A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xviii Part 12

Aduli, the first port on the west side of the Red Sea, and the port of communication with Axuma, was, in the age of the Periplus, subject to the same prince, who possessed the whole coast, from Berenice. 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-sh.e.l.l. The imports were very numerous, forming an a.s.sortment, as Dr. Vincent justly observes, as specific as a modern invoice: the princ.i.p.al 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 pa.s.sed 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, gla.s.s or crystal, murrhine cups, orichalchum, or mixed metal for trinkets and coin; bra.s.s 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.; bra.s.s bowls, wine, oil, gold and silver plate, camp cloaks, and cover-lids: these formed the princ.i.p.al 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 pa.s.ses without the Straits of Babelmandeb: on the African side, four princ.i.p.al 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 quant.i.ty of ivory, tortoise-sh.e.l.l, 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 gla.s.s, and gla.s.s 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 quant.i.ty of specie: the exports were, myrrh, frankincense, ca.s.sia, inferior cinnamon, subst.i.tuted 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 quant.i.ty of iron, and flint gla.s.s: the exports were, cinnamon, of an inferior quality; the quant.i.ty 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-sh.e.l.l, incense, frankincense, brought from distant places; ivory, and a small quant.i.ty 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 princ.i.p.al 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-sh.e.l.l, 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: after enumerating the articles imported from the latter country, which consisted chiefly of corn, rice, b.u.t.ter; oil of Sesanum; cotton, raw and manufactured sashes; and honey from the cane, called sugar; he adds, that "many vessels are employed in this commerce, expressly for the importation of these articles, and others, which have a more distant destination, sell part of their cargoes on this coast, and take in the produce in return." This seems to be the first historical evidence of a commercial intercourse between India and Africa, independent of the voyages of the Arabians; and as the parts from which the s.h.i.+ps sailed to India, lay within the limits of the monsoon, it most probably was accomplished by means of it, and directly from land to land, without coasting round by the Gulf of Persia. The ports on the west coast of India, to which the trade was carried on, were Ariake and Barugaza, in Guzerat and Concan.

No mart is mentioned after Opone, till we arrive at Rhapta. This place was so named by the Greeks, because the s.h.i.+ps employed by the inhabitants were raised from a bottom composed of a single piece of wood, and the sides were sewed to it, instead of being nailed. In order to preserve the sewing, the whole outside was covered over with some of the gums of the country. It is a circ.u.mstance worthy of notice, that when the Portuguese first visited this coast, they found s.h.i.+ps of exactly the same materials and construction. At Rhapta, the customs were farmed by the merchants of Moosa, though it was subject to one of the princes of Yeman. Arabian commanders and supercargoes were always employed in their s.h.i.+ps, from their experience in the navigation: the imports of Rhapta were, lances, princ.i.p.ally manufactured at Moosa; axes, knives, awls, and various kinds of gla.s.s: the exports were, ivory, inferior to the Aduli ivory, but cheap, and in great abundance; the horns of the rhinoceros, tortoise sh.e.l.l, superior to any of this coast, but not equal to the Indian; and an article called Nauplius, the nature of which is not known.

At the period when the Periplus was written, the coast was unknown beyond Rhapta; at this place, therefore, the journal of this voyage terminates; but this place, there is every reason to believe that the author visited in person.

The commencement of the second voyage is from Berenice: from this port he conducts us to Myos Hormos, and there across the Red Sea to Leuke Kome in Arabia. This port we have already noticed as in the possession of the Romans, and forming the point of communication with Petra. We have also stated from our author, that at Leuke Kome the Romans kept a garrison, and collected a duty of twenty-five per cent. on the goods imported and exported. From it to the coast below Burnt Island, there was no trade carried on, in consequence of the dangers of the navigation from rocks, the want of harbours, the poverty and barbarism of the natives, who seem to have been pirates, and the want of produce and manufactures.

