From This Port The Vessels
Sailed For Africa, Or Arabia In The Month Of September, And For India In
July.
As the country over which the caravans travelled was the desart of
Thebais, which is almost destitute of water, Ptolemy ordered springs to be
searched for, wells to be dug, and caravanseras to be erected.
In order to protect his merchant ships in the Mediterranean and the Red
Sea, he fitted out two great fleets, one of which he constantly kept in
each sea. That in the Mediterranean was very numerous, and had several
ships of an extraordinary size: two of them in particular had 30 oars on a
side, one 20, four 14, two 12, fourteen 11, thirty 9, &c., besides a great
number of vessels of four oars and three oars on a side. With these fleets
he protected the commerce of his subjects, and kept in subjection most of
the maritime provinces of Asia Minor; viz. Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia and
Caria. The names of some of the most celebrated geographers who were
patronized by this monarch, have been handed down to us: Pliny mentions
Dalion, Bion, Boselis, and Aristocreon, as having visited Ethiopia, and
contributed to the geographical knowledge of that country; and Simonides as
having resided five years at Meroe. Timosthenes lived in this reign: he
published a description of the known sea-ports, and a work on the measure
of the earth. He sailed down the coast of Africa, probably as far as
Madagascar, certainly lower down than the Egyptians traded under the
Ptolemies, or even under the Romans.
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