Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/55

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CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY
29

all have the name Arsakai, although each has his peculiar name of Orodes, Phraates, or some other appellation.

A ROYAL BENGAL TIGER. From an old print.

The entire country on the other side of the Hypanis is said to be very fertile, but we have no accurate knowledge of it. Both because of ignorance and owing to its remote situation, everything relative to it is exaggerated or partakes of the wonderful. As, for example, the stories of myrmekes, or ants, which dig up gold; of animals and men with peculiar shapes, and possessing extraordinary faculties; of the longevity of the Seres, whose lives exceed the age of two hundred years. They speak also of an aristocratic form of government, consisting of five hundred counsellors, each of whom furnishes the state with an elephant.

According to Megasthenes, the largest tigers are found among the Prasioi, and are almost twice as large as lions, and of such strength that a tame one led by

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