In the farthest bay of the east or Arabian coast of the Red Sea, about thirty miles from the straits, was Moosa, the regular mart of the country, established, protected, and privileged as such by the government. It was not a harbour, but a road with good anchorage on a sandy bottom. The inhabitants were Arabians, and it was much resorted to by merchants, both on account of the produce and manufactures of the adjacent country, and on account of its trade to India. The imports into Moosa were princ.i.p.ally purple cloth of different qualities and prices; garments made in the Arabian manner, with sleeves, plain and mixed; saffron; an aromatic rush used in medicine; muslins, cloaks, quilts, but only a few plain, and made according to the fas.h.i.+on of the country; sashes of various colours; some corn and wine, and coin to pay for the balance of trade. In order to ingratiate the sovereigns of the country, horses, mules, gold plate, silver plate richly embossed, splendid robes, and bra.s.s goods were also imported, expressly as presents to them. One of these sovereigns was styled the friend of the Roman emperors. Emba.s.sies were frequently sent to him from Rome, and it is probable that for him the presents were chiefly designed.

The exports from Moosa were myrrh of the best quality, gum, and very pure and white alabaster, of which boxes were made; there was likewise exported a variety of articles, the produce and manufacture of Aduli, which were brought from that place to Moosa.

We are next directed to the ports beyond the Straits of Babelmandeb. The wind in pa.s.sing them is described as violent, coming on in sudden and dangerous squalls, in consequence of its confinement between the two capes which formed the entrance to the straits. The first place beyond them, about 120 miles to the east, described in the Periplus, is a village called Arabia Felix: this, there is every reason to believe, is Aden. It is represented in the Periplus as having been a place of great importance before the fleets sailed directly from India to Egypt, or from Egypt to the east. Till this occurred, the fleets from the east met in this harbour the fleets from Egypt. This description and account of it exactly corresponds with what Agatharcides relates: he says it received its name of Eudaimon, (_fortunate,_) on account of the s.h.i.+ps from India and Egypt meeting there, before the merchants of Egypt had the courage to venture further towards the eastern marts. Its importance seems to have continued in some degree till it was destroyed by the Romans, probably in the time of Claudius: the object and reason of this act was to prevent the trade, which in his time had begun to direct its course to India, from reverting to this place.

About 200 miles to the east of Aden was the port of Kane. The country in its vicinity is represented as producing a great quant.i.ty 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 princ.i.p.ally from Egypt, and consisted of a small quant.i.ty of wheat, wine, cloaths for the Arabian market, common, plain, and mixed; bra.s.s, 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-sh.e.l.l: 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 G.o.ds, 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 s.h.i.+ps 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-sh.e.l.l: the priests in the island are represented in the Periplus as wearing ap.r.o.ns 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 superst.i.tious observances, imploring a blessing on their intended voyage, and setting adrift a small toy, rigged like a s.h.i.+p, which, if dashed to pieces, was supposed to be accepted by the G.o.d of the ocean, instead of their s.h.i.+p.

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 ca.n.a.l 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 bra.s.s, 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 quant.i.ty 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, gla.s.s 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: the first near the mouth of the river, called Barbarike; and the other higher up, called Minagara: the latter was the capital of a kingdom which extended as far as Barogaza. As the king of this country was possessed of a place of such consequence to the merchants as Baragaza, and as from his provinces, or through them, the most valuable cargoes were obtained, it was of the utmost moment that his good will and protection should be obtained and preserved. For this purpose there were imported, as presents for him, the following articles, all expensive, and the very best of their kind: plate of very great value; musical instruments; handsome virgins for the haram; wine of the very best quality; plain cloth, but of the finest sort; and perfumes. Besides these presents, there were likewise imported a great quant.i.ty of plain garments, and some mixed or inferior cloth; topazes, coral, storax, frankincense, gla.s.s vessels, plate, specie, and wine. The exports were costus, a kind of spice; bdellium, a gum; a yellow dye, spikenard, emeralds, sapphires, cottons, silk thread, indigo, or perhaps the indic.u.m of Pliny, which was probably Indian ink: skins are likewise enumerated, with the epithet _serica_ prefixed to them, but of what kind they were cannot be determined: wine is specified as an article of import into this and other places; three kinds of it are particularized: wine from Laodicea in Syria, which is still celebrated for its wine; Italian wine, and Arabian wine. Some suppose that the last was palm or toddy wine, which seems to have been a great article of trade.

