MELPOMENE. 01

XXVI. The Issedones have these, among other
ustoms:—as often as any one loses his father, his re-
ltions severally provide some cattle; these they kill,
-nd having cut them in pieces, they dismember also
he body of the deceased, and, mixing the whole to­
gether, feast upon it; the head alone is preserved;
rom this they carefully remove the hair, and cleans-
ng it thoroughly, set it in gold: it is afterwards es-
:eemed sacred, and produced in their solemn annual
sacrifices. Every man observes the above rites in
honour of his father, as the Greeks do theirs in
memory of the dead. In other respects it is said that
they venerate the principles of justice; and that their
females enjoy equal authority with the men.

XXVII. The Issedones themselves affirm, that the
ronntry beyond them is inhabited by a race of men
who have but one eye, and by Gryphins who are
guardians of the gold. Such is the information which
the Scythians have from the Issedones, and we from
the Scythians; in the Scythian tongue they are called
Arimaspians, from Arima, the Scythian word for one*
and spu, ah eye.

XXVIII. Through all the region of which We have
been speaking, the winter season, which continues for
eight months, is intolerably severe and cold. At this
time if water be poured upon the ground, unless it be
hear a fire, it will not malte clay. The sea itself, and
all the Cimmerian Bosphorus, is congealed; and the
Scythians who live within the trench before-mention­
ed make hostile incursions upon the ice, and pene­
trate with their wagons as far as Sindica. During
eight months the climate is thus severe, and the re-

winter is by no means the same as in other climates;
for at this time, when it rains abundantly elsewhere,
it here scarcely rains at all, whilst in the summer the
rains are incessant. At the season when thunder is
common in other places, here it is never heard, but
during the summer it is very heavy. If it be ever
known to thunder in the winter, it is considered as
ominous. If earthquakes happen in Scythia, in either
Mison of the year, it is thought a prodigy. Their