in number and small--the
nobles broad spots, close and thick, and of a deeper hue.

15. Next to these are the Melanchaenae and the Anthropophagi, who roam
about upon different tracts of land and live on human flesh. And these
men are so avoided on account of their horrid food, that all the tribes
which were their neighbours have removed to a distance from them. And in
this way the whole of that region to the north-east, till you come to
the Chinese, is uninhabited.

16. On the other side the Alani again extend to the east, near the
territories of the Amazons, and are scattered among many populous and
wealthy nations, stretching to the parts of Asia which, as I am told,
extend up to the Ganges, a river which passes through the country of the
Indians, and falls into the Southern Ocean.

17. Then the Alani, being thus divided among the two quarters of the
globe (the various tribes which make up the whole nation it is not worth
while to enumerate), although widely separated, wander, like the
Nomades, over enormous districts. But in the progress of time all these
tribes came to be united under one generic appellation, and are called
Alani....

18. They have no cottages, and never use the plough, but live solely on
meat and plenty of milk, mounted on their waggons, which they cover with
a curved awning made of the bark of trees, and then drive them through
their boundless deserts. And when they come to any pasture-land, they
pitch their waggons in a circle, and live like a herd of beasts, eating
up all the forage--carrying, as it were, their cities with them in their
waggons. In them the husbands sleep with their wives--in them their
children are born and brought up; these waggons, in short, are their
perpetual habitation, and wherever they fix them, that place they look
upon as their home.

19. They drive before them their flocks and herds to their pasturage;
and, above all other cattle, they are especially careful of their
horses. The fields in that country are always green, and are
interspersed with patches of fruit trees, so that, wherever they go,
there is no dearth either of food for themselves or fodder for their
cattle. And this is caused by the moisture of the soil, and the number
of the rivers which flow through these districts.

20. All their old people, and especially all the weaker sex, keep close
to the waggons, and occupy themselves in the lighter employments. But
the young men, who from their earliest c