Ἰνδικά 39.2: Arrianus Ind. c. 5, 4

39.2

Μεγασθένης δὲ καὶ ἀτρεκέας εἶναι ὑπὲρ τῶν μυρμήκων τὸν λόγον ἱστορέει, τούτους εἶναι τοὺς τὸν χρυσὸν ὀρύσσοντας, οὐκ αὐτοῦ τοῦ χρυσοῦ ἕνεκα, ἀλλὰ φύσι γὰρ κατὰ τῆς γῆς ὀρύσσουσιν, ἵνα φωλεύοιεν· κατάπερ οἱ ἡμέτεροι οἱ σμικροὶ μύρμηκες ὀλίγον τῆς γῆς ὀρύσσουσιν· (6) ἐκείνους δὲ, εἶναι γὰρ ἀλωπέκων μέζονας, πρὸς λόγον τοῦ μεγέθεος σφῶν καὶ τὴν γῆν ὀρύσσειν· τὴν δὲ γῆν χρυσῖτιν εἶναι, καὶ ἀπὸ ταύτης γίνεσθαι Ἰνδοῖσι τὸν χρυσόν. (7) Ἀλλὰ Μεγασθένης ἀκοὴν ἀπηγέεται.

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.