430 The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I 
Choice of one of his Freedmen for that Employment : And 
when his Nephew Gernidnicus took the Liberty of viftting 
.that Province without asking his Leave, he reprimanded 
him for it very feverely , and it is with good Reafon iup- 
pofed, that it was chiefly from the Sufpicion he conceived 
on account of this Journey of his into Egypt-, that he 
caufed him to be poifoned •, fo jealous he was of any In- 
quiries into the State of a Country that furnifhed him with 
fo great a Revenue h 
Caligula , the Son of Germanlcus , who Succeeded Tibe- 
rius , tho’ in all other things as bad a Prince as he was a Man, 
yet encouraged and protected Commerce, keeping always 
a find: Eye to the maritime Force of the Empire, which, 
under him, was at its greateft Height. With refped to 
Egypt, he underftood the Worth ol the Country io well, 
and had fo true a Notion of its Strength, that when he 
had rendered himfelf univerfally odious to his Subjects, he 
had Thoughts of retiring thither, in order to have palled 
there the Remainder of his Days ; but he was cut oft by 
a hidden Confpiracy before he could execute his Intention. 
It is uncertain whether Caligula , or his SuccefTor Clau- 
dius, began the Cuftom of letting the Revenues of Egypt 
to Farm ; but, certain it is, that they were lett out in this 
manner under the Reign of the latter-, which produced, 
accidentally, a very extraordinary Difcovery. There was 
one Annins Plocamus who farmed the Cuftoms of the Red 
Sea, and who, on that Account, vifited the Coaft in a 
VefTel of his own and being once on the Shore of Arabia , 
on fome Bufinefs relating to his Office, he was fuddenly 
driven to Sea by a ftrong North Wind, which blowing for 
fifteen Days together, he was thrown firft on the Coaft of 
Carmania, and then on a certain Iftand, in a Port of which 
he came to an Anchor ; the Name of the Port, as he was 
informed by the Inhabitants, being Hippurus : He was there 
very kindly entertained by the King of the Country for fix 
Months, who furnifhed him with whatever he wanted, and 
was extremely delighted with the Accounts he gave him 
of the Romans , and of their Power ; but what ftruck him 
moft was, the Sight of the Roman Coin, it appearing to 
him a very Angular thing, that though the ieveral Pieces 
were of the fame Weight and Value, yet, by their differ- 
ent Imprefiions, they fhewed, at firft Sight, by whom 
and on what Occafion they were coined b . 
This, and the Explications given him by Plocamus , in- 
duced him at laft not only to provide for the fafe Return 
of the Roman into his own Country, but engaged him 
likewifs to fend four Embaftadors to Rome , the chief of 
whom was one Rachias, who was a Man of great Figure 
in that Country. It feems, from the Account that Pliny 
has given us of this Adventure, that he had feen and con- 
verted with thofe, who had what he relates from the Mouth 
of this Rachias . The moft remarkaole Points mentioned 
by him were thefe : That the Iftand he came from con- 
tained five hundred great Towns ; that it had a fpacious 
Port on the South Side belonging to a City called P alefi- 
mundum, which was the Capital of the Hand ; and fo po- 
pulous, that it was efteemed to contain not fewer than two^ 
hundred thoufand Inhabitants. In the Neighbourhood of 
this City there was a Lake called Megisba , two hundred 
feventy-five Miles in Circumference, in which there were 
feveral Elands very fruitful in Failure. Out of this Lake 
there ran two Rivers, one to the South c called P alifmundas , 
which fell into the Sea by three Mouths, on one of which 
flood the City called by the fame Name, the fmalleft of 
thefe being of the Breadth of five Stadia, and the largeft 
fifteen. The other River ran Northwards towards the 
Continent of India, called Cydara. Oppofite to the Hand 
there ran a large Promontory of India, called Colaicum, 
diftant four Days Sail and in the midft of the Paffage 
there lay an Eland facred to the Sun. 
The Sea on the Coaft was of a very deep Green, with 
Trees at the Bottom, the Branches of which were fome- 
times beaten off by the Heads of their Ships. The Sight 
of the Northern Conftellations furprifed the Embaftadors at 
Rome very much, and Teemed to them like a new Heaven. 
