The Commerce and Navigation of the Erythræan Sea: Being a Translation of the Periplus Maris Erythræi, by an Anonymous Writer, and of Arrian's Account of the Voyage of Nearkhos, from the Mouth of the Indus to the Head of the Persian Gulf
History
The Commerce and Navigation of the Erythræan Sea: Being a Translation of the Periplus Maris Erythræi, by an Anonymous Writer, and of Arrian's Account of the Voyage of Nearkhos, from the Mouth of the Indus to the Head of the Persian Gulf
Classical geography; Geography, Ancient; India -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Indian Ocean Region -- Commerce -- History
We come next to +Naoura+ in Dimurikê. This is now +Honâvar+,
written otherwise Onore, situated on the estuary of a broad river,
the +Śarâvatî+, on which are the falls of Gêrsappa, one of
the most magnificent and stupendous cataracts in the world. If the
+Nitra+ of Ptolemy (VII. i. 7) and the +Nitria+ of Pliny be
the same as +Naoura+, then these authors extend the pirate coast
a little further south than the _Periplûs_ does. But if they do not,
and therefore agree in their views as to where Dimurikê begins, the
+Nitra+ may be placed, Müller thinks, at Mirjan or Komta, which
is not far north from Honâvar. [Yule places it at Mangalur.] Müller
regards the first supposition however as the more probable, and quotes
at length a passage from Pliny (VI. xxvi. 104) referring thereto,
which must have been excerpted from some _Periplûs_ like our author’s,
but not from it as some have thought. “To those bound for India it is
most convenient to depart from Okêlis. They sail thence with the wind
Hipalus in 40 days to the first emporium of India, Muziris, which is
not a desirable place to arrive at on account of pirates infesting the
neighbourhood, who hold a place called +Nitrias+, while it is not
well supplied with merchandize. Besides, the station for ships is at
a great distance from the shore, and cargoes have both to be landed
and to be shipped by means of little boats. There reigned there when I
wrote this +Caelobothras+. Another port belonging to the nation
is more convenient, +Neacyndon+, which is called +Becare+
(_sic. codd._, Barace, Harduin and Sillig). There reigned Pandiôn in
an inland town far distant from the emporium called +Modura+.
The region, however, from which they convey pepper to Becare in boats
formed from single logs is +Cottonara+.”
54. To the kingdom under the sway of +Kêprobotres[22] Tundis+ is
subject, a village of great note situate near the sea. +Mouziris+,
which pertains to the same realm, is a city at the height of
prosperity, frequented as it is by ships from +Ariakê+ and Greek
ships _from Egypt_. It lies near a river at a distance from Tundis of
500 stadia, whether this is measured from river to river or by the
length of the sea voyage, and it is 20 stadia distant from the mouth
of its own river. The distance of +Nelkunda+ from +Mouziris+
also nearly 500 stadia, whether measured from river to river or
by the sea voyage, but it belongs to a different kingdom, that of
+Pandiôn+. It likewise is situate near a river and at about a
distance from the sea of 120 stadia.
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