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Odd phenomena were observed in these mountains. In addition to the wood for shipbuilding, the region contained a large number of snakes remarkable for their size; they reached a length of sixteen cubits.1 There were also many varieties of monkey, differing in size, which had themselves taught the Indians the method of their capture.

1 Twenty-four feet, apparently no impossible length for a python. Their mention is credited to Nearchus (Jacoby, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, no. 133, F 10a) and to Cleitarchus (op. cit. no. 137, F 18). The former reference comes from Arrian Indica 15.10, the latter from Aelian De Natura Animalium 17.2. Many of these and later anecdotes about India appear in Strabo 15.1.20-45, from the same sources.

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