PART 15
XV. These are my opinions about the Longheads.
Now let me turn to the dwellers on the Phasis. Their
land is marshy, hot, wet, and wooded ; copious violent
rains fall there during every season. The inhabitants
live in the marshes, and their dwellings are of wood
and reeds, built in the water. They make little use
of walking in the city and the harbour, but sail
up and down in dug-outs made from a single log,
for canals are numerous. The waters which they
drink are hot and stagnant, putrefied by the sun
and swollen by the rains. The Phasis itself is the
most stagnant and most sluggish of all rivers. The
fruits that grow in this country are all stunted,
flabby and imperfect, owing to the excess of water,
and for this reason they do not ripen. Much fog
from the waters envelops the land. For these causes,
therefore, the physique of the Phasians is different
from that of other folk. They are tall in stature,
and of a gross habit of body, while neither joint nor
vein is visible. Their complexion is yellowish, as
though they suffered from jaundice. Of all men
they have the deepest voice, because the air they
breathe is not clear, but moist and turbid. They are
by nature disinclined for physical fatigue. There
are but slight changes of the seasons, either in
respect of heat or of cold. The winds are mostly
moist, except one breeze peculiar to the country,
called
cenchron, which sometimes blows strong, violent
[p. 115]
and hot. The north wind rarely blows, and when
it does it is weak and gentle.
