PRASUM PROMONTO´RIUM
PRASUM PROMONTO´RIUM (
Πράσον ἀκρωτήριον,
Ptol. 1.7.2, seq., 7.3.6), or the
C. of Leeks, was a headland in the region S. of Meroë, to which the ancient geographers gave the appellation of Barbarica.
The position of Prasum is unknown; for it is impossible to identify Prasum, the Green Promontory, with. Cape
Delgado, i. e. Cape Slender, which, as the name implies, is a mere line upon the water. Neither is it certain that Prasum, although a lofty rock, was a portion of the mainland at all, inasmuch as the coast of
Zingebar, where Prasum is probably to be found, is distinguished alike for the verdure of its projections and the bright green islands that stretch along and beyond them. Moreover, Agathemerus (p. 57) and Marcianus Heracleota (ap. Hudson, Geog. Min. i. p. 12) mention a sea in this region called, from its colour, Prasōdes, the Green.
The coast and islands of
Zingebar derive their rich verdant appearance from the prevalence of the bombyx or cotton-tree. All that is known of Prasum is that it was 100 or 150 miles S. of the headland of Rhapta, lat. 40° S., and a station for that obscure but active and remunerating trade which Aegypt under the Ptolemies and the Caesars carried on with the eastern emporia. of Africa. (Cooley,
Claudius Ptolemy and the Nile, pp. 88--90.)
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W.B.D]
