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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.R
[MAY, 1877.
great strength and courage, which will not let go their hold till water is poured into their nostrils: they bite so eagerly that the eyes of some become distorted, and the eyes of others fall out. Both a lion and a ball were held fast by a dog. The bull was seized by the muzzle, and died before the dog could be taken off. FRAGM. XIII.
in India of enormous size, which sting Europeans and natives alike. There are also serpents which are likewise winged. These do not go abroad during the day, but by night, when they let fall urine, which if it lights upon any one's skin at once raises putrid sores t thereon. Such is the statement of Megasthenes.
t
71
Elian, Hist. Anim. XVII. 39. Conf. Frag. XII. 2. Of Indian Apes.
In the country of the Praxii,s who are an Indian people, Megasthenês says there are apes not inferior in size to the largest dogs. They have tails five cubits long, hair grows on their forehead, and they have luxuriant beards hanging down their breast. Their face is entirely white, and all the rest of the body black. They are tame and attached to man, and not malicious by nature like the apes of other countries.
FRAGM. XIV.
Elian, Hist. Anim. XVI. 41. Conf. Fragm. XII. 4. Of Winged, Scorpions and Serpents. Megasthenes says there are winged scorpions
o poke yak banged box to F
puts and herbed FRAGM. XV. Strabo, XV. i. 56, pp. 710-711. Of the Beasts of India, and the Reed. He (Magathens) mys there are monkeys, rollers of rocks, which climb precipices whence they roll down stones upon their pursuers. Most animals, he says, which are tame with us are wild in India, and he speaks of horses which are one-horned and have heads like those of deer; and also of reeds some of which grow straight up to the height of thirty orguice, while others grow along the ground to the length of fifty. They vary in thickness from three to six cubits in diameter.
FRAGM. XV.B.
Elian, Hist. Anim. XVI. 20. 21. Conf. Fragm. XV. 2. 1. Va Of some Beasts of India. (20.) In certain districts of India (I speak of those which are most inland) they say there are inaccessible mountains infested by wild beasts, and which are also the haunts of animals like those of our own country except that they are wild; for even sheep, they say, run wild there, as well as dogs and goats and oxen, which roam about at their own pleasure, being independent and free from the dominion of the herdsman. That their number is beyond calenlation is stated not only by writers on India, but also by the learned men of the country, among whom the Brachmans deserve to be reckoned, whose testimony is to the I FRAGM, XIII. B. Elian, Hist, Anim. XVI. 10. Of Indian Apes.
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Among the Prasii in India there is found, they say, a species of apes of human-like intelligence, and which are to appearance about the size of Hurkanian dogs. Nature, has furnished them with foreiocks, which one ignorant of the reality would take to be artificial. Their chin, like that of a satyr, turns upward, and their tail is like the potent one of the lion. Their body is white all over except the face and the tip of the tail, which are of a reddish colour. They are very intelligent, and naturally tame. They are bred in the woods, where also they live, subsisting on the fruits which they find growing wild on the hills. They resort in great numbers to the suburbs of
Sp
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same effect. It is also said that there exists in India a one-horned animal, called by the natives the Kartazón. It is of the size of a full-grown horse, and has a crest, and yellow hair soft as wool. It is furnished with very good legs and is very fleet. Its legs are jointless and formed like those of the elephant, and it has a tail like a swine's. A horn sprouts out from between its eyebrows, and this is not straight, but curved into the most natural wreaths, and is of a black colour. It is said to be extremely sharp, this horn. The animal, as I learn, has a voice beyond all example loud-ringing and dissonant. It allows
Latage, an Indian city, where they eat rice which has been laid down for them by the king's orders. In fact, every day a ready-prepared meal is set out for their use. It is said that when they have satisfied their appetite they retire in an orderly manner to their haunts in the woods, without injuring a single thing that comes in their way.
The Prachyas (i.e. Easterns) are called by Strabo, Arrian, and Pliny Πράσιοι, Prsait ; by Plutarch (Alen. 62) Πραίσιοι, a name often used by Elian also; by Nikolaus Damas, (ap. Stob. Floril. 37, 38) Пpavoias; by Diodorus (xvii. 93) Bphotos; by Curtius (IX. 2,3) Pharrasii; by Justin (xii. 8, 9) Præsides. Megasthenes attempted to approximate more closely to the Sanskrit Práchya, for here he uses Пpatiaxós. And it appears that should be substituted for
Πράσιοι La Stephan. Βynaut, Giade it omes between the
words Ipágios and Ipao. Schwanbeck, p. 82, not. 6.
The orguia was four cubite, or equal to 6 feet 1 inch...
