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Ancient History Sourcebook:
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea:

Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century

1. Of the designated ports on the Erythraean Sea, and the market-towns around it, the
first is the Egyptian port of Mussel Harbor. To those sailing down from that place, on the
right hand, after eighteen hundred stadia, there is Berenice. The harbors of both are at
the boundary of Egypt, and are bays opening from the Erythraean Sea.

2. On the right-hand coast next below Berenice is the country of the Berbers. Along the
shore are the Fish-Eaters, living in scattered caves in the narrow valleys. Further inland
are the Berbers, and beyond them the Wild-flesh-Eaters and Calf-Eaters, each tribe
governed by its chief; and behind them, further inland, in the country towards the west,
there lies a city called Meroe.

3. Below the Calf-Eaters there is a little market-town on the shore after sailing about
four thousand stadia from Berenice, called Ptolemais of the Hunts, from which the hunters
started for the interior under the dynasty of the Ptolemies. This market-town has the true
land-tortoise in small quantity; it is white and smaller in the shells. And here also is
found a little ivory like that of Adulis. But the place has no harbor and is reached only
by small boats.

4. Below Ptolemais of the Hunts, at a distance of about three thousand stadia, there is
Adulis, a port established by law, lying at the inner end of a bay that runs in toward the
south. Before the harbor lies the so-called Mountain Island, about two hundred stadia
seaward from the very head of the bay, with the shores of the mainland close to it on both
sides. Ships bound for this port now anchor here because of attacks from the land. They
used formerly to anchor at the very head of the bay, by an island called Diodorus, close
to the shore, which could be reached on foot from the land; by which means the barbarous
natives attacked the island. Opposite Mountain Island, on the mainland twenty stadia from
shore, lies Adulis, a fair-sized village, from which there is a three-days' journey to
Coloe, an inland town and the first market for ivory. From that place to the city of the
people called Auxumites there is a five days' journey more; to that place all the ivory is
brought from the country beyond the Nile through the district called Cyeneum, and thence
to Adulis. Practically the whole number of elephants and rhinoceros that are killed live
in the places inland, although at rare intervals they are hunted on the seacoast even near
Adulis. Before the harbor of that market-town, out at sea on the right hand, there lie a
great many little sandy islands called Alalaei, yielding tortoise-shell, which is brought
to market there by the Fish-Eaters.

5. And about eight hundred stadia beyond there is another very deep bay, with a great
mound of sand piled up at the right of the entrance; at the bottom of which the opsian
stone is found, and this is the only place where it is produced. These places, from the
Calf-Eaters to the other Berber country, are governed by Zoscales; who is miserly in his
ways and always striving for more, but otherwise upright, and acquainted with Greek
literature.

6. There are imported into these places, undressed cloth made in Egypt for the Berbers;
robes from Arsinoe; cloaks of poor quality dyed in colors; double-fringed linen mantles;
many articles of flint glass, and others of murrhine, made in Diospolis; and brass, which
is used for ornament and in cut pieces instead of coin; sheets of soft copper, used for
cooking-utensils and cut up for bracelets and anklets for the women; iron, which is made
into spears used against the elephants and other wild beasts, and in their wars. Besides
these, small axes are imported, and adzes and swords; copper drinking-cups, round and
large; a little coin for those coming to the market; wine of Laodicea and Italy, not much;
olive oil, not much; for the king, gold and silver plate made after the fashion of the
country, and for clothing, military cloaks, and thin coats of skin, of no great value.
Likewise from the district of Ariaca across this sea, there are imported Indian iron, and
steel, and Indian cotton cloth; the broad cloth called monache and that called
sagmatogene, and girdles, and coats of skin and mallow-colored cloth, and a few muslins,
and colored lac. There are exported from these places ivory, and tortoiseshell and
rhinoceros-horn. The most from Egypt is brought to this market from the month of January
to September, that is, from Tybi to Thoth; but seasonably they put to sea about the month
of September.

7. From this place the Arabian Gulf trends toward the east and becomes narrowest just
before the Gulf of Avalites. After about four thousand stadia, for those sailing eastward
along the same coast, there are other Berber market-towns, known as the 'far-side' ports;
lying at intervals one after the other, without harbors but having roadsteads where ships
can anchor and lie in good weather. The first is called Avalites; to this place the voyage
from Arabia to the far-side coast is the shortest. Here there is a small market-town
called Avalites, which must be reached by boats and rafts. There are imported into this
place, flint glass, assorted; juice of sour grapes from Diospolis; dressed cloth,
assorted, made for the Berbers; wheat, wine, and a little tin. There are exported from the
same place, and sometimes by the Berbers themselves crossing on rafts to Ocelis and Muza
on the opposite shore, spices, a little ivory, tortoise-shell, and a very little myrrh,
but better than the rest. And the Berbers who live in the place are very unruly.

