Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/104

 15. The Pyralaae Islands are evidently Patta, Manda, and Lamu, back of which there is a thoroughfare, the only protected waterway on the whole coast. This is the "channel;" several rivers empty into it, and there is a passage to the ocean between Manda and Lamu, 2° 18′S., 40° 50′E. Vincent's identification of the "channel" with Mombasa, on account of a canal now known to have been dug there much later, is impossible.

15. Ausanitic Coast.—Ausan was a district of Kataban in South Arabia, which had been absorbed by Himyar shortly before the time of the Periplus; hence the natural result, that a dependency of the conquered state should be exploited for the advantage of the Homerite port, Muza.

15. Menuthias.—This whole passage is corrupt, and there are probably material omissions. The first island south of Manda is Pemba (at about 5°S.). But the topographic description is perhaps truer to Zanzibar (about 6°S.), and the name seems perpetuated in the modern Monfiyeh (about 8°S.). Our author was possibly unacquainted with this coast, and included in his work hearsay reports from some seafaring acquaintance, in which he may have lumped the three islands into one; or if he is describing places he has visited (which is suggested by the mention of the local fishing-baskets and the like), some scribe may have omitted a whole section of the text.

16. Rhapta.—This location depends on the condition of the preceding text regarding the island Menuthias. If that be Pemba, Rhapta would be the modern Pangani (5° 25′S., 38° 50′E.); if Monfiyeh, the modern Kilwa (8° 57′S., 39° 38′E.). Vincent's insistence upon Kilwa is very likely well grounded, from the suggestion of the ancient name; that is, if the text is a mutilated description of three islands known to exist in close proximity, the "last market-town of the continent" would naturally be below the southernmost island, Monfiyeh. But the distances given by Ptolemy between Rhapta and Prasum suggest for the former a location near Bagamoyo, perhaps Dar-es-Salaam, (6° 42′S., 39° 5′E.). The Prasum of Ptolemy, the farthest point in Africa known to him, is evidently Cape Delgado (10° 30′S., 40° 30′E.). The later identification of Menuthias with Madagascar was due to the discoveries of the Saracens, and is impossible for Roman times.

Rhapta, Glaser notes, has its name from an Arabian word rabta, to bind.