 So called from Azania, or Barbaria, now Ajan, south of Somauli, on the mainland of Africa.
636 Now Cape Fartash, in Arabia.
637 Their country is supposed to have been the Sheba of Scripture, the queen of which visited king Solomon. It was situate in the south-western corner of Arabia Felix, the north and centre of the province of Yemen, though the geographers before Ptolemy seem to give it a still wider extent, quite to the south of Yemen. The Sabæi most probably spread originally on both sides of the southern part of the Red Sea, the shores of Arabia and Africa. Their capital was Saba, in which, according to their usage, their king was confined a close prisoner.
638 The Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.
639 The modern district of Hadramaut derives its name from this people, who were situate on the coast of the Red Sea to the east of Aden. Sabota, their capital, was a great emporium for their drugs and spices.
640 Still known as Mareb, according to Ansart.
641 Hardouin is doubtful as to this name, and thinks that it ought to be Elaïtæ, or else Læanitæ, the people again mentioned below.
642 A name which looks very much like “fraud,” or “cheating,” as Hardouin observes, from the Greek ἀπάτη.
643 Off the Promontory of Ras-el-Had.
644 Probably in the district now known as Akra. It was situate on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, at the foot of Mount Hippus.
645 See B. v. c. 12, where this town is mentioned.
646 Whose chief city was Petra, previously mentioned.
647 Supposed by some writers to have been the ancestors of the Saracens, so famous in the earlier part of the middle ages. Some of the MSS., indeed, read “Sarraceni.”
648 Their town is called Arra by Ptolemy.
649 Their district is still called Thamud, according to Ansart.
650 Still called Cariatain, according to Ansart.
651 A ridiculous fancy, probably founded solely on the similarity of the name.
652 A story as probable, Hardouin observes, as that about the descendants of Minos.
653 The Arabs of Yemen, known in Oriental history by the name of Himyari, were called by the Greeks Homeritæ.
654 An inland city, called Masthala by Ptolemy.
655 Agatharchides speaks of a town on the sea coast, which was so called from the multitude of ducks found there. The one here spoken of was in the interior, and cannot be the same.
656 Hardouin observes, that neither this word, nor the name Riphearma, above mentioned, has either a Hebrew or an Arabian origin.
657 Probably the same place as we find spoken of by Herodotus as Ampe, and at which Darius settled a colony of Miletians after the capture of Miletus, B.C. 494.
658 Hardouin remarks that Mariaba, the name found in former editions, has no such meaning in the modern Arabic.
659 Mentioned by Ovid in the Metamorphoses, B. v. l. 165, et seq. Sillig, however, reads “Ciani.”
660 An intimate friend of the geographer Strabo. He was prefect of Egypt during part of the reign of Augustus, and in the years B.C. 24 and 25. Many particulars have been given by Strabo of his expedition against Arabia, in which he completely failed. The heat of the sun, the badness of the water, and the want of the necessaries of life, destroyed the greater part of his army.
661 By adoption, as previously stated.
662 The town of the Calingii, mentioned above.
663 Or wandering tribes.
664 Its uses in medicine are stated at length in the last Chapter of B. xxi.
665 Another form of the name of Atramitæ previously mentioned, the ancient inhabitants of the part of Arabia known as Hadramant, and settled, as is supposed, by the descendants of the Joctanite patriarch Hazarmaveth.
666 Arabia at the present day yields no gold, and very little silver. The queen of Sheba is mentioned as bringing gold to Solomon, 1 Kings, x. 2, 2 Chron. ix. i. Artemidorus and Diodorus Siculus make mention, on the Arabian Gulf, of the Debæ, the Alilæi, and the Gasandi, in whose territories native gold was found. These last people, who did not know its value, were in the habit of bringing it to their neighbours, the Sabæi, and exchanging it for articles of iron and copper.
667 B. xii.
668 The “mitra,” which was a head-dress especially used by the Phrygians, was probably of varied shape, and may have been the early form of the eastern turban.
669 The Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.
670 Or Heroöpolis, a city east of the Delta, in Egypt, and situate near the mouth of the royal canal which connected the Nile with the Red Sea. It was of considerable consequence as a trading station upon the arm of the Red Sea, which runs up as far as Arsinoë, the modern Suez, and was called the “Gulf” or “Bay of the Heroes.” The ruins of Heroöpolis are still visible at Abu-Keyscheid.
