Geography

​After this island there are many tribes of Ichthyophagists and nomads; then the Harbor of Soteira, which some of the commanders, having been saved from great dangers, named thus from the event. After this there is a great change in the coast and the gulf; for it happens that the coastal voyage is no longer rough, but somehow adjoins Arabia, and the sea is shallow, almost to the depth of two fathoms, and the surface appears grassy because the moss and seaweed, which abound in the passage, shine through, so that even trees grow under water near the people there; and the passage also has a multitude of sea-dogs; then the Tauri, two mountains indicating from afar a certain shape similar to the animals; then another mountain having a sanctuary of Isis, a foundation of Sesostris; then an island planted thick with olive trees, which is inundated; after which is Ptolemais near the elephant-hunting ground, a foundation of Eumedes, who was sent for the hunting by Philadelphus, who secretly enclosed a certain peninsula with a ditch and a wall, and then, having won over those who tried to prevent him, made them friends instead of enemies.

​And in the interval there flows out a branch of the river called Astaboras, which, having its source in a lake, discharges a certain part here, but the greater part joins the Nile; then six islands called Latomiae; and after these the so-called Sabaïtic mouth, and in the interior a fortress, a foundation of Tosouchus; then a harbor called Elaia, and the Island of Straton; then the harbor of Saba and an elephant-hunting ground of the same name; and the country in the depth of these is called Tenessis; and the Egyptian fugitives from Psammitichus hold it; and they are named Sembritae, as being newcomers; and they are ruled by a woman, under whom is also Meroe, an island in the Nile near these places, above which is another island in the river not far away, a settlement of these same fugitives. And from Meroe to this sea is a journey of fifteen days for an active traveler. And near Meroe is also the junction of the Astaboras, the Astapus, and also the Astasobas with the Nile.

​And near these dwell the people called Rhizophagists and Heleians, because they cut roots from the neighboring marsh, pound them with stones, mold them into cakes, and eat them after drying them in the sun; and the places are lion-pastures; and during the days around the rising of the Dog Star the beasts are driven out of the places by large gnats; and there are also Spermophagists nearby, who, when seeds fail, feed upon tree-fruits, preparing them in a manner similar to that in which the Rhizophagists prepare roots. And after Elaia are the lookout-posts of Demetrius and the altars of Conon; and in the interior a multitude of Indian reeds grows; and the country is called Coracion; and in the depth there was a certain Endera, a settlement of naked men, who used reed bows and fire-hardened arrows; and they shoot the beasts for the most part from trees, but sometimes from the ground; and there is a very great multitude of wild oxen among them; and they live by eating the flesh of these and other beasts, and when they hunt nothing, they are satisfied with such food by roasting dry skins on hot coals. And it is their custom to propose a contest in archery for the under-aged boys. And after the altars of Conon is the Melinus Harbor; and above it lies a fortress called Coraous, and a hunting ground of Coraous, and another fortress and several hunting grounds; then the Harbor of Antiphilus, and the Creophagists above it, who are circumcised in their foreskins, and the women are circumcised in the Jewish fashion.