The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t14: Arabii, or Arabitæ.
The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s1.t14
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Arabii, or Arabitæ.
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The *Arabii* of Arrian are the *Arabitæ* of Curtius, the *Arbiti* of Ptolemy, the *Ambritæ* of Diodorus, and the *Arbies* of Strabo. They are said to have derived their name from the river *Arabis*, or *Arbis*, or *Arabius*, which flowed along their confines, and divided their territory from that of the Oritæ.[†] From a comparison of the details of Alexander's marches with the diary of Nearchus, it is certain that this boundary river was the Purâli, which flows through the present district of Las into the bay of Sonmiâni. According to Curtius,* Alexander reached the eastern boundary of the Arabitæ in nine days from Patala, and their western boundary in five days more. Now, from Haidarâbâd to Karâchi, the distance is 114 miles, and from Karâchi to Sonmiâni 50 miles,† the former being usually performed by troops in nine marches, and the latter either in four or five. Karâchi, therefore, must have been on the eastern frontier of the Arabitæ, a deduction which is admitted by the common consent of all inquirers, who have agreed in identifying the Kolaka of Ptolemy and the sandy island of Krokola, where Nearchus tarried with his fleet for one day, with a small island in the Bay of Karâchi. Krokola is further described as lying off the mainland of the Arabii. It was 150 stadia, or 17¼ miles, from the western mouth of the Indus, which agrees exactly with the relative positions of Karâchi and the mouth of the Ghâra river, if, as we may fairly assume, the present coast-line has advanced 5 or 6 miles during the twenty-one centuries that have elapsed since the time of Alexander. The identification is confirmed by the fact that "the district in which Karâchi is situated is called Karkalla to this day."‡
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∗ M. Julien’s ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ iii. 177.
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† Arrian, ‘Indica,’ 21; Strabo, Geogr., xv. 2. 1; Pliny, Hist. Nat., vii. 2.
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† Eastwick, 'Handbook of Bombay,' pp. 474 and 477.
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‡ Ibid., p. 476; Burnes, 'Bokhara,' i. 10, writes the name Crocola.
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On leaving Krokola, Nearchus had Mount Eiros (Manora) on his right-hand, and a low flat island on his left, which is a very accurate description of the entrance to Karâchi harbour, and after stopping at several small places, reached Morontobara, which was called the “Women’s Haven” by the people of the country.* From this place he made two courses of 70 stadia and 120 stadia, or altogether not more than 22 miles, to the mouth of the river Arabius, which was the boundary between the country of the Arabii and the Oritæ. The name of Morontobara I would identify with Müâri, which is now applied to the headland of Rás Muári, or Cape Monz, the last point of the Pabb range of mountains. Bára, or bári, means a roadstead or haven, and moronta is evidently connected with the Persian mard, a man, of which the feminine is still preserved in Kashmiri, as mahrin, a woman. The haven itself may be looked for between Cape Monz and Sonmiâni, but its exact position cannot be determined. From the distances given by Arrian in his account of the voyage of Nearchus, I am inclined to fix it at the mouth of the Bahar rivulet, a small stream which falls into the sea about midway between Cape Monz and Sonmiâni. If I am right in considering Müâri as an abbreviation of Morontobâra, the cape must have received its name from the neighbouring haven. At the mouth of the Arabius Nearchus found a large and safe harbour, corresponding with the present Bay of Sonmiâni, at the mouth of the Purâli, which is described by Pottinger† as “a very noble sheet of water, capable of affording anchorage to the largest fleet.”
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∗ Vita Alex., ix. 10, 33.
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† ‘Biluchistan,’ p. 9.