(21) Beyond this is the great emporium called Mouza, [lat. 13° 43´ N., long. 43° 5´ 14´´ E.] situated in a bay near the termination of the Gulf, and at a distance from Berenikê of 12,000 stadia. Here the population consists almost entirely of merchants and mariners, and the place is in the highest degree commercial. The commodities of the country are rich and numerous (though this is denied by Pliny), and there is a great traffic in Indian articles brought from Barugaza (Bharoch). This port, once the most celebrated and most frequented in Yemen, is now the village Musa about twenty-five miles north from Mokhâ, which has replaced it as a port, the foundation of which dates back no more than 400 years ago. “Twenty miles inland from Mokhâ,” says Vincent, “Niebuhr discovered a Musa still existing, which he with great probability supposes to be the ancient mart now carried inland to this distance by the recession of the coast.” [He must have confounded it with Jebel Musa, due east of Mokhâ, at the commencement of the mountain country.] It is a mere village badly built. Its water is good, and is said to be drunk by the wealthier inhabitants of Mokhâ. Bochart identified Mouza with the Mesha mentioned by Moses.

22. Above this a three days’ journey off lies the city of Sauê, in the district called Mopharitis. It is the residence of Kholaibos, the despot of that country.

(22) The Periplûs notices two cities that lay inland from Mouza—the 1st Sauê, the Savê of Pliny (VI. xxvi., 104), and also of Ptolemy (VI. vii., p. 411), who places it at a distance of 500 stadia S. E. of Mouza. The position and distance direct us to the city of Taaes, which lies near a mountain called Saber. Sauê belonged to a district called Mapharitis or Mophareitês, a name which appears to survive in the modern Mharras, which designates a mountain lying N. E. from Taaes. It was ruled by Kholaibos (Arabicé—Khaleb), whom our author calls a tyrant, and who was therefore probably a Sheikh who had revolted from his lawful chief, and established himself as an independent ruler.

23. A journey of nine days more conducts us to Saphar, the metropolis of Kharibaêl, the rightful sovereign of two contiguous tribes, the Homerites and the Sabaïtai, and, by means of frequent embassies and presents, the friend of the Emperors.

(23) The other city was Saphar, the metropolis of the Homerîtai, i.e. the Himaryi—the Arabs of Yemen, whose power was widely extended, not only in Yemen but in distant countries both to the East and West. Saphar is called Sapphar by Ptolemy (VI. vii.), who places it in 14° N. lat. Philostorgios calls it Tapharon, and Stephen of Byzantium Tarphara. It is now Dhafar or Dsoffar or Zaphar. In Edrisi (I. p. 148) it appears as Dhofar, and he thus writes of it:—“It is the capital of the district Jahsseb. It was formerly one of the greatest and most famous of cities. The kings of Yemen made it their residence, and there was to be seen the palace of Zeidan. These structures are now in ruins, and the population has been much decreased, nevertheless the inhabitants have preserved some remnants of their ancient riches.” The ruins of the city and palace still exist in the neighbourhood of Jerim, which Niebuhr places in 14° 30´ N. lat. The distance from Sauê to Saphar in the Periplûs is a nine days’ journey. Niebuhr accomplished it however in six. Perhaps, as Müller suggests, the nine days’ journey is from Mouza to Saphar. The sovereign of Saphar is called by our author Kharibaêl, a name which is not found among the Himyaritic kings known from other sources. In Ptolemy the region is called Elisarôn, from a king bearing that name.

24. The mart of Mouza has no harbour, but its sea is smooth, and the anchorage good, owing to the sandy nature of the bottom. The commodities which it imports are—

Πορφύρα, διάφορος καὶ χυδαία—Purple cloth, fine and ordinary.

Ἱματισμίς Ἀραβικὸς χειριδωτὸς, ὅτε ἁπλοῦς καὶ ὁ κοινὸς καὶ σκοτουλάτος καὶ διάχρυσος—Garments made up in the Arabian fashion, some plain and common, and others wrought in needlework and inwoven with gold.

Κρόκος—Saffron.

Κύπερος—The aromatic rush Kyperos. (Turmeric?)