We come now to Baragaza: the author first mentions the produce of the district; it consisted of corn, rice, oil of Sesamum, ghee or b.u.t.ter, and cotton: he then, in a most minute and accurate manner, describes the approach to the harbour; the extraordinarily high tides, the rapidity with which they roll in and again recede, especially at the new moon, the difficult pilotage of the river, are all noticed. On account of these dangers and difficulties, he adds, that pilots were appointed by the government, with large boats, well manned, who put to sea to wait the approach of s.h.i.+ps. These pilots, as soon as they come on board, bring the s.h.i.+p's head round, and keep her clear of the shoals at the mouth of the river; if necessary, they tow the s.h.i.+p from station to station, where there is good anchorage; these stations were called Basons, and seem to have been pools retaining the water, after the tide had receded from other parts. The navigation of the river was performed only as long as the tide was favorable; as soon as it turned, the s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed in these stations.

The sovereign to whom Baragaza belonged is represented as so very anxious to render it the only mart, that he would not permit s.h.i.+ps to enter any of his other harbours; if they attempted it, they were boarded and conducted to Baragaza; at this place were collected all the produce and manufactures of this part of India: some of which were brought down the river Nerbuddah; others were conveyed across the mountains by caravans. The merchandize of Bengal, and even of the Seres, was collected here, besides the produce of Africa, and of the countries further to the south in India. The whole arrangement of this place was correspondent to this extensive commerce, for the author informs us, that such was the despatch in transacting business, that a cargo could be entirely landed and sold, and a new cargo obtained and put on board in the s.p.a.ce of three days.

From Ozeni to the east of Baragaza, formerly the capital of the country, there was brought to the latter place for exportation, chiefly the following articles: onyx stones, porcelaine, fine muslins, muslins dyed of the colour of the melon, and common cotton in great quant.i.ties: from the Panjab there were brought for exportation, spikenard of different kinds, costus, bdellium, ivory, murrhine cups, myrrh, pepper, &c. The imports were wine, of all the three sorts already mentioned, bra.s.s, tin, lead, coral, topazes, cloth of different kinds, sashes, storax, sweet lotus, white gla.s.s, stibium, cinnabar, and a small quant.i.ty of perfumes: a considerable quant.i.ty of corn was also imported; the denarius, both gold and silver, exchanging with profit against the coin of the country, on account of its greater purity.

From Baragaza the author proceeds to a description of the coast of the Decan, which, as we have already mentioned, is remarkable for its accuracy, as well as for its first mentioning the appellation Decan. At the distance of twenty days' journey to the south lies Plithana, and ten days' journey to the east of this is Tagara, both marts of great consequence, and the latter the capital of the country. From these are brought down, through difficult roads, several articles to Baragaza, particularly onyx stones from Plithana, and cottons and muslin from Tagara "If we should now describe, (observed Dr. Vincent) the arc of a circle from Minnagar, on the Indus, through Ougein to Dowlatabad on the G.o.davery, of which Baroche should be the centre, we might comprehend the extent of the intelligence acquired by the merchant of the Periplus. But allowing that this was the knowledge of the age, and not of the individual only, where is this knowledge preserved, except in this brief narrative? which, with all the corruption of its text, is still an inestimable treasure to all those who wish to compare the first dawning of our knowledge in the east with the meridian light which we now enjoy by the intercourse and conquests of the Europeans. An arc of this sort comprehends near three degrees of a great circle: and if upon such a s.p.a.ce, and at such a distance from the coast, we find nothing but what is confirmed by the actual appearance of the country, at the present moment, great allowance is to be made for those parts of the work which are less conspicuous, for the author did certainly not visit every place which he mentions; and there are manifest omissions in the text, as well as errors and corruptions."

