RHAPTA. 



135 



the mountains ?), and each tribe in its own place 

 is subject to tyrants ' (' tyranneaulx ' or petty 

 chiefs). 



Here, then, we have Uhapta 33 leagues (100 

 miles = 1° 40') beyond Menouthias. Captain 

 Guillain (Prem. Partie, p. 115) would make the 

 former correspond with the debouchure of the 

 Oufidji river (Rufiji or Lufiji), in S. lat. 7° 

 50'. But the Periplus, unlike Ptolemy, alludes 

 only to a port, not to a river mouth, nor 

 does the coast-line here show any promontory. 

 Others have proposed Point Puna (S. lat. 7° 2' 

 42"), the south-western portal of the Zanzibar 

 manche, near the modern trading port of Mbu- 

 amaji, which in former ages may have been 

 more important. D'Anville, Vincent, and De 

 Proberville boldly prefer Kilwa (in round num- 

 bers S. lat. 9°), which is distant 157 geographical 

 miles from the southernmost point of Zanzibar, 

 and I think they are right. It is safer in such 

 matters to suspect an error of figures and of 

 distances than of topography, especially where 

 the geographical features are so well marked 

 and cannot be found in other places. Computa- 

 tions of ancient courses and log-books can have 

 little value except when they serve to confirm 

 commonly topographical positions. Kilwa has 



