PART 18
As the other Scythians have a peculiarity of shape, and do not resemble
any other, the same observation applies to the Egyptians, only that
the latter are oppressed by heat and the former by cold. What is called
the Scythian desert is a prairie, rich in meadows, high-lying, and
well watered; for the rivers which carry off the water from the plains
are large. There live
[p. 36]those Scythians which are called Nomades, because
they have no houses, but live in wagons. The smallest of these wagons
have four wheels, but some have six; they are covered in with felt,
and they are constructed in the manner of houses, some having but
a single apartment, and some three; they are proof against rain, snow,
and winds. The wagons are drawn by yokes of oxen, some of two and
others of three, and all without horns, for they have no horns, owing
to the cold. In these wagons the women live, but the men are carried
about on horses, and the sheep, oxen, and horses accompany them; and
they remain on any spot as long as there is provender for their cattle,
and when that fails they migrate to some other place. They eat boiled
meat, and drink the milk of mares, and also eat hippace, which is
cheese prepared from the milk of the mare. Such is their mode of life
and their customs.