herodotus

from every man and avoid the company of all; and they neither possessany weapon of war, nor know how to defend themselves against enemies.175. These dwell above the Nasamonians; and next to the Nasamoniansalong the sea coast towards the West come the Macai, who shave theirhair so as to leave tufts, letting the middle of their hair grow long,but round this on all sides shaving it close to the skin; and forfighting they carry shields made of ostrich skins. Through their landthe river Kinyps runs out into the sea, flowing from a hill called the"Hill of the Charites." This Hill of the Charites is overgrown thicklywith wood, while the rest of Libya which has been spoken of before isbare of trees; and the distance from the sea to this hill is twohundred furlongs. 176. Next to these Macai are the Gindanes, whosewomen wear each of them a number of anklets made of the skins ofanimals, for the following reason, as it is said:--for every man whohas commerce with her she binds on an anklet, and the woman who hasmost is esteemed the best, since she has been loved by the greatestnumber of men. 177. In a peninsula which stands out into the sea fromthe land of these Gindanes dwell the Lotophagoi, who live by eatingthe fruit of the /lotos/ only. Now the fruit of the lotos is in sizelike that of the mastich-tree, and in flavour[158] it resembles thatof the date-palm. Of this fruit the Lotophagoi even make forthemselves wine. 178. Next after the Lotophagoi along the sea-coastare the Machlyans, who also make use of the lotos, but less than thoseabove mentioned. These extend to a great river named the river Triton,and this runs out into a great lake called Tritonis, in which there isan island named Phla. About this island they say there was an oraclegiven to the Lacedemonians that they should make a settlement in it.179. The following moreover is also told, namely that Jason, when theArgo had been completed by him under Mount Pelion, put into it ahecatomb and with it also[159] a tripod of bronze, and sailed roundPelopponese, desiring to come to Delphi; and when in sailing he gotnear Malea, a North Wind seized his ship and carried it off to Libya,and before he caught sight of land he had come to be in the shoals ofthe lake Tritonis. Then as he was at a loss how he should bring hisship forth, the story goes that Triton appeared to him and bade Jasongive him the tripod, saying that he would show them the right courseand let them go away without hurt: and when Jason consented to it,then Triton showed them the passage out between the shoals and set thetripod in his own temple, after having first uttered a prophecy overthe tripod[160] and having declared to Jason and his company the wholematter, namely that whensoever one of the descendants of those whosailed with him in the Argo should carry away this tripod, then it wasdetermined by fate that a hundred cities of Hellenes should beestablished about the lake Tritonis. Having heard this the nativeLibyans concealed the tripod.