befel the expedition which Aelius led into Nabathaea, speaks of the place as a large mart to which and from which the camel traders travel with ease and in safety from +Petra+ and back to +Petra+ with so large a body of men and camels as to differ in no respect from an army. The merchandize thus conveyed from +Leukê Kômê+ to +Petra+ was passed on to +Rhinokoloura+ in Palestine near Egypt, and thence to other nations, but in his own time the greater part was transported by the Nile to +Alexandria+. It was brought down from India and Arabia to +Myos Hormos+, whence it was first conveyed on camels to +Koptos+ and thence by the Nile to +Alexandria+. The Nabathaean king, at the time when our author visited +Leukê Kômê+, was, as he tells us, +Malikhas+, a name which means ‘king.’ Two Petraean sovereigns so called are mentioned by Josêphos, of whom the latter was contemporary with Herod. The Malikhas of the _Periplûs_ is however not mentioned in any other work. The Nabathaean kingdom was subverted in the time of Trajan, A.D. 105, us we learn from Dio Cassius (cap. lxviii. 14), and from Eutropius (viii. 2, 9), and from Ammianus Marcellinus (xiv. 8). 20. Beyond this mart, and quite contiguous to it, is the realm of Arabia, which stretches to a great distance along the coast of the Red Sea. It is inhabited by various tribes, some speaking the same language with a certain degree of uniformity, and others a language totally different. Here also, _as on the opposite continent_, the sea-board is occupied by +Ikhthyophagoi+, who live in dispersed huts; while the men of the interior live either in villages, or where pasture can be found, and are an evil race of men, speaking two different languages. If a vessel is driven from her course upon this shore she is plundered, and if wrecked the crew on escaping to land are reduced to slavery. For this reason they are treated as enemies and captured by the chiefs and kings of Arabia. They are called +Kanraîtai+. Altogether, therefore, the navigation of this part of the Arabian coast is very dangerous: for, _apart from the barbarity of its people_, it has neither harbours nor good roadsteads, and it is foul with breakers, and girdled with rocks which render it inaccessible. For this reason when sailing south we stand off from a shore in every way so dreadful, and keep our course down the middle of the gulf, straining our utmost to reach _the more civilized part_ of Arabia, which begins at Burnt Island. From this onward the people are under a regular government, and, as their country is pastoral, they keep herds of cattle and camels.