BOOK VI. xxiii. 77-79 



Megari, Ardabae, Mesac, Abi, Suri and Silae ; 

 then 250 miles of desert ; and after traversing that, 

 the Organagae, Abortae and Bassuertae ; and next 

 to these an uninhabited stretcli equal in extent to 

 the preceding one. Then thc Sorofages, Arbae 

 and Marogomatrae ; the Umbritae and Ceae com- 

 prising tweh'e tribes and cach race possessing two 

 cities ; the Asini inhabiting three cities, their chief 

 place being Oxhead, founded to be the bui-ial- 

 place of King Alexander's charger bearing that 

 name. Mountain tribes above these under the 

 Hindu Kush range are the Sosaeadae and Sondrae; 

 and crossing the Indus and foUowing it down-stream 

 we come to the Samarabiae, Sambraceni, Bisambritae, 

 Orsi and Andiseni, and the Taxilae with their famous 

 city. Then the region slopes down to level ground, 

 the whole having the name of Amenda ; and there 

 are four tribes, the PeucoHtae, Arsagahtae, Geretae 

 and Assoi ; indeed, most authorities do not put the 

 western frontier at the river Indus but include 

 four satrapies, the Gedrosi, Arachotae, Arii and 

 Paropanisidae, with the river Kabul as the final 

 boundary — the whole of which rcgion others con- 

 sider to belong to thc Arii. Moreover most people 

 also assign to India the city of Nisa and Mount 

 Merus which is sacred to Fathcr Liber (this being 

 the place from which originatcd the myth of the 

 birth of Liber from the thigh of Jove), and the same 

 as to the Aspagani tribe, a district producing the 

 vine, the bay and the box and all the kinds of fruit 

 indigenous to Greece, Remarkable and almost 

 fabulous reports as to fertihty of soil and variety 

 of crops and trees or wild animals and birds and 

 other living creatures will be recorded in their 



397 



