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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12850-0.txt b/12850-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66bcdb2 --- /dev/null +++ b/12850-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3816 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12850 *** + +A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY CONCERNING THE PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS + +By + +EDWARD TYSON + +Now Edited, with an Introduction by Bertram C. A. Windle + + + + + + + + +TO MY DEAR MOTHER + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +It is only necessary for me to state here, what I have mentioned in the +Introduction, that my account of the habits of the Pigmy races of legend +and myth makes no pretence of being in any sense a complete or exhaustive +account of the literature of this subject. I have contented myself with +bringing forward such tales as seemed of value for the purpose of +establishing the points upon which I desire to lay emphasis. + +I have elsewhere expressed my obligations to M. De Quatrefage's book on +Pigmies, obligations which will be at once recognised by those familiar +with that monograph. To his observations I have endeavoured to add such +other published facts as I have been able to gather in relation to these +peoples. + +I have to thank Professors Sir William Turner, Haddon, Schlegel, Brinton, +and Topinard for their kindness in supplying me with information in +response to my inquiries on several points. + +Finally, I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Alexander +Macalister, President of the Anthropological Institute, and to Mr. E. +Sidney Hartland, for their kindness in reading through, the former the +first two sections, and the latter the last two sections of the +Introduction, and for the valuable suggestions which both have made. These +gentlemen have laid me under obligations which I can acknowledge, but +cannot repay. + +BERTRAM C. A. WINDLE. + +MASON COLLEGE, + +BIRMINGHAM, 1894. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + + +I. + + +Edward Tyson, the author of the Essay with which this book is concerned, +was, on the authority of Monk's Roll of the Royal College of Physicians, +born, according to some accounts, at Bristol, according to others, at +Clevedon, co. Somerset, but was descended from a family which had long +settled in Cumberland. He was educated at Magdalene Hall, Oxford, as a +member of which he proceeded Bachelor of Arts on the 8th of February 1670, +and Master of Arts on the 4th of November 1673. His degree of Doctor of +Medicine he took at Cambridge in 1678 as a member of Corpus Christi +College. Dr. Tyson was admitted a candidate of the College of Physicians +on the 30th of September 1680, and a Fellow in April 1683. He was Censor +of the College in 1694, and held the appointments of Physician to the +Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem, and of Anatomical Reader at Surgeons' +Hall. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed several papers +to the "Philosophical Transactions." Besides a number of anatomical works, +he published in 1699 "A Philosophical Essay concerning the Rhymes of the +Ancients," and in the same year the work by which his name is still known, +in which the Philological Essay which is here reprinted finds a place. +Tyson died on the 1st of August 1708, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, +and is buried at St. Dionis Backchurch. He was the original of the Carus +not very flatteringly described in Garth's "Dispensary." + +The title-page of the work above alluded to runs as follows:-- + +_Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris_: + +OR, THE ANATOMY OF A PYGMIE + +Compared with that of a _Monkey_, an _Ape_, and a _Man_. + +To which is added, A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY Concerning the _Pygmies_, the +_Cynocephali_, the _Satyrs_, and _Sphinges_ of the ANCIENTS. + +Wherein it will appear that they are all either _APES_ or _MONKEYS_, and +not _MEN_, as formerly pretended. + +By _EDWARD TYSON_ M.D. + +Fellow of the Colledge of Physicians, and the Royal Society: Physician to +the Hospital of _Bethlem_, and Reader of Anatomy at _Chirurgeons-Hall_. + +_LONDON_: + +Printed for _Thomas Bennet_ at the _Half-Moon in St. Paul's_ Church-yard; +and _Daniel Brown_ at the _Black Swan_ and _Bible_ without _Temple-Bar_ +and are to be had of Mr. _Hunt_ at the _Repository_ in _Gresham-Colledge_. +M DC XCIX. + +It bears the authority of the Royal Society:-- + +17° _Die Maij_, 1699. + +Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus, _Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris,_ &c. +Authore _Edvardo Tyson_, M.D. R.S.S. + +JOHN HOSKINS, _V.P.R.S_. + +The Pygmy described in this work was, as a matter of fact, a chimpanzee, +and its skeleton is at this present moment in the Natural History Museum +at South Kensington. Tyson's granddaughter married a Dr. Allardyce, who +was a physician of good standing in Cheltenham. The "Pygmie" formed a +somewhat remarkable item of her dowry. Her husband presented it to the +Cheltenham Museum, where it was fortunately carefully preserved until, +quite recently, it was transferred to its present position. + +At the conclusion of the purely scientific part of the work the author +added four Philological Essays, as will have appeared from his title-page. +The first of these is both the longest and the most interesting, and has +alone been selected for republication in this volume. + +This is not the place to deal with the scientific merit of the main body +of Tyson's work, but it may at least be said that it was the first attempt +which had been made to deal with the anatomy of any of the anthropoid +apes, and that its execution shows very conspicuous ability on the part of +its author. + +Tyson, however, was not satisfied with the honour of being the author of +an important morphological work; he desired to round off his subject by +considering its bearing upon the, to him, wild and fabulous tales +concerning pigmy races. The various allusions to these races met with in +the pages of the older writers, and discussed in his, were to him what +fairy tales are to us. Like modern folk-lorists, he wished to explain, +even to euhemerise them, and bring them into line with the science of his +day. Hence the "Philological Essay" with which this book is concerned. +There are no pigmy races, he says; "the most diligent enquiries of late +into all the parts of the inhabited world could never discover any such +puny diminutive race of mankind." But there are tales about them, "fables +and wonderful and merry relations, that are transmitted down to us +concerning them," which surely require explanation. That explanation he +found in his theory that all the accounts of pigmy tribes were based upon +the mistakes of travellers who had taken apes for men. Nor was he without +followers in his opinion; amongst whom here need only be mentioned Buffon, +who in his _Histoire des Oiseaux_ explains the Homeric tale much as Tyson +had done. The discoveries, however, of this century have, as all know, +re-established in their essential details the accounts of the older +writers, and in doing so have demolished the theories of Tyson and Buffon. +We now know, not merely that there are pigmy races in existence, but that +the area which they occupy is an extensive one, and in the remote past has +without doubt been more extensive still. Moreover, certain of these races +have been, at least tentatively, identified with the pigmy tribes of +Pliny, Herodotus, Aristotle, and other writers. It will be well, before +considering this question, and before entering into any consideration of +the legends and myths which may possibly be associated with dwarf races, +to sketch briefly their distribution throughout the continents of the +globe. It is necessary to keep clearly in view the upper limit which can +justly be assigned to dwarfishness, and with this object it may be +advisable to commence with a statement as to the average heights reached +by various representative peoples. According to Topinard, the races of the +world may be classified, in respect to their stature, in the following +manner:-- + +Tall 5 ft. 8 in. and upwards. +Above the average 5 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 8 in. +Below the average 5 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. +Short Below 5 ft. 4 in. + +Thus amongst ordinary peoples there is no very striking difference of +height, so far as the average is concerned. It would, however, be a great +mistake to suppose that all races reaching a lower average height than +five feet four inches are, in any accurate sense of the word, to be looked +upon as pigmies. We have to descend to a considerably lower figure before +that appellation can be correctly employed. The stature must fall +considerably below five feet before we can speak of the race as one of +dwarfs or pigmies. Anthropometrical authorities have not as yet agreed +upon any upward limit for such a class, but for our present purposes it +may be convenient to say that any race in which the average male stature +does not exceed four feet nine inches--that is, the average height of a +boy of about twelve years of age--may fairly be described as pigmy. It is +most important to bear this matter of inches in mind in connection with +points which will have to be considered in a later section. + +Pigmy races still exist in considerable numbers in Asia and the adjacent +islands, and as it was in that continent that, so far as our present +knowledge goes, they had in former days their greatest extension, and, if +De Quatrefages be correct, their place of origin, it will be well to deal +first with the tribes of that quarter of the globe. "The Negrito" (_i.e._, +pigmy black) "type," says the authority whom I have just quoted, and to +whom I shall have to be still further indebted,[A] "was first placed in +South Asia, which it without doubt occupied alone during an indeterminate +period. It is thence that its diverse representatives have radiated, and, +some going east, some west, have given rise to the black populations of +Melanesia and Africa. In particular, India and Indo-China first belonged +to the blacks. Invasions and infiltrations of different yellow or white +races have split up these Negrito populations, which formerly occupied a +continuous area, and mixing with them, have profoundly altered them. The +present condition of things is the final result of strifes and mixtures, +the most ancient of which may be referred back to prehistoric times." The +invasions above mentioned having in the past driven many of the races from +the mainland to the islands, and those which remained on the continent +having undergone greater modification by crossing with taller and alien +races, we may expect to find the purest Negritos amongst the tribes +inhabiting the various archipelagoes situated south and east of the +mainland. Amongst these, the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands offer a +convenient starting-point. The knowledge which we possess of these little +blacks is extensive, thanks to the labours in particular of Mr. Man[B] and +Dr. Dobson,[C] which may be found in the Journal of the Anthropological +Institute, and summarised in De Quatrefages' work. The average stature of +the males of this race is four feet six inches, the height of a boy of ten +years of age. Like children, the head is relatively large in comparison +with the stature, since it is contained seven times therein, instead of +seven and a half times, as is the rule amongst most average-sized peoples. +Whilst speaking of the head, it may be well to mention that these +Negritos, and in greater or less measure other Negritos and Negrillos +(_i.e._, pigmy blacks, Asiatic or African), differ in this part of the +body in a most important respect from the ordinary African negro. Like +him, they are black, often intensely so: like him, too, they have woolly +hair arranged in tufts, but, unlike him, they have round (brachycephalic) +heads instead of long (dolichocephalic); and the purer the race, the more +marked is this distinction. The Mincopie has a singularly short life; for +though he attains puberty at much the same age as ourselves, the +twenty-second year brings him to middle life, and the fiftieth, if +reached, is a period of extreme senility. Pure in race, ancient in +history, and carefully studied, this race deserves some further attention +here than can be extended to others with which I have to deal. The moral +side of the Mincopies seems to be highly developed; the modesty of the +young girls is most strict; monogamy is the rule, and-- + + "Their list of forbidden degrees + An extensive morality shows," + +since even the marriage of cousins-german is considered highly immoral. +"Men and women," says Man, "are models of constancy." They believe in a +Supreme Deity, respecting whom they say, that "although He resembles fire, +He is invisible; that He was never born, and is immortal; that He created +the world and all animate and inanimate objects, save only the powers of +evil. During the day He knows everything, even the thoughts of the mind; +He is angry when certain sins are committed, and full of pity for the +unfortunate and miserable, whom He sometimes condescends to assist. He +judges souls after death, and pronounces on each a sentence which sends +them to paradise or condemns them to a kind of purgatory. The hope of +escaping the torments of this latter place influences their conduct. +Puluga, this Deity, inhabits a house of stone; when it rains, He descends +upon the earth in search of food; during the dry weather He is asleep." +Besides this Deity, they believe in numerous evil spirits, the chief of +whom is the Demon of the Woods. These spirits have created themselves, and +have existed _ab immemorabili_. The sun, which is a female, and the moon, +her husband, are secondary deities. + +[Footnote A: The quotations from this author are taken from his work _Les +Pygmées_. Paris, J.B. Baillière et Fils, 1887.] + +[Footnote B: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst_., vii.] + +[Footnote C: _Ibid_., iv.] + +South of the Andaman Islands are the Nicobars, the aborigines of which, +the Shom Pen,[A] now inhabit the mountains, where, like so many of their +brethren, they have been driven by the Malays. They are of small, but not +pigmy stature (five feet two inches), a fact which may be due to crossing. + +[Footnote A: Man, _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, xviii. p. 354.] + +Following the Negritos east amongst the islands, we find in Luzon the +Aetas or Inagtas, a group of which is known in Mindanao as Manamouas. The +Aetas live side by side with the Tagals, who are of Malay origin. They +were called Negritos del Monte by the Spaniards who first colonised these +islands. Their average stature, according to Wallace, ranges from four +feet six inches to four feet eight inches. In New Guinea, the Karons, a +similar race, occupy a chain of mountains parallel to the north coast of +the great north-western peninsula. At Port Moresby, in the same island, +the Koiari appear to represent the most south-easterly group; but my +friend Professor Haddon, who has investigated this district, tells me that +he finds traces of a former existence of Negritos at Torres Straits and in +North Queensland, as shown by the shape of the skulls of the inhabitants +of these regions. + +The Malay Peninsula contains in Perak hill tribes called "savages" by the +Sakays. These tribes have not been seen by Europeans, but are stated to be +pigmy in stature, troglodytic, and still in the Stone Age. Farther south +are the Semangs of Kedah, with an average stature of four feet ten inches, +and the Jakuns of Singapore, rising to five feet. The Annamites admit that +they are not autochthonous, a distinction which they confer upon the Moïs, +of whom little is known, but whose existence and pigmy Negrito +characteristics are considered by De Quatrefages as established. + +China no longer, so far as we know, contains any representatives of this +type, but Professor Lacouperie[A] has recently shown that they formerly +existed in that part of Asia. According to the annals of the Bamboo Books, +"In the twenty-ninth year of the Emperor Yao, in spring, the chief of the +Tsiao-Yao, or dark pigmies, came to court and offered as tribute feathers +from the Mot." The Professor continues, "As shown by this entry, we begin +with the semi-historic times as recorded in the 'Annals of the Bamboo +Books,' and the date about 2048 B.C. The so-called feathers were simply +some sort of marine plant or seaweed with which the immigrant Chinese, +still an inland people, were yet unacquainted. The Mot water or river, +says the Shan-hai-king, or canonical book of hills and seas, was situated +in the south-east of the Tai-shan in Shan-tung. This gives a clue to the +localisation of the pigmies, and this localisation agrees with the +positive knowledge we possess of the small area which the Chinese dominion +covered at this time. Thus the Negritos were part of the native population +of China when, in the twenty-third century B.C., the civilised Bak tribes +came into the land." In Japan we have also evidence of their existence. +This country, now inhabited by the Niphonians, or Japanese, as we have +come to call them, was previously the home of the Ainu, a white, hairy +under-sized race, possibly, even probably, emigrants from Europe, and now +gradually dying out in Yezo and the Kurile Islands. Prior to the Ainu was +a Negrito race, whose connection with the former is a matter of much +dispute, whose remains in the shape of pit-dwellings, stone arrow-heads, +pottery, and other implements still exist, and will be found fully +described by Mr. Savage Landor in a recent most interesting work.