Book 16
4.18
Then follows a rugged coast, and after that are some bays and a country belonging to Nomades, who live by their camels. They fight from their backs; they travel upon them, and subsist on their milk and flesh. A river flows through their country, which brings down gold-dust, but they are ignorant how to make any use of it. They are called Debae;The Debae occupied Sockia. The river which flows through the country is called Betius by Ptolemy. some of them are Nomades, others husbandmen.
4.18
I do not mention the greater partρὰ πλείω is Kramer’s correction for παλαιὰ. of the names of these nations, on account of the obscurity of the people, and because the pronunciation of them is strangeSome are called by Diodorus Siculus, iii. 44, and Agatharchides, Asilaei and Casandres or Gasandres. [and uncouth].
4.18
Near these people is a nation more civilized, who inhabit a district with a more temperate climate ; for it is well watered, and has frequent showers.Instead of εὔομβρος, Groskurd reads πάμφορος, produces everything, following the fragments of Agatharchides and Diodorus Sic. b. iii. 44. Fossil gold is found there, not in the form of dust, but in lumps, which do not require much purification. The least pieces are of the size of a nut, the middle size of a medlar, the largest of a walnut. These are pierced and arranged alternately with transparent stones strung on threads and formed into collars. They are worn round the neck and wrists. They sell the gold to their neighbours at a cheap rate, exchanging it for three times the quantity of brass, and double the quantity of iron,Groskurd’s correction, σιδήρου for ἀργύρον, in the text, is adopted. But the passage is probably corrupt, and after σιδήρου we may read κὰ δεκαπλάσιον τοῦ ἀργύρου, for ten times the quantity of silver, according to Bochart, and approved by Kramer. through ignorance of the mode of working the gold, and the scarcity of the commodities received in exchange, which are more necessary for the purposes of life.
