1That town was founded by Sidonians, who, we are told, came to those parts by ship as exiles because of civil discord; it is situated between the two Syrtes, which take their name from their nature. 2For there are two gulfs near the far end of Africa, unequal in size but alike in character; 2the parts of them nearest the land are very deep, the rest, as chance has determined, deep in some places, shallow in others. 3For when the sea has begun to swell and rage with the winds, the waves drag mud and sand and huge rocks along: thus the appearance of the places changes along with the winds.
4The Syrtes are named from this dragging. 4The language of that community has been altered only through intermarriage with the Numidians; most of its laws and customs are Sidonian; 4and these they kept the more easily because they spent their lives far from the king's rule. 5Between them and the populous part of Numidia lay many desolate regions.