[B] In +the Shan-hai-king, as Professor Schlegel[C] points out, their country is +spoken of as the Siao-jin-Kouo, or land of little men, in distinction, be +it noted, to the Peh-min-Kouo, or land of white people, identified by him +with the Ainu. These little men are spoken of by the Ainu as +Koro-puk-guru, _i.e._, according to Milne, men occupying excavations, or +pit-dwellers. According to Chamberlain, the name means dwellers under +burdocks, and is associated with the following legend. Before the time of +the Ainu, Yezo was inhabited by a race of dwarfs, said by some to be two +to three feet, by others only one inch in height. When an enemy +approached, they hid themselves under the great leaves of the burdock +(_koro_), for which reason they are called Koro-puk-guru, i.e., the men +under the burdocks. When they were exterminated by the wooden clubs of the +Ainu, they raised their eyes to heaven, and, weeping, cried aloud to the +gods, "Why were we made so small?" It should be said that Professor +Schlegel and Mr. Savage Landor both seem to prefer the former etymology. + +[Footnote A: Babylonian and Oriental Record, vol. v.] + +[Footnote B: Alone with the Hairy Ainu.] + +[Footnote C: _Problèmes Géographiques. Les Peuples Etrangers chez les +Historiens Chinois_. Extrait du T'oung-pao, vol. _iv_. No. 4. Leide, E.J. +Brill.] + +Passing to the north-west of the Andamans, we find in India a problem of +considerable difficulty. That there were at one period numerous Negrito +tribes inhabiting that part of Asia is indubitable; that some of them +persist to this day in a state of approximate purity is no less true, but +the influence of crossing has here been most potent. Races of lighter hue +and taller stature have invaded the territory of the Negritos, to a +certain extent intermarried with them, and thus have originated the +various Dravidian tribes. These tribes, therefore, afford us a valuable +clue as to the position occupied in former days by their ancestors, the +Negritos. + +In some of the early Indian legends, De Quatrefages thinks that he finds +traces of these prehistoric connections between the indigenous Negrito +tribes and their invaders. The account of the services rendered to Rama by +Hânuman and his monkey-people may, he thinks, easily be explained by +supposing the latter to be a Negrito tribe. Another tale points to unions +of a closer nature between the alien races. Bhimasena, after having +conquered and slain Hidimba, at first resisted the solicitations of the +sister of this monster, who, having become enamoured of him, presented +herself under the guise of a lovely woman. But at the wish of his elder +brother, Youdhichshira, the king of justice, and with the consent of his +mother, he yielded, and passed some time in the dwelling of this Negrito +or Dravidian Armida. + +It will now be necessary to consider some of these races more or less +crossed with alien blood. + +In the centre of India, amongst the Vindyah Mountains, live the Djangals +or Bandra-Lokhs, the latter name signifying man-monkey, and thus +associating itself with the tale of Rama, above alluded to. Like most of +the Dravidian tribes, they live in great misery, and show every sign of +their condition in their attenuated figures. One of this tribe measured by +Rousselet was five feet in height. It may here be remarked that the +stature of the Dravidian races exceeds that of the purer Negritos, a fact +due, no doubt, to the influence of crossing. Farther south, in the +Nilgherry Hills, and in the neighbourhood of the Todas and Badagas, dwell +the Kurumbas. and Irulas (children of darkness). Both are weak and +dwarfish, the latter especially so. They inhabit, says Walhouse,[A] the +most secluded, densely wooded fastnesses of the mountain slopes. They are +by popular tradition connected with the aboriginal builders of the rude +stone monuments of the district, though, according to the above-mentioned +authority, without any claim to such distinction. They, however, worship +at these cromlechs from time to time, and are associated with them in +another interesting manner. "The Kurumbas of Nulli," says Walhouse, "one +of the wildest Nilgherry declivities, come up annually to worship at one +of the dolmens on the table-land above, in which they say one of their old +gods resides. Though they are regarded with fear and hatred as sorcerers +by the agricultural B[)a]d[)a]gas of the table-land, one of them must, +nevertheless, at sowing-time be called to guide the first plough for two +or three yards, and go through a mystic pantomime of propitiation to the +earth deity, without which the crop would certainly fail. When so +summoned, the Kurumba must pass the night by the dolmens alone, and I have +seen one who had been called from his present dwelling for the morning +ceremony, sitting after dark on the capstone of a dolmen, with heels and +hams drawn together and chin on knees, looking like some huge ghostly fowl +perched on the mysterious stone." Mr. Gomme has drawn attention to this +and other similar customs in the interesting remarks which he makes upon +the influence of conquered non-Aryan races upon their Aryan subduers.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, vii. 21.] + +[Footnote B: Ethnology and Folk-Lore, p. 46; The Village Community, p. +105.] + +Farther south, in Ceylon, the Veddahs live, whom Bailey[A] considers to be +identical with the hill-tribes of the mainland, though, if this be true, +some at least must have undergone a large amount of crossing, judging from +the wavy nature of their hair. The author just quoted says, "The tallest +Veddah I ever saw, a man so towering above his fellows that, till I +measured him, I believed him to be not merely comparatively a tall man, +was only five feet three inches in height. The shortest man I have +measured was four feet one inch. I should say that of males the ordinary +height is from four feet six inches to five feet one inch, and of females +from four feet four inches to four feet eight inches." + +[Footnote A: _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, ii. 278.] + +In the east the Santals inhabit the basin of the Ganges, and in the west +the Jats belong to the Punjab, and especially to the district of the +Indus. The Kols inhabit the delta of the Indus and the neighbourhood of +Gujerat, and stretch almost across Central India into Behar and the +eastern extremities of the Vindhya Mountains. Other Dravidian tribes are +the Oraons, Jouangs, Buihers, and Gounds. All these races have a stature +of about five feet, and, though much crossed, present more or less marked +Negrito characteristics. Passing farther west, the Brahouis of +Beluchistan, a Dravidian race, who regard themselves as the aboriginal +inhabitants, live side by side with the Belutchis. Finally, in this +direction, there seem to have been near Lake Zerrah, in Persia, Negrito +tribes who are probably aboriginal, and may have formed the historic black +guard of the ancient kings of Susiana. + +An examination of the present localisation of these remnants of the +Negrito inhabitants shows how they have been split up, amalgamated with, +or driven to the islands by the conquering invaders. An example of what +has taken place may be found in the case of Borneo, where Negritos still +exist in the centre of the island. The Dyaks chase them like wild beasts, +and shoot down the children, who take refuge in the trees. This will not +seem in the least surprising to those who have studied the history of the +relation between autochthonous races and their invaders. It is the same +story that has been told of the Anglo-Saxon race in its dealings with +aborigines in America, and notably, in our case, in Tasmania. + +Turning from Asia to a continent more closely associated, at least in +popular estimation, with pigmy races, we find in Africa several races of +dwarf men, of great antiquity and surpassing interest. The discoveries of +Stanley, Schweinfurth, Miani, and others have now placed at our disposal +very complete information respecting the pigmies of the central part of +the continent, with whom it will, therefore, be convenient to make a +commencement. These pigmies appear to be divided into two tribes, which, +though similar in stature, and alike distinguished by the characteristic +of attaching themselves to some larger race of natives, yet present +considerable points of difference, so much so as to cause Mr. Stanley to +say that they are as unlike as a Scandinavian is to a Turk. "Scattered," +says the same authority,[A] "among the Balessé, between Ipoto and Mount +Pisgah, and inhabiting the land between the Ngaiyu and Ituri rivers, a +region equal in area to about two-thirds of Scotland, are the Wambutti, +variously called Batwa, Akka, and Bazungu. These people are under-sized +nomads, dwarfs or pigmies, who live in the uncleared virgin forest, and +support themselves on game, which they are very expert in catching. They +vary in height from three feet to four feet six inches. A full-grown adult +may weigh ninety pounds. They plant their village camps three miles around +a tribe of agricultural aborigines, the majority of whom are fine stalwart +people. They use poisoned arrows, with which they kill elephants, and they +capture other kinds of game by the use of traps." + +[Footnote A: In Darkest Africa, vol. ii. p. 92.] + +The two groups are respectively called Batwa and Wambutti. The former +inhabit the northern parts of the above-mentioned district, the latter the +southern. The former have longish heads, long narrow faces, and small +reddish eyes set close together, whilst the latter have round faces and +open foreheads, gazelle-like eyes, set far apart, and rich yellow ivory +complexion. Their bodies are covered with stiffish grey short hair. Two +further quotations from the same source may be given to convey an idea to +those ignorant of the original work, if such there be, of the appearances +of these dwarfs. Speaking of the queen of a tribe of pigmies, Stanley +says,[A] "She was brought in to see me, with three rings of polished iron +around her neck, the ends of which were coiled like a watch-spring. Three +iron rings were suspended to each ear. She is of a light-brown complexion +with broad round face, large eyes, and small but full lips. She had a +quiet modest demeanour, though her dress was but a narrow fork clout of +bark cloth. Her height is about four feet four inches, and her age may be +nineteen or twenty. I notice when her arms are held against the light a +whity-brown fell on them. Her skin has not that silky smoothness of touch +common to the Zanzibaris, but altogether she is a very pleasing little +creature." To this female portrait may be subjoined one of a male aged +probably twenty-one years and four feet in height.[B] "His colour was +coppery, the fell over the body was almost furry, being nearly half an +inch long, and his hands were very delicate. On his head he wore a bonnet +of a priestly form, decorated with a bunch of parrot feathers, and a broad +strip of bark covered his nakedness." + +[Footnote A: In Darkest Africa, vol. i. p. 345.] + +[Footnote B: Ibid., ii. 40.] + +Jephson states[A] that he found continual traces of them from 270 30' E. +long., a few miles above the Equator, up to the edge of the great forest, +five days' march from Lake Albert. He also says that they are a hardy +daring race, always ready for war, and are much feared by their +neighbours. As soon as a party of dwarfs makes its appearance near a +village, the chief hastens to propitiate them by presents of corn and such +vegetables as he possesses. They never exceed four feet one inch in +height, he informs us, and adds a characteristic which has not been +mentioned by Stanley, one, too, which is very remarkable when it is +remembered how scanty is the facial hair of the Negros and Negritos--the +men have often very long beards. The southern parts of the continent are +occupied by the Bushmen, who are vigorous and agile, of a stature ranging +from four feet six inches to four feet nine inches, and sufficiently well +known to permit me to pass over them without further description. The +smallest woman of this race who has been measured was only three feet +three inches in height, and Barrow examined one, who was the mother of +several children, with a stature of three feet eight inches. The Akoas of +the Gaboon district were a race of pigmies who, now apparently extinct, +formerly dwelt on the north of the Nazareth River. A male of this tribe +was photographed and measured by the French Admiral Fleuriot de l'Angle. +His age was about forty and his stature four feet six inches. + +[Footnote A: Emm Pasha, p. 367, et seq.] + +Flower[A] says that "another tribe, the M'Boulous, inhabiting the coast +north of the Gaboon River, have been described by M. Marche as probably +the primitive race of the country. They live in little villages, keeping +entirely to themselves, though surrounded by the larger Negro tribes, +M'Pongos and Bakalais, who are encroaching upon them so closely that their +numbers are rapidly diminishing. In 1860 they were not more than 3000; in +1879 they were much less numerous. They are of an earthy-brown colour, and +rarely exceed five feet three inches in height. Another group living +between the Gaboon and the Congo, in Ashangoland, a male of which measured +four feet six inches, has been described by Du Chaillu." + +In Loango there is a tribe called Babonko, which was described by Battell +in 1625, in the work entitled "Purchas his Pilgrimes," in the following +terms:--"To the north-east of Mani-Kesock are a kind of little people +called Matimbas; which are no bigger than boyes of twelve yeares old, but +very thicke, and live only upon flesh, which they kill in the woods with +their bows and darts. They pay tribute to Mani-Kesock, and bring all their +elephants' teeth and tayles