671 This place, as here implied, took its name from Cambyses, the son of Cyrus.
672 In c. 9 of the preceding Book. “Dictum,” however, may only mean, “called” the Delta.
673 Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Tzetzes, mention this, not with reference to Sesostris, but Necho, the grandson of Sesostris.
674 Ptolemy Philadelphus, son of Ptolemy Soter, or Lagides.
675 Now known by the name of Scheib. They derived their name from the saline flavour and deposition of their waters. These springs were strongly impregnated with alkaline salts, and with muriate of lime washed from the rocks which separated the Delta from the Red Sea. The salt which they produced being greatly valued, they were on that account regarded as the private property of the kings.
676 The “not thirsty” route, so called by way of antiphrasis.
677 See B. v. c. 9.
678 In c. 26 of the present Book.
679 Or “narrow necks,” apparently, from the Greek στηναὶ δειραὶ. If this be the correct reading, they were probably so called from the narrow strait which ran between them.
680 An island called Halonnesus has been already mentioned in B. iv. c. 23. None of these islands appear to have been identified.
681 See B. xxxvii. c. 32.
682 This seems to be the meaning, though, literally translated, it would be, “These were the prefects of kings.”
683 It obtained this title of πάγχρυσος, or “all golden,” from its vicinity to the gold mines of Jebel Allaki, or Ollaki, from which the ancient Egyptians drew their principal supply of that metal, and in the working of which they employed criminals and prisoners of war.
684 Or ἐπὶ δειρῆς, “upon the neck.” It was situate on the western side of the Red Sea, near the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.
685 Ansart suggests that the modern island of Mehun is here meant. Gosselin is of opinion that Pliny is in error in mentioning two islands in the Red Sea as producing the topaz.
686 Called Theron, as well as Epitheras. It was an emporium on the coast of the Red Sea for the trade with India and Arabia. It was chiefly remarkable for its position in mathematical geography, as, the sun having been observed to be directly over it forty-five days before and after the summer solstice, the place was taken as one of the points for determining the length of a degree of a great circle on the earth’s surface.
687 From the Greek ἐπὶ θήρας, “for hunting.”
688 In B. ii. c. 75.
689 In the same Chapter.
690 So called from Azania, the adjoining coast of Africa, now known as that of Ajan. It was inhabited by a race of Æthiopians, who were engaged in catching and taming elephants, and supplying the markets of the Red Sea coast with hides and ivory.
691 Now called Seyrman, according to Gosselin.
692 Its name was Adule, being the chief haven of the Adulitæ, of mixed origin, in the Troglodytic region, situate on a bay of the Red Sea, called Aduliticus Sinus. It is generally supposed that the modern Thulla or Zulla, still pronounced Azoole, occupies its site, being situate in lat. 15° 35′ N. Ruins are said to exist there. D’Anville, however, in his map of the Red Sea, places Adule at Arkeeko, on the same coast, and considerably to the north of Thulla. According to Cosmas, Adule was about two miles in the interior.
693 Pliny gives a further description of this ape in B. viii. c. 21., and B. x. c. 72. They were much valued by the Roman ladies for pets, and very high prices were given for them.
694 Now called Dahal-Alley, according to Gosselin.
695 Hardouin, from Strabo, suggests that the reading ought to be Coracios.
696 The “False Gates.”
697 The “Gates.”
698 D’Anville and Gosselin think that this is the island known as the French Island.
699 Ansart thinks that this promontory is that known as Cape de Meta, and that the port is at the mouth of the little river called Soul or Soal.
700 In his Æthiopian expedition. According to Strabo, he had altars and pillars erected there to record it.
701 Under the impression entertained by the ancients, that the southern progress of the coast of Africa stopped short here, and that it began at this point to trend away gradually to the north-west.
702 Coro. Salmasius seems with justice, notwithstanding the censures of Hardouin, to have found considerable difficulty in this passage. If it is Pliny’s meaning that by sea round the south of the Promontory of Mossylum there is a passage to the extreme north-western point of Africa, it is pretty clear that it is not by the aid of a north-west wind that it could be reached. “Euro,” “with a south-east wind,” has been very properly suggested.