8. After Avalites there is another market-town, better than this, called Malao, distant
a sail of about eight hundred stadia. The anchorage is an open roadstead, sheltered by a
spit running out from the east. Here the natives are more peaceable. There are imported
into this place the things already mentioned, and many tunics, cloaks from Arsinoe,
dressed and dyed; drinking-cups, sheets of soft copper in small quantity, iron, and gold
and silver coin, not much. There are exported from these places myrrh, a little
frankincense, (that known as far-side), the harder cinnamon, duaca, Indian copal and
macir, which are imported into Arabia; and slaves, but rarely.

9. Two days' sail, or three, beyond Malao is the market-town of Mundus, where the ships
lie at anchor more safely behind a projecting island close to the shore. There are
imported into this place the things previously set forth, and from it likewise are
exported the merchandise already stated, and the incense called mocrotu. And the traders
living here are more quarrelsome.

10. Beyond Mundus, sailing toward the east, after another two days' sail, or three, you
reach Mosyllum, on a beach, with a bad anchorage. There are imported here the same things
already mentioned, also silver plate, a very little iron, and glass. There are shipped
from the place a great quantity of cinnamon, (so that this market-town requires ships of
larger size), and fragrant gums, spices, a little tortoise shell, and mocrotu, (poorer,
than that of Mundus), frankincense, (the far-side), ivory and myrrh in small quantities.

11. Sailing along the coast beyond Mosyllum, after a two days' course you come to the
so-called Little Nile River, and a fine spring, and a small laurel-grove, and Cape
Elephant. Then the shore recedes into a bay, and has a river, called Elephant, and a large
laurel-grove called Acannae; where alone is produced the far-side frankincense, in great
quantity and of the best grade.

12. Beyond this place, the coast trending toward the south, there is the Market and
Cape of Spices, an abrupt promontory, at the very end of the Berber coast toward the east.
The anchorage is dangerous at times from the ground-swell, because the place is exposed to
the north. A sign of an approaching storm which is peculiar to the place, is that the deep
water becomes more turbid and changes its color. When this happens they all run to a large
promontory called Tabae, which offers safe shelter. There are imported into this market
town the things already mentioned; and there are produced in it cinnamon (and its
different varieties, gizir, asypha, areho, iriagia, and moto) and frankincense.

13. Beyond Tabae, after four hundred stadia, there is the village of Pano. And then,
after sailing four hundred stadia along a promontory, toward which place the current also
draws you, there is another market-town called Opone, into which the same things are
imported as those already mentioned, and in it the greatest quantity of cinnamon is
produced, (the arebo and moto), ind slaves of the better sort, which are brought to Egypt
in increasing numbers; and a great quantity of tortoiseshell, better than that found
elsewhere.

14. The voyage to all these farside market-towns is made from Egypt about the month of
July, that is Epiphi. And ships are also customarily fitted out from the places across
this sea, from Ariaca and Barygaza, bringing to these far-side market-towns the products
of their own places; wheat, rice, clarified butter, sesame oil, cotton cloth, (the monache
and the sagmatogene), and girdles, and honey from the reed called sacchari. Some make the
voyage especially to these market-towns, and others exchange their cargoes while sailing
along the coast. This country is not subject to a King, but each market-town is ruled by
its separate chief.

15. Beyond Opone, the shore trending more toward the south, first there are the small
and great bluffs of Azania; this coast is destitute of harbors, but there are places where
ships can lie at anchor, the shore being abrupt; and this course is of six days, the
direction being south-west. Then come the small and great beach for another six days'
course and after that in order, the Courses of Azania, the first being called Sarapion and
the next Nicon; and after that several rivers and other anchorages, one after the other,
separately a rest and a run for each day, seven in all, until the Pyralax islands and what
is called the channel; beyond which, a little to the south of south-west, after two
courses of a day and night along the Ausanitic coast, is the island Menuthias, about three
hundred stadia from the mainland, low and and wooded, in which there are rivers and many
kinds of birds and the mountain-tortoise. There are no wild beasts except the crocodiles;
but there they do not attack men. In this place there are sewed boats, and canoes hollowed
from single logs, which they use for fishing and catching tortoise. In this island they
also catch them in a peculiar wav, in wicker baskets, which they fasten across the
channel-opening between the breakers.

16. Two days' sail beyond, there lies the very last market-town of the continent of
Azania, which is called Rhapta; which has its name from the sewed boats (rhapton
ploiarion) already mentioned; in which there is ivory in great quantity, and
tortoise-shell. Along this coast live men of piratical habits, very great in stature, and
under separate chiefs for each place. The Mapharitic chief governs it under some ancient
right that subjects it to the sovereignty of the state that is become first in Arabia. And
the people of Muza now hold it under his authority, and send thither many large ships;
using Arab captains and agents, who are familiar with the natives and intermarry with
them, and who know the whole coast and understand the language.

