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The fourth of the Scythian rivers is the Borysthenes. Next to the
Ister, it is the greatest of them all; and, in my judgment, it is
the most productive river, not merely in Scythia, but in the whole
world, excepting only the Nile, with which no stream can possibly
compare. It has upon its banks the loveliest and most excellent
pasturages for cattle; it contains abundance of the most delicious
fish; its water is most pleasant to the taste; its stream is limpid,
while all the other rivers near it are muddy; the richest harvests
spring up along its course, and where the ground is not sown, the
heaviest crops of grass; while salt forms in great plenty about its
mouth without human aid, and large fish are taken in it of the sort
called Antacaei, without any prickly bones, and good for pickling.
Nor are these the whole of its marvels. As far inland as the place
named Gerrhus, which is distant forty days' voyage from the sea, its
course is known, and its direction is from north to south; but above
this no one has traced it, so as to say through what countries it
flows. It enters the territory of the Scythian Husbandmen after
running for some time across a desert region, and continues for ten
days' navigation to pass through the land which they inhabit. It is
the only river besides the Nile the sources of which are unknown to
me, as they are also (I believe) to all the other Greeks. Not
long before it reaches the sea, the Borysthenes is joined by the
Hypanis, which pours its waters into the same lake. The land that
lies between them, a narrow point like the beak of a ship, is called
Cape Hippolaus. Here is a temple dedicated to Ceres, and opposite
the temple upon the Hypanis is the dwelling-place of the
Borysthenites. But enough has been said of these streams.
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