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Besides these, there are Indians of another tribe, who border on the
city of Caspatyrus, and the country of Pactyica; these people dwell
northward of all the rest of the Indians, and follow nearly the same
mode of life as the Bactrians. 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 Greek ants, which they very much resemble in
shape, throw up sand-heaps as they burrow. Now the sand which they
throw up is full of gold. The Indians, when they go into the desert
to collect this sand, take three camels and harness them together, a
female in the middle and a male on either side, in a leading-rein.
The rider sits on the female, and they are particular to choose for
the purpose one that has but just dropped her young; for their female
camels can run as fast as horses, while they bear burthens very much better.
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