But no ostrich was captured by anyone, and any horseman who chased
 one speedily desisted; for it would distance him at once in its
 flight, not merely plying its feet, but hoisting its wings and using
 them like a sail. The bustards, on the other hand, can be caught if
 one is quick in starting them up, for they fly only a short
 distance, like partridges, and soon tire; and their flesh was
 delicious. Marching on through this region they
 arrived at the Mascas river, which is a plethrum in width. There, in
 the desert, was a large city named Corsote, completely surrounded by
 the Mascas. There they remained three days and provisioned the army. Thence
 Cyrus marched thirteen stages through
 desert country, ninety parasangs, keeping the Euphrates river on the
 right, and arrived at Pylae. In the course of these stages many of
 the baggage animals died of hunger, for there was no fodder and, in
 fact, no growing thing of any kind, but the land was absolutely
 bare; and the people who dwelt here made a living by quarrying
 mill-stones along the river banks, then fashioning them and taking
 them to Babylon , where they
 sold them and bought grain in exchange. As for the troops, their supply of grain gave out, and it was not
 possible to buy any except in the Lydian The Lydians were notorious as hucksters. 
 market attached to the barbarian army of
 Cyrus , See
 Xen. Anab. 1.2.18 and the
 note thereon, and Xen. Anab.
 1.3.14 . at the price of four sigli for a
 capith of wheat flour or barley meal. The siglus is worth seven and
 one-half Attic obols, and the capith had the capacity of two Attic
 choenices. The obol = about 1
 1/2d. or 3 cents. The choenix = about 1 quart. The prices stated
 were, roughly, about fifty times normal prices at Athens . The soldiers
 therefore managed to subsist by eating meat. The Greeks of Xenophon’s time ate comparatively
 little meat under any circumstances, but in the Arabian desert a
 diet of meat constituted a real hardship. And Cyrus sometimes made these stages through
 the desert very long, whenever he wanted to reach water or fresh
 fodder. Once in particular, when
 they came upon a narrow, muddy place which was hard for the wagons
 to get through, Cyrus halted with his train of
 nobles and dignitaries and ordered Glus and Pigres to take some of
 the barbarian troops and help to pull the wagons out.