to him. They will not enter into any of the +Maramba's houses, nor will suffer any one to come where they dwell. And if +by chance any Maramba or people of Longo pass where they dwell, they will +forsake that place and go to another. The women carry bows and arrows as +well as the men. And one of these will walk in the woods alone and kill +the Pongos with their poysoned arrows." It is somewhat surprising that +Tyson, who gives in his essay (p. 80) the account of the same people +published at a later date (1686) by Dapper, should have missed his +fellow-countryman's narrative. The existence of this tribe has been +established by a German expedition, one of the members of which, Dr. +Falkenstein, photographed and measured an adult male whose stature was +four feet six inches. + +Krapf[A] states that in the south of Schoa, in a part of Abyssinia as yet +unworked, the Dokos live, who are not taller than four feet. According to +his account, they are of a dark olive colour, with thick prominent lips, +flat noses, small eyes, and long flowing hair. They have no dwellings, +temples, holy trees, chiefs, or weapons, live on roots and fruit, and are +ignorant of fire. Another group was described by Mollieu in 1818 as +inhabiting Tenda-Maié, near the Rio Grande, but very little is known about +them. In a work entitled "The Dwarfs of Mount Atlas," Halliburton[B] has +brought forward a number of statements to prove that a tribe of dwarfs, +named like those of Central Africa, Akkas, of a reddish complexion and +with short woolly hair, live in the district adjoining Soos. These dwarfs +have been alluded to by Harris and Dönnenburg,[C] but Mr. Harold Crichton +Browne,[D] who has explored neighbouring districts, is of opinion that +there is no such tribe, and that the accounts of them have been based upon +the examination of sporadic examples of dwarfishness met with in that as +in other parts of the world. + +[Footnote A: _Morgenblatt_, 1853 (quoted by Schaafhausen, _Arch. f. +Anth._, 1866, p. 166).] + +[Footnote B: London, Nutt, 1891.] + +[Footnote C: _Nature_, 1892, ii. 616.] + +[Footnote A: _Nature_, 1892, i. 269.] + +Finally, in Madagascar it is possible that there may be a dwarf race. +Oliver[A] states that "the Vazimbas are supposed to have been the first +occupants of Ankova. They are described by Rochon, under the name of +Kunios, as a nation of dwarfs averaging three feet six inches in stature, +of a lighter colour than the Negroes, with very long arms and woolly hair. +As they were only described by natives of the coast, and have never been +seen, it is natural to suppose that these peculiarities have been +exaggerated; but it is stated that people of diminutive size still exist +on the banks of a certain river to the south-west." There are many tumuli +of rude work and made of rough stones throughout the country, which are +supposed to be their tombs. In idolatrous days, says Mullens,[B] the +Malagasy deified the Vazimba, and their so-called tombs were the most +sacred objects in the country. In this account may be found further +evidence in favour of Mr. Gomme's theory, to which attention has already +been called. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Memoirs_, iii. 1.] + +[Footnote B: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, v. 181.] + +In the great continent of America there does not appear to have ever been, +so far as our present knowledge teaches, any pigmy race. Dr. Brinton, the +distinguished American ethnologist, to whom I applied for information on +this point, has been good enough to write to me that, in his opinion, +there is no evidence of any pigmy race in America. The "little people" of +the "stone graves" in Tennessee, often supposed to be such, were children, +as the bones testify. The German explorer Hassler has alleged the +existence of a pigmy race in Brazil, but testimony is wanting to support +such allegation. There are two tribes of very short but not pigmy stature +in America, the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuégo and the Utes of Colorado, but +both of these average over five feet. + +Leaving aside for the moment the Lapps, to whom I shall return, there does +not appear to have been at any time a really pigmy race in Europe, so far +as any discoveries which have been made up to the present time show. +Professor Topinard, whose authority upon this point cannot be gainsaid, +informs me that the smallest race known to him in Central Europe is that +of the pre-historic people of the Lozère, who were Neolithic troglodytes, +and are represented probably at the present day by some of the peoples of +South Italy and Sardinia. Their average stature was about five feet two +inches. This closely corresponds with what is known of the stature of the +Platycnemic race of Denbighshire, the Perthi-Chwareu. Busk[A] says of them +that they were of low stature, the mean height, deduced from the lengths +of the long bones, being little more than five feet. As both sexes are +considered together in this description, it is fair to give the male a +stature of about five feet two inches,[B] It also corresponds with the +stature assigned by Pitt-Rivers to a tribe occupying the borders of +Wiltshire and Dorsetshire during the Roman occupation, the average height +of whose males and females was five feet two and a half inches and four +feet ten and three-quarter inches respectively. + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Ethn. Soc._, 1869-70, p. 455.] + +[Footnote B: Since these pages were printed, Prof. Kollmann, of Basle, has +described a group of Neolithic pigmies as having existed at Schaffhausen. +The adult interments consisted of the remains of full-grown European types +and of small-sized people. These two races were found interred side by +side under precisely similar conditions, from which he concludes that they +lived peaceably together, notwithstanding racial difference. Their stature +(about three feet six inches) may be compared with that of the Veddahs in +Ceylon. Prof. Kollmann believes that they were a distinct species of +mankind.] + +Dr. Rahon,[A] who has recently made a careful study of the bones of +pre-historic and proto-historic races, with special reference to their +stature, states that the skeletons attributed to the most ancient and to +the Neolithic races are of a stature below the middle height, the average +being a little over five feet three inches. The peoples who constructed +the Megalithic remains of Roknia and of the Caucasus, were of a stature +similar to our own. The diverse proto-historic populations, Gauls, Franks, +Burgundians, and Merovingians, considered together, present a stature +slightly superior to that of the French of the present day, but not so +much so as the accounts of the historians would have led us to believe. + +[Footnote A: _Recherches sur les Ossements Humaines, Anciens et +Préhistonques. Mém. de la Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris_, Sér, ii. tom. iv. +403.] + +It remains now to deal with two races whose physical characters are of +considerable importance in connection with certain points which will be +dealt with in subsequent pages, I mean the Lapps and the Innuit or Eskimo. + +The Lapps, according to Karonzine,[A] one of their most recent describers, +are divisible into two groups, Scandinavian and Russian, the former being +purer than the latter race. The average male stature is five feet, a +figure which corresponds closely with that obtained by Mantegazza and +quoted by Topinard. The extremes obtained by this observer amongst men +were, on the one hand, five feet eight inches, and on the other four feet +four inches. As, however, in a matter of this kind we have to deal with +averages and not with extremes, we must conclude that the Lapps, though a +stunted race, are not pigmies, in the sense in which the word is +scientifically employed. + +[Footnote A: _L'Anthropologie_, ii. 80.] + +The Innuit or Eskimo were called by the original Norse explorers +"Skraelingjar," or dwarfs, a name now converted by the Innuit into +"karalit," which is the nearest approach that they are able to make +phonetically to the former term. They are certainly, on the average, a +people of less than middle stature, yet they can in no sense be described +as Pigmies. Their mean height is five feet three inches. Nansen[A] says of +them, "It is a common error amongst us in Europe to think of the Eskimo as +a diminutive race. Though no doubt smaller than the Scandinavian peoples, +they must be reckoned amongst the middle-sized races, and I even found +amongst those of purest breeding men of nearly six feet in height." + +[Footnote A: _Eskimo Life_, p. 20.] + + + +II. + + +The _raison d'être_ of Tyson's essay was to explain away the accounts of +the older writers relating to Pigmy races, on the ground that, as no such +races existed, an explanation of some kind was necessary in order to +account for so many and such detailed descriptions as were to be found in +their works. Having now seen not merely that there are such things as +Pigmy races, but that they have a wide distribution throughout the world, +it may be well to consider to which of the existing or extinct races, the +above-mentioned accounts may be supposed to have referred. In this task I +am much aided in several instances by the labours of De Quatrefages, and +as his book is easily accessible, it will be unnecessary for me to repeat +the arguments in favour of his decisions which he has there given. + +Starting with Asia, we have in the first place the statement of Pliny, +that "immediately after the nation of the Prusians, in the mountains where +it is said are pigmies, is found the Indus." These Pigmies may be +identified with the Brahouis, now Dravidian, but still possessing the +habit, attributed to them by Pliny, of changing their dwellings twice a +year, in summer and winter, migrations rendered necessary by the search +for food for their flocks. The same author's allusion to the "Spithamæi +Pygmæi" of the mountains in the neighbourhood of the Ganges may apply to +the Santals or some allied tribe, though Pliny's stature for them of two +feet four inches is exaggeratedly diminutive, and he has confused them +with Homer's Pigmies, who were, as will be seen, a totally different +people. + +Ctesias[A] tells us that "Middle India has black men, who are called +Pygmies, using the same language as the other Indians; they are, however, +very little; that the greatest do not exceed the height of two cubits, and +the most part only of one cubit and a half. But they nourish the longest +hair, hanging down unto the knees, and even below; moreover, they carry a +beard more at length than any other men; but, what is more, after this +promised beard is risen to them, they never after use any clothing, but +send down, truly, the hairs from the back much below the knees, but draw +the beard before down to the feet; afterward, when they have covered the +whole body with hairs, they bind themselves, using those in the place of a +vestment. They are, moreover, apes and deformed. Of these Pygmies, the +king of the Indians has three thousand in his train; for they are very +skilful archers." No doubt the actual stature has been much diminished in +this account, and, as De Quatrefages suggests, the garment of long +floating grasses which they may well have worn, may have been mistaken for +hair; yet, in the description, he believes that he is able to recognise +the ancestors of the Bandra-Lokh of the Vindhya Mountains. Ctesias' other +statement, that "the king of India sends every fifth year fifty thousand +swords, besides abundance of other weapons, to the nation of the +Cynocephali," may refer to the same or some other tribe. + +[Footnote A: The quotation is taken from Ritson, _Fairy Tales_, P. 4.] + +De Quatrefages also thinks that an allusion to the ancestors of the Jats, +who would then have been less altered by crossing than now, may be found +in Herodotus' account of the army of Xerxes when he says, "The Eastern +Ethiopians serve with the Indians. They resemble the other Ethiopians, +from whom they only differ in language and hair. The Eastern Ethiopians +have straight hair, while those of Lybia are more woolly than all other +men." + +Writing of isles in the neighbourhood of Java, Maundeville says,[A] "In +another yle, ther ben litylle folk, as dwerghes; and thei ben to so meche +as the Pygmeyes, and thei han no mouthe, but in stede of hire mouthe, thei +han a lytylle round hole; and whan thei schulle eten or drynken, thei +taken thorghe a pipe or a penne or suche a thing, and sowken it in, for +thei han no tongue, and therefore thei speke not, but thei maken a maner +of hissynge, as a Neddre dothe, and thei maken signes on to another, as +monkes don, be the whiche every of hem undirstondethe the other." + +[Footnote A: Ed. Halliwell, p. 205.] + +Strip this statement of the characteristic Maundevillian touches with +regard to the mouth and tongue, and it may refer to some of the insular +races which exist or existed in the district of which he is treating. + +A much fuller account[A] by the same author relates to Pigmies in the +neighbourhood of a river, stated by a commentator[B] to be the +Yangtze-Kiang, "a gret ryvere, that men clepen Dalay, and that is the +grettest ryvere of fressche water that is in the world. For there, as it +is most narow, it is more than 4 myle of brede. And thanne entren men azen +in to the lond of the great Chane. That ryvere gothe thorge the lond of +Pigmaus, where that the folk ben of litylle stature, that ben but 3 span +long, and thei ben right faire and gentylle, aftre here quantytees, bothe +the men and the women. And thei maryen hem, whan thei ben half zere of age +and getten children. And thei lyven not, but 6 zeer or 7 at the moste. And +he that lyveth 8 zeer, men holden him there righte passynge old. Theise +men ben the beste worcheres of gold, sylver, cotoun, sylk, and of alle +such thinges, of ony other, that be in the world. And thei han often tymes +werre with the briddes of the contree, that thei taken and eten. This +litylle folk nouther labouren in londes ne in vynes. But thei han grete +men amonges hem, of oure stature, that tylen the lond, and labouren +amonges the vynes for hem. And of the men of oure stature, han thei als +grete skorne and wondre, as we wolde have among us of Geauntes, zif thei +weren amonges us. There is a gode cytee, amonges othere, where there is +duellynge gret plentee of the lytylle folk, and is a gret cytee and a +fair, and the men ben grete that duellen amonges hem; but whan thei getten +ony children, thei ben als litylle as the Pygmeyes, and therefore thei ben +alle, for the moste part, alle Pygmeyes, for the nature of the land is +suche. The great Cane let kepe this cytee fulle wel, for it is his. And +alle be it, that the Pygmeyes ben litylle, zit thei ben fulle resonable, +aftre here age and connen bothen wytt and gode and malice now." This +passage, as will be noted, incorporates the Homeric tale of the battles +between the Pigmies and the Cranes, and is adorned with a representation +of such an encounter. Whether Maundeville's dwarfs were the same as the +Siao-Jin of the Shan-hai-King is a question difficult to decide; but, in +any case, both these pigmy races of legend inhabited a part of what is now +the Chinese Empire. The same Pigmies seem to be alluded to in the rubric +of the Catalan map of the world in the National Library of Paris, the date +of which is A.D. 1375. "Here (N.W. of Catayo-Cathay) grow little men who +are but five palms in height, and though they be little, and not fit for +weighty matters, yet they be brave and clever at weaving and keeping +cattle." If such an explanation may be hazarded, we may perhaps go further +and suppose that Paulus Jovius may have been alluding to the +Koro-puk-guru, when, as Pomponius Mela tells us, he taught that there were +Pigmies