Chap. 26.] ACCOTDfT OV COITNTKIES, ETC. 61 



of the Nymphs," the earth of which i^ red, and in which every 

 animal instantly dies; the cause of which, however, has not been 

 ascertained." Next to these is the nation of the Ori, and then 

 the Hyctanis,*'' a river of Carmania, with an excellent harbour 

 at its mouth, and producing gold ; at this spot the writers 

 state that for the first time they caught sight of the Great 

 Bear.'^ The star Arcturus too, they tell us, was not to be seen 

 here every night, and never, when it was seen, during the 

 whole of it. Tip to this spot extended the empire of the 

 Aohsemenidee," and in these districts are to be found mines of 

 copper, iron, arsenic, and red lead. 



They next came to the Promontory of Carmania,** from 

 which the distance across to the opposite coast, where the 

 Macse, a nation of Arabia, dwell, is fifty mUes ; and then to 

 three islands, of which that of Oracla^ is alone inhabited, being 

 the only one supplied with fresh water ; it is distant from the 

 mainland twenty-five mUes ; quite in the Gulf, and facing 

 Persia, there are four other islands. About these islands sea- 

 serpents*' were seen swimming towards them, twenty cubits 

 in length, which struck the fleet with great alarm. They 

 then came to the island of Athothradus, and those called the 

 Gauratse, upon which dwells the nation of the Gyani ; the 

 river Hyperis,*' which discharges itself midway into the Per- 

 sian Gulf, and is navigable for merchant ships ; the river 



'^ Mela suggests the reason, but gives to the island a different locality — 

 " over against the mouth of the Indus." He says that the air of the 



island is of such a nature as to take away life instantaneously, and appears 

 to imply that the heat is the cause. 



"^ Possibly that now known as the Rud Shur. 



^ Properly the " Seven Trions." 



°* The Persian kings, descendants of Achsemenes. He was said to have 

 been reared by an eagle. 



^ Called the Promontory of Harmozon by Strabo. Hardouin says that 

 the modern name is Cape Jash, but recent writers suggest that it is repre- 

 ^sented by the modem Cape Bombaruk, nearly opposite Cape Mussendom. 



^ Perhaps the modem Kishon, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf ; or 

 that may be one of the four islands next mentioned. 



" The story of Pontoppidan's Kraken or Korven, the serpent of the Nor- 

 wegian Seas, is as old as Pliny, we find, and he derived his information 

 from older works. 



^ Forbiger has suggested that this maybe the same as the modem 

 Djayrah. 