The province of Canara, called by the author of the Periplus Limurike, follows in his description the pirate coast; after Limurike, he describes Pandion, corresponding with what is at present called Malabar Proper; this is succeeded by Paralia and Comari, and the description of the west coast of India is terminated by the pearl fishery and Ceylon. There were several small ports in Limurike frequented by the country s.h.i.+ps; but the only mart frequented by vessels from Egypt was Musiris: it was likewise a great resort of native vessels from Ariake or Concan. The articles imported were nearly the same as those at Baragaza, but the exports from it were more numerous and valuable: this seems to have arisen from its lying nearer to the eastern and richer parts of India. The princ.i.p.al exports were, pearls in great abundance and extraordinary beauty; a variety of silk stuffs; rich perfumes; tortoise-sh.e.l.l; different kinds of transparent gems, especially diamonds; and pepper in large quant.i.tes, and of the best quality.

The port of Nelkundah, which, as we have already remarked, was the limit of our author's personal knowledge, was a place of very great trade; it was much frequented, princ.i.p.ally on account of the betel and pepper, which were procured there on very reasonable terms: the pepper is distinguished, in the list of its imports, as the pepper of Cottonara. Besides this article and betel, the only exports were, pearls, ivory, silks, spikenard, precious stones, and tortoise-sh.e.l.l; the imports were chiefly specie, topazes, cloth, stibium, coral, gla.s.s, bra.s.s, tin, lead, wine, corn, &c.

The ports to the south of Nelkundah are described in a cursory manner in the Periplus; they were frequented princ.i.p.ally by the country s.h.i.+ps, which carried on a lucrative trade between them and the ports in the north of India. The exports of the island of Trapobane, or Ceylon, are particularized as consisting chiefly of pearls, gems, tortoise-sh.e.l.ls, and muslins: cinnamon is not named; an almost decisive proof, if other proof were wanting, that the author of the Periplus had never visited this island. That trading voyages were carried on by the natives from the southern ports of India, not only to the northern ports of the western side of that country, but also to the eastern ports in the Bay of Bengal, and to the farther peninsula itself, we are expressly informed, as our author mentions vessels of great bulk adapted to the voyages made to the Ganges and the Golden Chersonese, in contradistinction to other and smaller vessels employed in the voyages to Limurike.

Of the remainder of the Periplus little notice is requisite, the account of the countries beyond Cape Comorin being entirely drawn from report, and consequently erroneous, both in respect to geography and commerce. In some particulars regarding the latter, however, it is surprisingly accurate: the Gangetic muslins are praised as the finest manufacture of the sort, and Gangetic spikenard is also noticed; the other articles of traffic in the ports on the Ganges were betel and pearls. Thina is also mentioned as a city, in the interior of a country immediately under the north, at a certain point where the sea terminates; from this city both the raw material and manufactured silks are brought by land through Bactria to Baragaza, or else down the Ganges, and thence by sea to Limurike: the routes we have already described. The means of approach to Thina are represented as very difficult; some merchants, however, came from it to a great mart which is annually held near it. The Sesatoe, who from the description of them are evidently Tartars, frequent this mart with their wives and children. "They are squat and thick-set, with their face broad and their nose greatly depressed. The articles they bring for trade are of great bulk, and inveloped in mats made of rushes, which, in their outward appearance, resemble the early leaves of the vine. Their place of a.s.sembly is between their own borders and those of China; and here spreading out their mats, they hold a fair for several days, and at the conclusion of it, return to their own country in the interior. Upon their retreat the Thinae, who have continued on the watch, repair to the spot and collect the mats which the strangers left behind at their departure; from these they pick out the haulm, and drawing out the fibres, spread the leaves double, and make them into b.a.l.l.s, and then pa.s.s the fibres through them. Of these b.a.l.l.s there are three sorts, in this form they take the name of Malabathrum."

On this account Dr. Vincent very justly remarks, that we have here, upon the whole, a description of that mode of traffic, which has always been adopted by the Chinese, and by which they to this hour trade with Russia, Thibet, and Ava.

