Geography

​To the Egyptian matters we must also add those things that are peculiar, such as the so-called Egyptian bean, from which the ciborium is made, and the papyrus; for these are found only here and among the Indians. And the persea is found only here and among the Ethiopians, being a large tree which has sweet and large fruit; and the sycamore which bears the so-called sycomorus fruit, for it resembles a fig, but is inferior in taste. There is also produced the corsion and a kind of sweetmeat resembling pepper, though slightly larger than it. As for the fish in the Nile, there are indeed many others that have a peculiar and local character, but the best known are the oxyrhynchus, the lepidotus, the latus, the alabes, the coracinus, the choerus, the phagrorius (which they also call phagrus), and furthermore, the silurus, the citharus, the thrissa, the cestreus, the lychnus, the physa, and the bous. And among shellfish, there are large snails which utter a sound resembling wailing. The local animals also include the ichneumon and the Egyptian asp, which has a certain peculiar character compared to those in other places; it is of two kinds, one of a span’s length, which causes a swifter death, and the other nearly a fathom in length, as Nicander, the author of the Theriaca, has also stated. And among birds, there are the ibis and the Egyptian hawk, which is tame compared to those elsewhere, as is also the cat. And the night-raven is of a peculiar character here; for while with us it attains the size of an eagle and utters a deep sound, in Egypt it is of the size of a jackdaw and has a different cry. And the ibis is extremely tame, resembling the stork in shape and size, but of two colors, one resembling the stork and the other entirely black. Every street-crossing in Alexandria is full of them, in one way usefully, but in another way inconveniently; usefully, because they pick out every noxious creature and the offal from the meat-markets and fish-markets; but inconveniently, because they are omnivorous, unclean, and with difficulty kept away from clean places and from polluting everything else.

​And Herodotus’ statement is also true, and it is an Egyptian custom to knead clay with their hands, but the dough for bread-making with their feet. And the kakeis is also a peculiar kind of bread, which binds the bowels; and the kiki is a kind of fruit sown in the fields, from which oil is pressed out, for lamps for almost all the inhabitants of the country, and for anointing for the poorer and more laboring classes, both men and women; and the koikina woven articles are Egyptian, made from a certain plant, resembling those made of rushes or palm-leaves. As for beer, it is prepared in a peculiar way among them, but is common to many peoples, and among each the preparations are different. And this is also one of the customs most zealously observed among them, to rear all born children, and to circumcise the males and excise the females, which is also a custom among the Jews; and these latter are also Egyptians by origin, just as we have said in our account concerning them. Aristobulus says that no food-fish runs up from the sea into the Nile except the cestreus, the thrissa, and the dolphin, because of the crocodiles—the dolphins because they are stronger, and the cestreus because they are escorted by the choeri along the shore in accordance with a certain natural affinity; and that the crocodiles abstain from the choeri because they are round and have spines on their head which bring danger to the beasts; that, therefore, the cestreus run up in spring when they are with spawn, and go down shortly before the setting of the Pleiades in large numbers to spawn, at which time their capture also takes place, as they fall into the weirs in large numbers; and that some such reason can also be conjectured in the case of the thrissa. This much also concerning Egypt.