[76] The place in Ptolemy is called Agrispolis,—in Marcianus, Agrisa. The modern name is Girishk.
[77] Schmieder suggests that instead of the common reading here ἀπὸ τούταν ἔλαιον ποιέουσιν Arrian may have written ἀπὸ θύννων ε. π. they make oil from thunnies, i. e. use the fat for oil.
[78] “This description of the natives, with that of their mode of living and the country they inhabit, is strictly correct even to the present day.”—Kempthorne.
[79] Strabo (XV. ii. 12, 13) has extracted from Nearkhos the same passage regarding whales. See Nearchi fragm. 25. Cf. Onesikritos (fr. 30) and Orthagoras in Aelian, N. An. XVII. 6; Diodor. XVII. 106; Curtius X. 1, 11.
[80] The story of the Nereid is evidently an Eastern version of the story of the enchantress Kirkê. The island here called Nosala is that already mentioned under the name of Karbine, now Asthola.
[81] Karmania extended from Cape Jask to Râs Nabend, and comprehended the districts now called Moghostan, Kirman, and Laristan. Its metropolis, according to Ptolemy, was Karmana, now Kirman, which gives its name to the whole province. The first port in Karmania reached by the expedition was in the neighbourhood of Cape Jask, where the coast is described as being very rocky, and dangerous to mariners on account of shoals and rocks under water. Kempthorne says: “The cliffs along this part of the coast are very high, and in many places almost perpendicular. Some have a singular appearance, one near Jask being exactly of the shape of a quoin or wedge; and another is a very remarkable peak, being formed by three stones, as if placed by human hands, one on the top of the other. It is very high, and has the resemblance of a chimney.”
[82] Badis must have been near where the village of Jask now stands, beyond which was the promontory now called Râs Kerazi or Keroot or Bombarak, which marks the entrance to the Straits of Ormus. This projection is the Cape Karpella of Ptolemy. Badis may be the same as the Kanthatis of this geographer.
[83] Maketa is now called Cape Mesandum in Oman. It is thus described by Palgrave in the Narrative of his Travels through Central and Eastern Arabia (Vol. II. pp. 316-7). The afternoon was already far advanced when we reached the headland, and saw before us the narrow sea-pass which runs between the farthest rooks of Mesandum and the mainland of the Cape. This strait is called the “Bab” or “gate:” it presents an imposing spectacle, with lofty precipices on either side, and the water flowing deep and black below; the cliffs are utterly bare and extremely well adapted for shivering whatever vessels have the ill luck to come upon them. Hence and from the ceaseless dash of the dark waves, the name of “Mesandum” or “Anvil,” a term seldom better applied. But this is not all, for some way out at sea rises a huge square mass of basalt of a hundred feet and more in height sheer above the water; it bears the name of “Salâmah” or “safety,” a euphemism of good augury for “danger.” Several small jagged peaks, just projecting above the surface, cluster in its neighbourhood; these bear the endearing name of “Benât Salâmah,” or “Daughters of Salamah.”
[84] This place is not mentioned elsewhere, but must have been situated somewhere in the neighbourhood of the village of Karun.
[85] The Anamis, called by Pliny the Ananis, and by Ptolemy and Mela the Andanis, is now the Minâb or Ibrahim River.