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As to the physique of the other Scythians, in that they are like one another and not at all like others, the same remark applies to them as to the Egyptians, only the latter are distressed by the heat, the former by the cold.Both people are of peculiar physique, and the cause of the peculiarity is in the one case extreme heat, and in the other extreme cold. What is called the Scythian desert is level grassland, without trees,Or, reading ὑψηλή, a plateau. and fairly well-watered. For there are large rivers which drain the water from the plains. There too live the Scythians who are called Nomads because they have no houses but live in wagons. The smallest have four wheels, others six wheels. They are covered over with felt and are constructed, like houses, sometimes in two compartments and sometimes in three, which are proof against rain, snow and wind. The wagons are drawn by two or by three yoke of hornless oxen. They have no horns because of the cold. Now in these wagons live the women, while the men ride alone on horseback, followed by the sheep they have, their cattle and their horses. They remain in the same place just as long as there is sufficient fodder for their animals; when it gives out they migrate. They themselves eat boiled meats and drink mares’ milk. They have a sweetmeat called hippace, which is a cheese from the milk of mares (hippoi).
