56 THALIA.

the cub, as soon as it begins to stir in the wombj injure?
and tears the matrix, which it does still more and more
as it grows bigger, so that at the time of its birth no
part of the womb remains whole.

CIX. Thus, therefore, if vipers and those winged
serpents of Arabia were to generate in the ordinary
course of nature, the natives could not live. But it
happens, that when they are Incited by lust to copu­
late, at the very instant of emission, the female seizes
the male by the neck, and does not quit her hold till
she has quite devoured it. The male thus perishes,
but the female is also punished; for whilst the young
are still within the womb, as the time of birth ap­
proaches, to make themselves a passage they tear in
pieces the matrix, thus avenging their father's death.
Those serpents which are not injurious to mankind
lay eggs, and produce a great quantity of young.
There are vipers in every part of the world, but
winged serpents are found only in Arabia, where there
are great numbers.

CX. We have described how the Arabians procure
their frankincense t their mode of obtaining the cassia
is this: they cover the whole of their body, and the
face, except the eyes, with skins of different kinds)
they thus proceed to the place where it grows, which
is in a marsh not very deep, but infested by a winged
species of animal much resembling a bat, very strong,
and making a hideous noise; they protect their eyes
from these, and then gather the cassia.

CXI. Their manner of collecting the cinnamon is
still more extraordinary. In what particular spot it
is produced, thoy themselves are unable to certify.
There are some who assert that it grows in the re­
gion where Bacchus was educated, and their mode of
reasoning is by no means improbable. These affirm
that the vegetable substance, which we, as instructed
by the Phoenicians, call cinnamon, is by certain large
birds carried to their nests constructed of clay, and
placed in the cavities of inaccessible rocks. To pro­
cure it thence, the Arabians have contrived this strat­
agem :—they cut in very large pieces the dead bodies
of oxen, asses, or other bea6ts of burden, and carry