Chap. 35. J ACCOUNT OF COUXTEIES, ETC. 103 



who are divided into numerous peoples ; they are said to be 

 distant five days' journey from the sea, and to procure their 

 subsistence by the chase of the elephant. An island in the 

 Nile, which belongs to the Semberritae, is governed by a 

 queen ; beyond it are the Ethiopian Xubei,^^ at a distance of 

 eight days' journey : their town is Tenupsis, situate on the 

 ]^ile. There are the Sesambri also, a people among whom 

 all the quadrupeds are without ears, the verj- elephants even. 

 On the African side are the Tonobari, the Ptoenphae, a people 

 who have a dog for their king, and divine from his move- 

 ments what are his commands ; the Auruspi, who have a 

 town at a considerable distance from the Xile, and then the 

 Archisarmi, the Phaliges, the Marigerri, and the Casmari. 



Bion makes mention also of some other towns situate 

 on islands, the whole distance being twenty days' journey 

 from Sembobitis to Meroe ; a town in an adjoining island, under 

 the queen of the Semberritae, with another called Asara, and 

 another, in a second island, called Darde. The name of a third 

 island is Medoe, upon which is the town of Asel, and a fourth 

 is called Garodes, with a town upon it of the same name. Pas.s- 

 ing thence along the banks of the Xile, are the towns of Navi, 

 Modunda, Andatis, Secundum, Colligat, Secande, Navectabe, 

 Cumi, Agrospi, JEgipa, Candrogari, Araba, and Summara.*" 



Beyond is the region of Sirbitum, at which the mountains 

 terminate,^^ and which by some writers is said to contain 

 the maritime ^Ethiopians, the Xi.sacaethae, and the Nisyti, a 

 word which signifies *' men with three or four eyes," — 

 not that the people really have that conformation, but be- 

 cause they are remarkable for the unerring aim of their 

 arrows. On that side of the Xile which extends along the 

 borders of the Southern Ocean beyond the Greater Syrtes,^- 

 Dalion says that the people, who use rain-water only, are 

 called the Cisori, and that the other nations are the Longompori, 



3^ On the eastern side of the Nile, and bearing no reference, as Hrtr- 

 douin remarks, to the people of modem Nubia. 



*^ There is considerable doubt as to the correctness of these names, as 

 they are differently spelt in the MSS. 



^^ Marcus thinks that these mountains are those which lie to the west 

 of the Nile, in Darfour, and Dar-Sale, or Dizzela, mentioned by Salt, in 

 his Travels in Abyssinia. 



^2 From this it would appear that Pliny, with Dalion, supposed that tho 

 Nile ran down to the southern ocean, and then took a turn along the coast 

 in a westerly direction ; the shore being skirted by Syites, or quicksands, 

 similar to those in the north of Africa. 