Many of the particulars which we have given on the subject of the Roman trade are supplied by Pliny, who wrote his natural history when Rome was in its most flouris.h.i.+ng state under the reign of Vespasian. His works consist of thirty-seven books, the first six comprise the system of the world and the geography as it was then known. After examining the accounts of Polybius, Agrippa, and Artemidorus, he a.s.signs the following comparative magnitudes to the three great divisions of the earth. Europe rather more than a third, Asia about a fourth, and Africa about a fifth of the whole.

With few exceptions, his geographical knowledge of the east and of the north, the parts of the world of which the ancients were the most ignorant, was very inaccurate: he supposes the Ganges to be the north-eastern limit of Asia, and that from it the coast turned to the north, where it was washed by the sea of Serica, between which and a strait, which he imagined formed a communication from the Caspian to the Scythian ocean, he admits but a very small s.p.a.ce. According to the system of Pliny, therefore, the ocean occupied the whole county of Siberia, Mogul Tartary, China, &c. He derived his information respecting India from the journals of Nearchus, and the other officers of Alexander; and yet such is his ignorance, or the corrupt state of the text, or the vitiated medium through which he received his information, that it is not easy to reconcile his account with that of Nearchus. Salmasius, indeed, charges him with confounding the east and west in his description of India. His geography, in the most important particular of the relative distances of places, is rendered of very little utility or authority, from the circ.u.mstance pointed out and proved by D'Anville, that he indiscriminately reckons eight stadia to the mile, without reference to the difference between the Greek and Roman stadium. He has, however, added two articles of information to the geographical and commercial knowledge of the east possessed before his time; the one is the account of the new course of navigation from Arabia to the coast of Malabar, which has been already described; the other is a description of Trapobane, or Ceylon, which, though inaccurate and obscure in many points, must be regarded as a real and important addition to the geographical knowledge of the Romans.

Pliny's geography of the north is the most full and curious of all antiquity. After describing the h.e.l.lespont, Moeotis, Dacia, Sarmatia, ancient Scythia, and the isles in the Euxine Sea, and proceeding last from Spain, he pa.s.ses north to the Scythic Ocean, and returns west towards Spain. The coast of part of the Baltic seems to have been partly known to him; he particularly mentions an island called Baltia, where amber was found; but he supposes that the Baltic Sea itself was connected with the Caspian and Indian Oceans. Pliny is the first author who names Scandinavia, which he represents as an island, the extent of which was not then known; but by Scandinavia there is reason to believe the present Scandia is meant.

Denmark may probably be rcognised in the Dumnor of this author, and Norway in Noligen. The mountain Soevo, which he describes as forming a vast bay called Coda.n.u.s, extending to the promontory of the Cimbri, is supposed by some to be the mountains that run along the Vistula on the eastern extremity of Germany, and by others to be that chain of mountains which commence at Gottenburgh. The whole of his information respecting the north seems to have been drawn from the expeditions of Drusus, Varus, and Germanicus, to the Elbe and the Weser, and from the accounts of the merchants who traded thither for amber.

Tacitus, who died about twenty years after Pliny, seems to have acquired a knowledge of the north more accurate in some respects than the latter possessed. In his admirable description of Germany, he mentions the Suiones, and from the name, as well as other circ.u.mstances, there can be little doubt that they inhabited the southern part of modern Sweden.

The northern promontory of Scotland was known to Diodorus Siculus under the name of Orcas; but the insularity of Britain was certainly not ascertained till the fleet sent out by Agricola sailed round it, about eighty-four years after Christ. Tacitus, who mentions this circ.u.mstance, also informs us, that Ireland, which was known by name to the Greeks, was much frequented in his time by merchants, from whose information he adds, that its harbours were better known than those of Britain: this statement, however, there is much reason to question, as in the time of Caesar, all that the Romans knew of Ireland was its relative position to Britain, and that it was about half its size.