17. There are imported into these markets the lances made at Muza especially for this
trade, and hatchets and daggers and awls, and various kinds of glass; and at some places a
little wine, and wheat, not for trade, but to serve for getting the good-will of the
savages. There are exported from these places a great quantity of ivory, but inferior to
that of Adulis, and rhinoceros-horn and tortoise-shell (which is in best demand after that
from India), and a little palm-oil.

18. And these markets of Azania are the very last of the continent that stretches down
on the right hand from Berenice; for beyong these places the unexplored ocean curves
around toward the west, and running along by the regions to the south of Aethiopia and
Libya and Africa, it mingles with the western sea.

19. Now to the left of Berenice, sailing for two or three days from Mussel Harbor
eastward across the adjacent gulf, there is another harbor and fortified place, which is
called White Village, from which there is a road to Petra, which is subject to Malichas,
King of the Nabataeans. It holds the position of a market-town for the small vessels sent
there from Arabia; and so a centurion is stationed there as a collector of one-fourth of
the merchandise imported, with an armed force, as a garrison.

20. Directly below this place is the adjoining country of Arabia, in its length
bordering a great distance on the Erythraean Sea. Different tribes inhabit the country,
differing in their speech, some partially, and some altogether. The land next the sea is
similarly dotted here and there with caves of the Fish-Eaters, but the country inland is
peopled by rascally men speaking two languages, who live in villages and nomadic camps, by
whom those sailing off the middle course are plundered, and those surviving shipwrecks are
taken for slaves. And so they too are continually taken prisoners by the chiefs and kings
of Arabia; and they are called Carnaites. Navigation is dangerous along this whole coast
of Arabia, which is without harbors, with bad anchorages, foul, inaccessible because of
breakers and rocks, and terrible in every way. Therefore we hold our course down the
middle of the gulf and pass on as fast as possible by the country of Arabia until we come
to the Burnt Island; directly below which there are regions of peaceful people, nomadic,
pasturers of cattle, sheep and camels.

21. Beyond these places, in a bay at the foot of the left side of this gulf, there is a
place by the shore called Muza, a market-town established by law, distant altogether from
Berenice for those sailing southward, about twelve thousand stadia. And the whole place is
crowded with Arab shipowners and seafaring men, and is busy with the affairs of commerce;
for they carry on a trade with the far-side coast and with Barygaza, sending their own
ships there.

22. Three days inland from this port there is a city called Saua, in the midst of the
region called Mapharitis; and there is a vassal-chief named Cholaebus who lives in that
city.

23. And after nine days more there is Saphar, the metropolis, in which lives Charibael,
lawful king of two tribes, the Homerites and those living next to them, called the
Sabaites; through continual embassies and gifts, he is a friend of the Emperors.

24. The market-town of Muza is without a harbor, but has a good roadstead and anchorage
because of the sandy bottom thereabouts, where the anchors hold safely. The merchandise
imported there consists of purple cloths, both fine and coarse; clothing in the Arabian
style, with sleeves; plain, ordinary, embroidered, or interwoven with gold; saffron, sweet
rush, muslins, cloaks, blankets (not many), some plain and others made in the local
fashion; sashes of different colors, fragrant ointments in moderate quantity, wine and
wheat, not much. For the country produces grain in moderate amount, and a great deal of
wine. And to the King and the Chief are given horses and sumpter-mules, vessels of gold
and polished silver, finely woven clothing and copper vessels. There are exported from the
same place the things produced in the country: selected myrrh, and the Gebanite-Minaean
stacte, alabaster and all the things already mentioned from Avalites and the far-side
coast. The voyage to this place is made best about the month of September, that is Thoth;
but there is nothing to prevent it even earlier.

25. After sailing beyond this place about three hundred stadia, the coast of Arabia and
the Berber country about the Avalitic gulf now coming close together, there is a channel,
not long in extent, which forces the sea together and shuts it into a narrow strait, the
passage through which, sixty stadia in length, the island Diodorus divides. Therefore the
course through it is beset with rushing currents and with strong winds blowing down from
the adjacent ridge of mountains. Directly on this strait by the shore there is a village
of Arabs, subject to the same chief, called Ocelis; which is not so much a market-town as
it is an anchorage and watering-place and the first landing for those sailing into the
gulf.

