Histories

sown in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt, it produces abundant fruit, though malodorous; when they gather this, some bruise and press it, others boil after roasting it, and collect the liquid that comes from it. This is thick and useful as oil for lamps, and gives off a strong smell.

Against the mosquitos that abound, the following have been devised by them: those who dwell higher up than the marshy country are well served by the towers where they ascend to sleep, for the winds prevent the mosquitos from flying aloft;

those living about the marshes have a different recourse, instead of the towers. Every one of them has a net, with which he catches fish by day, and at night he sets it around the bed where he rests, then creeps under it and sleeps.

If he sleeps wrapped in a garment or cloth, the mosquitos bite through it; but through the net they absolutely do not even venture.

The boats in which they carry cargo are made of the acacia,[*](The “Mimosa Nilotica,” still used for boat-building in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt.) which is most like the lotus of Shahhat [21.866,32.833] (inhabited place), Al Jabal al Akhdar, Libya, AfricaCyrene in form, and its sap is gum. Of this tree they cut logs of four feet long and lay them like courses of bricks,[*](That is, like bricks laid not one directly over another but with the joints alternating.) and build the boat

by fastening these four foot logs to long and close-set stakes; and having done so, they set crossbeams athwart and on the logs. They use no ribs. They caulk the seams within with byblus.