herodotus

the island of Platea as far as the entrance of the Syrtis. This nationpractises customs nearly resembling those of the rest. 170. Next tothe Giligamai on the West are the Asbystai:[153] these dwellabove[154] Kyrene, and the Asbystai do not reach down the sea, for theregion along the sea is occupied by Kyrenians. These most of all theLibyans are drivers of four-horse chariots, and in the greater numberof their customs they endeavour to imitate the Kyrenians. 171. Nextafter the Asbystai on the West come the Auchisai: these dwell aboveBarca and reach down to the sea by Euesperides: and in the middle ofthe country of the Auchisai dwell the Bacales,[155] a small tribe, whoreach down to the sea by the city of Taucheira in the territory ofBarca: these practise the same customs as those above Kyrene. 172.Next after these Auschisai towards the West come the Nasamonians, anumerous race, who in the summer leave their flocks behind by the seaand go up to the region of Augila to gather the fruit of the datepalms,which grow in great numbers and very large and are all fruitbearing:these hunt the wingless locusts, and they dry them in the sunand then pound them up, and after that they sprinkle them upon milkand drink them. Their custom is for each man to have many wives, andthey make their intercourse with them common in nearly the same manneras the Massagetai,[156] that is they set up a staff in front of thedoor and so have intercourse. When a Nasamonian man marries his firstwife, the custom is for the bride on the first night to go through thewhole number of the guests having intercourse with them, and each manwhen he has lain with her gives a gift, whatsoever he has brought withhim from his house. The forms of oath and of divination which they useare as follows:--they swear by the men among themselves who arereported to have been the most righteous and brave, by these, I say,laying hands upon their tombs; and they divine by visiting thesepulchral mounds of their ancestors and lying down to sleep upon themafter having prayed; and whatsoever thing the man sees in his dream,this he accepts. They practise also the exchange of pledges in thefollowing manner, that is to say, one gives the other to drink fromhis hand, and drinks himself from the hand of the other; and if theyhave no liquid, they take of the dust from the ground and lick it.173. Adjoining the Nasamonians is the country of the Psylloi. Thesehave perished utterly in the following manner:--The South Wind blowingupon them dried up all their cisterns of water, and their land waswaterless, lying all within the Syrtis. They then having taken aresolve by common consent, marched in arms against the South Wind (Ireport that which is reported by the Libyans), and when they hadarrived at the sandy tract, the South Wind blew and buried them in thesand. These then having utterly perished, the Nasamonians from thattime forward possess their land. 174. Above these towards the SouthWind in the region of wild beasts dwell the Garamantians,[157] who fly