herodotus

life as follows:--they neither kill any living thing nor do they sowany crops nor is it their custom to possess houses; but they feed onherbs, and they have a grain of the size of millet, in a sheath, whichgrows of itself from the ground; this they gather and boil with thesheath, and make it their food: and whenever any of them falls intosickness, he goes to the desert country and lies there, and none ofthem pay any attention either to one who is dead or to one who issick. 101. The sexual intercourse of all these Indians of whom I havespoken is open like that of cattle, and they have all one colour ofskin, resembling that of the Ethiopians: moreover the seed which theyemit is not white like that of other races, but black like their skin;and the Ethiopians also are similar in this respect. These tribes ofIndians dwell further off than the Persian power extends, and towardsthe South Wind, and they never became subjects of Dareios.102. Others however of the Indians are on the borders of the city ofCaspatyros and the country of Pactyïke, dwelling towards the North[91]of the other Indians; and they have a manner of living nearly the sameas that of the Bactrians: these are the most warlike of the Indians,and these are they who make expeditions for the gold. For in the partswhere they live it is desert on account of the sand; and in thisdesert and sandy tract are produced ants, which are in size smallerthan dogs but larger than foxes, for[92] there are some of them keptat the residence of the king of Persia, which are caught here. Theseants then make their dwelling under ground and carry up the sand justin the same manner as the ants found in the land of the Hellenes,which they themselves[93] also very much resemble in form; and thesand which is brought up contains gold. To obtain this sand theIndians make expeditions into the desert, each one having yokedtogether three camels, placing a female in the middle and a male likea trace-horse to draw by each side. On this female he mounts himself,having arranged carefully that she shall be taken to be yoked fromyoung ones, the more lately born the better. For their female camelsare not inferior to horses in speed, and moreover they are much morecapable of bearing weights. 103. As to the form of the camel, I do nothere describe it, since the Hellenes for whom I write are alreadyacquainted with it, but I shall tell that which is not commonly knownabout it, which is this:--the camel has in the hind legs four thighsand four knees,[94] and its organs of generation are between the hindlegs, turned towards the tail. 104. The Indians, I say, ride out toget the gold in the manner and with the kind of yoking which I havedescribed, making calculations so that they may be engaged in carryingit off at the time when the greatest heat prevails; for the heatcauses the ants to disappear underground. Now among these nations thesun is hottest in the morning hours, not at midday as with others, butfrom sunrise to the time of closing the market: and during this time