The Port Of
Toro Seems Likewise That Mentioned In Holy Writ Under The Name Of
Ailan, Where Solomon, King Of Israel, Caused The Ships To Be Built
Which Sailed To Tarsis And Ophir To Bring Gold And Silver For The
Temple Of Jerusalem:
For taking away the second letter from Ailan, the
ancient names are almost the same.
Nor is it reasonable that it should
be in any other place, as the timber for the navy of Solomon was brought
from Lebanon and Antelibanus; and to avoid expences they would
necessarily carry it to the nearest port, especially as the Jews then
possessed the region of Idumea, and that part of the coast of Arabia
Petrea which is between Toro and Suez. Strabo holds that Elana and
Ailan are the same city; and when treating of this city in another
place, he says, that from the port of Gaza it is 1260 furlongs to the
city of Ailan, which is situated on the inwardest part of the Arabic
Gulf[315]; "and there are two, one towards Gaza and Arabia, called the
Sinus Elaniticus, from the city Elana which stands upon it; the other on
the Egyptian side towards the City of Heroes and the way from
Pelusium to this gulf is very small." This is what I would pick out
from ancient authors.
[Footnote 313: Don Juan entirely mistakes this point of antiquity, in
consequence of not having learnt that there was another and eastern gulf
at the head of the Red Sea; the Bahr-akkaba or real Sinus
Elaniticus, on which is the town of Ayla, assuredly the ancient
Elana or Aylan. - E.]
[Footnote 314: If this observation be exact, the great promontory or
peninsula between the gulfs at the head of the Red Sea must be extended
too far south in the map constructed by Dr Pocock. - Ast.]
[Footnote 315: Had Don Juan de Castro been acquainted with the eastern
gulf at the head of the Red Sea, called the Bahr-akkaba, he would have
more readily chosen Ayla for the seat of Ailan, and the dock-yard of
the navy of Solomon, being at the inwardest part of the Red Sea, and
the port nearest to Gaza. Besides, the portion of the text marked with
inverted commas, seems a quotation by Don Juan from Strabo, which
distinctly indicates the eastern or Elanitic Gulf, and points to Ayla
as the seat of Elana and Ailan, and distinctly marks the other or
western gulf, now that of Suez. - E.]
"As this is a point of great moment in geography, it deserves to be
examined[316]. It is observable that Don Juan admits that both Ptolemy
and Strabo make the Red Sea terminate to the north in two large gulfs,
one towards Egypt and the other towards Arabia, at the end of which
latter they place Elana. Yet here he rejects the authority of both
geographers, alleging that both were mistaken, because Tor is situated
on a very long and straight coast. He likewise cites Ptolomy as making
the latitude of Elana 29 deg.15' N.[317] yet accounts the difference between
that position and the altitude found at Al Tor, 20 deg.10', as of no
significance here, though in former instances he had held the tables of
Ptolomy as infallible. It is still stranger that Don Juan should after
all admit of a gulf of Elana, as will be seen presently, and yet place
it at a great distance, and at the opposite side of the sea from that on
which Elana stands. However this may be, it is certain that Don Juan,
and not the ancients, has been misinformed on this matter; for not only
the Arab geographers give a particular account of this eastern gulf,
as will appear from the description of the Red Sea by Abulfeda, but
its existence has been proved, by two English travellers, Dr Shaw and Dr
Pocock. The errors which Don Juan has here fallen into, has been owing
to not having examined the coast on the side of Arabia; for until the
fleet came to the island of Sheduam, it had sailed entirely along the
African shore; and then, leaving the north part of that island, it
passed over to the coast of Arabia[318] for the first time, where it may
be presumed that they fell in with the land some way to the north of the
S.W. point of the great peninsula between the two gulfs. This cape in
the maps by De L'Isle and Dr Pocock is called Cape Mahomet. Still
however as the island of Sheduam seems to lie nearer the eastern gulf;
its north end being at least eighteen or twenty miles to the southward
of Cape Mahomet, it is surprising that Don Juan and the whole fleet
should overlook that gulf, which indeed was done before by the Venetian
who sailed along the Arabian shore in the fleet of Solyman Pacha. What
Don Juan says about the identity of Elana and Ailan or Aylan we
shall not contend about, as the authority of Strabo, and the similarity
of names are strong proofs. But we shall presently see that the Arabs
place Aylan at the head of a great gulf; and the distance he cites
from Strabo, 1260 stadia from Gaza to Aylan, supposing it to be exact,
is a proof that Aylan cannot be the same with Toro. We shall only
observe farther, that the positive denial by Don Juan of there being any
such gulf as the Elanitic on the east or side of Arabia, may have been
the reason why it was not laid down in the maps of Sanson, or by any
geographer before De L'Isle." - Ast. I. 124. a.
[Footnote 316: This paragraph, marked by inverted commas, is a
dissertation by the editor of Astleys Collection, too important to be
omitted, and too long for a note. - E.]
[Footnote 317: The latitude of Ayla in modern maps is about 29 deg.10' N.
having a very near coincidence.
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