26. Beyond Ocelis, the sea widening again toward the east and soon giving a view of the
open ocean, after about twelve hundred stadia there is Eudaemon Arabia, a village by the
shore, also of the Kingdom of Charibael, and having convenient anchorages, and watering
places, sweeter and better than those at Ocelis; it lies at the entrance of a bay, and the
land recedes from it. It was called Eudaemon, because in the early days of the city when
the voyage was not yet made from India to Egypt, and when they did not dare to sail from
Egypt to the ports across this ocean, but all came together at this place, it received the
cargoes from both countries, just as Alexandria now receives the things brought both from
abroad and from Egypt. But not long before our own time Charibael destroyed the place.

27. After Eudaemon Arabia there is a continuous length of coast, and a bay extending
two thousand stadia or more, along which there are Nomads and Fish-Eaters living in
villages; just beyond the cape projecting from this bay there is another market-town by
the shore, Cana, of the Kingdom of Eleazus, the Frankincense Country; and facing it there
are two desert islands, one called Island of Birds, the other Dome Island, one hundred and
twenty stadia from Cana. Inland from this place lies the metropolis Sabbatha, in which the
King lives. All the frankincense produced in the country is brought by camels to that
place to be stored, and to Cana on rafts held up by inflated skins after the manner of the
country, and in boats. And this place has a trade also with the far-side ports, with
Barygaza. and Scythia and Ommana and the neighboring coast of Persia.

28. There are imported into this place from Egypt a little wheat and wine, as at Muza;
clothing in the Arabian style, plain and common and most of it spurious; and copper and
tin and coral and storax and other things such as go to Muza; and for the King usually
wrought gold and silver plate, also horses, images, and thin clothing of fine quality. And
there are exported from this place, native produce, frankincense and aloes, and the rest
of the things that enter into the trade of the other ports. The voyage to this place is
best made at the same time as that to Muza, or rather earlier.

29. Beyond Cana, the land receding greatly, there follows a very deep bay stretching a
great way across, which is called Sachalites; and the Frankincense Country, mountainous
and forbidding, wrapped in thick clouds and fog, and yielding frankincense from the trees.
These incense-bearing trees are not of great height or thickness; they bear the
frankincense sticking in drops on the bark, just as the trees among us in Egypt weep their
gum. The frankincense is gathered by the King's slaves and those who are sent to this
service for punishment. For these places are very unhealthy, and pestilential even to
those sailing along the coast; but almost always fatal to those working there, who also
perish often from want of food.

30. On this bay there is a very great promontory facing the east, called Syagrus; on
which is a fort for the defence of the country, and a harbor and storehouse for the
frankincense that is collected; and opposite this cape, well out at sea, there is an
island, lying between it and the Cape of Spices opposite, but nearer Syagrus: it is called
Dioscorida, and is very large but desert and marshy, having rivers in it and crocodiles
and many snakes and great lizards, of which the flesh is eaten and the fat melted and used
instead of olive oil. The island yields no fruit, neither vine nor grain. The inhabitants
are few and they live on the coast toward the north, which from this side faces the
continent. They are foreigners, a mixture of Arabs and Indians and Greeks, who have
emigrated to carry on trade there. The island produces the true sea-tortoise, and the
land-tortoise, and the white tortoise which is very numerous and preferred for its large
shells; and the mountain-tortoise, which is largest of all and has the thickest shell; of
which the worthless specimens cannot be cut apart on the under side, because they are even
too hard; but those of value are cut apart and the shells made whole into caskets and
small plates and cake-dishes and that sort of ware. There is also produced in this island
cinnabar, that called Indian, which is collected in drops from the trees.

31. It happens that just as Azania is subject to Charibael and the Chief of Mapharitis,
this island is subject to the King of the Frankincense Country. Trade is also carried on
there by some people from Muza and by those who chance to call there on the voyage from
Damirica and Barygaza; they bring in rice and wheat and Indian cloth, and a few female
slaves; and they take for their exchange cargoes, a great quantity of tortoise-shell. Now
the island is farmed out under the Kings and is garrisoned.

32. Immediately beyond Syagrus the bay of Omana cuts deep into the coast-line, the
width of it being six hundred stadia; and beyond this there are mountains, high and rocky
and steep, inhabited by cave-dwellers for five hundred stadia more; and beyond this is a
port established for receiving the Sachalitic frankincense; the harbor is called Moscha,
and ships from Cana call there regularly; and ships returning from Damirica and Barygaza,
if the season is late, winter there, and trade with the King's officers, exchanging their
cloth and wheat and sesame oil for frankincense, which lies in heaps all over the
Sachalitic country, open and unguarded, as if the place were under the protection of the
gods; for neither openly nor by stealth can it be loaded on board ship without the King's
permission; if a single grain were loaded without this, the ship could not clear from the
harbor.

