Naturalis historia 7.22

7.22

multos ibi quina cubita constat longitudine excedere, non expuere, non capitis aut dentium aut oculorum ullo dolore adfici, raro aliarum corporis partium: tam moderato solis vapore durari. philosophos eorum, quos gymnosophistas vocant, ab exortu ad occasum perstare contuentes solem inmobilibus oculis, ferventibus harenis toto die alternis pedibus insistere. in monte, cui nomen est Nulo, homines esse aversis plantis octonos digitos in singulis habentes auctor est Megasthenes;

India, and the region of Æthiopia more especially, abounds in wonders. In India the largest of animals are produced; their dogs, for example, are much bigger than those of any other country. The trees, too, are said to be of such vast height, that it is impossible to send an arrow over them. This is the result of the singular fertility of the soil, the equable temperature of the atmosphere, and the abundance of water; which, if we are to believe what is said, are such, that a single fig-tree is capable of affording shelter to a whole troop of horse. The reeds here are also of such enormous length, that each portion of them, between the joints, forms a tube, of which a boat is made that is capable of holding three men. It is a well-known fact, that many of the people here are more than five cubits in height. These people never expectorate, are subject to no pains, either in the head, the teeth, or the eyes, and rarely in any other parts of the body; so well is the heat of the sun calculated to strengthen the constitution. Their philosophers, who are called Gymnosophists, remain in one posture, with their eyes immovably fixed upon the sun, from its rising to its setting, and, during the whole of the day, they are accustomed to stand in the burning sands on one foot, first one and then the other. According to the ac- count of Megasthenes, dwelling upon a mountain called Nulo, there is a race of men who have their feet turned backwards, with eight toes on each foot.