BOOK VI. xxxv. 196-XXXV1. 198 



The length of the whole of the territory of the 

 Ethiopians including the Red Sea -svas estimated by 

 Agrippa as 2170" niiles and its breadth including 

 Upper Egypt 1296 miles. Some authors give the 

 folloAving divisions of its length : from Mcroe to 

 Sirbitus 12 days' sail, from Sirbitus to the Dabelli 12 

 days' sail, and from the Dabelli to the Ethiopic Ocean 

 6 days' journey by hmd. But authorities are virtually 

 agreed that the whole distance from the ocean to 

 Meroe is 625 miles and that the distance from 

 Meroe to Syene is what we have stated above. The § I84. 

 conformation of Ethiopia spreads from south-east to 

 south-west \dth its centre Une running south.* It 

 has flourishing forests, mostly of ebony trees. 

 Rising from the sea at the middle of the coast is a 

 mountain*^ of great height which glows with eternal 

 fires — its Greek name is the Chariot of the Gods ; 

 and four davs' voyage from it is the cape called the 

 Hom of the West, on the confines of Africa, adjacent 

 to the Western Ethiopians. Some authorities also 

 report hills of moderate height in this region, clad 

 \\-ith agreeable shady thickets and belonging to the 

 Goat-Pans and Satyrs. 



XXXVT. It is stated by Ephorus, and also by isiaiuUoff 

 Eudoxus and Timosthenes, that there are a large ^Z"'^''- 

 number of islands scattered over the whole of the 

 Eastern Sea ; while CUtarchus says that King 

 Alexander received a report of one that was so 

 wealthy that its inhabitants gave a talent of gold for 

 a horse, and of another on which a holy mountain had 

 been found, covered with a dense forest of trees 

 from which fell drops of moisture having a marvel- 

 louslv agreeable scent. An island op))Osite the 

 Persian (^ulf and lying off Ethiopia is named Cerne ; 



485 