33. Beyond the harbor of Moscha for about fifteen hundred stadia as far as Asich, a
mountain range runs along the shore; at the end of which, in a row, lie seven islands,
called Zenobian. Beyond these there is a barbarous region which is no longer of the same
Kingdom, but now belongs to Persia. Sailing along this coast well out at sea for two
thousand stadia from the Zenobian Islands, there meets you an island called Sarapis, about
one hundred and twenty stadia from the mainland. It is about two hundred stadia wide and
six hundred long, inhabited by three settlements of Fish-Eaters, a villainous lot, who use
the Arabian language and wear girdles of palm-leaves. The island produces considerable
tortoise-shell of fine quality, and small sailboats and cargo-ships are sent there
regularly from Cana.

34. Sailing along the coast, which trends northward toward the entrance of the Persian
Sea, there are many islands known as the Calxi, after about two thousand stadia, extending
along the shore. The inhabitants are a treacherous lot, very little civilized.

35. At the upper end of these Calaei islands is a range of mountains called Calon, and
there follows not far beyond, the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where there is much diving
for the pearl-mussel. To the left of the straits are great mountains called Asabon, and to
the right there rises in full view another round and high mountain called Semiramis;
between them the passage across the strait is about six hundred stadia; beyond which that
very great and broad sea, the Persian Gulf, reaches far into the interior. At the upper
end of this Gulf there is a market-town designated by law called Apologus, situated near
Charax Spasini and the River Euphrates.

36. Sailing through the mouth of the Gulf, after a six-days' course there is another
market-town of Persia called Ommana. To both of these market-towns large vessels are
regularly sent from Barygaza, loaded with copper and sandalwood and timbers of teakwood
and logs of blackwood and ebony. To Ommana frankincense is also brought from Cana, and
from Ommana to Arabia boats sewed together after the fashion of the place; these are known
as madarata. From each of these market-towns, there are exported to Barygaza and also to
Arabia, many pearls, but inferior to those of lndia; purple, clothing after the fashion of
the place, wine, a great quantity of dates, gold and slaves.

37. Beyond the Ommanitic region there is a country also of the Parsids, of another
Kingdom, and the bay of Gedrosia, from the middle of which a cape juts out into the bay.
Here there is a river affording an entrance for ships, with a little market-town at the
mouth, called Oraea; and back from the place an inland city, distant a seven days' journey
from the sea, in which also is the King's court; it is called ----- (probably Rhambacia).
This country yields much, wheat, wine, rice and dates; but along the coast there is
nothing but bdellium.

38. Beyond this region, the continent making a wide curve from the east across the
depths of the bays, there follows the coast district of Scythia, which lies above toward
the north; the whole marshy; from which flows down the river Sinthus, the greatest of all
the rivers that flow into the Erythraean Sea, bringing down an enormous volume of water;
so that a long. way out at sea, before reaching this country, the water of the ocean is
fresh from it. Now as a sign of approach to this country to those coming from the sea,
there are serpents coming forth from the depths to meet you; and a sign of the places just
mentioned and in Persia, are those called graoe. This river has seven mouths, very shallow
and marshy, so that they are not navigable, except the one in the middle; at which by the
shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum. Before it there lies a small island, and inland
behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara; it is subject to Parthian princes who
are constantly driving each other out.

39. The ships lie at anchor at Barbaricum, but all their cargoes are carried up to the
metropolis by the river, to the King. There are imported into this market a great deal of
thin clothing, and a little spurious; figured linens, topaz, coral, storax, frankincense,
vessels of glass, silver and gold plate, and a little wine. On the other hand there are
exported costus, bdellium, lycium, nard, turquoise, lapis lazuli, Seric skins, cotton
cloth, silk yarn, and indigo. And sailors set out thither with the Indian Etesian winds,
about the, month of July, that is Epiphi: it is more dangerous then, but through these
winds the voyage is more direct, and sooner completed.

40. Beyond the river Sinthus there is another gulf, not navigable, running in toward
the north; it is called Eirinon; its parts are called separately the small gulf and the
great; in both parts the water is shallow, with shifting sandbanks occurring continually
and a great way from shore; so that very often when the shore is not even in sight, ships
run aground, and if they attempt to hold their course they are wrecked. A promontory
stands out from this gulf, curving around from Eirinon toward the East, then South, then
West, and enclosing the gulf called Baraca, which contains seven islands. Those who come
to the entrance of this bay escape it by putting about a little and standing further out
to sea; but those who are drawn inside into the gulf of Baraca are lost; for the waves are
high and very violent, and the sea is tumultuous and foul, and has eddies and rushing
whirlpools. The bottom is in some places abrupt, and in others rocky and sharp, so that
the anchors lying there are parted, some being quickly cut off, and others chafing on the
bottom. As a sign of these places to those approaching from the sea there are serpents,
very large and black; for at the other places on this coast and around Barygazal, they are
smaller, and in color bright green, running into gold.

