The histories of Herodotus;

268 HERODOTUS—BOOK IV, MELPOMENE [181-184
columns of Hercules. At intervals of a ten days' journey
in this ridge there are pieces of salt in large lumps on hills;
and at the top of each hill, from the midst of the salt, cold and
sweet water gushes up ; and around it dwell people the farthest
toward the desert, and beyond the wild beast tract. The
first after a ten days' journey from Thebes are the Ammonians,
who have a temple resembling that of Theban Jupiter. For,
as I said before, the image of Jupiter at Thebes has the head
of a ram. They have also another kind of spring water which
in the morning is tepid, becomes colder about the time of full
forum, and at midday is very cold; then they water their
gardens. As the day declines it gradually loses its coldness,
till the sun sets, then the water becomes tepid again, and
continuing to increase in heat till midnight, it then boils and
bubbles up ; when midnight is passed, it gets cooler until
morning. This fountain is called after the sun. Next to the
Ammonians, along the ridge of sand, at the end of another
ten days' journey, there is a hill of salt, like that of the Ammonians,
and water, and men live round it : the name of this
region is Augila ; to this place the Nasamonians go to gather
the dates. From the Augilse at the end of another ten days'
journey is another hill of salt and water, and many fruit-bearing
palm trees, as also in the other places; and men inhabit
it who are called Garamantes, a very powerful nation; they
lay earth upon the salt, and then sow their ground. From
these to the Lotophagi the shortest route is a journey of thirty
days : among them the kine that feed backward are met with
they feed backward for this reason : they have horns that are
bent forward, therefore they draw back as they feed ; for they
are unable to go forward, because their horns would stick in
the ground. They differ from other kine in no other respects
than this, except that their hide is thicker and harder. These
Garamantes hunt the Ethiopian Troglodytes in four-horse
chariots ; for the Ethiopian Troglodytes are the swiftest of
foot of all men of whom we have heard any account given.
The Troglodytes feed upon serpents and lizards, and other
reptiles : they speak a language like no other, but screech
like bats.
At the distance of another ten days' journey from the
Garamantes is another hill of salt and water, and men live
round it who are called Atarantes ; they are the only people
we know of who have not personal names. For the name
Atarantes belongs to them collectively, but to each one of
them no name is given. They curse the sun as he passes over
their heads, and, moreover, utter against him the foulest in-
;