Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/269

a. in. c. v. 5. SPAIN. 255 For the milk of the cattle which feed there does not yield any whey, and they are obliged to mix it with large quantities of water when they make cheese on account of its richness. After fifty days the beasts [pasturing there] would be choked unless they were let blood. The pasturage of the country is dry, but it fattens wonderfully : and it is thought that from this the myth concerning the oxen of Geryon took its rise. The whole seashore however is possessed in common. 1 5. Concerning the foundation of Gades, the Gaditanians report that a certain oracle commanded the T^rians to found a colony by the Pillars of Hercules. Those who were sent out Tor the purpose of exploring, when they had arrived at the strait by Calpe, imagined that the capes which form the strait were the boundaries of the habitable earth, as well as of the expedition of Hercules, and consequently they were what the oracle termed the Pillars. They landed on the inside of the straits, at a place where the city of the Exitani now stands. Here they offered sacrifices, which however not being favour- able, they returned. After a time others were sent, who ad- vanced about 1500 2 stadia beyond the strait, to an island consecrated to Hercules, and lying opposite to Onoba, a city of Iberia : considering that here were the Pillars, they sacrificed to the god, but the sacrifices being again unfavourable, they returned home. In the third voyage they reached Gades, and founded the temple in the eastern part of the island, and the city in the west. On this account some consider that the capes in the strait are the Pillars, others suppose Gades, while others again believe that they lie still farther, beyond Gades. There are also some who think that the Pillars are Calpe, 3 and the mountain of Libya which is opposite, named Abilyx, 4 and situated, according to Eratos- thenes, amongst the Metagonians, a wandering race. Others fancy that they are two small islands near to the for- mer, one of which is named the Island of Juno. Artemidorus speaks both of the Island of Juno and the temple there, but makes no mention either of mount Abilyx, or the nation of 1 Groskurd supposes that we should here read, " [certain citizens of Cadiz have appropriated to themselves possessions in the interior of the island,] but the -whole sea-shore is inhabited in common," that is, by shep- herds who pastured the grounds in common. 2 Goeselin shows that we ought to read 500 stadia in this place. 3 The rock of Gibraltar. < The Ape-mountain near Ceuta.