The Middle Of This Region Is Almost In 66
Degrees Of E. Longitude, And 12 Degrees Of N. Lat.[216] About This
Region Dwell The People Called _Clodi, Risophagi, Axiuntiae, Babylonii,
Molili_, And _Molibae_.
After these is the region called _Trogloditica_,
the inhabitants of which dwell in caves and dens, instead of houses, and
feed upon the flesh of serpents, as is reported by Pliny and Diodorus
Siculus, who allege, that instead of language, they have only a kind of
grinning and chattering.
There are also people without heads, called
_Blemines_, having their eyes and mouths in their breast. Likewise
_Strucophagi_, and naked _Gamphasantes_; _satyrs_ also, who have nothing
of human nature except the shape. _Oripei_ likewise, who are great
hunters, and _Mennones_. Here also is _Smyrnophora_, or the region of
myrrh; after which is _Azania_, producing many elephants.[217] A great
portion of the eastern part of Africa beyond the equinoctial line is in
the kingdom of _Melinda_, the inhabitants of which have long been in use
to trade with the nations of Arabia, and whose king is now allied to the
king of Portugal, and pays tribute to Prester John.
[Footnote 216: Reckoning the longitude from the island of Ferro, the
middle of Abyssinia is only in about 52 deg. 30' E. and as Ferro is 18 deg. W.
from Greenwich, that coincides with 34 deg. 30' E. as the longitude is now
reckoned by British geographers. - E.]
[Footnote 217: It is impossible, in the compass of a note, to enter into
any commentary on this slight sketch of the ancient geography of eastern
Africa.
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