| [p. 121]
meats and drink mares' milk. They have a sweetmeat
called hippace, which is a cheese from the milk
of mares (hippoi).
PART 19
XIX. So much for their mode of living and their
customs. As to their seasons and their physique,
the Scythians are very different from all other men,
and, like the Egyptians, are homogeneous ; they are
the reverse of prolific, and Scythia breeds the smallest
and the fewest wild animals. For it lies right close
to the north and the Rhipaean mountains, from
which blows the north wind. The sun comes
nearest to them only at the end of its course,
when it reaches the summer solstice, and then it
warms them but slightly and for a short time. The
winds blowing from hot regions do not reach them,
save rarely, and with little force ; but from the
north there are constantly blowing winds that are
chilled by snow, ice, and many waters, which, never
leaving the mountains, render them uninhabitable.
A thick fog envelops by day the plains upon which
they live, so that winter is perennial, while summer,
which is but feeble, lasts only a few days. For the
plains are high and bare, and are not encircled
with mountains, though they slope from the north.
The wild animals too that are found there are not large,
but such as can find shelter under ground. They
are stunted owing to the severe climate and the
bareness of the land, where there is neither warmth| Strangely enough, both Littré and Adams translate as
though they took ἀλέη to be the Epic word meaning "means
of escape." |
nor shelter. And the changes of the seasons are
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