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But that which surprises me most in the land, after the city itself,
I will now proceed to mention. The boats which come down the river to
Babylon are circular, and made of skins. The frames, which are of
willow, are cut in the country of the Armenians above Assyria, and
on these, which serve for hulls, a covering of skins is stretched
outside, and thus the boats are made, without either stem or stern,
quite round like a shield. They are then entirely filled with straw,
and their cargo is put on board, after which they are suffered to float
down the stream. Their chief freight is wine, stored in casks made of
the wood of the palm-tree. They are managed by two men who stand
upright in them, each plying an oar, one pulling and the other
pushing. The boats are of various sizes, some larger, some smaller;
the biggest reach as high as five thousand talents' burthen. Each
vessel has a live ass on board; those of larger size have more than
one. When they reach Babylon, the cargo is landed and offered for
sale; after which the men break up their boats, sell the straw and the
frames, and loading their asses with the skins, set off on their way
back to Armenia. The current is too strong to allow a boat to return
upstream, for which reason they make their boats of skins rather than
wood. On their return to Armenia they build fresh boats for the next voyage.
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