11.

Next is the tract of country called the Catacecaumene, extending 500 stadia in length, and in breadth 400. It is uncertain whether it should be called Mysia or Meonia, for it has both names. The whole country is devoid of trees, excepting vines, from which is obtained the Catacecaumenite wine; it is not inferior in quality to any of the kinds in repute. The surface of the plains is covered with ashes, but the hilly and rocky part is black, as if it were the effect of combustion. This, as some persons imagine, was the effect of thunderbolts and of fiery tempests, nor do they hesitate to make it the scene of the fable of Typhon. Xanthus even says that a certain Arimus was king of these parts. But it is unreasonable to suppose that so large a tract of country was all at once consumed by lightning and fiery meteors; it is more natural to suppose that the effect was produced by fire generated in the soil, the sources of which are now exhausted. There are to be seen three pits, which are called Physæ, or breathing holes, situated at the distance of 40 stadia from each other. Above are rugged hills, which probably consist of masses of matter thrown up by blasts of air (from the pits).

That ground of this kind should be well adapted to vines, may be conceived from the nature of the country Catana,1548 which was a mass of cinders, but which now produces excellent wine, and in large quantities.

Some persons, in allusion to such countries as these, wittily observe that Bacchus is properly called Pyrigenes, or fire-born.