The emperor Trajan, who reigned between A.D. 98 and A.D. 117, was not only a great conqueror, carrying the Roman armies beyond the Danube into Dacia, and into Armenia, Mesopotamia, and a.s.syria, and thus extending and rendering more accurate the geographical knowledge of his subjects; but he was also attentive to the improvement and commercial prosperity of the empire. He made good roads from one end of the empire to the other; he constructed a convenient and safe harbour at Centum Cellae (Civita Vecchia), and another at Ancona on the Adriatic: he dug a new and navigable ca.n.a.l, which conveyed the waters of the Nahar-Malcha, or royal ca.n.a.l of Nebuchadnezzar, into the river Tigris; and he is supposed to have repaired or renewed the Egyptian ca.n.a.l between the Nile and the Red Sea. He also gave directions and authority to Pliny, who was appointed governor of Pontus and Bithynia, to examine minutely into the commerce of those provinces, and into the revenues derived from it, and other sources.

The emperor Adrian pa.s.sed nearly the whole of his reign in visiting the different parts of his dominions: he began his journey in Gaul, and thence into Germany; he afterwards pa.s.sed into Britain. On his return to Gaul, he visited Spain; on his next journey he went to Athens, and thence into the east; and on his second return to Rome, he visited Sicily; his third journey comprised the African provinces; his fourth was employed in again visiting the east; from Syria he went into Arabia, and thence into Egypt, where he repaired and adorned the city of Alexandria, restoring to the inhabitants their former privileges, and encouraging their commerce. On his journey back to Rome, he visited Syria, Thrace, Macedonia, and Athens. By his orders, an artificial port was constructed at Trebizond on a coast dest.i.tute by nature of secure harbours, from which this city derived great wealth and splendour.

The only writer in the time of Adrian, from whom we can derive any additional information respecting the geography and trade of the Romans, is Arrian. He was a native of Nicodemia, and esteemed one of the most learned men of his age; to him we are indebted for the journal of Nearchus's voyage, an abstract of which has been given. His accuracy as a geographer, is sufficiently established in that work, and indeed, in almost all the particulars respecting India, which he has detailed in his history of the expedition of Alexander the Great; and in his Indica, which may be regarded as an appendix to that history. He lived at Rome, under the emperors Adrian, Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius, and was preferred to the highest posts of honour, and even to the consuls.h.i.+p. In the year A.D. 170, he was appointed governor of Pontus, by Adrian, for the special purpose of opposing the Alani, who were invading that part of the empire. His situation and opportunities as governor, enabled him to derive the most accurate and particular information respecting the Euxine Sea, which he addressed in a letter to Adrian; this Periplus, as it is called, "contains whatever the governor of Pontus had seen, from Trebizond to Dioscurias; whatever he had heard from Dioscurias to the Danube and whatever he knew from the Danube to Trebizond."

The letter begins with the arrival of Arrian at Trebizond, at which place, the artificial port already noticed was then forming. At Trebizond he embarked, and surveyed the eastern coast of the Euxine Sea, visiting every where the Roman garrisons. His course led him past the mouth of the Phasis, the waters of which, he remarks, floated a long time on those of the sea, by reason of their superior lightness. A strong garrison was stationed at the mouth of this river, to protect this part of the country against the Barbarians; he adds, however, in his letter, that the new suburbs which had been built by the merchants and veterans, required some additional defence, and that he had, accordingly, for the greater security of the place, strengthened it with a new ditch: he ended his voyage at Sebastapolis, the most distant city garrisoned by the Romans. The description of the coasts of Asia, from Byzantium to Trebizond, and another of the interior, from Sebastapolis to the Bosphorus Cimmerius, and thence to Byzantium, is added to his voyage. The great object of this minute and accurate survey was to enable the emperor to take what measures he might deem proper, in case he designed to interfere in the affairs of the Bosphorus, as well as to point out the means of defence against the Alani, and other enemies of the Roman power.

