OF ALL COUNTRIES. 477 



statistics are not always precise. To the former of these 

 tribes, as Herodotus informs us, Cambyses sent messengers 

 before going to war with their neighbours the Macrobians, in 

 order to obtain ambassadors who could speak the Macro- 

 bian language. From the account both of Diodorus as to 

 the Ichthyophagi on the western shores of the Red Sea, 

 and from that of Arrian as to the portion of the tribe settled 

 towards the east of the Persian Gulf, it is evident that the 

 greatest poverty prevailed amongst them. Though they 

 lived almost entirely on fish they had neither boats nor 

 nets, and their implements, after the very rudest stage of 

 industry, were made of stone. 



