(35) Before the mouth of the Persian Gulf is reached occurs a height called +Kalon+ (Fair Mount) at the last head of the islands of Papias—τῶν Παπίου νήσων. This reading has been altered by Fabricius and Schwanbeck to των Καλαιου νησων. The Fair Mount, according to Vincent, would answer sufficiently to Cape Fillam, if that be high land, and not far from Fillam are the straits. The great cape which Arabia protrudes at these straits towards Karmania is now called Ras Mussendom. It was seen from the opposite coast by the expedition under Nearkhos, to whom it appeared to be a day’s sail distant. The height on that coast is called Semiramis, and also Strongylê from its round shape. Mussendom, the ‘Asabôn akron’ of Ptolemy, Vincent says, “is a sort of Lizard Point to the Gulf; for all the Arabian ships take their departure from it with some ceremonies of superstition, imploring a blessing on their voyage, and setting afloat a toy like a vessel rigged and decorated, which if it is dashed to pieces by the rocks is to be accepted by the ocean as an offering for the escape of the vessel.” [The straits between the island of Mussendom and the mainland are called El Bab, and this is the origin of the name of the Papiæ islands.—Miles’ _Jour. R. A. Soc._ N. S. vol. x. p. 168.] The actual width of the straits is 40 miles. Pliny gives it at 50, and the _Periplûs_ at 75. Cape Mussendom is represented in the _Periplûs_ as in Ptolemy by the Mountains of the Asabi which are described as tremendous heights, black, grim, and abrupt. They are named from the tribe of +Beni Asab+.