In their own Country, they faid, they obferved the Moon 
only from the eighth to the fixteenth Day, and fpoke much 
a Tacit. Suet. Velleius Paterculus. b Hift. Nat* lib. vi. c. 
gap. 2g« Sustasji its Neront, cap. 47, 
I 
of the bright Star Canopus, which was vifible in their He- 
mifphere. But what moft amazed them was, the falling 
of their Shadows to the North ; and that the Sun rofe to 
the Left, and fet to the Right. They affirmed, that the 
Coaft of their Hand, oppolite to the Continent of India, 
was ten thoufand Stadia in Extent, and that it reached to- 
wards the South-eaft beyond the Emodian Mountains. 
They added, that the Country of the Seres lay within 
Sight of them ; and Rachias affirmed, that his Father 
had traded with them. He faid, that the Country inha- 
bited by that People was much infefted by wild Beafts j 
that the Seres were of a gigantic Stature, red-haired, their 
Eyes blue, and their Voices hoarfe and rough, fo that they 
were unintelligible to Strangers ; that in other refpeds they 
were like other Men, and traded fairly ; for when Commo- 
dities were laid down on. their Side the River, they came 
and took them away, if they liked them and left in Ex- 
change enough to fatify thofe who brought them. As to 
the Hand from whence thefe Embaftadors came, Pliny 
tells us, that it was Taprobana and that Gold and Silver 
was efteemed there, as well as at Rome , which he thinks 
ftrange -, as alfo precious Stones, and Pearl, efpecially 
if they were bright and tranfparent. He tells us farther, 
that the Embaftadors were wont to fay, that there was 
greater Plenty of Riches in their Eland, but that the Ro- 
mans made more ufe ot them. They likewife obferved, 
that they had no Slaves amongft them ^ that they never 
flept in the Day-time that their Houfes were but low ; 
that they knew not what Law-fuits were ; and that they 
worfhipped ifoaiw. They likewife informed the Romans 
that their Country was extremely well cultivated, and that it' 
produced other Fruit-trees in abundance, but that they had 
no Vines: That on their Coaft they had Plenty of Fiffi ; and 
that the People were much given to Fiffiing, and efpe- 
cially to the catching of Tortoifes, the Shells of which 
were fo large, that they made ufe of them to cover their 
Houfes : That their Climate was fo wholfome, that a 
Man of 100 Years of Age was no uncommon Sight. The 
Account they gave of their Government was this ; that 
their King was eleded by a Plurality of Voices, and was 
affifted by a Senate compofed of thirty Perfons who were 
likewife chofen by the People, together with fome other 
Circumftances which have been already taken Notice of in 
the Account we gave of the Voyage of Iambulus c . 
We fhall hereafter have Occafion to inquire more par- 
ticularly into the Situation of this Eland, which makes fo 
great a Figure in the Writings of the Antients ; as alfo 
of fome other Hands, Part real and Part imaginary, which 
are mentioned in their Works, and which it will be necef- 
fary to explain, that the Reader may not be milled into 
wrong Notions on this Subjed, or fuppofe, that becaufe 
the Antients fpeak of prodigious Riches found in thefe. 
Hands, that we are lefs knowing than they, fincewe 
are not at prefent acquainted with any Ifland that pro- 
duces the Commodities they mention. 
The Emperor Nero, who fucceeded Claudius, was very 
attentive to the Affairs of Egypt, and not only took care 
to maintain his Fleets in perfect good Condition in both 
Seas, but likewife fent Perfons on Purpofe thro’ Egypt into 
Ethiopia , in order to have a clear and diftind Account of its 
Produds and Inhabitants ; to which he was very probably 
incited from the Scheme he had formed of retiring into 
Egypt , in cafe he found it impofiible for him to maintain 
himfelf againft his Enemies at Rome : And it was from the : 
Report of thefe People that the Diftanee was determined 
between Syene or the Frontiers of Egypt , and the Hand of : 
Meroe, to be eight hundred and feventy Miles d : And we : 
may judge of the great Commerce carried on to Arabia , . 
in the Reign of that Prince, from the vaft Quantity of f 
Incenfe that he is faid to have burnt at the Funeral of his i 
Wife Popp sea. The Reigns of the three fucceeding Em- h 
perors, Galba , Otho and Vitellius, were too ffiort to af- - 
ford us any thing remarkable, and therefore we rnuft pajs a 
on to Flavius Vefpafian , who received the Empire in Egypt, ' 
where Tiberius Alexander, who was then Governor . or 1 
that Country, declared for him, and Vefpafian , making i 
hafte to Alexandria, no fooner found himfelf in the full 1 
c See Sell ion iv. 383. d Pita. Hijl. Nat. lib . vi. 
Poffeffiom. 
