Kitap 16
4.8
Near Meroë is the confluence of the Astaboras,Tacazze. the Astapus,The Blue Nile. and of the Astasobas with the Nile.
4.9
On the banks of these rivers live the Rhizophagi (or root-eaters) and Heleii (or marsh-men). They have their name from digging roots in the adjacent marsh, bruising them with stones, and forming them into cakes, which they dry in the sun for food. These countries are the haunts of lions. The wild beasts are driven out of these places, at the time of the rising of the dog-star, by large gnats.
4.9
Near these people live the Spermophagi (or seed-eaters), who, when seeds of plants fail, subsist upon seeds of trees,ἀκροδρύων is expressed in the Periplus of Agatharchides by the words τὸν καρπὸν πίπτοντα ἀπὸ τῶν δένδρων, the fruit falling from the trees. The Periplus adds another tribe, the Hylophagi, wood-eaters, who subsisted on the tender branches of certain trees. Strabo refers to them, b. xvii. c. ii. § 2, but without giving their name. The pods of the Lotus Zizyphus are eatable, and may here be meant. which they prepare in the same manner as the Rhizophagi prepare their roots.
4.9
Next to Elaea are the watch-towers of Demetrius, and the altars of Conon. In the interior Indian reeds grow in abundance. The country there is called the country of Coracius.
