The Ports On The West
Coast Of India, To Which The Trade Was Carried On, Were Ariake And
Barugaza, In Guzerat And Concan.
No mart is mentioned after Opone, till we arrive at Rhapta.
This place was
so named by the Greeks, because the ships employed by the inhabitants were
raised from a bottom composed of a single piece of wood, and the sides were
sewed to it, instead of being nailed. In order to preserve the sewing, the
whole outside was covered over with some of the gums of the country. It is
a circumstance worthy of notice, that when the Portuguese first visited
this coast, they found ships of exactly the same materials and
construction. At Rhapta, the customs were farmed by the merchants of Moosa,
though it was subject to one of the princes of Yeman. Arabian commanders
and supercargoes were always employed in their ships, from their experience
in the navigation: the imports of Rhapta were, lances, principally
manufactured at Moosa; axes, knives, awls, and various kinds of glass: the
exports were, ivory, inferior to the Aduli ivory, but cheap, and in great
abundance; the horns of the rhinoceros, tortoise shell, superior to any of
this coast, but not equal to the Indian; and an article called Nauplius,
the nature of which is not known.
At the period when the Periplus was written, the coast was unknown beyond
Rhapta; at this place, therefore, the journal of this voyage terminates;
but this place, there is every reason to believe that the author visited in
person.
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