Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 308

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Troglodytice comes next, by the ancients called Midoë, and by some Michoë; here is Mount Pentedactylos, some islands called Stenæ Deiræ,679 the Halonnesi,680 a group of islands not less in number, Cardamine, and Topazos,681 which last has given its name to the precious stone so called. The gulf is full of islands; those known as Mareu are supplied with fresh water, those called Erenos, are without it; these were ruled by governors682 appointed by the kings. In the interior are the Candei, also called Ophiophagi, a people in the habit of eating serpents; there is no region in existence more productive of them.

Juba, who appears to have investigated all these matters with the greatest diligence, has omitted, in his description of these regions—unless, indeed, it be an error in the copying—another place called Berenice and surnamed Panchrysos,683 as also a third surnamed Epidires,684 and remarkable for the peculiarity of its site; for it lies on a long projecting neck of land, at the spot where the Straits at the mouth of the Red Sea separate the coast of Africa from Arabia by a distance of seven miles only: here too is the island of Cytis,685 which also produces the topaz.

Beyond this are forests, in which is Ptolemais,686 built by Philadelphus for the chase of the elephant, and thence called Epitheras,687 situate near Lake Monoleus. This is the same region that has been already mentioned by us in the Second Book,688 and in which, during forty-five days before the summer solstice and for as many after, there is no shadow at the sixth hour, and during the other hours of the day it falls to the south; while at other times it falls to the north; whereas at the Berenice of which we first689 made mention, on the day of the summer solstice the shadow totally disappears at the sixth hour, but no other unusual phænomenon is observed. That place is situate at a distance of six hundred and two miles from Ptolemais, which has thus become the subject of a remarkable theory, and has promoted the exercise of a spirit of the most profound investigation; for it was at this spot that the extent of the earth was first ascertained, it being the fact that Erastosthenes, beginning at this place by the accurate calculation of the length of the shadow, was enabled to determine with exactness the dimensions of the earth.

After passing this place we come to the Azanian690 Sea, a promontory by some writers called Hispalus, Lake Mandalum, and the island of Colocasitis, with many others lying out in the main sea, upon which multitudes of turtles are found. We then come to the town of Suche, the island of Daphnidis,691 and the town of the Adulitæ,692 a place founded by Egyptian runaway slaves. This is the principal mart for the Troglodytæ, as also for the people of Æthiopia: it is distant from Ptolemais five days’ sail. To this place they bring ivory in large quantities, horns of the rhinoceros, hides of the hippopotamus, tortoise-shell, sphingiæ,693 and slaves. Beyond the Æthiopian Aroteræ are the islands known by the name of Aliæu,694 as also those of Bacchias, Antibacchias, and Stratioton. After passing these, on the coast of Æthiopia, there is a gulf which remains unexplored still; a circumstance the more to be wondered at, seeing that merchants have pursued their investigations to a greater distance than this. We then come to a promontory, upon which there is a spring called Cucios,695 much resorted to by mariners. Beyond it is the Port of Isis, distant ten days’ rowing from the town of the Adulitæ: myrrh is brought to this port by the Troglodytæ. The two islands before the harbour are called Pseudepylæ,696 and those in it, the same in number, are known as Pylæ;697 upon one of these there are some stone columns inscribed with unknown characters. Beyond these is the Gulf of Abalites, the island of Diodorus,698 and other desert islands; also, on the mainland, a succession of deserts, and then the town of Gaza, and the promontory and port of Mossylum,699 to the latter of which cinnamon is brought for exportation: it was thus far that Sesostris led700 his army.

Some writers place even beyond this, upon the shore, one town of Æthiopia, called Baricaza. Juba will have it that at the Promontory of Mossylum701 the Atlantic Sea begins, and that with a north-west wind702 we may sail past his native country, the Mauritanias, and arrive at Gades. We ought not on this occasion to curtail any portion of the opinions so expressed by him. He says that after we pass the promontory of the Indians,703 known as Lepteacra, and by others called Drepanum, the distance, in a straight line, beyond the island of Exusta and Malichu, is fifteen hundred miles; from thence to a place called Sceneos two hundred and twenty-five; and from thence to the island of Adanu one hundred and fifty miles; so that the distance to the open sea704 is altogether eighteen hundred and seventy-five miles. All the other writers, however, are of opinion that, in consequence of the intensity of the sun’s heat, this sea is not navigable; added to which, commerce is greatly exposed to the depredations of a piratical tribe of Arabians called Ascitæ,705 who dwell upon the islands: placing two inflated skins of oxen beneath a raft of wood, they ply their piratical vocation with the aid of poisoned arrows. We learn also from the same author that some nations of the Troglodytæ have the name of Therothoæ,706 being so called from their skill in hunting. They are remarkable for their swiftness, he says, just as the Ichthyophagi are, who can swim like the animals whose element is the sea. He speaks also of the Bangeni, the Gangoræ, the Chalybes, the Xoxinæ, the Sirechæ, the Daremæ, and the Domazames. Juba states, too, that the inhabitants who dwell on the banks of the Nile from Syene as far as Meroë, are not a people of Æthiopia, but Arabians; and that the city of the Sun, which we have mentioned707 as situate not far from Memphis, in our description of Egypt, was founded by Arabians. There are some writers who take away the further bank of the Nile from Æthiopia,708 and unite it to Africa;709 and they people its sides with tribes attracted thither by its water. We shall leave these matters, however, to the option of each, to form his opinion on them, and shall now proceed to mention the towns on each side710 in the order in which they are given.