51. Throughout the whole of Egypt, the palm tree is of a bad species, and produces no good edible fruit in the places about the Delta and Alexandreia; yet the best kind is found in the Thebaïs. It is a subject of surprise how countries in the same latitude as Judæa, and bordering upon the Delta and Alexandreia, should be so different; for Judæa, in addition to other kinds of date-palms, produces the caryotic, which is not inferior to the Babylonian. There are, however, two kinds of dates in the Thebaïs and in Judæa, the caryotic and another. The Thebaïc is firmer, but the flavour is more agreeable. There is an island remarkable for producing the best dates, and it also furnishes the largest revenue to the governors. It was appropriated to the kings, and no private person had any share in the produce; at present it belongs to the governors. 52. Herodotus[891] and other writers trifle very much when they introduce into their histories the marvellous, like (an interlude of) music and song, or some melody; for example, in asserting that the sources of the Nile are near the numerous islands, at Syene and Elephantina, and that at this spot the river has an unfathomable depth. In the Nile there are many islands scattered about, some of which are entirely covered, others in part only, at the time of the rise of the waters. The very elevated parts are irrigated by means of screw-pumps. 53. Egypt was from the first disposed to peace, from having resources within itself, and because it was difficult of access to strangers. It was also protected on the north by a harbourless coast and the Egyptian Sea; on the east and west by the desert mountains of Libya and Arabia, as I have said before.[892] The remaining parts towards the south are occupied by Troglodytæ, Blemmyes, Nubæ, and Megabari, Ethiopians above Syene. These are nomades, and not numerous nor warlike, but accounted so by the ancients, because frequently, like robbers, they attacked defenceless persons. Neither are the Ethiopians, who extend towards the south and Meroë, numerous nor collected in a body; for they inhabit a long, narrow, and winding tract of land on the river-side, such as we have before described; nor are they well prepared either for war or the pursuit of any other mode of life. At present the whole country is in the same pacific state, a proof of which is, that the upper country is sufficiently guarded by three cohorts, and these not complete. Whenever the Ethiopians have ventured to attack them, it has been at the risk of danger to their own country. The rest of the forces in Egypt are neither very numerous, nor did the Romans ever once employ them collected into one army. For neither are the Egyptians themselves of a warlike disposition, nor the surrounding nations, although their numbers are very large.