The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
Far in the interior was a place called Endera, inhabited by a naked
tribe,[730] who use bows and reed arrows, the points of which are
hardened in the fire. They generally shoot the animals from trees,
sometimes from the ground. They have numerous herds of wild cattle among
them, on the flesh of which they subsist, and on that of other wild
animals. When they have taken nothing in the chase, they dress dried
skins upon hot coals, and are satisfied with food of this kind. It is
their custom to propose trials of skill in archery for those who have
not attained manhood.
Next to the altars of Conon is the port of Melinus, and above it is a
fortress called that of Coraus and the chase of Coraus, also another
fortress and more hunting-grounds. Then follows the harbour of
Antiphilus, and above this a tribe, the Creophagi, deprived of the
prepuce, and the women are excised after the Jewish custom.[731]
10. Further still towards the south are the Cynamolgi,[732] called by
the natives Agrii, with long hair and long beards, who keep a breed of
very large dogs for hunting the Indian cattle which come into their
country from the neighbouring district, driven thither either by wild
beasts or by scarcity of pasturage. The time of their incursion is from
the summer solstice to the middle of winter.
Next to the harbour of Antiphilus is a port called the Grove of the
Colobi (or the Mutilated), the city Berenice[733] of Sabæ, and Sabæ[734]
a considerable city; then the grove of Eumenes.[735]
Above is the city Darada, and a hunting-ground for elephants, called “At
the Well.” The district is inhabited by the Elephantophagi (or
Elephant-eaters), who are occupied in hunting them. When they descry
from the trees a herd of elephants directing their course through the
forest, they do not [then] attack, but they approach by stealth and
hamstring the hindmost stragglers from the herd. Some kill them with
bows and arrows, the latter being dipped in the gall of serpents. The
shooting with the bow is performed by three men, two, advancing in
front, hold the bow, and one draws the string. Others remark the trees
against which the elephant is accustomed to rest, and, approaching on
the opposite side, cut the trunk of the tree low down. When the animal
comes and leans against it, the tree and the elephant fall down
together. The elephant is unable to rise, because its legs are formed of
one piece of bone which is inflexible; the hunters leap down from the
trees, kill it, and cut it in pieces. The Nomades call the hunters
Acatharti, or impure.
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