Ἰνδική 43.6

43.6

τοσούτου δέει τά γε ἐπέκεινα ταύτης τῆς χώρης, ἥντινα ἰσθμὸν ἀπεφαίνομεν ἐκ τοῦ κόλπου τοῦ Ἀραβίου κατήκοντα ἐς τὴν Ἐρυθρὴν θάλασσαν οἰκεόμενα εἶναι, ὁκότε τὰ πρὸς ἄρκτον μᾶλλον αὐτῶν ἀνέχοντα ἔρημά τέ ἐστι καὶ ψαμμώδεα.

Now the parts which lie to the right of the Erythræan Sea beyond the realms of Babylonia belong principally to Arabia, which extends in one direction as far as the sea that washes the shores of Phœnikia and Syrian Palestine, while towards sunset it borders on the Egyptians in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt is penetrated by a gulf which extends up from the great ocean, and as this ocean is connected with the Erythræan Sea, this fact proves that a voyage could be made all the way from Babylon to Egypt by means of this gulf. But, owing to the heat and utter sterility of the coast, no one has ever made this voyage, except, it may be, some chance navigator. For the troops belonging to the army of Kambysês, which escaped from Egypt, and reached Sousa in safety, and the troops sent by Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, to Seleukos Nikator to Babylon, traversed the Arabian isthmus in eight days altogether. It was a waterless and sterile region, and they had to cross it mounted on swift camels carrying water, travelling only by night, the heat by day being so fierce that they could not expose themselves in the open air. So far are the parts lying beyond this region, which we have spoken of as an isthmus extending from the Arabian Gulf to the Erythræan Sea from being inhabited, that even the parts which run up further to the north are a desert of sand. Moreover, men setting forth from the Arabian Gulf in Egypt, after having sailed round the greater part of Arabia to reach the sea which washes the shores of Persis and Sousa, have returned, after sailing as far along the coast of Arabia as the water they had on board lasted them, and no further. The exploring party again which Alexander sent from Babylon with instructions to sail as far as they could along the right-hand coast of the Erythraian Sea, with a view to examine the regions lying in that direction, discovered some islands lying in their route, and touched also at certain points of the mainland of Arabia. But as for that cape which Nearkhos states to have been seen by the expedition projecting into the sea right opposite to Karmania, there is no one who has been able to double it and gain the other side. But if the place could possibly be passed, either by sea or by land, it seems to me that Alexander, being so inquisitive and enterprising, would have proved that it could be passed in both these ways. But again Hanno the Libyan, setting out from Carthage, sailed out into the ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules, having Libya on his left hand, and the time until his course was shaped towards the rising sun was five-and-thirty days; but when he steered southward he encountered many difficulties from the want of water, from the scorching heat, and from streams of fire that fell into the sea. Kyrênê, no doubt, which is situated in a somewhat barren part of Libya, is verdant, possessed of a genial climate, and well watered, has groves and meadows, and yields abundantly all kinds of useful animals and vegetable products. But this is only the case up to the limits of the area within which the fennel-plant can grow, while beyond this area the interior of Kyréné is but a desert of sand.
So ends my narrative relating to Alexander, the son of Philip the Makedonian.