41. Beyond the gulf of Baraca is that of Barygaza and the coast of the country of
Ariaca, which is the beginning of the Kingdom of Nambanus and of all India. That part of
it lying inland and adjoining Scythia is called Abiria, but the coast is called
Syrastrene. It is a fertile country, yielding wheat and rice and sesame oil and clarified
butter, cotton and the Indian cloths made therefrom, of the coarser sorts. Very many
cattle are pastured there, and the men are of great stature and black in color. The
metropolis of this country is Minnagara, from which much cotton cloth is brought down to
Barygaza. In these places there remain even to the present time signs of the expedition of
Alexander, such as ancient shrines, walls of forts and great wells. The sailing course
along this coast, from Barbaricum to the promontory called Papica opposite Barygaza, and
before Astacampra, is of three thousand stadia.

42. Beyond this there is another gulf exposed to the sea-waves, running up toward the
north, at the mouth of which there is an island called Baeones; at its innermost part
there is a great river called Mais. Those sailing to Barygaza pass across this gulf, which
is three hundred stadia in width, leaving behind to their left the island just visible
from their tops toward the east, straight to the very mouth of the river of Barygaza; and
this river is called Nammadus.

43. This gulf is very narrow to Barygaza and very hard to navigate for those coming
from the ocean; this is the case with both the right and left passages, but there is a
better passage through the left. For on the right at the very mouth of the gulf there lies
a shoal, long and narrow, and full of rocks, called Herone, facing the village of Cammoni;
and opposite this on the left projects the promontory that lies before Astacampra, which
is called Papica, and is a bad anchorage because of the strong current setting in around
it and because the anchors are cut off, the bottom being rough and rocky. And even if the
entrance to the gulf is made safely, the mouth of the river at Barygaza is found with
difficulty, because the shore is very low and cannot be made out until you are close upon
it. And when, you have found it the passage is difficult because of the shoals at the
mouth of the river.

44. Because of this, native fishermen in the King's service, stationed at the very
entrance in well-manned large boats called tappaga and cotymba, go up the coast as far as
Syrastrene, from which they pilot vessels to Barygaza. And they steer them straight from
the mouth of the bay between the shoals with their crews; and they tow them to fixed
stations, going up with the beginning of the flood, and lying through the ebb at
anchorages and in basins. These basins are deeper places in the river as far as Barygaza;
which lies by the river, about three hundred stadia up from the mouth.

45. Now the whole country of India has very many rivers, and very great ebb and flow of
the tides; increasing at the new moon, and at the full moon for three days, and falling
off during the intervening days of the moon. But about Barygaza it is much greater, so
that the bottom is suddenly seen, and now parts of the dry land are sea, and now it is dry
where ships were sailing just before; and the rivers, under the inrush of the flood tide,
when the whole force of the sea is directed against them, are driven upwards more strongly
against their natural current, for many stadia.

46. For this reason entrance and departure of vessels is very dangerous to those who
are inexperienced or who come to this market-town for the first time. For the rush of
waters at the incoming tide is irresistible, and the anchors cannot hold against it; so
that large ships are caught up by the force of it, turned broadside on through the speed
of the current, and so driven on the shoals and wrecked; and smaller boats are overturned;
and those that have been turned aside among the channels by the receding waters at the
ebb, are left on their sides, and if not held on an even keel by props, the flood tide
comes upon them suddenly and under the first head of the current they are filled with
water. For there is so great force in the rush of the sea at the new moon, especially
during the flood tide at night, that if you begin the entrance at the moment when the
waters are still, on the instant there is borne to you at the mouth of the river, a noise
like the cries of an army heard from afar; and very soon the sea itself comes rushing in
over the shoals with a hoarse roar.

47. The country inland from Barygaza is inhabited by numerous tribes, such as the
Arattii, the Arachosii, the Gandaraei and the people of Poclais, in which is Bucephalus
Alexandria. Above these is the very warlike nation of the Bactrians, who are under their
own king. And Alexander, setting out from these parts, penetrated to the Ganges, leaving
aside Damirica and the southern part of India; and to the present day ancient drachmae are
current in Barygaza, coming from this country, bearing inscriptions in Greek letters, and
the devices of those who reigned after Alexander, Apollodorus and Menander.

48. Inland from this place and to the east, is the city called Ozene, formerly a royal
capital; from this place are brought down all things needed for the welfare of the country
about Barygaza, and many things for our trade: agate and carnelian, Indian muslins and
mallow cloth, and much ordinary cloth. Through this same region and from the upper country
is brought the spikenard that comes through Poclais; that is, the Caspapyrene and
Paropanisene and Cabolitic and that brought through the adjoining country of Scythia; also
costus and bdellium.

