Chap. II «f^EAST Indies. 431 
Poffeflion of that City, thaii he ventured to affume the the two laft were only frequented by the Merchants of the 
Imperial Ornaments, not doubting that he fhould now be Country; and therefore were not vihted but by fuch as hr 
able to compafs his Defign, and make himfelf entirely tended to take in Frankincenfe, and other Arabian Com- 
Mailer of the whole Roman Empire, which in Effebt he modities ; for which they exchanged Arms, KnivesJ and 
a Glafs VeiTels, and other Things d . 
His Son Titus, who fucceeded him, having in the Life* But Oeilis was the principal Place, becatife there they 
time of his Father made a hidden Journey into Egypt, met with Merchants from the Indies , with all Sorts of 
and beino- received with great Honours at Alexandria , Goods ; and it likewife lay very commodioufly for profe- 
ss alone^reated a Sufpicion that he intended to revolt, and cuting their Voyage to the Continent of India, where they 
let up for himfelf ; which plainly ffiews the fettled Opinion ufualiy made the Port of Maziris in forty Days, which 
of the Romans at that Time, that the Poffeffion of Egypt Ptolemy lays down in the Latitude of fourteen Degrees* if 
was fufficient to give any Prince a Power of making him- his Tables have not fuffered fome Alteration. But this 
felf Mailer of the whole Empire b . Port being found inconvenient, from the continual Depre- 
As we have now concluded the Hiftory of this Com- dations of Pirates in its Neighbourhood, it was thought 
merce to a proper Period, it is requifite to give a particu- neceffary to feek a better Station ; and this led them to 
Jar Defeription of the manner in which it was carried the Port of Becara , where, by the Help of Indian Proes* 
on, and of the extraordinary Changes it produced in the they tranfported their Goods up a navigable River* to a 
Cuftoms df the Romans , who, till they became acquainted great trading Town, called Madufa ; and, having completed 
with this Traffick, had never ffiewn themfelves much in- their Affairs, fo as to have the Advantage of the Trade- 
dined to Trade, but left it rather to the Greeks and other wind back, they ufualiy returned to Alexandria towards 
Foreigners eftabliihed amongft them, the latter End of December , or the Beginning of January 
9. The Navigation to the Indies was profecuted, at furtheft. The Indian Commodities, which were thus 
when the Romans firft became Mailers of Egypt, by failing brought to Egypt, were again unladen, and carried to Be- 
down the Arabian Gulph, to a Port near the Promontory renice ; from whence they were tranfported by Land to 
of Syagrus , which Ptolemy the Geographer places in the Coptus , thence by the Nile to Alexandria , and fb to 
Latitude of fourteen Degrees ; which, beyond Contro- Rome by the annual Fleet from Alexandria , which was 
verfy, is that Point of the Arabian Coaft which is now fettled by Augufius e . 
called Cape Fartak , and which, in the bed modem The Expence, or, properly fpeaking, the Stock which 
Maps, is laid down in the Latitude of fourteen Degrees, was annually invefted by the Romans , in the Commodities 
forty Minutes ; which agrees very well with the Situa- fit for this Commerce, amounted, in the Time of Pliny ^ 
tion affigned by Ptolemy ; And from hence their Vef- to fifty Millions of Seflerces, which makes about four 
fels failed to the Mouth of the River Indus ; that is, to the hundred and three thoufand Pounds of our Money : And, 
Eland of Pat tala, fo often mentioned in the Hiftory of by the Profit of the Goods returned, they gained one 
Alexander the Great. But afterwards this Navigation was hundred per Cent. f . 
