Note 111 — THE VOYAGE OF NEARKHOS.

This is the Eulæus, now called the Karûn, one arm of which united with the Tigris, while the other fell into the sea by an independent mouth. It is the Ulai of the prophet Daniel. Pas is said to be an old Persian word, meaning small. By some writers the name Pasitigris was applied to the united stream of the Tigris and Euphrates, now called the Shat-el-Arab. The courses of the rivers and the conformation of the country in the parts here have all undergone great changes, and hence the identification of localities is a matter of difficulty and uncertainty. The following extract from Strabo will illustrate this part of the narrative:—

Polycletus says that the Choaspes, and the Eulæus, and the Tigris also enter a lake, and thence discharge themselves into the sea; that on the side of the lake is a mart, as the rivers do not receive the merchandize from the sea, nor convey it down to the sea, on account of dams in the river, purposely constructed; and that the goods are transported by land, a distance of 800 stadia, to Susis: according to others, the rivers which flow through Susis discharge themselves by the intermediate canals of the Euphrates into the single stream of the Tigris, which on this account has at its mouth the name of Pasitigris. According to Nearchus, the sea-coast of Susis is swampy, and terminates at the river Euphrates; at its mouth is a village which receives the merchandize from Arabia, for the coast of Arabia approaches close to the mouths of the Euphrates and the Pasitigris; the whole intermediate space is occupied by a lake which receives the Tigris. On sailing up the Pasitigris 150 stadia is a bridge of rafts leading to Susa from Persis, and is distant from Susa 60 (600?) stadia; the Pasitigris is distant from the Oroatis about 2,000 stadia; the ascent through the lake to the mouth of the Tigris is 600 stadia; near the mouth stands the Susian village Aginis, distant from Susa 500 stadia; the journey by water from the mouth of the Euphrates up to Babylon, through a well-inhabited tract of country, is a distance of more than 3,000 stadia.—Book xv. 3, Bohn’s trans.