Page 183 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

164 SURVEY OF THE [CH.

I
.3
for gardens and cultivation, is now overrun
with long sedgy grass, and merely nourishes
a few dum* and date-trees.
1 I perceive that Dr. Vincent, in his Disser­
I tation on the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea,
4
has placed the town of Leuke Koine | near
:? this«part of the coast. But he appears to have
■1
drawn his conclusion from the scanty notices
handed down to us by ancient geographers,
i
and the observations made by Mr. Irwin in his
voyage along the coast in 1777. In selecting
Mowilahh as the site of this town, Dr. Vin­

cent, I think, has been misled by Mr. Irwin’s
map, in which the islands of Tiran, Bar&kan,
and Sen&fer are placed immediately before
Mowilahh, so as to afford a degree of shelter
to that station, by which it is made to coin­
cide with the description of the ancient port,
as given by Agatharchides. The position

I
* The bifurcate palm : Palma, or Cucifera Thebaica.
+ ‘ Leuk6 Kom6, or “ the White Village,” was the point of com­
munication between Petra, the capital of the country, and the
residence of Malichi, the King of the Nabateans. In itself, it had
the character of a mart, in respect to the vessels that obtained
their cargoes in Arabia, for which reason, there was a garrison
placed in it under the command of a Centurion; both for the pur­
pose of protection, and to collect a duty of twenty-five per cent,
upon exports and imports.’—Vincent’s Periplus.