Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/174

 140 PLII^t's l^ATUEAL HISTOET. [Book II. sells, the mountain Chimsera burns, and indeed with a con- tinual flame, day and night^ Gtesias of Cnidos informs us, that this lire is kindled by water, while it is extinguished by earth and by hay"^. In the same country of Lycia, the mountains of Hephasstius, when touched with a flaming torch, burn so violently, that even the stones in the river and the sand burn, while actually in the water : this fire is also increased by rain. If a person makes furrows in the ground with a stick which has been kindled at this fire, it is said that a stream of flame will follow it. The summit of Cophantus, in Bactria, burns during the night ; and this is the case in Media and at Wittacene^, on the borders of Per- sia ; likewdse in Susa, at the White Tower, from fifteen aper- tures*^, the greatest of which also burns in the da}i:ime. The plain of Babylon throws up flame from a place like a fish- pond', an acre in extent. Near Hesperium, a mountain of the Ethiopians', the fields shine in the night-time like stars ; the same thing takes place in the territory of the Megalopo- that the number of extinct volcanos is considerably greater tlian those now in action. ^ Cliimsera was a volcano in Lycia, not far from the Xanthus ; the cii'cumstance of its summit emitting flame, while its sides were the resort of various savage animals, probably gave rise to the fabulous story of the Centaur of this name, a ferocious monster who was continually vomitmg forth flame. ^ The word in the text is " foenum " ; Hardoum suggests that the meaning of the author may have been Htter, or the refuse of stables. Lemaire, i. 454. 2 The emission of a gas, which may be kindled by the apphcation of flame, is a phsenomenon of no very rare occurrence ; but the effects are, 110 doubt, much exaggerated. See the remarks of Alexandre m Lemaire, i. 454. ^ The country of the Bactrians was a district to the S.E, of the Caspian Sea, and to the north of the sources of the Indus, nearly corresponding to the modern Bucharia. ^ There would appear to be some uncertainty as to the locahty of this place : om' author derived his statement from the writer of the treatise de Mirab. Auscult. 6 " Caminis." 7 Probably the crater of a former volcano. ^ Tliis mountain, as well as the Qewv ox^ifia, mentioned below, has been supposed to be situated on the west of Africa, near Sierra Leone, or Cape Verd; but, as I conceive, Avithjut sufficient authority. See Alex- andre in Lemaire, i. 455.