beyond Japan. In both these cases, however, it is well to remember +that there is a river in Macedon as well as in Monmouth, and that it is +hazardous to come to too definite a belief as to the exact location of the +Pigmies of ancient writers. + +[Footnote A: _Maundeville_, p. 211.] + +[Footnote B: _Quart. Rev._, 172, p. 431.] + +The continent of Africa yielded its share of Pigmies to the same writers. +The most celebrated of all are those alluded to by Aristotle in his +classical passage, "They (the Cranes) come out of Scythia to the Lakes +above Egypt whence the Nile flows. This is the place whereabouts the +Pigmies dwell. For this is no fable but a truth. Both they and the horses, +as 'tis said, are of a small kind. They are Troglodytes and live in +caves." + +Leaving aside the crane part of the tale, which it has been suggested may +really have referred to ostriches, Aristotle's Pigmy race may, from their +situation, be fairly identified with the Akkas described by Stanley and +others. That this race is an exceedingly ancient one is proved by the fact +that Marriette Bey has discovered on a tomb of the ancient Empire of Egypt +a figure of a dwarf with the name Akka inscribed by it. This race is also +supposed to have been that which, alluded to by Homer, has become confused +with other dwarf tribes in different parts of the world. + + "So when inclement winters vex the plain + With piercing frosts or thick-descending rain, + To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly, + With noise and order, through the midway sky; + To Pigmy nations wounds and death they bring, + And all the war descends upon the wing." + +Attention may here be drawn to Tyson's quotation (p. 78) from Vossius as +to the trade driven by the Pigmies in elephants' tusks, since, as we have +seen, this corresponds with what we now know as to the habits of the +Akkas. + +The account which Herodotus gives of the expedition of the Nasamonians is +well known. Five men, chosen by lot from amongst their fellows, crossed +the desert of Lybia, and, having marched several days in deep sand, +perceived trees growing in the midst of the plain. They approached and +commenced to eat the fruit which they bore. Scarcely had they begun to +taste it, when they were surprised by a great number of men of a stature +much inferior to the middle height, who seized them and carried them off. +They were eventually taken to a city, the inhabitants of which were black. +Near this city ran a considerable river whose course was from west to +east, and in which crocodiles were found. In his account of the Akkas, Mr. +Stanley believed that he had discovered the representatives of the Pigmies +mentioned in this history. Speaking of one of these, he says,[A] +"Twenty-six centuries ago his ancestors captured the five young Nasamonian +explorers, and made merry with them at their villages on the banks of the +Niger." It may be correct to say that, at the period alluded to, the dwarf +races of Africa were in more continuous occupancy of the land than is now +the case, but such an identification as that just mentioned gives a false +idea of the position of the Pigmies of Herodotus. De Quatrefages, after a +most careful examination of the question in all its aspects, finds himself +obliged to conclude, either that the Pigmy race seen by the Nasamonians +still exists on the north of the Niger, which has been identified with the +river alluded to by Herodotus, but has not, up to the present, been +discovered; or that it has disappeared from those regions. + +[Footnote A: _Op. supra cit._, ii. 40.] + +Pomponius Mela has also his account of African Pigmies. Beyond the Arabian +Gulf, and at the bottom of an indentation of the Red Sea, he places the +Panchæans, also called Ophiophagi, on account of the fact that they fed +upon serpents. More within the Arabian bay than the Panchæans are the +Pigmies, a minute race, which became exterminated in the wars which it was +compelled to wage with the Cranes for the preservation of its fruits. The +region indicated somewhat corresponds with that which is assigned to the +Dokos by their describer. In this district, too, other dwarf races have +been reported. The French writer whom I have so often cited says, "The +tradition of Eastern African Pigmies has never been lost by the Arabs. At +every period the geographers of this nation have placed their River of +Pigmies much more to the south. It is in this region, a little to the +north of the Equator, and towards the 32° of east longitude, that the Rev. +Fr. Léon des Avanchers has found the Wa-Berrikimos or Cincallès, whose +stature is about four feet four inches. The information gathered by M. +D'Abbadie places towards the 6° of north latitude the Mallas or +Mazé-Malléas, with a stature of five feet. Everything indicates that there +exist, at the south of the Galla country, different negro tribes of small +stature. It seems difficult to me not to associate them with the Pigmies +of Pomponius Mela. Only they have retreated farther south. Probably this +change had already taken place at the time when the Roman geographer wrote; +it is, therefore, comprehensible that he may have regarded them as having +disappeared." + +Tyson (p. 29) quotes the following passage from Photius:--"That Nonnosus +sailing from Pharsa, when he came to the farthermost of the islands, a +thing very strange to be heard of happened to him; for he lighted on some +(animals) in shape and appearance like men, but little of stature, and of +a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over their bodies. The +women, who were of the same stature, followed the men. They were all +naked, only the elder of them, both men and women, covered their privy +parts with a small skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; they had a +human voice, but their dialect was altogether unknown to everybody that +lived about them, much more to those that were with Nonnosus. They lived +upon sea-oysters and fish that were cast out of the sea upon the island. +They had no courage for seeing our men; they were frighted, as we are at +the sight of the greatest wild beast." It is not easy to identify this +race with any existing tribe of Pigmies, but the hairiness of their +bodies, and above all their method of clothing themselves, leave no doubt +that in this account we have a genuine story of some group of +small-statured blacks. + +From the foregoing account it will be seen that it is possible with more +or less accuracy and certainty to identify most of those races which, +described by the older writers, had been rejected by their successors. +Time has brought their revenge to Aristotle and Pliny by showing that they +were right, where Tyson, and even Buffon, were wrong. + + + +III. + + +The little people of story and legend have a much wider area of +distribution than those of real life, and it is the object of this section +to give some idea of their localities and dwellings. Imperfect as such an +account must necessarily be, it will yet suffice I trust in some measure +to show that, like the England of Arthurian times, all the world is +"fulfilled of faëry." + +In dealing with this part of the subject, it would be possible, following +the example of Keightley, to treat the little folk of each country +separately. But a better idea of their nature, and certainly one which for +my purpose will be more satisfactory, can, I think, be obtained by +classifying them according to the nature of their habitations, and +mentioning incidentally such other points concerning them as it may seem +advisable to bring out. + +1. In the first place, then, fairies are found dwelling in mounds of +different kinds, or in the interior of hills. This form of habitation is +so frequently met with in Scotch and Irish accounts of the fairies, that +it will not be necessary for me to burden these pages with instances, +especially since I shall have to allude to them in a further section in +greater detail. Suffice it to say, that many instances of such an +association in the former country will be found in the pages of Mr. +MacRitchie's works, whilst as to the latter, I shall content myself by +quoting Sir William Wilde's statement, that every green "rath" in that +country is consecrated to the "good people." In England there are numerous +instances of a similar kind. Gervase of Tilbury in the thirteenth century +mentions such a spot in Gloucestershire: "There is in the county of +Gloucester a forest abounding in boars, stags, and every species of game +that England produces. In a grovy lawn of this forest there is a little +mount, rising in a point to the height of a man." With this mount he +associates the familiar story of the offering of refreshment to travellers +by its unseen inhabitants. In Warwickshire, the mound upon which +Kenilworth Castle is built was formerly a fairy habitation.[A] Ritson[B] +mentions that the "fairies frequented many parts of the Bishopric of +Durham." There is a hillock or tumulus near Bishopton, and a large hill +near Billingham, both of which used in former time to be "haunted by +fairies." Even Ferry-hill, a well-known stage between Darlington and +Durham, is evidently a corruption of "Fairy-hill." In Yorkshire a similar +story attaches to the sepulchral barrow of Willey How,[C] and in Sussex to +a green mound called the Mount in the parish of Pulborough.[D] The fairies +formerly frequented Bussers Hill in St. Mary's Isle, one of the Scilly +group.[E] The Bryn-yr-Ellyllon,[F] or Fairy-hill, near Mold, may be cited +as a similar instance in Wales, which must again be referred to. + +[Footnote A: _Testimony of Tradition_, p. 142.] + +[Footnote B: _Op. cit._, p. 56.] + +[Footnote C: _Folk Lore_, ii. 115.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Record_, i. 16 and 28.] + +[Footnote E: _Ritson_, p. 62.] + +[Footnote F: Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, p. 433.] + +The pages of Keightley's work contain instances of hill-inhabiting fairies +in Scandinavia, Denmark, the Isle of Rugen, Iceland, Germany, and +Switzerland. It is not only in Europe, however, that this form of +habitation is to be met with; we find it also in America. The Sioux have a +curious superstition respecting a mound near the mouth of the Whitestone +River, which they call the Mountain of Little People or Little Spirits; +they believe that it is the abode of little devils in the human form, of +about eighteen inches high and with remarkably large heads; they are armed +with sharp arrows, in the use of which they are very skilful. These little +spirits are always on the watch to kill those who should have the +hardihood to approach their residence. The tradition is that many have +suffered from their malice, and that, among others, three Maha Indians +fell a sacrifice to them a few years since. This has inspired all the +neighbouring nations, Sioux, Mahas, and Ottoes, with such terror, that no +consideration could tempt them to visit the hill.[A] + +[Footnote A: Lewis and Clarke, _Travels to the Source of the Missouri +River._ Quoted in _Flint Chips_, p. 346. The tale is also given in _Folk +Lore, Oriental and American_ (Gibbings & Co.), p. 45.] + +The mounds or hills inhabited by the fairies are, however, of very diverse +kinds, as we discover when we attempt to analyse their actual nature. In +some cases they are undoubtedly natural elevations. Speaking of the +exploration of the Isle of Unst, Hunt[A] says that the term "Fairy Knowe" +is applied alike to artificial and to natural mounds. "We visited," he +states, "two 'Fairy Knowes' in the side of the hill near the turning of +the road from Reay Wick to Safester, and found that these wonderful relics +were merely natural formations. The workmen were soon convinced of this, +and our digging had the effect of proving to them that the fairies had +nothing to do with at least two of these hillocks." The same may surely be +said of that favourite and important fairy haunt Tomnahurich, near +Inverness, though Mr. MacRitchie seems to think that an investigation, +were such possible, of its interior, might lead to a different +explanation. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Mems._, ii. 294.] + +In other cases, and these are of great importance in coming to a +conclusion as to the origin of fairy tales, the mounds inhabited by the +little people are of a sepulchral nature. This is the case in the instance +of Willey How, which, when explored by Canon Greenwell, was found, in +spite of its size and the enormous care evidently bestowed upon its +construction, to be merely a cenotaph. A grave there was, sunk more than +twelve feet deep in the chalk rock; but no corporeal tenant had ever +occupied it. + +This fact is still more clearly shown in the remarkable case mentioned by +Professor Boyd Dawkins. A barrow called Bryn-yr-Ellyllon (Fairy-hill), +near Mold, was said to be haunted by a ghost clad in golden armour which +had been seen to enter it. The barrow was opened in the year 1832, and was +found to contain the skeleton of a man wearing a golden corselet of +Etruscan workmanship. + +The same may be said respecting that famous fairy-hill in Ireland, the +Brugh of the Boyne, though Mr. MacRitchie seems to regard it as having +been a dwelling-place. Mr. Coffey in a most careful study appears to me to +have finally settled the question.[A] He speaks of the remains as those of +probably the most remarkable of the pre-Christian cemeteries of Ireland. +Of the stone basins, whose nature Mr. MacRitchie regards as doubtful, he +says, "There can be hardly any doubt but that they served the purpose of +some rude form of sarcophagus, or of a receptacle for urns." Mr. Coffey +quotes the account from the Leadhar na huidri respecting cemeteries, in +which Brugh is mentioned as amongst the chief of those existing before the +faith (i.e. before the introduction of Christianity). "The nobles of the +Tuatha de Danann were used to bury at Brugh (i.e. the Dagda with his three +sons; also Lugaidh, and Oe, and Ollam, and Ogma, and Etan the Poetess, and +Corpre, the son of Etan), and Cremthain followed them, because his wife +Nar was of the Tuatha Dea, and it was she solicited him that he should +adopt Brugh as a burial-place for himself and his descendants, and this +was the cause that they did not bury at Cruachan." Mr. Coffey also quotes +O'Hartagain's poem, which seems to bear in Mr. MacRitchie's favour:-- + + "Behold the sidhe before your eyes: + It is manifest to you that it is a king's mansion, + Which was built by the firm Dagda; + It was a wonder, a court, a wonderful hill." + +[Footnote A: _Tumuli at New Grange. Trans. Roy. Irish Academy_, XXX. 1.] + +But certain of the expressions in this are evidently to be taken +figuratively, since Mr. Coffey states, in connection with this and other +quotations, that their importance consists in that they establish the +existence at a very early date of a tradition associating Brugh na Boinne, +the burial-place of the kings of Tara, with the tumuli on the Boyne. The +association of particular monuments with the Dagda and other divinities +and heroes of Irish mythology implies that the actual persons for whom +they were erected had been forgotten, the pagan traditions being probably +broken by the introduction of Christianity. The mythological ancestors of +the heroes and kings interred at Brugh, who probably were even +contemporarily associated with the cemetery, no doubt subsequently +overshadowed in tradition the actual persons interred there. + +Finally, it seems that the fairy hills may have been actual +dwelling-places, fortified or not, of prehistoric peoples. Such were no +doubt some of the Picts' houses so fully dealt with by Mr. MacRitchie, +though Petrie[A] seems to have considered that many of these were +sepulchral in their nature. Such were also the Raths of Ireland and +fortified hills, like the White Cater Thun of Forfarshire. