Indus is a river in India, flowing with a rapid violence into the
country of the fish-devourers. It was first called Mausolus, from
Mausolus the son of the Sun, but changed its name for this reason.
At the time when the mysteries of Bacchus were solemnized and the
people were earnest at their devotion, Indus, one of the chief of
the young nobility, by force deflowered Damasalcidas, the daughter
of Oxyalcus the king of the country, as she was carrying the sacred
basket; for which being sought for by the tyrant, in order to bring
him to condign punishment, for fear he threw himself into the river
Mausolus, which from that accident was afterwards called Indus.
In this river grows a certain stone called ... which if a virgin carry
about her, she need never be afraid of being deflowered.
In the same river also grows an herb, not unlike to bugloss. Which is
an excellent remedy against the king’s-evil, being administered to the
patient in warm water;—as Clitophon the Rhodian reports in his First
Book of Indian Relations.
Near to this mountain lies the mountain Lilaeus, so called from Lilaeus
a shepherd; who, being very superstitious and a worshipper of the Moon
alone, always performed her mysteries in the dead time of the night.
Which the rest of the Gods taking for a great dishonor, sent two
monstrous lions that tore him in pieces. Upon which the Moon turned her
adorer into a mountain of the same name.
In this mountain a stone is found which is called clitoris, of a
very black color, which the natives wear for ornament’s sake in their
ears;—as Aristotle witnesses in his Fourth Book of Rivers.