‹‹‹ Vitr. 8.3.23 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 8.3.25 ›››
24The quality of the water, in some places, is such, that it gives the people of the country an excellent voice for singing, as at Tarsus, Magnesia, and other countries. In Africa there is a city called Zama, which king Juba surrounded with double walls, and built a palace there; about twenty miles from which, is the town of Ismuc, whose territory is of vast extent. Though Africa is the nursing mother of wild animals, and especially of serpents, in that territory none breed, and if any are brought there they immediately die; and if earth from this place be removed to another, it has the same effect. This sort of earth is also found in the Balearic Isles, where, as I have heard, it has even a more extraordinary quality.
24There are also in some places springs which have the peculiarity of giving fine singing voices to the natives, as at Tarsus in Magnesia and in other countries of that kind. Then there is Zama, an African city, which King Juba fortified by enclosing it with a double wall, and he established his royal residence there. Twenty miles from it is the walled town of Ismuc, the lands belonging to which are marked off by a marvellous kind of boundary. For although Africa was the mother and nurse of wild animals, particularly serpents, yet not one is ever born in the lands of that town, and if ever one is imported and put there, it dies at once; and not only this, but if soil is taken from this spot to another place, the same is true there. It is said that this kind of soil is also found in the Balearic Islands. The above mentioned soil has a still more wonderful property, of which I have learned in the following way.