In Meroe, Or Abyssinia, He Says, They Hunt Elephants And
Hamstring Them, And Afterwards Cut The Flesh Out Of The Animal Alive:
He
adds, that the inhabitants are so extremely fond of the flesh of the
elephant, thus procured, that when
Ptolemy would have paid any price to
purchase these animals alive, as he wanted them for his army, the
Abyssinian hunters refused his offer, declaring that not all the wealth of
Egypt would tempt them to forego their favourite and delicious repast. It
is a remarkable fact, that the credit of Bruce on this topic should thus be
confirmed by a writer who lived nearly 2000 years before him, of whose
writings we possess only a very short treatise, and of whose life we know
scarcely a single particular. It may be added, that Strabo, in a passage,
in which he is apparently copying Agatharcides, mentions [Greek:
Kreophagoi] and as he would scarcely particularize the fact of a native
eating the flesh of animals cooked, it is to be presumed, he means raw
flesh. In the same place he mentions the _excisio feminarum_.
Every reader of Brace's Travels in Abyssinia must remember the fly, called
Tsalpsalza, an insect more formidable than the strongest or most savage
wild beasts: "As soon as the buzzing of this insect is heard, the utmost
alarm and trepidation prevails; the cattle forsake their food and run
wildly about the plain, till at length they fall down, worn out with
terror, hunger and fatigue; even the camel, elephant and rhinoceros, are
not safe from the attacks of this formidable insect." This fly is described
by Agatharcides in the same manner as by Bruce.
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