703 By this name he means the Æthiopian Troglodytæ. Of course it would be absurd to attempt any identification of the places here named, as they must clearly have existed only in the imagination of the African geographer.
704 The supposed commencement of the Atlantic, to the west of the Promontory of Mossylum.
705 From the Greek ἀσκὸς, a “bladder,” or “inflated skin.” It is not improbable that the story as to their mode of navigation is derived only from the fancied origin of their name.
706 Apparently meaning in the Greek the “jackal-hunters,” θηροθῶες. For an account of this animal, see B. viii. c. 52, and B. xv. c. 95.
707 Heliopolis, described in B. v. c. 4.
708 Considering it as part of Asia.
709 Conformably with the usage of modern geographers, and, one would almost think, with that of common sense.
710 Of the river Nile.
711 As to Syene and the Catadupi, see B. v. c. 10.
712 This place was also called in later times Contrapselcis. It was situate in the Dodecaschœnus, the part of Æthiopia immediately above Egypt, on an island near the eastern bank of the river, a little above Pselcis, which stood on the opposite bank. It has been suggested that this may have been the modern island of Derar. The other places do not appear to have been identified, and, in fact, in no two of the MSS. do the names appear to agree.
713 Or the “Great Wall.”
714 Meaning, “the people who live in seventy villages.”
715 Or western side of the Nile, between Syene and Meroë.
716 Ὕπατον, the “supreme,” or perhaps the “last.”
717 Dion Cassius also mentions this expedition. From Seneca we learn that Nero dispatched two centurions to make inquiry into the sources of the Nile.
718 Dion Cassius calls him Caius Petronius. He carried on the war in B.C. 22 against the Æthiopians, who had invaded Egypt under their queen Candace. He took many of their towns.
719 Du Bocage is of opinion that this place stood not far from the present Ibrim.
720 Supposed by Du Bocage to have stood in the vicinity of the modern Dongola.
721 He was clearly a mythical personage, and nothing certain is known with respect to him. Tombs of Memnon were shown in several places, as at Ptolemais in Syria, on the Hellespont, on a hill near the mouth of the river Æsepus, near Palton in Syria, in Æthiopia, and elsewhere.
722 Her story has been alluded to in the account of Joppa, B. v. c. 34. Cepheus, the father of Andromeda, though possessing the coasts of Syria, was fabled to have been king of Æthiopia.
723 See B. v. c. 10, where Meroë is also mentioned.
724 Or the sacred “sycamore tree.”
725 Situate beyond the Great Cataract, and on the western bank.
727 Or dog’s-headed ape, described in B. viii. c. 80. It is supposed to be the baboon.
728 Hesychius says that it was also called Aëria, probably from the time of its king Ægyptus, who was called Aërius.
729 “Ubi desiimus.” This appears to be a preferable reading to “ubi desinit,” adopted by Sillig, and apparently referring to the river Nile. It is not improbable that our author here alludes, as Hardouin says, to his words in the preceding Chapter, “Hinc in ora Æthiopiæ,” &c. See p. 96.
730 Ansart thinks that the country of this people was the modern Kordofan. This, however, could not be the case, if the Macrobii, opposite to them, dwelt on the African side of the river.
731 Or “long-livers.”
732 Mentioned again in c. 2 of the next Book.
733 Who is mentioned again in B. xxxvi. c. 19.
734 Ptolemy, however, speaks of Esar and Daron as the names of towns situate on the island of Meroë.
735 On the eastern side of the Nile, and bearing no reference, as Hardouin remarks, to the people of modern Nubia.
736 There is considerable doubt as to the correctness of these names, as they are differently spelt in the MSS.
737 Marcus thinks that these mountains are those which lie to the west of the Nile, in Darfour, and Dar-Sale, or Dizzela, mentioned by Salt, in his Travels in Abyssinia.
738 From this it would appear that Pliny, with Dalion, supposed that the Nile ran down to the southern ocean, and then took a turn along the coast in a westerly direction; the shore being skirted by Syrtes, or quicksands, similar to those in the north of Africa.