58. After +Bakare+ occurs the mountain called Pyrrhos (or the Red) towards the south, near another district of the country called +Paralia+ (where the pearl-fisheries are which belong to king Pandiôn), and a city of the name of +Kolkhoi+. In this tract the first place met with is called +Balita+, which has a good harbour and a village on its shore. Next to this is another place called +Komar+, where is the cape of the same name and a haven. Those who wish to consecrate the closing part of their lives to religion come hither and bathe and engage themselves to celibacy. This is also done by women; since it is related that the goddess (_Kumârî_) once on a time resided at the place and bathed. From +Komarei+ (towards the south) the country extends as far as +Kolkhoi+, where the fishing for pearls is carried on. Condemned criminals are employed in this service. King Pandiôn is the owner of the fishery. To +Kolkhoi+ succeeds another coast lying along a gulf having a district in the interior bearing the name of +Argalou+. In this single place are obtained the pearls collected near the island of +Epiodôros+. From it are exported the muslins called _ebargareitides_. (58) The first place mentioned after +Bakare+ is +Pyrrhos+, or the Red Mountain, which extends along a district called +Paralia+. “There are,” says Dr. Caldwell (Introd. p. 99), “three Paralias mentioned by the Greeks, two by Ptolemy ... one by the author of the _Periplûs_. The Paralia mentioned by the latter corresponded to Ptolemy’s country of the Ἄïοι, and that of the Καρεοι, that is, to South Travancore and South Tinnevelly. It commenced at the Red Cliffs south of Quilon, and included not only Cape Comorin but also Κόλχοι, where the pearl fishing was carried on, which belonged to King Pandiôn. Dr. Burnell identifies Paralia with Parali, which he states is an old name for Travancore, but I am not quite able to adopt this view.” “Paralia,” he adds afterwards, “may possibly have corresponded in meaning, if not in sound, to some native word meaning coast,—viz., Karei.” On this coast is a place called +Balita+, which is perhaps the +Bammala+ of Ptolemy (VII. i. 9), which Mannert identifies with Manpalli, a little north of Anjenga. [Transcriber’s Note: There is no Paragraph 59]