by Coptus to Myos Hormos. We are aware of a passage
in this author, which, at first, sight seems to contradict the position we
have laid down, and to prove, that at least in his time, there was a direct
and not unfrequent navigation between the Red Sea and India. He expressly
states, that in the course of six or seven years, 120 ships had sailed from
Myos Hormos to India: but on this it may be observed, in the first place,
that he begins his description of India, with requesting his readers to
peruse what he relates concerning it with indulgence, as it was a country
very remote, and few persons had visited it; and even with regard to Arabia
Felix, he says, that the knowledge of the Romans commenced with the
expedition of his friend AElius Gallus into that country;--facts not very
consistent with his statement that 120 ships had sailed in six or seven
years to India: secondly, he expressly mentions, that formerly scarcely
twenty ships dared to navigate the Red Sea, so far as to shew themselves
beyond the straits; but we can hardly suppose that skill, enterprize, and
knowledge, had increased so rapidly as to extend within a very few years
navigation, not merely beyond the straits, but even to India; we say a few
years, for certainly, at the time when the Romans conquered Egypt, the
straits were not usually passed: lastly, the name India was used so vaguely
by the ancients, even by Strabo occasionally, that it is not improbable he
meant by it, merely the coast of Arabia, beyond the straits. It is well
asked by Dr. Vincent, in reference to this account of Strabo, might not
that geographer, from knowing the ships brought home Indian commodities,
have supposed that they sailed to India, when in reality they went no
farther than Hadramant, in Arabia, or Mosullon, on the coast of Africa,
where they found the produce of India?

It is not, however, meant to be denied that a few vessels, in the time of
Ptolemies, reached some part of India from the Red Sea, by coasting all the
way. The author of the Periplus of the Red Sea, informs us that, before the
discovery of the monsoon, by Hippalus, small vessels had made a coasting
voyage from Cana, in Arabia, to the Indies. But these irregular and
trifling voyages are deserving of little consideration, and do not militate
against the position we have laid down and endeavoured to prove, that in
the time of the Ptolemies the commerce of Egypt was confined within the
limits of the Red Sea, pa