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Mems._, ii. 216.] + +The interior of the mound-dwellings, as described in the stories, is a +point to which allusion should be made. Sometimes the mound contains a +splendid palace, adorned with gold and silver and precious stones, like +the palace of the King of Elfland in the tale of "Childe Rowland." In the +Scandinavian mound-stories we find a curious incident, for they are +described as being capable of being raised upon red pillars, and as being +so raised when the occupants gave a feast to their neighbours. "There are +three hills on the lands of Bubbelgaard in Funen, which are to this day +called the Dance-hills, from the following occurrence. A lad named Hans +was at service in Bubbelgaard, and as he was coming one evening past the +hills, he saw one of them raised on red pillars, and great dancing and +much merriment underneath."[A] This feature is met with in several of the +stories collected by Keightley, and is made use of in Cruikshank's +picture, which forms the frontispiece to that volume. Lastly, in a number +of cases there is not merely a habitation, but a vast country underneath +the mound. An instance of this occurs in the tale of John Dietrich from +the Isle of Rügen. Under the Nine-hills he found "that there were in that +place the most beautiful walks, in which he might ramble along for miles +in all directions, without ever finding an end of them, so immensely large +was the hill that the little people lived in, and yet outwardly it seemed +but a little hill, with a few bushes and trees growing on it."[B] + +[Footnote A: Quoted by Keightley (p. 9), from Thiele, i. 118.] + +[Footnote B: Keightley, 178.] + +2. The haunts of the fairies may be in caves, and examples of this form of +dwelling-place are to be met with in different parts of the world. The +Scandinavian hill people live in caves or small hills, and the Elves or +dwarfs of La Romagna "dwell in lonely places, far away in the mountains, +deep in them, in caves or among old ruins and rocks," as Mr. Leland,[A] +who gives a tale respecting these little people, tells us. A Lithuanian +tale[B] tells "how the hero, Martin, went into a forest to hunt, +accompanied by a smith and a tailor. Finding an empty hut, they took +possession of it; the tailor remained in it to cook the dinner, and the +others went forth to the chase. When the dinner was almost ready, there +came to the hut a very little old man with a very long beard, who +piteously begged for food. After receiving it, he sprang on the tailor's +neck and beat him almost to death. When the hunters returned, they found +their comrade groaning on his couch, complaining of illness, but saying +nothing about the bearded dwarf. Next day the smith suffered in a similar +way; but when it came to Martin's turn, he proved too many and too strong +for the dwarf, whom he overcame, and whom he fastened by the beard to the +stump of a tree. But the dwarf tore himself loose before the hunters came +back from the forest and escaped into a cavern. Tracing him by the drops +of blood which had fallen from him, the three companions came to the mouth +of the cavern, and Martin was lowered into it by the two others. Within it +he found three princesses, who had been stolen by three dragons. These +dragons he slew, and the princesses and their property he took to the spot +above which his comrades kept watch, who hoisted them out of the cavern, +but left Martin in it to die. As he wandered about disconsolately, he +found the bearded dwarf, whom he slew. And soon afterwards he was conveyed +out of the cavern by a flying serpent, and was able to punish his +treacherous friends, and to recover the princesses, all three of whom he +simultaneously married." + +[Footnote A: _Etrusco Roman Remains_, p. 222.] + +[Footnote B: _Folk Lore Record_, i. 85. Mr. Hartland points out to me that +this tale, being a Marchen, does not afford quite such good evidence of +belief as actually or recently existing as a saga.] + +Amongst the Magyars,[A] also, in some localities caves are pointed out as +the haunts of fairies, such as the caves in the side of the rock named +Budvár, the cave Borza-vára, near the castle of Dame Rapson; another haunt +of the fairies is the cave near Almás, and the cold wind known as the +"Nemere" is said to blow when the fairy in Almás cave feels cold. On one +occasion the plague was raging in this neighbourhood; the people ascribed +it to the cold blast emanating from the cave; so they hung shirts before +the mouth of the cave and the plague ceased. + +[Footnote A: Jones and Kropf, _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, pp. xxxvi. _et +seq_.] + +In a widely distant part of the world, the Battaks-Karo,[A] of the high +ground north of Lake Toba in Sumatra, believe in three classes of +mysterious beings, one of which closely corresponds with the fairies of +Europe. The first group are called Hantous; they are giants and dead +Begous (i.e. definitely dead souls), who inhabit Mount Sampouran together +with the second group. These are called Omangs; they are dwarfs who marry +and reproduce their species, live generally in mountains, and have their +feet placed transversely. They must be propitiated, and those making the +ascent of Mount Sébayak sacrifice a white hen to them, or otherwise the +Omangs would throw stones at them. They carry off men and women, and often +keep them for years. They love to dwell amongst stones, and the Roumah +Omang, which is one of their favourite habitations, is a cavern. The third +group, or Orangs Boumans, resemble ordinary beings, but have the power of +making themselves invisible. They come down from the mountains to buy +supplies, but have not been seen for some time. Westenberg, from whom this +information is quoted, regards the last class as being proscribed Battaks, +who have fled for refuge to the mountains. Passing to another continent, +the Iroquois[B] have several stories about Pigmies, one of whom, by name +Go-ga-ah, lives in a little cave. + +[Footnote A: _L'Anthropologie_, iv. 83.] + +[Footnote B: Smith, _Myths of the Iroquois_. _American Bureau of +Ethnology_, ii. 65.] + +3. The little people may occupy a castle or house, or the hill upon which +such a building is erected, or a cave under it. Without dwelling upon the +Brownies and other similar distinctly household spirits, there are certain +classes which must be mentioned in this connection. The Magyar fairies +live in castles on lofty mountain peaks. They build them themselves, or +inherit them from giants. Kozma enumerates the names of about twenty-three +castles which belonged to fairies, and which still exist. Although they +have disappeared from earth, they continue to live, even in our days, in +caves under their castles, in which caves their treasures lie hidden. The +iron gates of Zeta Castle, which have subsided into the ground and +disappeared from the surface, open once in every seven years. On one +occasion a man went in there, and met two beautiful fairies whom he +addressed thus, "How long will you still linger here, my little sisters?" +and they replied, "As long as the cows will give warm milk." + +Like the interior of some of the mound-dwellings already mentioned, these +fairy caves are splendid habitations. "Their subterranean habitations are +not less splendid and glittering than were their castles of yore on the +mountain peaks. The one at Firtos is a palace resting on solid gold +columns. The palace at Tartod and the gorgeous one of Dame Rapson are +lighted by three diamond balls, as big as human heads, which hang from +golden chains. The treasure which is heaped up in the latter place +consists of immense gold bars, golden lions with carbuncle eyes, a golden +hen with her brood, and golden casks, filled with gold coin. The treasures +of Fairy Helen are kept in a cellar under Kovászna Castle, the gates of +the cellar being guarded by a magic cock. This bird only goes to sleep +once in seven years, and anybody who could guess the right moment would be +able to scrape no end of diamond crystals from the walls and bring them +out with him. The fairies who guard the treasures of the Pogányvár (Pagan +Castle) in Marosszék even nowadays come on moonlight nights to bathe in +the lake below."[A] In Brittany, "a number of little men, not more than a +foot high, dwell under the castle of Morlaix. They live in holes in the +ground, whither they may often be seen going, and beating on basins. They +possess great treasures, which they sometimes bring out; and if any one +pass by at the time, allow him to take one handful, but no more. Should +any one attempt to fill his pockets, the money vanishes, and he is +instantly assailed by a shower of boxes on the ear from invisible +hands."[B] In the Netherlands, the "Gypnissen," "queer little women," +lived in a castle which had been reared in a single night.[C] The Ainu +have tales of the Poiyaumbe, a name which means literally "little beings +residing on the soil" (Mr. Batchelor says that "little" is probably meant +to express endearment or admiration, but one may be allowed to doubt +this). The Ainu, who is the hero of the story, "comes to a tall mountain +with a beautiful house built on its summit. Descending, for his path had +always been through the air, by the side of the house, and looking through +the chinks of the door, he saw a little man and a little woman sitting +beside the fireplace."[D] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, p. xxxviii.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm, apud Keightley, 441.] + +[Footnote C: _Testimony of Tradition_, p. 86.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Journal_, vi. 195.] + +4. The little people or fairies occupy rude stone monuments or are +connected with their building. In Brittany they are associated with +several of the megalithic remains.[A] "At Carnac, near Quiberon," says M. +De Cambry, "in the department of Morbihan, on the sea-shore, is the Temple +of Carnac, called in Breton 'Ti Goriquet' (House of the Gories), one of +the most remarkable Celtic monuments extant. It is composed of more than +four thousand large stones, standing erect in an arid plain, where neither +tree nor shrub is to be seen, and not even a pebble is to be found in the +soil on which they stand. If the inhabitants are asked concerning this +wonderful monument, they say it is an old camp of Cæsar's, an army turned +into stone, or that it is the work of the Crions or Gories. These they +describe as little men between two and three feet high, who carried these +enormous masses on their hands; for, though little, they are stronger than +giants. Every night they dance around the stones, and woe betide the +traveller who approaches within their reach! he is forced to join in the +dance, where he is whirled about till, breathless and exhausted, he falls +down, amidst the peals of laughter of the Crions. All vanish with the +break of day. In the ruins of Tresmalouen dwell the Courils. They are of a +malignant disposition, but great lovers of dancing. At night they sport +around the Druidical monuments. The unfortunate shepherd that approaches +them must dance their rounds with them till cockcrow; and the instances +are not few of persons thus ensnared who have been found next morning dead +with exhaustion and fatigue. Woe also to the ill-fated maiden who draws +near the Couril dance! nine months after, the family counts one member +more. Yet so great is the cunning and power of these dwarfs, that the +young stranger bears no resemblance to them, but they impart to it the +features of some lad of the village." + +[Footnote A: Keightley, 440.] + +In India megalithic remains are also associated with little people. +"Dwarfs hold a distinct place in Hindu mythology; they appear sculptured +on all temples. Siva is accompanied by a body-guard of dwarfs, one of +whom, the three-legged Bhringi, dances nimbly. But coming nearer to +Northern legend, the cromlechs and kistvaens which abound over Southern +India are believed to have been built by a dwarf race, a cubit high, who +could, nevertheless, move and handle the huge stones easily. The villagers +call them Pandayar."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore_, iv. 401.] + +Mr. Meadows Taylor, speaking of cromlechs in India, says, "Wherever I +found them, the same tradition was attached to them, that they were Morie +humu, or Mories' houses; these Mories having been dwarfs who inhabited the +country before the present race of men." Again, speaking of the cromlechs +of Koodilghee, he states, "Tradition says that former Governments caused +dwellings of the description alluded to to be erected for a species of +human beings called 'Mohories,' whose dwarfish stature is said not to have +exceeded a span when standing, and a fist high when in a sitting posture, +who were endowed with strength sufficient to roll off large stones with a +touch of their thumb." There are, he also tells us, similar traditions +attaching to other places, where the dwarfs are sometimes spoken of as +Gujaries.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Ethnol. Soc_., 1868-69, p. 157.] + +Of stone structures built by fairies or little people for the use of +others, may be mentioned the churches built by dwarfs in Scotland and +Brittany, and described by Mr. MacRitchie, as also the two following +instances, taken from widely distant parts of the globe. In Brittany, the +dolmen of Manné-er Hrock (Montaigne de la Fee), at Locmariaquer, is said +to have been built by a fairy, in order that a mother might stand upon it +and look out for her son's ship.[A] In Fiji the following tale is told +about the Nanga or sacred stone enclosure:--"This is the word of our +fathers concerning the Nanga. Long ago their fathers were ignorant of it; +but one day two strangers were found sitting in the Rara (public square), +and they said they had come up from the sea to give them the Nanga. They +were little men, and very dark-skinned, and one of them had his face and +bust painted red, while the other was painted black. Whether these were +gods or men our fathers did not tell us, but it was they who taught our +people the Nanga. This was in the old times, when our fathers were living +in another land--not in this place, for we are strangers here."[B] It is +worthy of note that the term "Nanga" applies not merely to the enclosure, +but also to the secret society which held its meetings therein.[C] + +[Footnote A: _Flint Chips_, p. 104.] + +[Footnote B: Fison, _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xiv, 14.] + +[Footnote C: Joske, _Internat. Arch. f. Ethnographie_, viii. 254.] + +5. The little people make their dwellings either in the interior of a +stone or amongst stones. I am not here alluding to the stones on the sides +of mountains which are the doorways to fairy dwellings, but to a closer +connection, which will be better understood from some of the following +instances than from any lengthy explanation. The Duergas of the +Scandinavian Eddas had their dwelling-places in stones, as we are told in +the story of Thorston, who "came one day to an open part of the wood, +where he saw a great rock, and out a little way from it a dwarf, who was +horridly ugly."[A] In Ireland, in Innisbofin, co. Galway, Professor Haddon +relates that the men who were quarrying a rock in the neighbourhood of the +harbour refused to work at it any longer, as it was so full of "good +people" as to be hot.[B] In England the Pixy-house of Devon is in a stone, +and a large stone is also connected with the story of the Frensham +caldron, though it is not clear that the fairies lived in the rock +itself.[C] Oseberrow or Osebury (_vulgo_ Rosebury) Rock, in Lulsey, +Worcestershire, was, according to tradition, a favourite haunt of the +fairies.