Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/62

 South Arabia and the tribes of the Somali coast. The names of all these ports, and a description of this newly-created commerce, in terms of romanic enthusiasm, are given by Agatharchides in his work on the Erythraean Sea. At the time this Periplus, the remaining settlements seem to be Arsinoe, Myos-hormus, Berenice, Ptolemais and Adulis. The other places mentioned by Agatharchides had probably lost their importance as the Egyptian ships ventured farther beyond the straits and frequented the richer markets that fringed the Gulf of Aden.

1. Mussel Harbor (Myos-hormus), is identified with the bay within the headland now known as Ras Abu Somer, 27° 12′N., 35° 55′E. It was founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus B.C. 274. He selected it as the principal port of Egyptian trade with India, in preference to Arsinoe (near the modern Suez), which was closer to the Egyptian capital, but difficult of access because of the bad passage through the upper waters of the Red Sea. Myos-hormos was distant six or seven days from Coptos on the Nile, along a road opened through the desert by Ptolemy Philadelphus. Strabo (XVII, I, 45) says "at present Coptos and Myos-hormos are in repute, and they are frequented. Formerly the camel-merchants traveled in the night, directing their course by observing the stars, and, like the mariners, carried with them a supply of water. But now watering-places are provided; water is also obtained by digging to a great depth, and rainwater is found although rain rarely falls, which is also collected in reservoirs." Coptos is the modern Koft, in the bend of the Nile.

Vessels bound for Africa and Southern Arabia left Myos-hormos about the autumnal equinox, when the N.W. wind then prevailing carried them quickly down the gulf. Those bound for India or Ceylon left in July, and if they cleared the Red Sea before the first of September they had the monsoon to assist their passage across the ocean.

1. Sailing—The ship used by the author of the Periplus probably did not differ very materially from the types created in Egypt long before, as depicted in the reliefs of the Punt Expedition in the Der-el-Bahri temple at Thebes, and elsewhere. By the first century A.D. the single square sail, with two yards, each much longer than the height of the sail, which distinguished the shipping of the 15th century B.C., had been modified by omitting the lower yard and by increasing the height of the mast; while a triangular topsail had come into general use. The artimon or sloping foremast, later developed into a bowsprit, was not generally used, even in the Mediterranean, until the 2d century. The accompanying illustration of a modern Burmah