Beyond them the whole country is desert on account of the sand. They who dwell in the marshes along the river live on raw fish, which they take in boats made of reeds, each formed out of a single joint. So also if a woman be sick, the women, who are her friends, take her and do with her exactly the same as the men. There is another set of Indians whose customs are very different. They refuse to put any live animal to death, they sow no corn, and have no dwelling-houses.
Vegetables are their only food.
They are more warlike than any of the other tribes, and from them the men are sent forth who go to procure the gold. For it is in this part of India that the sandy desert lies. Here, in this desert, there live amid the sand great ants, in size somewhat less than dogs, but bigger than foxes. The Persian king has a number of them, which have been caught by the hunters in the land whereof we are speaking. Those ants make their dwellings under ground, and like the Hellene ants, which they very much resemble in shape, throw up sand-heaps as they burrow.