[754] Simia cepus. [755] The spotted hyæna. [756] See b. xv. c. 1, §45. [757] The juice of the berries is a strong purge. [758] Above, § 5. [759] The bay of Heroopolis is the modern bay of Suez. In the text “Ælanitic bay,” which is an error of the author or of the copyist. [760] An altar to Poseidon (Neptune), which was erected by Aristo, whom one of the Ptolemies had sent to explore the Arabian Gulf. [761] Φοινικών, a grove of palm trees, is taken as a proper name by Diodorus Siculus, b. iii. 41. [762] Sheduan. The “Saspirene insula” of Ptolemy. [763] Ras Mahomet, which terminates the south of the peninsula formed by the two bays, the Ælanitic running up to Petra, and that of Heroopolis running up to Suez. The meaning of Strabo seems to be, that this cape is in a direction due south of Petra and Palestine. [764] There is a wide difference of opinion among geographers with regard to the position of this important tribe in the modern map of Arabia. See Smith, art. Minæi. [765] The Maraneitæ appear to me to be the same people whom other geographers call Pharanitæ, and who received their name from their proximity to Cape Pharan, now Ras Mahomet. _Gossellin._ [766] Diodorus Siculus, iii. § 41, following Agatharchides, narrates the fact with greater precision. The Garindæi took advantage of the absence of the greater part of the Maraneitæ, and put to death those that remained. They then laid in wait for and massacred all those who were returning from the festival. [767] Gulf of Akaba. [768] “Light vessels.” Diodorus Sic. [769] Thamud, formerly occupied by the ancient Thamudeni. [770] Shaur and Iobab? [771] Gibel Seik, Gibel el Hawene, and Gibel Hester. [772] The harbour of Charmothas seems to be the ancient Iambo, the “Iambia” of Ptolemy, which now, from the accumulation of soil, is more than a day’s journey into the interior of the country. It is in a fertile territory. The Arabs call it Iambo el Nakel, or Iambo of Palm Trees, to distinguish it from the new Iambo situated on an arid soil on the sea-coast. Al Charm, in Arabic, signifies a fissure or opening in the mountains. It seems as if the Greeks had formed the name Charmothas from this word, mistaking the epithet given to the narrow entrance of the harbour of Iambo for the name of the town itself. _Gossellin._ [773] The Debæ occupied Sockia. The river which flows through the country is called Bætius by Ptolemy. [774] τὰ πλείω is Kramer’s correction for παλαιὰ. [775] Some are called by Diodorus Siculus, iii. 44, and Agatharchides, Asilæi and Casandres or Gasandres. [776] Instead of εὔομβρος, Groskurd reads πάμφορος, “produces everything,” following the fragments the Agatharchides and Diodorus Sic. b. iii 44. [777] Groskurd’s correction, σιδήρου for ἀργύρου, in the text, is adopted. But the passage is probably corrupt, and after σιδήρου we may read καὶ δεκαπλάσιον τοῦ ἀργύρου, “for ten times the quantity of silver,” according to Bochart, and approved by Kramer.