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necks both of horses and oxen are longer than in other
countries.
The breeding of horses is most carefully attended to by
the kings (of the country); so much so, that the number of
colts is yearly calculated at 100,000. Sheep are fed with
milk and flesh, particularly near Ethiopia. These are the
customs of the interior.
20
The circuit of the Great Syrtis is about 3930 stadia, note
its depth to the recess is 1500 stadia, and its breadth at the
mouth is also nearly the same. The difficulty of navigating
both these and the Lesser Syrtis [arises from the circumstances
of] the soundings in many parts being soft mud. It sometimes happens, on the ebbing and flowing of the tide, that
vessels are carried upon the shallows, settle down, and are seldom recovered. Sailors therefore, in coasting, keep at a
distance (from the shore), and are on their guard, lest they
should be caught by a wind unprepared, and driven into these
gulfs. Yet the daring disposition of man induces him to attempt everything, and particularly the coasting along a
shore. On entering the Great Syrtis on the right, after passing the promontory Cephalae, is a lake of about 300 stadia in
length, and 70 stadia in breadth, which communicates with
the gulf, and has at its entrance small islands and an anchorage. After the lake follows a place called Aspis, and a harbour, the best of all in the Syrtis. Near this place is the
tower Euphrantas, the boundary between the former territory
of Carthage and Cyrenaïca under Ptolemy (Soter). Then
another place, called Charax, note which the Carthaginians frequented as a place of commerce, with cargoes of wine, and
loaded in return with silphium and its juice, which they received from merchants who brought it away clandestinely
from Cyrene; then the Altars of the Philaeni; note after these
Automola, a fortress defended by a garrison, and situated in
the recess of the whole gulf. The parallel passing through
this recess is more to the south than that passing through
