Γεωγραφικα 15.1.13

15.1.13

̔́απασα δʼ ἐστὶ κατάρρυτος ποταμοῖς ἡ Ἰνδική, τοῖς μὲν εἰς δύο τοὺς μεγίστους συρρηγνυμένοις τόν τε Ἰνδὸν καὶ τὸν Γάγγην, τοῖς δὲ κατʼ ἴδια στόματα ἐκδιδοῦσιν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν· ἅπαντες δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ Καυκάσου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχουσι καὶ φέρονται μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν μεσημβρίαν τὸ πρῶτον, εἶθʼ οἱ μὲν μένουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς φορᾶς καὶ μάλιστα οἱ εἰς τὸν Ἰνδὸν συμβάλλοντες, οἱ δʼ ἐπιστρέφονται πρὸς ἕω, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Γάγγης ποταμός. οὗτος μὲν οὖν καταβὰς ἐκ τῆς ὀρεινῆς, ἐπειδὰν ἅψηται τῶν πεδίων ἐπιστρέψας πρὸς ἕω καὶ ῥυεὶς παρὰ τὰ Παλίβοθρα μεγίστην πόλιν πρόεισιν ἐπὶ τὴν ταύτῃ θάλατταν καὶ μίαν ἐκβολὴν ποιεῖται, μέγιστος ὢν τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ποταμῶν· ὁ δὲ Ἰνδὸς δυσὶ στόμασιν εἰς τὴν μεσημβρινὴν ἐκπίπτει θάλατταν, ἐμπεριλαμβάνων τὴν Παταληνὴν καλουμένην χώραν παραπλησίαν τῷ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον Δέλτα. ἐκ δὲ τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως τῶν τοσούτων ποταμῶν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐτησίων, ὡς Ἐρατοσθένης φησί, βρέχεται τοῖς θερινοῖς ὄμβροις ἡ Ἰνδική, καὶ λιμνάζει τὰ πεδία· ἐν μὲν οὖν τούτοις τοῖς ὄμβροις λίνον σπείρεται καὶ κέγχρος, πρὸς τούτοις σήσαμον ὄρυζα βόσμορον· τοῖς δὲ χειμερινοῖς καιροῖς πυροὶ κριθαὶ ὄσπρια καὶ ἄλλοι καρποὶ ἐδώδιμοι, ὧν ἡμεῖς ἄπειροι. σχεδὸν δέ τι τοῖς ἐν Αἰθιοπίᾳ καὶ κατʼ Αἴγυπτον τὰ αὐτὰ φύεται καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰνδικῇ, καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ποταμοῖς πλὴν ἵππου ποταμίου τὰ ἄλλα φέρουσι καὶ οἱ Ἰνδικοί· Ὀνησίκριτος δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἵππους γίνεσθαί φησι. τῶν δʼ ἀνθρώπων οἱ μὲν μεσημβρινοὶ τοῖς Αἰθίοψίν εἰσιν ὅμοιοι κατὰ τὴν χροιάν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὄψιν καὶ τὴν τρίχωσιν τοῖς ἄλλοις (οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐλοτριχοῦσι διὰ τὴν ὑγρότητα τοῦ ἀέρος), οἱ δὲ βόρειοι τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις.

The whole of India is watered by rivers, some of which empty themselves into the two largest, the Indus and the Ganges; others discharge themselves into the sea by their own mouths. But all of them have their sources in the Caucasus. At their commencement their course is towards the south; some of them continue to flow in the same direction, particularly those which unite with the Indus; others turn to the east, as the Ganges. This, the largest of the Indian rivers, descends from the mountainous country, and when it reaches the plains, turns to the east, then flowing past Palibothra, a very large city, proceeds onwards to the sea in that quarter, and discharges its waters by a single mouth. The Indus falls into the Southern Sea, and empties itself by two mouths, encompassing the country called Patalene, which resembles the Delta of Egypt.
By the exhalation of vapours from such vast rivers, and by the Etesian winds, India, as Eratosthenes affirms, is watered by summer rains, and the plains are overflowed. During the rainy season flax, millet, sesamum, rice, and bosmorum are sowed; and in the winter season, wheat, barley, pulse, and other esculent fruits of the earth with which we are not acquainted. Nearly the same animals are bred in India as in Ethiopia and Egypt, and the rivers of India produce all the animals of those countries, except the hippopotamus, although Onesicritus asserts that even this animal is found in them.
The inhabitants of the south resemble the Ethiopians in colour, but their countenances and hair are like those of other people. Their hair does not curl, on account of the humidity of the atmosphere. The inhabitants of the north resemble the Egyptians.