INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 197 



present-day port of Mocha, proceeded first to Eudaimon Arabia, the modern Aden, 

 and thence to another great port on the South Arabian coast called Kane, which has 

 been identified with the port now called Hisn Ghorab. From there the section for 

 Broach sailed to the Indus and thence coastwise to their destination, the most suit- 

 able course for sailing vessels ; the fleet for Malabar struck straight across the 

 Indian Ocean direct for their objective. A third route for the Malabar fleet was from 

 Cape Guardafui. The monsoon winds were well understood and all these courses 

 were based upon a proper utilisation of their seasonal changes. From the same 

 author we learn that in addition to the Graeco-Egyptian trade, India had direct 

 dealings with Arabia, the east coast of Africa and the towns on the Persian Gulf — 

 precisely the same places served by Arab and Indian sailing craft of the present day. 



It is best to let the author of the " Periplus " tell of this trade in his own words,' 

 as this record constitutes virtually nearly everything definite that we know of Indian 

 and Arab ship trade at the commencement of our era. 



Muza, at the south end of the Red Sea and the chief port of the wealthy and 

 long civilized Arab kingdom of Sabaea, was " full of Arabian shipmasters and common 

 sailors and was absorbed in the pursuit of commerce, for with ships of its own fitting 

 out, it traded with the marts beyond the straits on the opposite or African coast and 

 also with Broach." 



Aden, then known as Eudaimon Arabia, was under the same Arab ruler as Muza 

 — the king of the Homerites and Sabaeans — ^and was called Eudaimon (rich and 

 prosperous), "because in bygone days, when the merchants of India did not proceed 

 to Egypt and those from Egypt did not venture to cross to the marts further east 

 but both came only as far as this city, it formed the common centre of the trade, as 

 Alexandria receives the wares which pass to and fro between Egypt and the ports of 

 the Mediterranean. Now, however, it lies in ruins, the Emperor having destroyed 

 it not long before our times." 



Kane, further along the coast, the Periplus informs us, " carried on trade with 

 ports beyond the ocean — Barugaza (Broach), Scythia (Sind) and Omana and the ad- 

 jacent coast of Persia." We are also told that "the population of Sokotra consisted 

 of foreigners, Arabs, Indians, and even Greeks, who resorted thither for the purposes 

 of commerce." After mentioning Apologos, as a regular mart of commerce at the very 

 head of the Persian Gulf (whereof the site is now between Busra and the Euphrates), 

 and Omana, a town on the Persian coast, we learn that Broach " maintains a regular 

 trade with both these ports, despatching thither large vessels freighted with copper, 

 sandalwood, beams for rafters (teak), horn, and logs of sasamina and ebony. Omana 

 exports to Arabia a particular species of vessel called madara, which have the planks 

 sewn together (C/. Marco Polo's description of the Ormuz trading ships). But both 

 from Apologos and Omana are exported to Broach and to Arabia great quantities of 

 pearls, together with purple cloth for the natives, wine, dates in quantity and gold 

 and slaves." 



1 M'Crindle's translation. 



