146 
AMAZON S. 
Kelbia, or worshippers of the'' dog. Many of the Ansarians believe 
in the metempsychosis; others reject the immortality of the soul ; and 
in general, in that civil and religious anarchy, that ignorance and 
rudeness, which prevail among them, those peasants adopt what 
opinions tlvey think proper, following the sect they like best, and 
frequently attaching themselves to none. 
Their country is divided into three principal districts, formed by 
the chiefs called Mokadannim. Their tribute is paid to the pacha 
of Tripoli, from whom they annually receive their title. Their 
mountains are in general not so steep as those in Lebanon, and con- 
sequently are better adapted to cultivation; but they are also more 
exposed to the Turks, and hence doubtless it happens, that with 
greater plenty of corn, tobacco, wdnes, and olives, they are more 
thinly inhabited than those of their neighbours the Maronites and 
the Druses. 
Amazons. 
These were an ancient nation of female warriors, who are said to 
have founded an empire in Asia Minor, upon the river Thermocfoot), 
along the coasts of the Black Sea, and to have formed a state from 
w hich men were excluded. What commerce they had with that sex, 
was only with strangers : they killed all their male children ; and 
they cut off the right breasts of their female ones, to make them 
more fit for the combat. From which last circumstance it is, that 
they are supposed to take their name. But Dr. Bryant, in his Ana- 
lysis of Ancient Mythology, explodes this account as fabulous ; and 
observes, that they were in general Cuthite colonies, from Egypt 
and Syria, who formed settlements in different countries, and that 
they derived their name from zon, the sun, which was the national 
object of worship. It has, indeed, been controverted, even among 
ancient writers, whether there really ever w'ere such a nation as that 
of the Amazons. Strabo, Palaephatus, and others, deny it. On the 
contrary, Herodotus, Pausanias, Diodorus Siculus, Trogus Pom- 
peius, jnstin, Pliny, Mela, Plutarch, &c. expressly assert it. 
Tlie Amazons are mentioned by the most ancient Greek writers. 
In the third book of the Iliad, Homer represents Priam speaking as 
having been present in a battle with the Amazons; and some of them,' 
afterwards, came to the assistance of that prince during the siege of 
Troy. 
The Amazons are particularly mentioned by Herodotus, who 
informs us that the Grecians fought a battle with the Amazons, 
on the river Therniodoon, and defeated them. After this victory, 
they carried off all the Amazons they could take alive, in three 
ships. But, whilst they were out at sea, these Amazons con- ' 
spired against the men, and killed them all. Having, however, 
no knowfedge of navigation, nor any skill in the use of the rud- 
der, sails, or oars, they w'ere driven by^wind and tide till they 
arrived at the precipices of the lake Moeotis, in the territories of the 
Scythians. Here they went ashore, and seized the first horses they 
met with, and began to plunder the inhabitants. The Scythians at 
