Book 17
2.3
In Meroë the priests anciently held the highest rank, and sometimes sent orders even to the king, by a messenger, to put an end to himself, when they appointed another king in his place. At last one of their kings abolished this custom, by going with an armed body to the temple where the golden shrine is, and slaughtering all the priests.
2.3
The following custom exists among the Ethiopians. If a king is mutilated in any part of the body, those who are most attached to his person, as attendants, mutilate themselves in the same manner, and even die with him. Hence the king is guarded with the utmost care. This will suffice on the subject of Ethiopia.
2.4
To what has been said concerning Egypt, we must add these peculiar products; for instance, the Egyptian bean, as it is called, from which is obtained the ciborium,Above, c. i. § 15. and the papyrus, for it is found here and in India only; the persea (peach) grows here only, and in Ethiopia; it is a lofty tree, and its fruit is large and sweet; the sycamine, which produces the fruit called the sycomorus, or fig-mulberry, for it resembles a fig, but its flavour is not esteemed. The corsium also (the root of the Egyptian lotus) grows there, a condiment like pepper, but a little larger.
2.4
There are in the Nile fish in great quantity and of different kinds, having a peculiar and indigenous character. The best known are the oxyrynchus,The sturgeon. and the lepidotus,Cyprinus bynni. the latus,Perea Nilotica. Cuvier, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, xii. 5. the alabes,Silurus anguillaris. Linn. the coracinus,Pliny, xxxii. 5. Coracini pisces Nilo quidem peculiares sunt. Athenaeus, b. vii. c. 83, p. 484. Bohn’s Classical Library. the choerus, the phagrorius, called also the phagrus. Besides these are the silurus, the citharus,Called by the Arabs gamor-el-Lelleh, or star of the night. Cuvier. the thrissa,The shad. the cestreus,The mullet. the lychnus, the physa, the bous (or ox), and large shell-fish which emit a sound like that of wailing