[D] In another part of Worcestershire, on the side of the +Cotswolds, there is, in a little spinney, a large flat stone, much worn on +its under surface, which is called the White Lady's Table. This personage +is supposed to take her meals with the fairies at this rock, but what the +exact relation of the little people to it as a dwelling-place may be, I +have not been able to learn. + +[Footnote A: Keightley, 70.] + +[Footnote B: _Folklore_, iv. 49.] + +[Footnote C: Ritson, 106, quoting Aubrey's _Natural History of Surrey_, +iii. 366.] + +[Footnote D: Allies, _Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire_, +p.443.] + +There is an Iroquois tale of dwarfs, in which the summons to the Pigmies +was given by knocking upon a large stone.[A] The little people of +Melanesia seem also to be associated in some measure with stones. Speaking +of these beings, Mr. Codrington says,[B] "There are certain Vuis having +rather the nature of fairies. The accounts of them are vague, but it is +argued that they had never left the islands before the introduction of +Christianity, and indeed have been seen since. Not long ago there was a +woman living at Mota who was the child of one, and a very few years ago a +female Vui with a child was seen in Saddle Island. Some of these were +called Nopitu, which come invisibly, or possess those with whom they +associate themselves. The possessed are called Nopitu. Such persons would +lift a cocoa-nut to drink, and native shell money would run out instead of +the juice and rattle against their teeth; they would vomit up money, or +scratch and shake themselves on a mat, when money would pour from their +fingers. This was often seen, and believed to be the doing of a Nopitu. In +another manner of manifestation, a Nopitu would make himself known as a +party were sitting round an evening fire. A man would hear a voice in his +thigh, 'Here am I, give me food.' He would roast a little red yam, and +fold it in the corner of his mat. He would soon find it gone, and the +Nopitu would begin a song. Its voice was so small and clear and sweet, +that once heard it never could be forgotten; but it sang the ordinary Mota +songs. Such spirits as these, if seen or found, would disappear beside a +stone; they were smaller than the native people, darker, and with long +straight hair. But they were mostly unseen, or seen only by those to whom +they took a fancy. They were the friendly Trolls or Robin Goodfellows of +the islands; a man would find a fine red yam put for him on the seat +beside the door, or the money which he paid away returned within his +purse. A woman working in her garden heard a voice from the fruit of a +gourd asking for some food, and when she pulled up an arum or dug out a +yam, another still remained; but when she listened to another spirit's +panpipes, the first in his jealousy conveyed away garden and all." Amongst +the Australians also supernatural beings dwell amongst the rocks, and the +Annamites and Arabians know of fairies living amongst the rocks and +hills.[C] + +[Footnote A: Smith, _Myths of Iroquois, ut supra._] + +[Footnote B: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, x. 261.] + +[Footnote C: Hartland, _Science of Fairy Tales_, p. 351.] + + +6. The little people may have their habitation in forests or trees. Such +were the Skovtrolde, or Wood-Trolls of Thorlacius,[A] who made their home +on the earth in great thick woods, and the beings in South Germany who +resemble the dwarfs, and are called Wild, Wood, Timber and Moss People.[B] +"These generally live together in society, but they sometimes appear +singly. They are small in stature, yet somewhat larger than the Elf, being +the size of children of three years, grey and old-looking, hairy and clad +in moss. Their lives are attached, like those of the Hamadryads, to the +trees, and if any one causes by friction the inner bark to loosen, a +Wood-woman dies." In Scandinavia there is also a similarity between +certain of the Elves and Hamadryads. The Elves "not only frequent trees, +but they make an interchange of form with them. In the churchyard of Store +Heddinge, in Zeeland, there are the remains of an oak-wood. These, say the +common people, are the Elle King's soldiers; by day they are trees, by +night valiant soldiers. In the wood of Rugaard, in the same island, is a +tree which by night becomes a whole Elle-people, and goes about all alive. +It has no leaves upon it, yet it would be very unsafe to go to break or +fell it, for the underground people frequently hold their meetings under +its branches. There is, in another place, an elder-tree growing in a +farmyard, which frequently takes a walk in the twilight about the yard, +and peeps in through the window at the children when they are alone. The +linden or lime-tree is the favourite haunt of the Elves and cognate +beings, and it is not safe to be near it after sunset."[C] In England, the +fairies also in some cases frequent the woods, as is their custom in the +Isle of Man, and in Wales, where there was formerly, in the park of Sir +Robert Vaughan, a celebrated old oak-tree, named Crwben-yr-Ellyl, or the +Elf's Hollow Tree. In Formosa[D] there is also a tale of little people +inhabiting a wood. "A young Botan became too ardent in his devotion to a +young lady of the tribe, and was slain by her relatives, while, as a +warning as to the necessity for love's fervour being kept within bounds, +his seven brothers were banished by the chief. The exiles went forth into +the depths of the forest, and in their wanderings after a new land they +crossed a small clearing, in which a little girl, about a span in height, +was seated peeling potatoes. 'Little sister,' they queried, 'how come you +here? where is your home?' 'I am not of homes nor parents,' she replied. +Leaving her, they went still farther into the forest, and had not gone far +when they saw a little man cutting canes, and farther on to the right a +curious-looking house, in front of which sat two diminutive women combing +their hair. Things looked so queer that the travellers hesitated about +approaching nearer, but, eager to find a way out of the forest, they +determined in their extremity to question the strange people. The two +women, when interrogated, turned sharply round, showing eyes of a flashing +red; then looking upward, their eyes became dull and white, and they +immediately ran into the house, the doors and windows of which at once +vanished, the whole taking the form and appearance of an isolated +boulder." Amongst the Maories also we have "te tini ote hakuturi," or "the +multitude of the wood-elves," the little people who put the chips all back +into the tree Rata had felled and stood it up again, because he had not +paid tribute to Tane.[E] + +[Footnote A: Quoted by Keightley, p. 62.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 230.] + +[Footnote C: Keightley, p. 92, quoting from Thiele.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Journal_, v. 143.] + +[Footnote E: Tregear, _Journ. Anth. Inst._, xix. 121.] + +7. The association of little people with water as a home is a widespread +notion. The Sea-Trows of the Shetlanders inhabit a region of their own at +the bottom of the sea. They here respire a peculiar atmosphere, and live +in habitations constructed of the choicest submarine productions. They +are, however, not always small, but may be of diverse statures, like the +Scandinavian Necks. In Germany the Water-Dwarfs are also known. At +Seewenheiher, in the Black Forest, a little water-man (_Seemännlein_) used +to come and join the people, work the whole day along with them, and in +the evening go back into the lakes.[A] The size of the Breton Korrigs or +Korrigan, if we may believe Villemarqué in his account of this folk, does +not exceed two feet, but their proportions are most exact, and they have +long flowing hair, which they comb out with great care. Their only dress +is a long white veil, which they wind round their body. Seen at night or +in the dusk of the evening, their beauty is great; but in the daylight +their eyes appear red, their hair is white, and their faces wrinkled; +hence they rarely let themselves be seen by day. They are fond of music, +and have fine voices, but are not much given to dancing. Their favourite +haunts are the springs, by which they sit and comb their hair.[B] The +Maories also have their Water-Pigmies, the Ponaturi, who are, according to +Mr. Tregear, elves, little tiny people, mostly dwellers in water, coming +ashore to sleep.[C] "The spirits most commonly met with in African +mythology," says Mr. Macdonald, "are water or river spirits, inhabiting +deep pools where there are strong eddies and under-currents. Whether they +are all even seen now-a-days it is difficult to determine, but they must +at one time have either shown themselves willingly, or been dragged from +their hiding-places by some powerful magician, for they are one and all +described. They are dwarfs, and correspond to the Scottish conception of +kelpies or fairies. They are wicked and malevolent beings, and are never +credited with a good or generous action. Whatever they possess they keep, +and greedily seize upon any one who comes within their reach. 'One of +them, the Incanti, corresponds to the Greek Python, and another, called +Hiti, appears in the form of a small and very ugly man, and is exceedingly +malevolent' (Brownlee). It is certain death to see an Incanti, and no one +but the magicians sees them except in dreams, and in that case the +magicians are consulted, and advise and direct what is to be done."[D] + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 261.] + +[Footnote B: Villemarqué, ibid., 431.] + +[Footnote C: Tregear, _ut supra._] + +[Footnote D: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xx. 124.] + +Dr. Nansen, speaking of the Ignerssuit (plural of Ignersuak, which means +"great fire"), says that they are for the most part good spirits, inclined +to help men. The entrance to their dwellings is on the sea-shore. +According to the Eskimo legend, "The first earth which came into existence +had neither seas nor mountains, but was quite smooth. When the One above +was displeased with the people upon it, He destroyed the world. It burst +open, and the people fell down into the rifts and became Ignerssuit and +the water poured over everything."[A] The spirits here alluded to appear +to be the same as those described by Mr. Boas as Uissuit in his monograph +on the Central Eskimo. He describes them as "a strange people that live in +the sea. They are dwarfs, and are frequently seen between Iglulik and +Netchillik, where the Anganidjen live, an Innuit tribe whose women are in +the habit of tracing rings around their eyes. There are men and women +among the Uissuit, and they live in deep water, never coming to the +surface. When the Innuit wish to see them, they go in their boats to a +place where they cannot see the bottom, and try to catch them with hooks +which they slowly move up and down. As soon as they get a bite they draw +in the line. The Uissuit are thus drawn up; but no sooner do they approach +the surface than they dive down headlong again, only their legs having +emerged from the water. The Innuit have never succeeded in getting one out +of the water."[A] + +[Footnote A: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 259.] + +[Footnote A: _American Bureau of Ethnology_, vi. 612.] + +8. Amongst habitations not coming under any of the above categories may be +mentioned the moors and open places affected by the Cornish fairies, and +lastly the curious residences of the Kirkonwaki or Church-folk of the +Finns. "It is an article of faith with the Finns that there dwell under +the altar in every church little misshapen beings which they call +Kirkonwaki, i.e., Church-folk. When the wives of these little people have +a difficult labour, they are relieved if a Christian woman visits them and +lays her hand upon them. Such service is always rewarded by a gift of gold +and silver."[A] These folk evidently correspond to the Kirkgrims of +Scandinavian countries, and the traditions respecting both are probably +referable to the practice of foundation sacrifices. + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 488.] + + + +IV. + + +The subject of Pigmy races and fairy tales cannot be considered to have +been in any sense fully treated without some consideration of a theory +which, put forward by various writers and in connection with the legends +of diverse countries, has recently been formulated by Mr. MacRitchie in a +number of most interesting and suggestive books and papers. An early +statement of this theory is to be found in a paper by Mr. J.F. Campbell, +in which he stated, "It is somewhat remarkable that traditions still +survive in the Highlands of Scotland which seem to be derived from the +habits of Scotch tribes like the Lapps in our day. Stories are told in +Sutherlandshire about a 'witch' who milked deer; a 'ghost' once became +acquainted with a forester, and at his suggestion packed all her +plenishing on a herd of deer, when forced to flit by another and a bigger +'ghost;' the green mounds in which 'fairies' are supposed to dwell closely +resemble the outside of Lapp huts. The fairies themselves are not +represented as airy creatures in gauze wings and spangles, but they appear +in tradition as small cunning people, eating and drinking, living close at +hand in their green mound, stealing children and cattle, milk and food, +from their bigger neighbours. They are uncanny, but so are the Lapps. My +own opinion is that these Scotch traditions relate to the tribes who made +kitchen-middens and lake-dwellings in Scotland, and that they were allied +to Lapps."[A] Such in essence is Mr. MacRitchie's theory, which has been +so admirably summarised by Mr. Jacobs in the first of that series of +fairy-tale books which has added a new joy to life, that I shall do myself +the pleasure of quoting his statement in this place. He says: "Briefly +put, Mr. MacRitchie's view is that the elves, trolls, and fairies +represented in popular tradition are really the mound-dwellers, whose +remains have been discovered in some abundance in the form of green +hillocks, which have been artificially raised over a long and low passage +leading to a central chamber open to the sky. Mr. MacRitchie shows that in +several instances traditions about trolls or 'good people' have attached +themselves to mounds which long afterwards, on investigation, turned out +to be evidently the former residence of men of smaller build than the +mortals of to-day. He goes on further to identify these with the Picts-- +fairies are called 'Pechs' in Scotland--and other early races, but with +these ethnological equations we need not much concern ourselves. It is +otherwise with the mound traditions and their relation, if not to fairy +tales in general, to tales about fairies, trolls, elves, &c. These are +very few in number, and generally bear the character of anecdotes. The +fairies, &c., steal a child; they help a wanderer to a drink and then +disappear into a green hill; they help cottagers with their work at night, +but disappear if their presence is noticed; human midwives are asked to +help fairy mothers; fairy maidens marry ordinary men, or girls marry and +live with fairy husbands. All such things may have happened and bear no +such _a priori_ marks of impossibility as speaking animals, flying through +the air, and similar incidents of the folk-tale pure and simple. If, as +archaeologists tell us, there was once a race of men in Northern Europe +very short and hairy, that dwelt in underground chambers artificially +concealed by green hillocks, it does not seem unlikely that odd survivors +of the race should have lived on after they had been conquered and nearly +exterminated by Aryan invaders, and should occasionally have performed +something like the pranks told of fairies and trolls."