Λιθία διαφανὴς παντοία—Transparent or precious stones of all sorts.
Αδάμας—Diamonds.
Ὑάκινθος—Jacinths.
Χελώνη ἥτε Χρυσονησιωτικὴ καὶ ἡ περὶ τὰς νήσους θηρευομένη τὰς προκειμένας αὐτῆς τῆς Λιμυρικῆς—Tortoise-shell from the Golden Island, and another sort which is taken in the islands which lie off the coast of Limurikê.
The proper season to set sail from Egypt for this part of India is about the month of July—that is, Epiphi.
57. The whole round of the voyage from Kanê and Eudaimôn Arabia, which we have just described, used to be performed in small vessels which kept close to shore and followed its windings, but Hippalos was the pilot who first, by observing the bearings of the ports and the configuration of the sea, discovered the direct course across the ocean; whence as, at the season when our own Etesians are blowing, a periodical wind from the ocean likewise blows in the Indian Sea, this wind, which is the south-west, is, it seems, called in these seas Hippalos [after the name of the pilot who first discovered the passage by means of it]. From the time of this discovery to the present day, merchants who sail for India either from Kanê, or, as others do, from Arômata, if Limurikê be their destination, must often change their tack, but if they are bound for Barugaza and Skythia, they are not retarded for more than three days, after which, committing themselves to the monsoon which blows right in the direction of their course, they stand far out to sea, leaving all the gulfs we have mentioned in the distance.
58. After Bakare occurs the mountain called Pyrrhos (or the Red) towards the south, near another district of the country called Paralia (where the pearl-fisheries are which belong to king Pandiôn), and a city of the name of Kolkhoi. In this tract the first place met with is called Balita, which has a good harbour and a village on its shore. Next to this is another place called Komar, where is the cape of the same name and a haven. Those who wish to consecrate the closing part of their lives to religion come hither and bathe and engage themselves to celibacy. This is also done by women; since it is related that the goddess (Kumârî) once on a time resided at the place and bathed. From Komarei (towards the south) the country extends as far as Kolkhoi, where the fishing for pearls is carried on. Condemned criminals are employed in this service. King Pandiôn is the owner of the fishery. To Kolkhoi succeeds another coast lying along a gulf having a district in the interior bearing the name of Argalou. In this single place are obtained the pearls collected near the island of Epiodôros. From it are exported the muslins called ebargareitides.
(58) The first place mentioned after Bakare is Pyrrhos, or the Red Mountain, which extends along a district called Paralia. “There are,” says Dr. Caldwell (Introd. p. 99), “three Paralias mentioned by the Greeks, two by Ptolemy ... one by the author of the Periplûs. The Paralia mentioned by the latter corresponded to Ptolemy’s country of the Ἄïοι, and that of the Καρεοι, that is, to South Travancore and South Tinnevelly. It commenced at the Red Cliffs south of Quilon, and included not only Cape Comorin but also Κόλχοι, where the pearl fishing was carried on, which belonged to King Pandiôn. Dr. Burnell identifies Paralia with Parali, which he states is an old name for Travancore, but I am not quite able to adopt this view.” “Paralia,” he adds afterwards, “may possibly have corresponded in meaning, if not in sound, to some native word meaning coast,—viz., Karei.” On this coast is a place called Balita, which is perhaps the Bammala of Ptolemy (VII. i. 9), which Mannert identifies with Manpalli, a little north of Anjenga.