(34) Beyond it, and near the entrance to the Persian Gulf, occurs, according to the _Periplûs_, a group of many islands, which lie in a range along the coast over a space of 2,000 stadia, and are called the islands of +Kalaiou+. Here our author is obviously in error, for there are but three groups of islands on this coast, which are not by any means near the entrance of the Gulf. They lie beyond Maskat [lat. 23° 38´ N. long. 58° 36´ E.] and extend for a considerable distance along the Batinah coast. The central group is that of the Deymâniyeh islands (probably the Damnia of Pliny) which are seven in number, and lie nearly opposite Birkeh [lat 23° 42´ N. long. 57° 55´ E.]. The error, as Müller suggests, may be accounted for by supposing that the tract of country called El Baṭinah was mistaken for islands. This tract, which is very low and extremely fertile, stretches from Birkeh [lat. 23° 42´ N. long. 57° 55´ E.] onward to Jibba, where high mountains approach the very shore, and run on in an unbroken chain to the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The islands are not mentioned by any other author, for the +Calacou insulae+ of Pliny (VI. xxxii. 150) must, to avoid utter confusion, be referred to the coast of the Arabian Gulf. There is a place called +El Kilat+, the Akilla of Pliny [lat. 22° 40´ N. long. 59° 24´ E.]—but whether this is connected with the +Kalaiou+ islands of the _Periplûs_ is uncertain [Conf. _Ind. Ant._ vol. IV. p. 48. El Kilhat, south of Maskat and close to Ṣûr, was once a great port.] 35. Near the last headland of the islands of +Kalaiou+ is the mountain called +Kalon+ (Pulcher),[20] to which succeeds, at no great distance, the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where there are very many pearl fisheries. On the left of the entrance, towering to a vast height, are the mountains which bear the name of +Asaboi+, and directly opposite on the right you see another mountain high and round, called the hill of +Semiramis+. The strait which separates them has a width of 600 stadia, and through this opening the Persian Gulf pours its vast expanse of waters far up into the interior. At the very head of this gulf there is a regular mart of commerce, called the city of +Apologos+, situate near +Pasinou-Kharax+ and the river Euphrates.