156
king keeps in his pay at all times 60,000 foot 30,000 horse, and 8000 elephants.
Beyond Palibôtra is Mount Maleus,[1] on which shadows in winter fall towards the north, in summer towards the south, for six months alternately. In that region the Bears are seen but once a year, and not for more than fifteen days, as Beton informs us, who allows that this happens in many parts of India. Those living near the river Indus in the regions that turn southward are scorched more than others by the heat, and at last the complexion of the people is visibly affected by the great power of the sun. The mountains are inhabited by the Pygmies.
But those who live near the sea hane no kings.
The Pandæan nation is governed by females, and their first queen is said to have been the daughter of Hercules. The city Nysa is assigned to this region, as is also the mountain sacred to Jupiter, Mêros by name, in a cave on which the ancient Indians affirm Father Bacchus was nourished; while the name has given rise to the well-known fantastic story that Bacchus was born from the thigh of his father. Beyond the mouth of the Indus are two islands, Chryse and Argyre, which yield such an abundant supply of metals that many writers allege their soils consist of gold and of silver.
- ↑ Possibly, as suggested by Yule, Mount Pârśvanâtha, near the Damudâ, and not far from the Tropic; vide Ind. Ant. vol. VI. p. 127, note §, and conf. vol. I. p. 46ff. The Malli (see above), in whose country it was, are not to be confounded with another tribe of the same name in the PanjÂb, mentioned by Arrian; see vol. V. pp. 87, 96, 388.—Ed. Ind. Ant.
