280 GEOGRAPHY FROM AUGUSTUS TO TRAJAN. [CHAP
starting-point is Ocelis [in Arabia, near the straits of Bab el-
Mandeb]. From that place a voyage of forty days before the
wind called Hippalus brings them to Musiris, the first trading
station which they reach in India, but not a desirable one, from
the neighbourhood of the pirates, who occupy a spot called
Nitrias. Nor, indeed, does it furnish many exports, and the
roadstead is a long way from the coast, so that the freight has to
be carried to and fro in boats. The name of the king at the time
when I write is Caelobothras. A more serviceable port is that
called Becare, in the territory of the Neacyndi. The ruler of the
country, Pandion, dwells at Modura, a city in the interior a long
distance from the trading station. The district from which
pepper is brought to Becare by the natives in canoes is called
Cottonara j but as none of these names of tribes or stations or
towns occur in any previous author, it is clear that the relative
importance of the places is apt to change. The return voyage
from India is made at the beginning of tbe Egyptian month Tybis,
our December, or, at the latest, during the first six days of the
Egyptian Mechiris, which fall within the Ides of January according
to our computation; thus they manage to reach home within the
year. The wind which is favourable to the transit from India is
the Vulturnus [SSE. wind], but after they enter the Red Sea the
Africus [SW. wind] or Auster [S. wind]1."
The remainder of the Periplus is devoted to notices of the
coasts of Asia beyond Nelcynda. As no Greek
navigators had as yet advanced so far, these must
have been derived from the reports of native
traders, and consequently we cannot be surprised if they are
vague and inaccurate; at the same time they contain certain
elements of truth. Thus the name Comari, which the writer
assigns to a place considerably to the southward of Nelcynda,
is almost certainly that of Cape Comorin, though he does not
associate it with that promontory*. He states that opposite the
island of Taprobane the coast, trends towards the east, after
1 Pliny, ff. N., 6.104—6. In § lor we are farther told, 'omnibus annis
navigatur sagittariorum cohortibus impositis; etenim piratae maxime infesta-
bant.1
a Periflus, § $.