THE SCENE: Herodotus was one of the most widely-traveled men of his era, and was an eye witness to many amazing things. But when he relies on the reports of others – as when he reports dog-sized ants in India – his reliability begins to suffer.
THE TEXT: These are the most warlike of the Indian tribes, and it is they who go out to fetch the gold – for in this region there is a sandy desert. There is found in this desert a kind of ant of great size – bigger than a fox, though not so big as a dog. Some specimens, which were caught there, are kept at the palace of the Persian king. These creatures as they burrow underground throw up the sand in heaps, just as ants in Greece throw up the earth, and they are very similar in shape. The sand has a rich content of gold, and this it is that the Indians are after when they made their expeditions into the desert.
Each man harnesses three camels abreast, a female, on which he rides in the middle, and a male on each side in a leading-rein, and takes care that the female is one who has as recently as possible dropped her young. Their camels are as fast as horses, and much more powerful carriers. That, then, is how these Indians equip themselves for the expedition, and they plan their time-table so as actually to get their hand on the gold during the hottest part of the day, when the heat will have driven the ants underground.
When the Indians reach the place where the gold is, they fill the bags they have brought with them with sand, and start for home again as fast as they can go; for the ants (as is said in the Persian’s story) smell them and at once give chase; nothing in the world can touch these ants for speed, so not one the Indians would get home alive, if they did not make sure of a good start while the ants were mustering their forces. The male camels, who are slower movers than the females, soon begin to drag and are left behind, one after the other, while the females are kept going hard by the memory of their young, who were left at home.
According to the Persians, most of the gold is got in the way I have described; they also mine a certain quantity – but not so much – within their own territory.
– The Histories, Herodotus, 5th Century BC