We have contented ourselves with this short abstract of the Periplus of the Euxine, because we have already given all the important information it contains on the subject of the commerce of this sea. It is very inferior in merit to the Periplus of the Euxine, which has also been attributed to this Arrian, though Dr. Vincent, we think, has proved that it is the work of an earlier writer, and of a merchant.

As the Roman conquests extended, their geographical knowledge of course increased. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, their armies had forced a pa.s.sage much further north in Britain than they had ever ventured before.

One of the results of this success was a maritime survey, or rather two partial surveys of the north part of Britain, from which the geography of that part of the island was compiled by Ptolemy.

The maritime laws of the Rhodians, or those which pa.s.sed under their name, seem to have been the basis and authority of the Roman maritime laws at this period; for we are told, that when a merchant complained to the emperor that he had been plundered by the imperial officers at the Cyclades, where he had been s.h.i.+pwrecked, the latter replied, that he indeed was lord of the earth, but that the sea was governed by the Rhodian laws, and that from them he would obtain redress. This part of the Rhodian law, however, had been but lately adopted by the Romans; for Antoninus is expressly mentioned as having enacted, among other laws, that s.h.i.+pwrecked merchandize should be the entire property of the lawful owners, without any interference or partic.i.p.ation of the officers of the exchequer, and that those who were guilty of plundering wrecks should be severely punished.

One of the most important and complete surveys of the Roman empire (the idea of which, as has been already stated, was first formed by Julius Caesar) was begun and finished in the reign of Antoninus, and is well known under the appellation of his Itinerary. It has, indeed, been objected to this date of the Itinerary, that it contains places which were not known in the time of Antonine, and names of places which they did not bear till after his reign; thus mention is made of the province of Arcadia in Egypt, and of Honorius in Pontus, so styled in honor of the sons of the emperor Theodosius. But the fact seems to be that alterations and additions were made to the Itinerary, and that occasionally, or perhaps under each subsequent emperor, new editions of it were published. From the maritime part of this Itinerary of Antoninus we derive a clear idea of the timidity or want of skill and enterprise of the Mediterranean seamen in their commercial voyages. All the ports which it was prudent or necessary, for the safety of the voyage, to touch at, in sailing from Achaia to Africa are enumerated; and of these there are no fewer than twenty, some of them at the heads of bays on the coasts of Greece, Epirus, and Italy, and within the Straits of Sicily as far as Messina. Their course was then to be directed along the east and south coasts of Sicily to the west point of it; from an island off this point they took their departure for the coast of Africa, a distance of about ninety miles.

These Itineraries undoubtedly were drawn up in as accurate a manner as possible; but till the time of Ptolemy they were of little service to geography or commerce, as, for a private individual to have one in his possession was deemed a crime little short of high treason. Geography as a science, therefore, had hitherto made little advances; indeed the discovery and example of Hipparchus, of reducing it to astronomical basis, seems to have been forgotten or neglected till the middle of the second century. The first after him, who attempted to fix geography on the base of science was Marinus, of Tyre, who lived a short time before Ptolemy; of his work we have only extracts given by this geographer. He divided the terms lat.i.tude and longitude, which, as we have already stated, were introduced by Artemidorus (A.C. 104) into degrees, and these degrees into their parts, though this improvement was not reduced generally to practice before Ptolemy, for we are informed by him, that Marinus had the lat.i.tude of some places and the longitude of others, but scarcely one position where he could ascertain both.

With regard to the extent of Marinus' geographical knowledge, or the accuracy of his details, we cannot form a fair judgment from the fragments of his works which remain. According to Ptolemy, he had examined the history of preceding ages, and all the information that had been collected in his own time, comparing and rectifying them as he proceeded in his own account.

