sixth is known by the name of Ausaritic. There is a white myrrh also which is produced in only one spot, and is carried for sale to the city of Messalum.” (This is the same as the port of Masala or Muza. See Glaser, Skizze, 138.)
The name myrrh is from the Hebrew and Arabic mur, meaning “ bitter.” The ancient Egyptian word was bola or bal, and the Sanscrit was vola. The modern Persian and Indian call it bol or bola.
24. Gebanite–Minaean stacte.—The text is corrupt, having gabeirminaia: Müller and Fabricius alter this to “ Abiraea and Minaea,” which appear in Sprenger’s map of Arabia, but not in the myrrh district. Stacte has already been described as the gum yielded by natural exudation from wild trees, as distinguished from that coming from incisions on trees either wild or cultivated; while the qualifying adjective can hardly be other than Gebanite–Minaean, which was among the best varieties in Pliny’s classification. (See also Glaser, Skizze, 88–9.)
24. Alabaster.—Pliny (XIII, 3), says, “ Ointments keep best in boxes of alabaster, and perfumes when mixed with oil, which conduces all the more to their durability the thicker it is, such as the oil of almonds, for instance. Ointments, too, improve with age; but the sun is apt to spoil them, for which reason they are usually stowed away in a shady place in vessels of lead.” (See also Pliny, XXXVI, 12; Mark, XIV, 7; John, XII, 3.)
24. Avalites and the far-side coast.—The text is corrupt, having Adulis; Fabricius translates “ aus dem gegenüber gelegenen Adulis.” But Adulis is not opposite Muza, its exports were quite different, and it is not mentioned that they went to Muza. The relations of Habash and Himyar, at the date of the Periplus, were not those of friendly commerce, and Adulis was distinctly an Egyptian trading-station. On the other hand, the text describes, in § 7, the articles carried by the Berbers from Avalites to Ocelis and Muza for sale there; to which this passage refers as “ already mentioned.” We must concluded, therefore, that the scribe copied “ Adulis ” instead of “ Avalites,” which was what our author wrote.
25. A narrow strait.—This is, of course, the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, or “ Gate of Tears ” (12° 35′ N., 43° 12′ E.), so called because of its treacherous winds and currents.
25. The island Diodorus is the modern Perim (12° 38′ N., 43° 18′ E.).
25. Ocelis is the Acila of Strabo, Artemidorus and Pliny; the name surviving in the modern Cella. Forster traces in this name the
