Book 15
2.14
Asses, on account of the scarcity of horses, are generally made use of even in war. They sacrifice an ass to Mars, who is the only deity worshipped by them, for they are a warlike people. No one marries before he has cut off the head of an enemy and presented it to the king, who deposits the scull in the royal treasury. The tongue is minced and mixed with flour, which the king, after tasting it, gives to the person who brought it, to be eaten by himself and his family. That king is the most highly respected, to whom the greatest number of heads are presented.
2.14
According to Nearchus, most of the customs and the language of the inhabitants of Carmania resemble those of the Persians and Medes.
2.14
The passage across the mouth of the Persian Gulf does not occupy more than one day.
CHAPTER III.
3.1
NE3T to Carmania is Persis. A great part of it extends along the coast of the Gulf, which has its name from the country, but a much larger portion stretches into the interior, and particularly in its length, reckoned from the south, and Carmania to the north, and to the nations of Media.
