BOOK VI.] History of Nature. 163 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

 The Islands of the Ethiopian Sea. 



EPHORUS, Eudoxus, and Timosthenes agree, that there 

 are very many Islands in all that Sea. Clitarchus wit- 

 nesseth, that report was made to Alexander the King, of one 

 which was so rich, that for Horses the Inhabitants would 

 give Talents of Gold ; also of another, wherein was a sacred 

 Mountain adorned with a shady Wood, where the Trees 

 distilled Odours of wonderful Sweetness. Overagainst the 

 Persian Gulf lieth the Island named Cerne, opposite to 

 Ethiopia; but how large it is, or how far off from the Con- 

 tinent, is not certainly known : but this is reported, that 

 the Ethiopians only inhabit it. Euphorus writeth, that they 

 who would Sail thither from the Red Sea, are not able, from 

 the extreme Heat, to pass beyond certain Columns ; for so 

 they call the little Islands there. But Polybius affirmeth, 

 that this Island Cerne, where it lieth in the utmost Coast of 

 Mauritania, overagainst the Mountain Atlas, is but Eight 

 Stadia from the Land. On the other hand, Nepos Cornelius 

 affirmeth, that it is not above a Mile from the Land, 

 overagainst Carthage ; and that it is not above Two Miles 

 in Circuit. There is mention made also of another Island 

 before the Mountain Atlas, and which is named Atlantis. 

 And Five Days' Sailing from it are the Deserts of the 

 Ethiopian Hesperians, and a Promontory, which we have 

 named Hesperion-Ceras ; where the Coasts of the Land begin 

 first to turn about their front to the westward, and the 

 Atlantic Sea. Overagainst this Promontory, as Xenophon 

 Lampsacenus reporteth, lie the Islands called Gorgates, 

 where formerly the Gorgani kept their Habitation, two 

 Days' Sailing from the Continent. Hanno, Commander of 

 the Carthaginians (Poeni), penetrated to them, and reported 

 that the Women were all over their Bodies hairy ; and that 

 the Men were so Swift of Foot that they escaped from him ; 

 but he placed the Skins of two of these Gorgon Women in 

 the Temple of Juno, for aTestimonial, and as a Wonder, and 



