CURIOUS CREATURES. 13 



to Apollo, on Mount Soracte, on which occasion they 

 walk over a burning pile of wood, without being scorched 

 even. On this account, by virtue of a decree of the 

 Senate, they are always exempted from military service, 

 and from all other public duties. 



Some individuals, again, are born with certain parts 

 of the body endowed with properties of a marvellous 

 nature. Such was the case with King Pyrrhus, the 

 great toe of whose right foot cured diseases of the spleen, 

 merely by touching the patient. We are informed that 

 this toe could not be reduced to ashes together with the 

 other portions of his body ; upon which it was placed 

 in a temple. 



India and the region of Ethiopia, more especially, 

 abounds in wonders. In India the largest of animals 

 are produced ; their dogs, for instance, are much bigger 

 than those of any other country. The trees, too, are 

 said to be of such vast height that it is impossible to 

 send an arrow over them. This is the result of the 

 singular fertility of the soil, the equable temperature of 

 the atmosphere, and the abundance of water ; which, if 

 we are to believe what is said, are such, that a single 

 fig tree (the banyan tree) is capable of affording shelter 

 to a whole troop of horse. The reeds here (bamboos) 

 are of such enormous length, that each portion of them, 

 between the joints, forms a tube, of which a boat is 

 made that is capable of holding three men. It is a well- 

 known fact, that many of the people here are more than 

 five cubits in height. 1 These people never expectorate, 

 are subject to no pains, either in the head, the teeth, 

 and the eyes, and, rarely, in any other parts of the body ; 



1 The Roman cubit was eighteen inches, so that these men were nearly 

 eight feet high. 



