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Carmanian vine, as we call it, often bears bunches of grapes of two cubits in size; the seeds are very numerous and very large; probably the plant grows in its native soil with great luxuriance.
Asses, on account of the scarcity of horses, are generally made use of even in war. They sacrifice an ass to Mars, who is the only deity worshipped by them, for they are a warlike people. No one marries before he has cut off the head of an enemy and presented it to the king, who deposits the scull in the royal treasury. The tongue is minced and mixed with flour, which the king, after tasting it, gives to the person who brought it, to be eaten by himself and his family. That king is the most highly respected, to whom the greatest number of heads are presented.
According to Nearchus, most of the customs and the language of the inhabitants of Carmania resemble those of the Persians and Medes.
The passage across the mouth of the Persian Gulf does not occupy more than one day.
NEXT to Carmania is Persis. A great part of it extends along the coast of the Gulf, which has its name from the country, but a much larger portion stretches into the interior, and particularly in its length, reckoned from the south, and Carmania to the north, and to the nations of Media.
It is of a threefold character, as we regard its natural condition and the quality of the air. First, the coast, extending for about 4400 or 4300 stadia, is burnt up with heat; it is sandy, producing little except palm trees, and terminates at the greatest river in those parts, the name of which is Oroatis. note Secondly, the country above the coast produces everything, and is a plain; it is excellently adapted for the rearing of cattle, and abounds with rivers and lakes.
The third portion lies towards the north, and is bleak and mountainous. On its borders live the camel-breeders.
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Strabo, Geography (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Str.].
