[86] Other forms—Hormazia, Armizia regio. The name was transferred from the mainland to the island now called Ormus, when the inhabitants fled thither to escape from the Moghals. It is called by Arrian Organa (chap. xxxvii.) The Arabians called it Djerun, a name which it continued to bear up to the 12th century. Pliny mentions an island called Oguris, of which perhaps Djerun is a corruption. He ascribes to it the honour of having been the birthplace of Erythrés. The description, however, which he gives of it is more applicable to the island called by Arrian (chap. xxxvii.) Oârakta (now Kishm) than to Ormus. Arrian’s description of Harmozia is still applicable to the region adjacent to the Mînâb. “It is termed,” says Kempthorne, “the Paradise of Persia. It is certainly most beautifully fertile, and abounds in orange groves, orchards containing apples, pears, peaches, and apricots, with vineyards producing a delicious grape, from which was made at one time a wine called Amber rosolia, generally considered the white wine of Kishma; but no wine is made here now.” The old name of Kishma—Oârakta—is preserved in one of its modern names, Vrokt or Brokt.
[87] Diodôros (XVII. 106) gives quite a different account of the visit of Nearkhos to Alexander.
[88] The preceding satrap was Sibyrtios, the friend of Megasthenês. He had been transferred to govern the Gadrosians and the Arakhotians.
[89] As stated in Note 64, Organa is now Ormuz, and Oarakta, Kishm. Ormuz, once so renowned for its wealth and commerce, that it was said of it by its Portuguese occupants, that if the world were a golden ring, Ormuz would be the diamond signet, is now in utter decay. “I have seen,” says Palgrave (II. 319), “the abasement of Tyre, the decline of Surat, the degradation of Goa: but in none of those fallen seaports is aught resembling the utter desolation of Ormuz.” A recent traveller in Persia (Binning) thus describes the coast: “It presents no view but sterile, barren, and desolate chains of rocks and hills: and the general aspect of the Gulf is dismal and forbidding. Moore’s charming allusions to Oman’s sea, with its ‘banks of pearl and palmy isles’ are unfortunately quite visionary; for uglier and more unpicturesque scenery 1 never beheld.”—Two Years’ Travel in Persia, I. pp. 136, 137.
[90] For the legend of Erythrês see Agatharkhides De Mari Eryth. I. 1-4 and Strabo XVI. iv. 20. The Erythræan Sea included the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea, the last being called also the Arabian Gulf, when it was necessary to distinguish it from the Erythræan in general. It can hardly be doubted that the epithet Erythræan (which means red, Greek ερυθρος) first designated the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, and was afterwards extended to the seas beyond the Straits by those who first explored them. The Red Sea was so called because it washed the shores of Arabia, called the Red Land (Edom), in contradistinction to Egypt, called the Black Land (Kemi), from the darkness of the soil deposited by the Nile. Some however thought that it received its name from the quantity of red coral found in its waters, especially along the eastern shores, and Strabo says (loc. cit.): “Some say that the sea is red from the colour arising from reflexion either from the sun, which is vertical, or from the mountains, which are red by being scorched with intense heat; for the colour it is supposed may be produced by both of these causes. Ktesias of Knidos speaks of a spring which discharges into the sea a red and ochrous water.”—Cf. Eustath. Comment. 38.
[91] This island is that now called Angar, or Hanjam, to the south of Kishm. It is described as being nearly destitute of vegetation and uninhabited. Its hills, of volcanic origin, rise to a height of 300 feet. The other island, distant from the mainland about 300 stadia, is now called the Great Tombo, near which is a smaller island called Little Tombo. They are low, flat, and uninhabited. They are 25 miles distant from the western extremity of Kishm.
[92] The island of Pylora is that now called Polior. Sisidone appears in other forms—Prosidodone, pro-Sidodone, pros Sidone, pros Dodone. Kempthorne thought this was the small fishing village now called Mogos, situated in a bay of the same name. The name may perhaps be preserved in the name of a village in the same neighbourhood, called Dnan Tarsia—now Râs-el-Djard—described as high and rugged, and of a reddish colour.
[93] Kataia is now the island called Kaes or Kenn. Its character has altered, being now covered with dwarf trees, and growing wheat and tobacco. It supplies ships with refreshment, chiefly goats and sheep and a few vegetables. “At morning,” says Binning (I. 137), “we passed Polior, and at noon were running along the South side of the Isle of Keesh, called in our maps Kenn; a fertile and populous island about 7 miles in length. The inhabitants of this, as well as of every other island in the Gulf, are of Arab blood—for every true Persian appears to hate the very sight of the sea.”
[94] The boundary between Karmania and Persis was formed by a range of mountains opposite the island of Kataia. Ptolemy, however, makes Karmania extend much further, to the river Bagradas, now called the Naban or Nabend.
[95] Kaikander has the other forms—Kekander, Kikander, Kaskandrus, Karkundrus, Karskandrus, Sasækander. This island, which is now called Inderabia, or Andaravia, is about four or five miles from the mainland, having a small town on the north side, where is a safe and commodious harbour. The other island mentioned immediately after is probably that now called Busheab. It is, according to Kempthorne, a low, flat island, about eleven miles from the mainland, containing a small town principally inhabited by Arabs, who live on fish and dates. The harbour has good anchorage even for large vessels.