Chap. 35.] 
ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, ETC. 
97 
tance to the open sea^ is altogether eighteen hundred and 
seventj^-five miles. All the other writers, however, are of 
opinion that, in consequence of the intensity of the sun's heat, 
this sea is not navigable; added to which, commerce is 
greatly exposed to the depredations of a piratical tribe of 
Arabians called Ascitse,^^ who dwell upon the islands : placing 
two inflated skins of oxen beneath a raft of wood, they ply their 
piratical vocation with the aid of poisoned arrows. "We learn 
also from the same author that some nations of the Troglodytae 
have the name of Therothoae,^^ being so called from their skill 
in hunting. They are remarkable for their swiftness^ he says, 
just as the Ichthyophagi are, who can swim like the animals 
whose element is the sea. He speaks also of the Bangeni, the 
Gangorse, the Chalybes, the Xoxinae, the Sirechse, the Daremee, 
and the Domazames. Juba states, too, that the inhabitants 
who dwell on the banks of the is ile from Syene as far as Meroe, 
are not a people of ^Ethiopia, but Arabians ; and that the city 
of the Suri, which we have mentioned as situate not far 
from Memphis, in our description of Egypt, was founded by 
Arabians. There are some writers who take away the fur- 
ther bank of the Mle from JEthiopia,^^* and unite it to 
Africa and they people its sides with tribes attracted thither 
by its water. We shall leave these matters, however, to the 
option of each, to form his opinion on them, and shall now 
proceed to mention the towns on each side^* in the order in 
which they are given. 
CHAP. 35. ETHIOPIA. 
On leaving Syene, and taking first the Arabian side, we 
find the nation of the Catadupi, then the Syenitae, and the 
9 The supposed commencement of the Atlantic, to the west of the Pro- 
montory of Mossylum. 
10 From the Greek acricoc, a bladder," or "inflated skin." It is not 
improbable that the story as to their mode of navigation is derived only 
from the fancied origin of their name. 
11 Apparently meaning in the Greek the "jackal-hunters," 9i]po9(xfeg. 
For an account of this animal, see B. viii. c. 52, and B. xv. c. 95. 
12 Heliopolis, described in B. v. c. 4. 
12* Considering it as part of Asia. 
13 Conformably with the usage of modem geographers, and, one would 
almost think, with that of common sense. 
14 Of the river Nile. 
15 As to Syene and the Catadupi, see B. v. c. 10. 
VOL. II. H 