49. There are imported into this market-town, wine, Italian preferred, also Laodicean
and Arabian; copper, tin, and lead; coral and topaz; thin clothing and inferior sorts of
all kinds; bright-colored girdles a cubit wide; storax, sweet clover, flint glass,
realgar, antimony, gold and silver coin, on which there is a profit when exchanged for the
money of the country; and ointment, but not very costly and not much. And for the King
there are brought into those places very costly vessels of silver, singing boys, beautiful
maidens for the harem, fine wines, thin clothing of the finest weaves, and the choicest
ointments. There are exported from these places spikenard, costus, bdellium, ivory, agate
and carnelian, lycium, cotton cloth of all kinds, silk cloth, mallow cloth, yarn, long
pepper and such other things as are brought here from the various market-towns. Those
bound for this market-town from Egypt make the voyage favorably about the month of July,
that is Epiphi.

50. Beyond Barygaza the adjoining coast extends in a straight line from north to south;
and so this region is called Dachinabades, for dachanos in the language of the natives
means 'south.' The inland country back from the coast toward the east comprises many
desert regions and great mountains; and all kinds of wild beasts -- leopards, tigers,
elephants, enormous serpents, hyenas, and baboons of many sorts; and many populous
nations, as far as the Ganges.

51. Among the market-towns of Dachinabades there are two of special importance;
Paethana, distant about twenty days' journey south from Barygaza; beyond which, about ten
days' journey east, there is another very great city, Tagara. There are brought down to
Barygaza from these places by wagons and through great tracts without roads, from Paethana
carnelian in great quantity, and from Tagara much common cloth, all kinds of muslins and
mallow cloth, and other merchandise brought there locally from the regions along the
sea-coast. And the whole course to the end of Damirica is seven thousand stadia; but the
distance is greater to the Coast Country.

52. The market-towns of this region are, in order, after Barygaza: Suppara, and the
city of Calliena, which in the time of the elder Saraganus became a lawful market-town;
but since it came into the possession of Sandares the port is much obstructed, and Greek
ships landing there may chance to be taken to Barygaza under guard.

53. Beyond Calliena there are other market-towns of this region; Semylla, Mandagora,
Palaepatmoe, Melizigara, Byzantium, Togarum and Aurannoboas. Then there are the islands
called Sesecrienae and that of the Aegidii, and that of the Caenitae, opposite the place
called Chersonesus (and in these places there are pirates), and after this the White
Island. Then come Naura and Tyndis, the first markets of Damirica, and then Muziris and
Nelcynda, which are now of leading importance.

54. Tyndis is of the Kingdom of Cerobothra; it is a village in plain sight by the sea.
Muziris, of the same kingdom, abounds in ships sent there with cargoes from Arabia, and by
the Greeks; it is located on a river, distant from Tyndis by river and sea five hundred
stadia, and up the river from the shore twenty stadia. Nelcynda is distant from Muziris by
river and sea about five hundred stadia, and is of another Kingdom, the Pandian. This
place also is situated on a river, about one hundred and twenty stadia from the sea.

55. There is another place at the mouth of this river, the village of Bacare, to which
ships drop down on the outward voyage from Nelcynda, and anchor in the roadstead to take
on their cargoes; because the river is full of shoals and the channels are not clear. The
kings of both these market-towns live in the interior. And as a sign to those approaching
these places from the sea there are serpents coming forth to meet you, black in color, but
shorter, like snakes in the head, and with blood-red eyes.

56. They send large ships to these market-towns on account of the great quantity and
bulk of pepper and malabathrum. There are imported here, in the first place, a great
quantity of coin; topaz, thin clothing, not much; figured linens, antimony, coral, crude
glass, copper, tin, lead; wine, not much, but as much as at Barygaza; realgar and
orpiment; and wheat enough for the sailors, for this is not dealt in by the merchants
there. There is exported pepper, which is produced in quantity in only one region near
these markets, a district called Cottonara. Besides this there are exported great
quantities of fine pearls, ivory, silk cloth, spikenard from the Ganges, malabathrum from
the places in the interior, transparent stones of' all kinds, diamonds and sapphires, and
tortoise-shell; that from Chryse Island, and that taken among the islands along the coast
of Damirica. They make the voyage to this place in a favorable season who set out from
Egypt about the month of July, that is Epiphi.

57. This whole voyage as above described, from Cana and Eudaemon Arabia, they used to
make in small vessels, sailing close around the shores of the gulfs; and Hippalus was the
pilot who by observing the location of the ports and the conditions of the sea, first
discovered how to lay his course straight across the ocean. For at the same time when with
us the Etesian winds are blowing, on the shores of India the wind sets in from the ocean,
and this southwest wind is called Hippalus, from the name of him who first discovered the
passage across. From that time to the present day ships start, some direct from Cana, and
some from the Cape of Spices; and those bound for Damirica throw the shlp's head
considerably off the wind; while those bound for Barygaza and Scythia keep along shore not
more than three days and for the rest of the time hold the same course straight out to sea
from that region, with a favorable wind, quite away from the land, and so sail outside
past the aforesaid gulfs.