[B] In the same +place, and also in another article,[C] the writer just quoted has applied +this theory to the explanation of the story of "Childe Rowland." + +[Footnote A: _Journ. Ethnol. Soc._, 1869-70, p. 325.] + +[Footnote B: _English Fairy Tales_, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: _Folk Lore_, ii. 126.] + +Mr. MacRitchie has, in another paper,[A] collected a number of instances +of the use of the word _Sith_ in connection with hillocks and tumuli, +which are the resort of the fairies. Here also he discusses the possible +connection of that word with that of _Tshud_, the title of the vanished +supernatural inhabitants of the land amongst the Finns and other "Altaic" +Turanian tribes of Russia, as in other places he has endeavoured to trace +a connection between the Finns and the Feinne. Into these etymological +questions I have no intention to enter, since I am not qualified to do so, +nor is it necessary, as they have been fully dealt with by Mr. Nutt, whose +opinion on this point is worthy of all attention.[B] But it may be +permitted to me to inquire how far Mr. MacRitchie's views tally with the +facts mentioned in the foregoing section. I shall therefore allude to a +few points which appear to me to show that the origin of the belief in +fairies cannot be settled in so simple a manner as has been suggested, but +is a question of much greater complexity--one in which, as Mr. Tylor +says, more than one mythic element combines to make up the whole. + +[Footnote A: _Journ. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ireland_, iii. 367.] + +[Footnote A: _Folk and Hero Tales from Argyleshire_, p. 420.] + +(1.) In the first place, then, it seems clear, so far as our present +knowledge teaches us, that there never was a really Pigmy race inhabiting +the northern parts of Scotland. + +The scanty evidence which we have on this point, so far as it goes, proves +the truth of this assertion. Mr. Carter Blake found in the Muckle Heog of +the Island of Unst, one of the Shetlands, together with stone vessels, +human interments of persons of considerable stature and of great muscular +strength. Speaking of the Keiss skeletons, Professor Huxley says that the +males are, the one somewhat above, and the other probably about the +average stature; while the females are short, none exceeding five feet two +inches or three inches in height.[A] And Dr. Garson, treating of the +osteology of the ancient inhabitants of the Orkneys, says that the female +skeleton which he examined was about five feet two inches in height, i.e., +about the mean height of the existing races of England.[B] There is no +evidence that Lapps and Eskimo ever visited these parts of the world; and +if they did, as we have seen, their stature, though stunted, cannot fairly +be described as pigmy. Even if we grant that the stature of the early +races did not average more than five feet two inches, which, by the way, +was the height of the great Napoleon, it is more than doubtful whether it +fell so far short of that of succeeding races as to cause us to imagine +that it gave rise to tales about a race of dwarfs. + +[Footnote A: Laing, _Prehistoric Remains of Caithness_, p. 101.] + +[Footnote B: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xiii. 60.] + +(2.) The mounds with which the tales of little people are associated have +not, in many cases, been habitations, but were natural or sepulchral in +their nature. It may, of course, be argued that the story having once +arisen in connection with one kind of mound, may, by a process easy to +understand, have been transferred to other hillocks similar in appearance, +though diverse in nature. It is difficult to see, however, how this could +have occurred in Yorkshire and other parts of England, where it is not +argued that the stunted inhabitants of the North ever penetrated. It is +still more difficult to explain how similar legends can have originated in +America in connection with mounds, since there never were Pigmy races in +that continent. + +(3.) The rude and simple arrangements of the interior of these mound +dwellings might have, in the process of time, become altered into the +gorgeous halls, decked with gold and silver and precious stones, as we +find them in the stories; they might even, though this is much more +difficult to understand, have become possessed of the capacity for being +raised upon red pillars. But there is one pitch to which, I think, they +could never have attained, and that is the importance which they assume +when they become the external covering of a large and extensive tract of +underground country. Here we are brought face to face with a totally +different explanation, to which I shall recur in due course. + +(4.) The little people are not by any means associated entirely with +mounds, as the foregoing section is largely intended to show. Their +habitations may be in or amongst stones, in caves, under the water, in +trees, or amongst the glades of a forest; they may dwell on mountains, on +moors, or even under the altars of churches. We may freely grant that some +of these habitations fall into line with Mr. MacRitchie's theory, but they +are not all susceptible of such an explanation. + +(5.) The association of giants and dwarfs in certain places, even the +confusion of the two races, seems somewhat difficult of explanation by +this theory. In Ireland the distinction between the two classes is sharper +than in other places, since, as Sir William Wilde pointed out, whilst +every green rath in that island is consecrated to the fairies or "good +people," the remains attributed to the giants are of a different character +and probably of a later date. In some places, however, a mound similar to +those often connected with fairies is associated with a giant, as is the +case at Sessay parish, near Thirsk,[A] and at Fyfield in Wiltshire. The +chambered tumulus at Luckington is spoken of as the Giant's Caves, and +that at Nempnet in Somersetshire as the Fairy's Toot. In Denmark, tumuli +seem to be described indifferently as Zettestuer (Giants' Chambers) or +Troldestuer (Fairies' Chambers).[B] In "Beowulf" a chambered tumulus is +described, in the recesses of which were treasures watched over for three +hundred years by a dragon. This barrow was of stone, and the work of +giants. + +Seah on enta geweorc, Looked on the giant's work, +hû ða stân-bogan, how the stone arches, +stapulinn-faeste, on pillars fast, +êce eorð-reced the eternal earth-house +innan healde. held within. + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore_, i. 130.] + +[Footnote B: _Flint Chips_, p. 412.] + +The mounds have sometimes been made by giants and afterwards inhabited by +dwarfs, as in the case of the Nine-hills, already alluded to. In others, +they are at the same time inhabited by giants, dwarfs, and others, as in +the story of the Dwarf's Banquet,[A] and still more markedly in the +Wunderberg. "The celebrated Wunderberg, or Underberg, on the great moor +near Salzburg, is the chief haunt of the Wild-women. The Wunderberg is +said to be quite hollow, and supplied with stately palaces, churches, +monasteries, gardens, and springs of gold and silver. Its inhabitants, +beside the Wild-women, are little men, who have charge of the treasures it +contains, and who at midnight repair to Salzburg to perform their +devotions in the cathedral; giants, who used to come to the church of +Grödich and exhort the people to lead a godly and pious life; and the +great Emperor Charles V., with golden crown and sceptre, attended by +knights and lords. His grey beard has twice encompassed the table at which +he sits, and when it has the third time grown round it, the end of the +world and the appearance of the Antichrist will take place."[B] + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, 130.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm ap. Keightley, 234.] + +In the folk-tales of the Magyars we meet with a still more remarkable +confusion between these two classes of beings. Some of the castles +described in these stories are inhabited by giants, others by fairies. +Again, the giants marry; their wives are fairies, so are their daughters. +They had no male issue, as their race was doomed to extermination. They +fall in love, and are fond of courting. Near Bikkfalva, in Háromszék, the +people still point out the "Lover's Bench" on a rock where the amorous +giant of Csigavár used to meet his sweetheart, the "fairy of +Veczeltetö."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, p. xxix.] + +(6.) Tales of little people are to be found in countries where there never +were any Pigmy races. Not to deal with other, and perhaps more debatable +districts, we find an excellent example of this in North America. Besides +the instances mentioned in the foregoing section, the following may be +mentioned. Mr. Leland, speaking of the Un-a-games-suk, or Indian spirits +of the rocks and streams, says that these beings enter far more largely, +deeply, and socially into the life and faith of the Indians than elves or +fairies ever did into those of the Aryan race.[A] In his Algonquin Legends +the same author also alludes to small people. + +[Footnote A: _Memoirs_, i. 34.] + +Dr. Brinton tells me that the Micmacs have tales of similar Pigmies, whom +they call Wig[)u]l[)a]d[)u]mooch, who tie people with cords during their +sleep, &c. Mr. L.L. Frost, of Susanville, Lassen County, California, tells +us how, when he requested an Indian to gather and bring in all the +arrow-points he could find, the Indian declared them to be "no good," that +they had been made by the lizards. Whereupon Mr. Frost drew from him the +following lizard-story. "There was a time when the lizards were little +men, and the arrow-points which are now found were shot by them at the +grizzly bear. The bears could talk then, and would eat the little men +whenever they could catch them. The arrows of the little men were so small +that they would not kill the bears when shot into them, and only served to +enrage them." The Indian could not tell how the little men became +transformed into lizards.[A] Again, the Shoshones of California dread +their infants being changed by Ninumbees or dwarfs.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore Journal_, vii. 24.] + +[Footnote B: Hartland, _ut supra_, p. 351.] + +Finally, every one has read about the Pukwudjies, "the envious little +people, the fairies, the pigmies," in the pages of Longfellow's +"Hiawatha."[A] It ought to be mentioned that Mr. Leland states that the +red-capped, scanty-shirted elf of the Algonquins was obtained from the +Norsemen; but if, as he says, the idea of little people has sunk so deeply +into the Indian mind, it cannot in any large measure have been derived +from this source.[B] + +[Footnote A: xviii.] + +[Footnote B: _Etrusco Roman Remains_, p. 162.] + +(7.) The stunted races whom Mr. MacRitchie considers to have formed the +subjects of the fairy legend have themselves tales of little people. This +is true especially of the Eskimo, as will have been already noticed, a +fact to which my attention was called by Mr. Hartland. + +For the reasons just enumerated, I am unable to accept Mr. MacRitchie's +theory as a complete explanation of the fairy question, but I am far from +desirous of under-estimating the value and significance of his work. Mr. +Tylor, as I have already mentioned, states, in a sentence which may yet +serve as a motto for a work on the whole question of the origin of the +fairy myth, that "various different facts have given rise to stories of +giants and dwarfs, more than one mythic element perhaps combining to form +a single legend--a result perplexing in the extreme to the mythological +interpreter."[A] And I think it may be granted that Mr. MacRitchie has +gone far to show that one of these mythic elements, one strand in the +twisted cord of fairy mythology, is the half-forgotten memory of skulking +aborigines, or, as Mr. Nutt well puts it, the "distorted recollections of +alien and inimical races." But it is not the only one. It is far from +being my intention to endeavour to deal exhaustively with the difficult +question of the origin of fairy tales. Knowledge and the space permissible +in an introduction such as this would alike fail me in such a task. It +may, however, be permissible to mention a few points which seem to impress +themselves upon one in making a study of the stories with which I have +been dealing. In the first place, one can scarcely fail to notice how much +in common there is between the tales of the little people and the accounts +of that underground world, which, with so many races, is the habitation of +the souls of the departed. Dr. Callaway has already drawn attention to +this point in connection with the ancestor-worship of the Amazulu.[B] He +says, "It may be worth while to note the curious coincidence of thought +among the Amazulu regarding the Amatongo or Abapansi, and that of the +Scotch and Irish regarding the fairies or 'good people.' For instance, the +'good people' of the Irish have assigned to them, in many respects the +same motives and actions as the Amatongo. They call the living to join +them, that is, by death; they cause disease which common doctors cannot +understand nor cure; they have their feelings, interests, partialities, +and antipathies, and contend with each other about the living. The common +people call them their friends or people, which is equivalent to the term +_abakubo_ given to the Amatongo. They reveal themselves in the form of the +dead, and it appears to be supposed that the dead become 'good people,' as +the dead among the Amazulu become Amatongo; and in funeral processions of +the 'good people' which some have professed to see, are recognised the +forms of those who have just died, as Umkatshana saw his relatives amongst +the Abapansi. The power of holding communion with the 'good people' is +consequent on an illness, just as the power to divine amongst the natives +of this country. So also in the Highland tales, a boy who had been carried +away by the fairies, on his return to his own home speaks of them as 'our +folks,' which is equivalent to _abakwetu_, applied to the Amatongo, and +among the Highlands they are called the 'good people' and 'the folk.' They +are also said to 'live underground,' and are therefore Abapansi or +subterranean. They are also, like the Abapansi, called ancestors. Thus the +Red Book of Clanranald is said not to have been dug up, but to have been +found on the moss; it seemed as if the ancestors sent it." There are other +points which make in the same direction. The soul is supposed by various +races to be a little man, an idea which at once links the manes of the +departed with Pigmy people. Thus Dr. Nansen tells us that amongst the +Eskimo a man has many souls. The largest dwell in the larynx and in the +left side, and are tiny men about the size of a sparrow. The other souls +dwell in other parts of the body, and are the size of a finger-joint.