BOOK V. VIII. 43-45 



named after the river which has been raentioned, § 30. 

 the Pharusian Gymnetes, and then bordering on the 

 Ocean the Perorsi whom we have spoken of at the § 10. 

 frontier of Mauretania. Eastward of all of these there 

 are vast uninliabited regions spreading as far as the 

 Garamantes and Augilae and the Cave-dwellers — 

 the most reliable opinion being that of those who 

 place two Ethiopias beyond the African desert, and 

 especially Homer," who tells us that the Ethiopians 

 are divided into two sections, the eastward and the 

 westward. 



The river Niger ^ has the same nature as the Nile : 

 it produces reeds and papyrus, and the same animals, 

 and it rises at the same seasons of the year. Its 

 source is between the Ethiopic tribes of the Tarraelii 

 and the Oechalicae ; the town of the latter is 

 Magium. In the middle of the desert some place 

 the Atlas tribe, and next to them the half-animal 

 Goat-Pans and the Blemmyae and Gamphasantes 

 and Satyrs and Strapfoots. 



The Atlas tribe have fallen below the level of 

 human civilization, if we can beUeve what is said; 

 for they do not address one another by any names, 

 and when they behold the rising and setting sun, 

 they utter awful curses against it as the cause of 

 dLsaster to themselves and their fields, and when 

 they are asleep they do not have dreams Uke the 

 rest of mankind. The Cave-dwellers hollow out 

 caverns, which are their dwelUngs ; they Uve on the 

 flesh of snakes, and they have no voice, but only 

 make squeaking noises,*^ being entirely devoidof inter- 

 course by speech. The Garamantes do not practise 

 marriage but Uve with their women promiscuously. 

 The Augilae only worship the powers of the lower 



251 



