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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
way through his nostrils, runs out, when death ensues after a short but sharp agony. If a smaller dose is taken, death does not immediately ensue, but does so eventually. The black poison, again, which has oozed from the snake when dead, operates but slowly, for if one swallows the same bulk of it as of the other, it corrupts his blood and he falls into a consumption, of which he dies in a year's time. Many, however, survive for two years, dying inch by inch.
FRAG. XVIII.
Elian, De Nat. An. IV, 41.
There is a species of Indian bird of very diminutive size which may be thus described. It builds its nests on high and precipitous mountains, and is about as big as a partridge egg, and of a bright red colour like realgar. The Indians call it in their tongue dikairon, and the Greeks in theirs, as I am informed, dikaion (i. e. just). Its dung has a peculiar property, for if a quantity of it no bigger than a grain of millet be dissolved into a potion, it would be enough to kill a man by the fall of evening. But the death that comes thereby resembles a sleep, and is most pleasant withal and pangless, being like that death which the poets are wont to call lusimelés (limb-relaxing) and ablékhros (easy), for such a death is painless, and is therefore to those who wish to be rid of life, the sweetest of all deaths. The Indians accordingly spare no pains to procure this substance, which they regard as a genuine anodyne for all human ills. Hence it is included among the costly presents sent by the king of the Indians to the Persian king, by whom it is prized more than aught else, and who treasures it up as a sure defence in case of necessity against ills that are past all other remedy. No one in all Persia possesses it save only the king himself and the king's mother. Let us here then compare this Indian drug with the Egyptian so as to determine which is superior. The Egyptian we saw, had the effect throughout the day it was taken of restraining and checking tears, whereas the Indian induced an unending oblivion of all ills. The former was the gift of a woman, and the latter the gift of a bird, or rather of Nature, which, through the agency of this bird, unfetters man from the sternest bondage. And the Indians, they say, are happy in the possession of this, since they
[NOVEMBER, 1881.
can by its means whenever they please, escape from their prison-house here below. FRAG. XIX.
Apollonios (Dyskolos), Hist. Mirab. XVII. Ktêsias says that in India is found a tree called the parybon. This draws to itself everything that comes near, as gold, silver, tin, copper and all other metals. Nay, it even attracts sparrows when they alight in its neighbourhood. Should it be of large size, it would attract even goats and sheep and similar animals. FRAG. XX.
Pliny, Hist. Nat. XXXVII, 2.
Ktêsias says that in India is a river, the Hypobarus, and that the meaning of its name is the bearer of all good things. It flows from the north into the Eastern Ocean near a mountain well-wooded with trees that produce amber. These trees are called aphytacorae, a name which means luscious sweetness.
FRAG. XXI.
Tzetzês, Chil. VII, v, 714. Ktêsias says that in India are the trees that produce amber, and the men called the Kynokephaloi, who, according to his account, are very just men living by produce of the chase.
FRAG. XXII.
Pliny, Hist. Nat. VII, 2.
On many mountains (of India) is found a race of men with heads like those of dogs, who are dressed with the skins of wild beasts, who bark instead of speaking, and who, being armed with claws, live by hunting and fowling. Ktêsias says that in his time the number of these men was 120,000.
FRAG. XXIII. Ælian, IV, 46.
Among the Indians are found certain insects about the size of beetles and of a colour so red that at first sight one might mistake them for cinnabar. Their legs are of extraordinary length and soft to the touch. They grow upon the trees which produce amber, and subsist upon their fruit. The Indians collect them for the sake of the purple dye, which they yield when crushed. This dye is used for tinting with purple not only their outer and their under-garments, but also any other substance where a purple hue is required. Robes tinted with this purple are sent to the Persian king, for the Indian purple is thought by the Persians to be marvellously beautiful and far superior to their own. This we learn from
