|
The third river is the Hypanis. This stream rises within the limits
of Scythia, and has its source in another vast lake, around which
wild white horses graze. The lake is called, properly enough, the
Mother of the Hypanis. The Hypanis, rising here, during the
distance of five days' navigation is a shallow stream, and the water
sweet and pure; thence, however, to the sea, which is a distance of
four days, it is exceedingly bitter. This change is caused by its
receiving into it at that point a brook the waters of which are so
bitter that, although it is but a tiny rivulet, it nevertheless taints
the entire Hypanis, which is a large stream among those of the second
order. The source of this bitter spring is on the borders of the
Scythian Husbandmen, where they adjoin upon the Alazonians; and the
place where it rises is called in the Scythic tongue Exampaeus, which
means in our language, "The Sacred Ways." The spring itself
bears the same name. The Tyras and the Hypanis approach each other
in the country of the Alazonians, but afterwards separate, and leave
a wide space between their streams.
|
|