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As for the Eretrians, whom Datis and Artaphernes had carried away
captive, when the fleet reached Asia, they were taken up to Susa.
Now King Darius, before they were made his prisoners, nourished a
fierce anger against these men for having injured him without
provocation; but now that he saw them brought into his presence, and
become his subjects, he did them no other harm, but only settled them
at one of his own stations in Cissia - a place called Ardericea -
two hundred and ten furlongs distant from Susa, and forty from the
well which yields produce of three different kinds. For from this well
they get bitumen, salt, and oil, procuring it in the way that I will
now describe: they draw with a swipe, and instead of a bucket make use
of the half of a wine-skin; with this the man dips, and after
drawing, pours the liquid into a reservoir, wherefrom it passes into
another, and there takes three different shapes. The salt and the
bitumen forthwith collect and harden, while the oil is drawn off into
casks. It is called by the Persians "rhadinace," is black, and
has an unpleasant smell. Here then King Darius established the
Eretrians; and here they continued to my time, and still spoke their
old language. So thus it fared with the Eretrians.
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