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When the Indians reach the place where the gold is, they fill their
bags with the sand, and ride away at their best speed: the ants,
however, scenting them, as the Persians say, rush forth in pursuit.
Now these animals are, they declare, so swift, that there is nothing
in the world like them: if it were not, therefore, that the Indians
get a start while the ants are mustering, not a single gold-gatherer
could escape. During the flight the male camels, which are not so
fleet as the females, grow tired, and begin to drag, first one, and
then the other; but the females recollect the young which they have
left behind, and never give way or flag. Such, according to the
Persians, is the manner in which the Indians get the greater part of
their gold; some is dug out of the earth, but of this the supply is
more scanty.
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