188 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
Ptolemy Evergetes, who seems to have adopted the 
commercial plans of his father, and to have endea- 
voured to extend them. The Romans, when they 
conquered Egypt, immediately perceived the im- 
portance of these arrangements ; Berenice became 
the emporium of their eastern trade, and Myos 
Hormos sunk to a subordinate station. The only 
Greek author who gives an account of this empo- 
rium is Strabo. All the details concerning the in- 
land route from Coptos to Berenice are Roman. 
This route occupied twelve days, and is estimated 
at two hundred and fifty-eight miles by Pliny and 
the compiler of the Peutingerian Tables. The An- 
tonine Itinerary gives two hundred and sixty-one 
miles. The Port of Habesh, the name which the 
harbour corresponding to Berenice now obtains, is 
derived from the appellation of Habesh, which the 
African shore, in the parallel of Syene, often re- 
ceives. Though the Egyptian power has frequent- 
ly extended beyond this position on the coast of 
Africa, the site of the ancient Berenice may still 
be regarded as its proper boundary. Suakem, a 
small government similar to Cosseir, which has been 
commonly dependent on Egypt, is situated in N. 
L. 19° 20\ and seems to correspond to the Soter 
Limen of Diodorus. The harbour of Suakem is 
safe and capacious. The name is probably the same 
with the Suche of Pliny, placed on this coast, and 
seems to be derived from the Sukim or Troglo- 