58. Beyond Bacare there is the Dark Red Mountain, and another district stretching along
the coast toward the south, called Paralia. The first place is called Balita; it has a
fine harbor and a village by the shore. Beyond this there is another place called Comari,
at which are the Cape of Comari and a harbor; hither come those men who wish to consecrate
themselves for the rest of their lives, and bathe and dwell in celibacy; and women also do
the same; for it is told that a goddess once dwelt here and bathed.

59. From Comari toward the south this region extends to Colchi, where the
pearl-fisheries are; (they are worked by condemned criminals); and it belongs to the
Pandian Kingdom. Beyond Colchi there follows another district called the Coast Country,
which lies on a bay, and has a region inland called Argaru. At this place, and nowhere
else, are bought the pearls gathered on the coast thereabouts; and from there are exported
muslins, those called Argaritic.

60. Among the market-towns of these countries, and the harbors where the ships put in
from Damirica and from the north, the most important are, in order as they lie, first
Camara, then Poduca, then Sopatma; in which there are ships of the country coasting along
the shore as far as Damirica; and other very large vessels made of single logs bound
together, called sangara; but those which make the voyage to Chryse and to the Ganges are
called colandia, and are very large. There are imported into these places everything made
in Damirica, and the greatest part of what is brought at any time from Egypt comes here,
together with most kinds of all the things that are brought from Damirica and of those
that are carried through Paralia.

61. About the following region, the course trending toward the east, lying out at sea
toward the west is the island Palaesimundu, called by the ancients Taprobane. The northern
part is a day's journey distant, and the southern part trends gradually toward the west,
and almost touches the opposite shore of Azania. It produces pearls, transparent stones,
muslins, and tortoise-shell.

62. About these places is the region of Masalia stretching a great way along the coast
before the inland country; a great quantity of muslins is made there. Beyond this region,
sailing toward the cast and crossing the adjacent bay, there is the region of Dosarene,
yielding the ivory known as Dosarenic. Beyond this, the course trending toward the north,
there are many barbarous tribes, among whom are the Cirrhadae, a race of men with
flattened noses, very savage; another tribe, the Bargysi; and the Horse-faces and the
Long-faces, who are said to be cannibals.

63. After these, the course turns toward the east again, and sailing with the ocean to
the right and the shore remaining beyond to the left, Ganges comes into view, and near it
the very last land toward the east, Chryse. There is a river near it called the Ganges,
and it rises and falls in the same way as the Nile. On its bank is a market-town which has
the same name as the river, Ganges. Through this place are brought malabathrum and
Gangetic spikenard and pearls, and rnuslins of the finest sorts, which are called
Gangetic. It is said that there are gold-mines near these places, and there is a gold coin
which is called caltis. And just opposite this river there is an island in the ocean, the
last part of the inhabited world toward the cast, under the rising sun itself; it is
called Chryse; and it has the best tortoise-shell of all the places on the Erythraean Sea.

64. After this region under the very north, the sea outside ending in a land called
This, there is a very great inland city called Thinae, from which raw silk and silk yarn
and silk cloth are brought on foot through Bactria to Barygaza, and are also exported to
Damirica by way of the river Ganges. But the land of This is not easy of access; few men
come from there, and seldom. The country lies under the Lesser Bear, and is said to border
on the farthest parts of Pontus and the Caspian Sea, next to which lies Lake Maeotis; all
of which empty into the ocean.

65. Every year on the borders of the land of This there comes together a tribe of men
with short bodies and broad, flat faces, and by nature peaceable; they are called Besatae,
and are almost entirely uncivilized. They come with their wives and children, carrying
great packs and plaited baskets of what looks like green grape-leaves. They meet in a
place between their own country and the land of This. There they hold a feast for several
days, spreading out the baskets under themselves as mats, and then return to their own
places in the interior. And then the natives watching them come into that place and gather
up their mats; and they pick out from the braids the fibers which they call petri. They
lay the leaves closely together in several layers and make them into balls, which they
pierce with the fibers from the mats. And there are three sorts; those made of the largest
leaves are called the large-ball malabathrum; those of the smaller, the medium-ball; and
those of the smallest, the small-ball. Thus there exist three sorts of malabathrum, and it
is brought into India by those who prepare it.

66. The regions beyond these places are either difficult of access because of their
excessive winters and great cold, or else cannot be sought out because, of some divine
influence of the gods.

Source:

W.H. Schoff (tr. & ed.), The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea:
Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century (London,
Bombay & Calcutta 1912).

http://www.und.ac.za/und/classics/india/periplus.htm

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