changed •, for, under the Reign of the Emperor Claudius, It may not be amifs, to add to this general Account 
there was one Hypalus , who was, probably, a Citizen of fome Particulars as to the Commodities in which thefe In- 
Alexandria , of Greek Extradition, that found out a fhorter dian Merchants dealt. In the firft place, we ought to rec- 
and eafier Paffage : And this by the Obfervation of the kon Spices, and particularly Cinnamon •, of which we have 
Time when the Trade-wind blew, which enabled him to a large Account given us by Pliny , wherein there are fome 
pafs, at once, through the Streights, and acrofs the In- Circumftances that deferve to be confidered : In the firft 
dian Ocean, directly to Pattala ; which was looked upon Place, he obferves, that very ftrange Stories were told by 
as fo extraordinary a Thing, that the South-weft Wind the Antients, in regard to thefe Spices, on purpofe to in- 
was afterwards called by his Name, and fo became a per- hanfe their Value •, fuch as, that they were collebled un- 
petual Monument of his good Fortune, in this refpebt c . der Trees, in which the Phoenix built her Nell, being 
Yet in fucceeding Times (but all within this Period) preffed down, and broken, by the Prey ihe brought to feed 
they made ftill farther Dilcoverjes, with refpedl to this In- her Young •, or elfe fiiot down with Arrows headed with 
dian Voyage ; in which, however, they met with perpe- Lead. To this Story fucceeded another, no lefs incredible* 
tual Interruptions, from the Piracies of the Arabians, which viz. that Cinnamon-trees grew in certain Marfhes, guarded 
conftrained them to carry, befides their ordinary Comple- by frightful Dragons. And when People grew too wife 
ment of Men, a certain Number of Soldiers, or Archers, to believe this, it was next faid to come from very diftant 
in each Ship, to defend them from thefe Robbers. At Countries, where it grew in fuch Abundance, that the 
length, however, the great Profits, arifing from this Trade, Scent of it might be perceived at a great Diftance ; by 
increafing the Number of fuch as engaged in it, they which, as they pretended, the Fleet of Alexander difeerned 
conquered all Difficulties, and fettled an annual Trade from the Coaft of Arabia. All thefe Accounts he declares to be 
Alexandria , to the Mouth of the River Indus, after this falfe ; and then tells us what, in his Opinion, was the 
manner : The Goods that were intended for the Indian Truth; which is, that Cinnamon grew in Ethiopia, and 
Markets, were embarked at Alexandria ; from whence the adjacent Country of the troglodytes, from whom the 
they were carried to Juliopolis, two Miles from thence ; Ethiopians purchafed it, that they might keep this Trade 
and fo up the River Nile, to Coptus , at the Diftance of intirely in their own Hands. This precious Commodity 
three hundred and three Miles ; which City Ptolemy places they exported in fmall Boats, without either Oars or Sails ; 
in the Latitude of twenty-five Degrees twenty Minutes ; and, putting to Sea in the midft of Winter, they, by the 
which agrees very well with the Accounts that modern Help of the South-eaft Wind, doubled the Cape of Ar- 
Travellers give us of the Situation of its Ruins at this Day. gojle , and fo arrived at the famous Port of Oeilis , where 
If the Wind was fair, they commonly performed their they trafficked with the Merchants from Egypt for Glafs* 
Voyage in twelve Days. At Coptus the Veffels were un- Copper, and Brafs Ware, fine Linen, and Toys. This 
loaded ; and the Goods on Camels Backs, were tranfport- Navigation was fo tedious, that thefe People very feldom 
ed, in eight Days, to Berenice, which lay at the Diftance returned in lefs than five Years; and many of them pe- 
of two hundred and fifty-eight Miles; and there they re- riffied in thefe dangerous Voyages. At Oeilis the King 
mained in Warehoufes, till the proper Seafon of the Year fet the Price upon it, which was formerly fo high, that a 
for the Continuance of their Voyage, which was about the Pound of Cinnamon was fold at Rome for one thoufand 
Rifing of theDog-ftar. When they were embarked for the Seflerces, which was about eight Pounds of our Money ; 
laft Time, they fleered directly for the Arabian Coaft, And it even arofe to a much higher Price, when it was 
and in thirty Days arrived at Ocelis, which Ptolemy lays pretended, that the Woods of Cinnamon in Ethiopia Were 
down in the Latitude of twelve Degrees, tho’, undoubted- burnt down by the troglodytes ; But, at the time Pliny 
Iv, that is too far South. Or elfe the Fleet failed to Cana , wrote, it was much funk 14 its Value, and yet remained 
or to Muza , all Ports on the oppofite Coaft of Arabia ; but dear enough, in his Opinion L 
8 Sue ton. in V efpaftano. Jofepb. de Bello Jud. lib. vii. b Suet on. ubi fupra. c Plin. Nat. Rift „ lib. vi. cap. 23. Periblus 
Maris Erythr&i s p. 14. ^ d Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xii. cap. 19.. Marcias Her achat, p. 16. * Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. vi. cap! 23. 
f Id. did. S Id. lib, xii. c. 19, 
He 
