161 •
in Carmania, in a region previously described by Alexander’s admiral, Onesicritus, as gold-producing.
To the mixed Cushite-Joktanite Havilah of Genesis, the Joktanite Ophir of I Kings, and the Cushite Raamah of Ezekiel XXVII, the cosmopolitan Ommana of the Periplus, under Parthian rule, was the lineal successor.
36. Slaves. — The Arabs were inveterate slave-traders then as now, and the ports of Oman were always active slave-markets. Ara- bian dominion along the African coast had this as one of its principal results, until checked by international agreement after European occu- pation.
37. The Country of the Parsidae, of another kingdom.
The author of the Periplus gives the name Persis, or Persia, to the whole Parthian Empire and refers to the recent conquests of that power in East and South Arabia. This “country of the Parsidae” is Persia proper, including Carmania; a vassal state in the Arsacid fol- lowing, which would not have shared, as a state, in the Arabian spoils of the empire. Ommana was subject to the Parthian monarchy, not to Persia proper.
Pliny (VI, 28) says “Persia is a country opulent even to luxury, but has long since changed its name for that of ‘Parthia.’ ’’ Strabo (VI, iii, 24) observes more exactly, “at present the Persians are a separate people, governed by kings who are subject to other kings; to the kings of Macedon in former times, but now to those of Parthia. ’ ’
37. The Bay of Gedrosia, while hardly a separate bay at all, may be assumed to be that bounded by the strip of coast between Ras Nuh (25° 7' N., 62° 18' E. ) and Cape Monze (24° 45' N., 66° 40' E. ), while the “jutting cape” is Ras Ormara (25° 6' N. , 64° 36' E.).
37. Oraea. — The bay is the modern Sonmiani Bay (25° 0' N. , 66° 15' E. ), and the river is the Purali. According to Holdich, the Purali at the time of the Periplus emptied into a bay running some distance inland, and now silted up to the coast lines. These are the people described by Arrian ( Anabasis of Alexander , VI, 21-2; Indica, XXI, XXiy, XXV ) under the name of Oritae or Oritians, their country being called Ora. The river was called Arabis, and on its eastern bank dwelt “an Indian nation called Arabians;” while the Oritae on the western bank were “dressed like the Indians and equipped with similar weapons, but their language and customs were different. ” Their coast-line ran westward from the Arabis 160 miles; or, accord- ing to Pliny (VI, 25-6), 200 miles. They dwelt on the inland hills,
