Ἰνδικά 39.1: Strabo XV, p. 706, e formicis aurum effodientibus

39.1

Μεγασθένης δὲ περὶ τῶν μυρμήκων οὕτω φησὶν, ὅτι ἐν Δέρδαις, ἔθνει μεγάλῳ τῶν προσεῴων καὶ ὀρεινῶν Ἰνδῶν, ὀροπέδιον εἴη τρισχιλίων πως τὸν κύκλον σταδίων· ὑποκειμένων δὲ τούτῳ χρυσωρυχείων, οἱ μεταλλεύοντες εἶεν μύρμηκες, θηρίων ἀλωπέκων οὐκ ἐλάττους, τάχος ὑπερφυὲς ἔχοντες, καὶ ζῶντες ἀπὸ θήρας. Ὀρύττουσι δὲ χειμῶνι τὴν γῆν· σωρεύουσί τε πρὸς τοῖς στομίοις, καθάπερ οἱ ἀσπάλακες· ψῆγμα δ’ ἐστὶ χρυσοῦ μικρᾶς ἑψήσεως δεόμενον· τοῦθ’ ἱπποζυγίοις μετίασιν οἱ πλησιόχωροι λάθρα· φανερῶς γὰρ διαμάχονται, καὶ διώκουσι φεύγοντας· καταλαβόντες δὲ διαχρῶνται καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰ ὑποζύγια. Πρὸς δὲ τὸ λαθεῖν κρέα θήρεια προστιθέασι κατὰ μέρη· περισπασθέντων δ’ ἀναιροῦνται τὸ ψῆγμα, καὶ τῷ τυχόντι τῶν ἐμπόρων ἀργὸν διατίθενται, χωνεύειν οὐκ εἰδότες.

Megasthenes gives the following account of these ants. Among the Derdai, a great tribe of Indians, who inhabit the mountains on the eastern borders, there is an elevated plateau about 3,000 stadia in circuit. Beneath the surface there are mines of gold, and here accordingly are found the ants which dig for that metal. They are not inferior in size to wild foxes. They run with amazing speed, and live by the produce of the chase. The time when they dig is winter. They throw up heaps of earth, as moles do, at the mouth of the mines. The gold-dust has to be subjected to a little boiling. The people of the neighbourhood, coming secretly with beasts of burden, carry this off. If they came openly the ants would attack them, and pursue them if they fled, and would destroy both them and their cattle. So, to effect the robbery without being observed, they lay down in several different places pieces of the flesh of wild beasts, and when the ants are by this device dispersed they carry off the gold-dust.
This they sell to any trader they meet with while it is still in the state of ore, for the art of fusing metals is unknown to them.