It will be recollected that the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea did not trace the African coast lower down than Rhapta; but Marinus mentions Prasum, which, according to that hypothesis, which fixes it in the lowest southern lat.i.tude, must have been seven degrees to the south of Rhapta. So far, therefore, the knowlege of the ancients, in the time of Marinus, respecting the east coast of Africa extended; but, as neither he nor Ptolemy mentions a single place between Rhapta and Prasum, it is probable that the latter was not frequently or regularly visited for the purposes of trade, but that commercial voyages were still confined to the limit of Rhapta. We have just stated that Prasum, according to the most moderate hypothesis, must be fixed seven degrees to the south of Rhapta. Marinus, however, fixes it either in thirty-five degrees south, or under the tropic of Capricorn. He was led into this and similar errors by a.s.signing too great a number of stadia to the degree. Ptolemy endeavours to correct him, and places Prasum in lat.i.tude 15, 30 south; it is remarkable that the Prasum of Ptolemy is precisely at Mosambique, the last of the Arabian settlements in the following ages, and the Prasum of Marinus, if under the tropic of Capricorn, is the limit of the knowledge of the Arabians on this coast of Africa.

Marinus, as quoted by Ptolemy, affirms that he was in possession of the journals of two expeditions under the command of Septimus Flaccus and Julius Maternus: the former of these officers set off from Cyrene, and the latter from Leptis; and, according to Marinus, they penetrated through the interior of Africa to the southward of the Equator, as far as a nation they styled Agesymba. The error of Marinus with respect to the valuation of the stadium, has led him to fix this nation in twenty-four degrees south lat.i.tude; if allowance, however, be made for his error, the Agesymba will still be placed under the Equator,--a great distance for a land expedition to have readied in the interior of Africa. Flaccus reported that the Ethiopians of Agesymba, were three months journeying to the south of the Garamantes, and the latter were 5400 of the stadia of Marinus, distant from Cyrene. According to the journal of Maternus, when the king of the Garamantes set off to attack the people of Agesymba, he marched four months to the south.

There are also some notices in Marinus of voyages performed along the coast of Africa, between India and Africa, and along part of the coast of India; he particularly mentions one Theophilus who frequented the coast of Azania, and who was carried by a south-west wind from Rhapta to Aromata in twenty days; and Diogenes, one of the traders to India, who on his return after he had come in sight of Aromata, was caught by the north-east monsoon, and carried down the coast during twenty-five days, till he reached the lakes from which the Nile issues. Marinus also mentions a Diogenes Samius, who describes the course held by vessels from the Indus to the coast of Cambay, and from Arabia to the coast of Africa. According to him, in the former voyage they sailed with the Bull in the middle of the heavens, and the Pleiades in the middle of the main yard; in the latter voyage, they sailed to the south, and by the star Can.o.bus.

We now arrive at the name of Ptolemy, certainly the most celebrated geographer of antiquity. He was a native of Alexandria, and flourished in the reign of the emperor Marcus Antoninus. In the application of astronomy to geography, he followed Hipparchus princ.i.p.ally, and he seems from his residence at Alexandria to have derived much information through the merchants and navigators of that city, as well as from its magnificent and valuable library. His great work, as it has reached us, consists almost entirely of an elementary picture of the earth, (if it may be so called,) in which its figure and size, and the position of places are determined.

There is only a short notice of the division of countries, and it is very seldom that any historical notice is added. To this outline, it is supposed that Ptolemy had added a detailed account of the countries then known, which is lost.

His geography, such as we have described it, consists of eight books, and is certainly much more scientific than any which had been previously written on this science. In it there appears, for the first time, an application of geometrical principles to the construction of maps: the different projections of the sphere, and a distribution of the several places on the earth, according to their lat.i.tude and longitude. Geography was thus established on its proper principles, and intimately connected with astronomical observations and mathematical science. The utility and merit of Ptolemy's work seems to have been understood and acknowledged soon after it appeared. Agathemidorus, who lived not long after him, praises him for having reduced geography to a regular system; and adds, that he treats of every thing relating to it, not carelessly, or merely according to the ideas of his own, but to what had been delivered by more ancient authors, adopting from them whatever he found consonant to truth. Agathodaemon, an artist of Alexandria, observing the request in which his work was held, prepared a set of maps to ill.u.s.trate it, in which all the places mentioned in it were laid down, with the lat.i.tudes and longitudes he a.s.signed them.