this place, and it found no
bottom. By this the scribe (if this which he told me was really as he
said) gave me to understand 35 that there were certain strong eddies
there and a backward flow, and that since the water dashed against the
mountains, therefore the sounding-line could not come to any bottom when
it was let down.

29. From no other person was I able to learn anything about this matter;
but for the rest I learnt so much as here follows by the most diligent
inquiry; 36 for I went myself as an eye-witness as far as the city of
Elephantine and from that point onwards I gathered knowledge by report.
From the city of Elephantine as one goes up the river there is country
which slopes steeply; so that here one must attach ropes to the vessel
on both sides, as one fastens an ox, and so make one's way onward;
and if the rope break, the vessel is gone at once, carried away by the
violence of the stream. Through this country it is a voyage of about
four days in length, and in this part the Nile is winding like the river
Maiander, and the distance amounts to twelve schoines, which one must
traverse in this manner. Then you will come to a level plain, in which
the Nile flows round an island named Tachompso. (Now in the regions
above Elephantine there dwell Ethiopians at once succeeding, who also
occupy half of the island, 37 and Egyptians the other half.) Adjoining
this island there is a great lake, round which dwell Ethiopian nomad
tribes; and when you have sailed through this you will come to the
stream of the Nile again, which flows into this lake. After this you
will disembark and make a journey by land of forty days; for in the Nile
sharp rocks stand forth out of the water, and there are many reefs, by
which it is not possible for a vessel to pass. Then after having passed
through this country in the forty days which I have said, you will
embark again in another vessel and sail for twelve days; and after this
you will come to a great city called Meroe. This city is said to be
the mother-city of all the other Ethiopians: and they who dwell in it
reverence of the gods Zeus and Dionysos alone, and these they greatly
honour; and they have an Oracle of Zeus established, and make warlike
marches whensoever this god commands them by prophesyings and to
whatsoever place he commands.

30. Sailing from this city you will come to the "Deserters" in another
period of time equal to that in which you came from Elephantine to th