[608] In B. v. c. 12 and 21.
[609] In c. 30 of the present Book.
[610] Mentioned in B. v. c. 21, if, indeed, that is the same Petra.
[611] Omana or Omanum was their chief place, a port on the north-east coast of Arabia Felix, a little above the promontory of Syagros, now Ras el Had, on a large gulf of the same name. The name is still preserved in the modern name Oman.
[612] In Sitacene, mentioned in the preceding Chapter.
[613] Or rather, as Hardouin says, the shore opposite to Charax, and on the western bank of the river.
[614] Called Core Boobian, a narrow salt-water channel, laid down for the first time in the East India Company’s chart, and separating a large low island, off the mouth of the old bed of the Euphrates, from the mainland.
[615] The great headland on the coast of Arabia, at the entrance of the bay of Doat-al-Kusma from the south, opposite to Pheleche Island.
[616] This is the line of coast extending from the great headland last mentioned to the river Khadema, the ancient Achenus.
[617] So called from the city of Arabia Felix, built on its shores. Strabo says of this city, “The city of Gerra lies in a deep gulf, where Chaldæan exiles from Babylon inhabit a salt country, having houses built of salt, the walls of which, when they are wasted by the heat of the sun, are repaired by copious applications of sea-water.” D’Anville first identified this place with the modern El Khatiff. Niebuhr finds its site on the modern Koneit of the Arabs, called “Gran” by the Persians; but Foster is of opinion that he discovered its ruins in the East India Company’s Chart, situate where all the ancient authorities had placed it, at the end of the deep and narrow bay at the mouth of which are situated the islands of Bahrein. The gulf mentioned by Pliny is identified by Foster with that of Bahrein.