Page:Early Christianity in Arabia.djvu/99

Rh now entirely monopolised by the Persian merchants; during hostilities the supply was necessarily stopped, and in time of peace the emperor beheld with grief the wealth of Rome passing into the hands of its enemies. By a coincidence of commercial interests he hoped to turn the trade of India and China into its ancient course, through the hands of the merchants of Hamyar and Adulis.

An embassy to Auxuma and Hamyar was conducted by Nonnosus, who ascended the Nile from Alexandria, crossed the Red Sea, and landed on the Arabian coast, where he visited the district occupied by the tribes of Maad and Kendah, which were then ruled by Kaisus, or Amru'l Keis, and were tributary to Hamyar. Kaisus willingly contracted an alliance with the emperor, and delivered his son Mavia to the Romans as a hostage. He afterwards joined the other Saracens in the invasion