[Footnote A: Philostratus in vita Apollon. Tyanæi, lib. 6. cap. 1. p.m. 258.]
[Footnote B: Cælij Rhodigini Lection. Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 13.]
Since the Pygmies therefore are some of the Brute Beasts that naturally breed in these Countries, and they are pleased to let us know as much, I can easily excuse them a Name. [Greek: Andres agrioi], or Orang-Outang, is alike to me; and I am better pleased with Homer's [Greek: andres pygmaioi], than if he had called [Greek: pithaekoi]. Had this been the only Instance where they had misapplied the Name of Man, methinks I could be so good natur'd, as in some measure to make an Apology for them. But finding them, so extravagantly loose, so wretchedly whimsical, in abusing the Dignity of Mankind, by giving the name of Man to such monstrous Productions of their idle Imaginations, as the Indian Historians have done, I do not wonder that wise Men have suspected all that comes out of their Mint, to be false and counterfeit.
Such are their [Greek: Amykteres] or [Greek: Arrines], that want Noses, and have only two holes above their Mouth; they eat all things, but they must be raw; they are short lived; the upper part of their Mouths is very prominent. The [Greek: Enotokeitai], whose Ears reach down to their Heels, on which they lye and sleep. The [Greek: Astomoi], that have no Mouths, a civil sort of People, that dwell about the Head of the Ganges; and live upon smelling to boil'd Meats and the Odours of Fruits and Flowers; they can bear no ill scent, and therefore can't live in a Camp. The [Greek: Monommatoi] or [Greek: Monophthalmoi], that have but one Eye, and that in the middle of their Foreheads: they have Dog's Ears; their Hair stands an end, but smooth on the Breasts. The [Greek: Sternophthalmoi], that have Eyes in their Breasts. The [Greek: Panai sphaenokephaloi] with Heads like Wedges. The [Greek: Makrokephaloi], with great Heads. The [Greek: hyperboreoi], who live a Thousand years. The [Greek: okypodes], so swift that they will out-run a Horse. The [Greek: opiothodaktyloi], that go with their Heels forward, and their Toes backwards. The [Greek: Makroskeleis], The [Greek: Steganopodes], The [Greek: Monoskeleis], who have one Leg, but will jump a great way, and are call'd Sciapodes, because when they lye on their Backs, with this Leg they can keep off the Sun from their Bodies.
Now Strabo[A] from whom I have collected the Description of these Monstrous sorts of Men, and they are mentioned too by Pliny, Solinus, Mela, Philostratus, and others; and Munster in his Cosmography[B] has given a figure of some of them; Strabo, I say, who was an Enemy to all such fabulous Relations, no doubt was prejudiced likewise against the Pygmies, because these Historians had made them a Puny Race of Men, and invented so many Romances about them. I can no ways therefore blame him for denying, that there were ever any such Men Pygmies; and do readily agree with him, that no Man ever saw them: and am so far from dissenting from those Great Men, who have denied them on this account, that I think they have all the reason in the World on their side. And to shew how ready I am to close with them in this Point, I will here examine the contrary Opinion, and what Reasons they give for the supporting it: For there have been some Moderns, as well as the Ancients, that have maintained that these Pygmies were real Men. And this they pretend to prove, both from Humane Authority and Divine.
[Footnote A: Strabo Geograph. lib. 15. p.m. 489. & lib. 2. p. 48. & alibi.]
[Footnote B: Munster Cosmograph. lib. 6. p. 1151.]
Now by Men Pygmies we are by no means to understand Dwarfs. In all Countries, and in all Ages, there has been now and then observed such Miniture of Mankind, or under-sized Men. Cardan[A] tells us he saw one carried about in a Parrot's Cage, that was but a Cubit high. Nicephorus[B] tells us, that in Theodosius the Emperour's time, there was one in Ægypt that was no bigger than a Partridge; yet what was to be admired, he was very Prudent, had a sweet clear Voice, and a generous Mind; and lived Twenty Years. So likewise a King of Portugal sent to a Duke of Savoy, when he married his Daughter to him, an Æthiopian Dwarf but three Palms high.[C] And Thevenot[D] tells us of the Present made by the King of the Abyssins, to the Grand Seignior, of several little black Slaves out of Nubia, and the Countries near Æthiopia, which being made Eunuchs, were to guard the Ladies of the Seraglio. And a great many such like Relations there are. But these being only Dwarfs, they must not be esteemed the Pygmies we are enquiring about, which are represented as a Nation, and the whole Race of them to be of the like stature. Dari tamen integras Pumilionum Gentes, tam falsum est, quàm quod falsissimum, saith Harduin.[E]
[Footnote A: Cardan de subtilitate, lib. 11. p. 458.]
[Footnote B: Nicephor. Histor. Ecclesiiast. lib. 12. cap. 37.]