The introduction of the camel to the wadis of Sinai dealt one more blow at the vegetation of the peninsula. For the camel is to all purposes a huge goat, and, like the goat, is a most destructive animal. His introduction was necessarily followed by the loss of verdure which resulted in loosening of the soil and spread of the desert. In Egypt the introduction of the camel during Roman times depleted the flora and altered the fauna. Gazelles and antelopes sought pasture elsewhere, and the crocodile that lay in wait for them when they came to water, altogether disappeared. In Sinai the effects were equally marked. Gazelles, still numerous in early Christian times, are found now in the remoter wadis only, and the depletion of the soil which began with the destruction of trees for purposes of smelting and charcoal-burning, was carried one stage further by the havoc wrought among the lower growth by the camel. The conquest of Petra by Trajan in the year 105 set a term to the existence of the kings of Nabat. The greater part of their domain was now incorporated in the Roman province of Arabia, which was firmly and wisely administered by the prefect Aulus Cornelius Palma, who left Nabatean religious cults untouched. The annexation of Damascus followed, through which the control of the trade of the East altogether passed under the Romans. The frontier line between Egypt and Asia during the period of Roman rule began at Raphia, modern Rafa, and ran in a westerly direction, then turning sharply south towards Arsinoë near the present Suez. The coastal province was called Augustamnica Prima according to Ammianus Marcellinus. It included a number of cities which, by virtue of being situated in a province belonging to Egypt, were later included in the patriarchate of Alexandria.