90 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VI. 



which signifies " most rich in herds," the Coranitse, the (Esani, 

 and the Choani. 63 Here were also formerly the Greek towns 

 of Arethusa, Larisa, and Chalcis, which have heen destroyed 

 in various wars. 



JElius Gallus, 64 a memher of the Equestrian order, is the 

 sole person who has hitherto carried the Roman arms into these 

 lands, for Caius Osesar, the son 65 of Augustus, only had a dis- 

 tant view of Arabia. In his expedition, Gallus destroyed the 

 following towns, the names of which are not given by the 

 authors who had written before his time, Negrana, Nestum, 

 Nesca, Masugum, Caminacum, Labecia, and Mariva 66 above- 

 mentioned, six miles in circumference, as also Caripeta, the 

 furthest point of his expedition. He brought back with him 

 the following discoveries that the Pomades 67 live upon milk 

 and the flesh of wild beasts, and that the other nations, like 

 the Indians, extract a sort of wine from the palm-tree, and 

 oil from sesame. 68 He says that the most numerous of these 

 tribes are the Homeritae and the Minsei, that their lands are 

 fruitful in palms and shrubs, and that their chief wealth is 

 centred in their flocks. We also learn from the same source 

 that the Cerbani and the Agrsei excel in arms, but more 

 particularly the Chatramotitae ; 69 that the territories of the 

 Carrei are the most extensive and most fertile ; but that the 

 Sabeei are the richest of all in the great abundance of their 

 spice-bearing groves, their mines of gold, 70 their streams for 



63 Mentioned by Ovid in the Metamorphoses, B. v. 1. 165, et seq. 

 Sillig, however, reads " Ciani." 



64 An intimate friend of the geographer Strabo. He was prefect of 

 Egypt during part of the reign of Augustus, and in the years B.C. 24 and 

 25. Many particulars have been given by Strabo of his expedition against 

 Arabia, in which he completely failed. The heat of the sun, the badness 

 of the water, and the want of the necessaries of life, destroyed the greater 

 part of his army. 



65 By adoption, as previously stated. 



66 The town of the Calingii, mentioned above. 



67 Or wandering tribes. 



68 Its uses in medicine are stated at length in the last Chapter of B. xxi. 



69 Another form of the name of Atramitae previously mentioned, the 

 ancient inhabitants of the part of Arabia known as Hadramant, and 

 settled, as is supposed, by the descendants of the Joctanite patriarch 

 Hazarmaveth. 



70 Arabia at the present day yields no gold, and very little silver. The 

 queen of Sheba is mentioned as bringing gold to Solomon, 1 Kings, x. 2, 

 2 Chron. ix. i. Arteinidorus and Diodorus Siculus make mention, on the 



