XLIII. Now[112] the parts which lie to the right of the +Erythræan[113] Sea+ beyond the realms of Babylonia belong principally to +Arabia+, which extends in one direction as far as the sea that washes the shores of +Phœnikia+ and +Syrian Palestine+, while towards sunset it borders on the Egyptians in the direction of the +Mediterranean Sea+. Egypt is penetrated by a gulf which extends up from the great ocean, and as this ocean is connected with the +Erythræan Sea+, this fact proves that a voyage could be made all the way from +Babylon+ to +Egypt+ by means of this gulf. But, owing to the heat and utter sterility of the coast, no one has ever made this voyage, except, it may be, some chance navigator. For the troops belonging to the army of +Kambysês+, which escaped from +Egypt+, and reached +Sousa+ in safety, and the troops sent by +Ptolemy+, the son of Lagos, to +Seleukos Nikatôr+ to +Babylon+, traversed the Arabian isthmus in eight days altogether.[114] It was a waterless and sterile region, and they had to cross it mounted on swift camels carrying water, travelling only by night, the heat by day being so fierce that they could not expose themselves in the open air. So far are the parts lying beyond this region, which we have spoken of as an isthmus extending from the +Arabian Gulf+ to the +Erythræan Sea+ from being inhabited, that even the parts which run up further to the north are a desert of sand. Moreover, men setting forth from the +Arabian Gulf+ in +Egypt+, after having sailed round the greater part of +Arabia+ to reach the sea which washes the shores of +Persis+ and +Sousa+, have returned, after sailing as far along the coast of Arabia as the water they had on board lasted them, and no further. The exploring party again which +Alexander+ sent from +Babylon+ with instructions to sail as far as they could along the right-hand coast of the +Erythræan Sea+, with a view to examine the regions lying in that direction, discovered some islands lying in their route, and touched also at certain points of the mainland of +Arabia+. But as for that cape which Nearkhos states to have been seen by the expedition projecting into the sea right opposite to +Karmania+, there is no one who has been able to double it and gain the other side. But if the place could possibly be passed, either by sea or by land, it seems to me that Alexander, being so inquisitive and enterprising, would have proved that it could be passed in both these ways. But again +Hanno+ the +Libyan+, setting out from +Carthage+, sailed out into the ocean beyond the Pillars of +Hercules+, having +Libya+ on his left hand, and the time until his course was shaped towards the rising sun was five-and-thirty days; but when he steered southward he encountered many difficulties from the want of water, from the scorching heat, and from streams of fire that fell into the sea. +Kyrênê+, no doubt, which is situated in a somewhat barren part of +Libya+, is verdant, possessed of a