[C] +And the Macusi Indians[D] believe that although the body will decay, "the +man in our eyes" will not die, but wander about; an idea which is met with +even in Europe, and which perhaps gives us a clue to the conception of +smallness in size of the shades of the dead. Again, the belief that the +soul lives near the resting-place of its body is widespread, and at least +comparable with, if not equivalent to, the idea that the little people of +Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, and India live in the sepulchral mounds or +cromlechs of those countries. Closely connected with this is the idea of +the underground world, peopled by the souls of the departed like the +Abapansi, the widespread nature of which idea is shown by Dr. Tylor. "To +take one example, in which the more limited idea seems to have preceded +the more extensive, the Finns,[E] who feared the ghost of the departed as +unkind, harmful beings, fancied them dwelling with their bodies in the +grave, or else, with what Castrén thinks a later philosophy, assigned them +their dwelling in the subterranean Tuonela. Tuonela was like this upper +earth; the sun shone there, there was no lack of land and water, wood and +field, tilth and meadow; there were bears and wolves, snakes and pike, but +all things were of a hurtful, dismal kind; the woods dark and swarming +with wild beasts, the water black, the cornfields bearing seed of snake's +teeth; and there stern, pitiless old Tuoni, and his grim wife and son, +with the hooked fingers with iron points, kept watch and ward over the +dead lest they should escape." + +[Footnote A: _Primitive Culture_, i. 388.] + +[Footnote B: _Religious System of the Amazulu_, p. 226.] + +[Footnote C: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 227.] + +[Footnote D: Tylor, _ut supra_, i. 431.] + +[Footnote E: Tylor, _ut supra_, ii. 80.] + +It is impossible not to see a connection between such conceptions as these +and the underground habitations of the little people entered by the green +mound which covered the bones of the dead. But the underground world was +not only associated with the shades of the departed; it was in many parts +of the world the place whence races had their origin, and here also we +meet in at least one instance known to me with the conception of a little +folk. A very widespread legend in Europe, and especially in Scandinavia, +according to Dr. Nansen, tells how the underground or invisible people +came into existence. "The Lord one day paid a visit to Eve as she was busy +washing her children. All those who were not yet washed she hurriedly hid +in cellars and corners and under big vessels, and presented the others to +the Visitor. The Lord asked if these were all, and she answered 'Yes;' +whereupon He replied, 'Then those which are _dulde_ (hidden) shall remain +_hulde_ (concealed, invisible). And from them the huldre-folk are +sprung."[A] There is also the widespread story of an origin underground, +as amongst the Wasabe, a sub-gens of the Omahas, who believe that their +ancestors were made under the earth and subsequently came to the +surface.[B] There is a similar story amongst the Z[=u]nis of Western New +Mexico. In journeying to their present place of habitation, they passed +through four worlds, all in the interior of this, the passage way from +darkness to light being through a large reed. From the inner world they +were led by the two little war-gods, Ah-ai-[=u]-ta and M[=a]-[=a]-s[=e]-we, +twin brothers, sons of the Sun, who were sent by the Sun to bring this +people to his presence.[C] From these stories it would appear that the +underground world, whether looked upon as the habitation of the dead or +the place of origination of nations, is connected with the conception of +little races and people. That it is thus responsible for some portion of +the conception of fairies seems to me to be more than probable. + +[Footnote A: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 262.] + +[Footnote B: Dorset, _Omaha Sociology. American Bureau of Ethnology_, iii. +211.] + +[Footnote C: Stevenson, _Religious Life of Zuni Child. American Bureau of +Ethnology_, v. 539.] + +It is hardly necessary to allude to those spirits which animistic ideas +have attached amongst other objects and places, to trees and wells. They +are fully dealt with in Dr. Tylor's pages, and must not be forgotten in +connection with the present question. + +To sum up, then, it appears as if the idea, so widely diffused, of little, +invisible, or only sometimes visible, people, is of the most complex +nature. From the darkness which shrouds it, however, it is possible to +discern some rays of light. That the souls of the departed, and the +underground world which they inhabit, are largely responsible for it, is, +I hope, rendered probable by the facts which I have brought forward. That +animistic ideas have played an important part in the evolution of the idea +of fairy peoples, is not open to doubt. That to these conceptions were +superadded many features really derived from the actions of aboriginal +races hiding before the destroying might of their invaders, and this not +merely in these islands, but in many parts of the world, has been, I +think, demonstrated by the labours of the gentleman whose theory I have so +often alluded to. But the point upon which it is desired to lay stress is +that the features derived from aboriginal races are only one amongst many +sources. Possibly they play an important part, but scarcely, I think, one +so important as Mr. MacRitchie would have us believe. + + + + +A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY + +Concerning the PYGMIES, THE CYNOCEPHALI, THE SATYRS and SPHINGES OF THE +ANCIENTS, + +Wherein it will appear that they were all either APES or MONKEYS; and not +MEN, as formerly pretended. + +By Edward Tyson M.D. + + + + +A Philological Essay Concerning the PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS. + + +Having had the Opportunity of Dissecting this remarkable Creature, which +not only in the _outward shape_ of the Body, but likewise in the structure +of many of the Inward Parts, so nearly resembles a Man, as plainly appears +by the _Anatomy_ I have here given of it, it suggested the Thought to me, +whether this sort of _Animal_, might not give the Foundation to the +Stories of the _Pygmies_ and afford an occasion not only to the _Poets_, +but _Historians_ too, of inventing the many Fables and wonderful and merry +Relations, that are transmitted down to us concerning them? I must +confess, I could never before entertain any other Opinion about them, but +that the whole was a _Fiction_: and as the first Account we have of them, +was from a _Poet_, so that they were only a Creature of the Brain, +produced by a warm and wanton Imagination, and that they never had any +Existence or Habitation elsewhere. + +In this Opinion I was the more confirmed, because the most diligent +Enquiries of late into all the Parts of the inhabited World, could never +discover any such _Puny_ diminutive _Race_ of _Mankind_. That they should +be totally destroyed by the _Cranes_, their Enemies, and not a Straggler +here and there left remaining, was a Fate, that even those _Animals_ that +are constantly preyed upon by others, never undergo. Nothing therefore +appeared to me more Fabulous and Romantick, than their _History_, and the +Relations about them, that _Antiquity_ has delivered to us. And not only +_Strabo_ of old, but our greatest Men of Learning of late, have wholly +exploded them, as a mere _figment_; invented only to amuse, and divert the +Reader with the Comical Narration of their Atchievements, believing that +there were never any such Creatures in Nature. + +This opinion had so fully obtained with me, that I never thought it worth +the Enquiry, how they came to invent such Extravagant Stories: Nor should +I now, but upon the Occasion of Dissecting this _Animal_: For observing +that 'tis call'd even to this day in the _Indian_ or _Malabar_ Language, +_Orang-Outang_, i.e. a _Man_ of the _Woods_, or _Wild-men_; and being +brought from _Africa_, that part of the World, where the _Pygmies_ are +said to inhabit; and it's present _Stature_ likewise tallying so well with +that of the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients; these Considerations put me upon +the search, to inform my self farther about them, and to examine, whether +I could meet with any thing that might illustrate their _History_. For I +thought it strange, that if the whole was but a meer Fiction, that so many +succeeding Generations should be so fond of preserving a _Story_, that had +no Foundation at all in Nature; and that the _Ancients_ should trouble +themselves so much about them. If therefore I can make out in this +_Essay_, that there were such _Animals_ as _Pygmies_; and that they were +not a _Race_ of _Men_, but _Apes_; and can discover the _Authors_, who +have forged all, or most of the idle Stories concerning them; and shew how +the Cheat in after Ages has been carried on, by embalming the Bodies of +_Apes_, then exposing them for the _Men_ of the Country, from whence they +brought them: If I can do this, I shall think my time not wholly lost, nor +the trouble altogether useless, that I have had in this Enquiry. + +My Design is not to justifie all the Relations that have been given of +this _Animal_, even by Authors of reputed Credit; but, as far as I can, to +distinguish Truth from Fable; and herein, if what I assert amounts to a +Probability, 'tis all I pretend to. I shall accordingly endeavour to make +it appear, that not only the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients, but also the +_Cynocephali_, and _Satyrs_ and _Sphinges_ were only _Apes_ or _Monkeys_, +not _Men_, as they have been represented. But the Story of the _Pygmies_ +being the greatest Imposture, I shall chiefly concern my self about them, +and shall be more concise on the others, since they will not need so +strict an Examination. + +We will begin with the Poet _Homer_, who is generally owned as the first +Inventor of the Fable of the _Pygmies_, if it be a Fable, and not a true +Story, as I believe will appear in the Account I shall give of them. Now +_Homer_ only mentions them in a _Simile_, wherein he compares the Shouts +that the _Trojans_ made, when they were going to joyn Battle with the +_Græcians_, to the great Noise of the _Cranes_, going to fight the +_Pygmies_: he saith,[A] + +[Greek: Ai t' epei oun cheimona phygon, kai athesphaton ombron +Klangae tai ge petontai ep' okeanoio rhoaon +'Andrasi pygmaioisi phonon kai kaera pherousai.] i.e. + +_Quæ simul ac fugere Imbres, Hyememque Nivalem +Cum magno Oceani clangore ferantur ad undas +Pygmæis pugnamque Viris, cædesque ferentes._ + +[Footnote A: _Homer. Iliad_. lib. 3. ver. 4.] + +Or as _Helius Eobanus Hessus_ paraphrases the whole.[A] + +_Postquam sub Ducibus digesta per agmina stabant +Quæque fuis, Equitum turmæ, Peditumque Cohortes, +Obvia torquentes Danais vestigia Troës +Ibant, sublato Campum clamore replentes: +Non secus ac cuneata Gruum sublime volantum +Agmina, dum fugiunt Imbres, ac frigora Brumæ, +Per Coelum matutino clangore feruntur, +Oceanumque petunt, mortem exitiumque cruentum +Irrita Pigmæis moturis arma ferentes._ + +[Footnote A: _Homeri Ilias Latino Carmine reddita ab Helio Eobano Hesso_.] + +By [Greek: andrasi pygmaioisi] therefore, which is the Passage upon which +they have grounded all their fabulous Relations of the _Pygmies_, why may +not _Homer_ mean only _Pygmies_ or _Apes_ like _Men_. Such an Expression +is very allowable in a _Poet_, and is elegant and significant, especially +since there is so good a Foundation in Nature for him to use it, as we +have already seen, in the _Anatomy of the Orang-Outang_. Nor is a _Poet_ +tied to that strictness of Expression, as an _Historian_ or _Philosopher_; +he has the liberty of pleasing the Reader's Phancy, by Pictures and +Representations of his own. If there be a becoming likeness, 'tis all that +he is accountable for. I might therefore here make the same _Apology_ for +him, as _Strabo_[A] do's on another account for his _Geography_, [Greek: +ou gar kat' agnoian ton topikon legetai, all' haedonaes kai terpseos +charin]. That he said it, not thro' Ignorance, but to please and delight: +Or, as in another place he expresses himself,[B] [Greek: ou gar kat' +agnoian taes istorias hypolaepteon genesthai touto, alla tragodias +charin]. _Homer_ did not make this slip thro' Ignorance of the true +_History_, but for the Beauty of his _Poem_. So that tho' he calls them +_Men Pygmies_, yet he may mean no more by it, than that they were like +_Men_. As to his Purpose, 'twill serve altogether as well, whether this +bloody Battle be fought between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmæan Men_, or the +_Cranes_ and _Apes_, which from their Stature he calls _Pygmies_, and from +their shape _Men_; provided that when the _Cranes_ go to engage, they make +a mighty terrible noise, and clang enough to fright these little _Wights_ +their mortal Enemies. To have called them only _Apes_, had been flat and +low, and lessened the grandieur of the Battle. But this _Periphrasis_ of +them, [Greek: andres pygmaioi], raises the Reader's Phancy, and surprises +him, and is more becoming the Language of an Heroic Poem. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 1. p.m. 25.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo_ ibid. p.m. 30.] + +But how came the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_ to fall out? What may be the Cause +of this Mortal Feud, and constant War between them? For _Brutes_, like +_Men_, don't war upon one another, to raise and encrease their Glory, or +to enlarge their Empire. Unless I can acquit my self herein, and assign +some probable Cause hereof, I may incur the same Censure as _Strabo_[A] +passed on several of the _Indian Historians_, [Greek: enekainisan de kai +taen 'Omaerikaen ton Pygmaion geranomachin trispithameis eipontes], for +reviewing the _Homerical_ Fight of the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, which he +looks upon only as a fiction of the Poet. But this had been very +unbecoming _Homer_ to take a _Simile_ (which is designed for illustration) +from what had no Foundation in Nature. His _Betrachomyomachia_, 'tis true, +was a meer Invention, and never otherwise esteemed: But his _Geranomachia_ +hath all the likelyhood of a true Story. And therefore I shall enquire now +what may be the just Occasion of this Quarrel. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 2. p.m. 48.] + +_Athenæus_[A] out of _Philochorus_, and so likewise _Ælian_[B], tell us a +Story, That in the Nation of the _Pygmies_ the Male-line failing, one +_Gerana_ was the Queen; a Woman of an admired Beauty, and whom the +Citizens worshipped as a Goddess; but she became so vain and proud, as to +prefer her own, before the Beauty of all the other Goddesses, at which +they grew enraged; and to punish her for her Insolence, Athenæus tells us +that it was _Diana_, but _Ælian_ saith 'twas _Juno_ that transformed her +into a _Crane_, and made her an Enemy to the _Pygmies_ that worshipped her +before. But since they are not agreed which Goddess 'twas, I shall let +this pass. + +[Footnote A: _Athenæi Deipnosoph_. lib. 9 p.m. 393.] + +[Footnote B: _Ælian. Hist. Animal_. lib. 15. cap. 29.] + +_Pomponius Mela_ will have it, and I think some others, that these cruel +Engagements use to happen, upon the _Cranes_ coming to devour the _Corn_ +the _Pygmies_ had sowed; and that at last they became so victorious, as +not only to destroy their Corn, but them also: For he tells us,[A] _Fuere +interiùs Pygmæi, minutum genus, & quod pro satis frugibus contra Grues +dimicando, defecit._ This may seem a reasonable Cause of a Quarrel; but it +not being certain that the _Pygmies_ used to sow _Corn_, I will not insist +on this neither. + +[Footnote A: _Pomp. Mela de situ Orbis_, lib. 3. cap. 8.] + +Now what seems most likely to me, is the account that _Pliny_ out of +_Megasthenes_, and _Strabo_ from _Onesicritus_ give us; and, provided I be +not obliged to believe or justifie _all_ that they say, I could rest +satisfied in great part of their Relation: For _Pliny_[B] tells us, _Veris +tempore universo agmine ad mare descendere, & Ova, Pullosque earum Alitum +consumere_: That in the Spring-time the whole drove of the _Pygmies_ go +down to the Sea side, to devour the _Cranes_ Eggs and their young Ones. So +likewise _Onesicritus_,[B] [Greek: Pros de tous trispithamous polemon +einai tais Geranois (hon kai Homaeron daeloun) kai tois Perdixin, ous +chaenomegetheis einai; toutous d' eklegein auton ta oa, kai phtheirein; +ekei gar ootokein tas Geranous; dioper maedamou maed' oa euriskesthai +Geranon, maet' oun neottia;] i.e. _That there is a fight between the_ +Pygmies _and the_ Cranes (_as_ Homer _relates_) _and the_ Partridges +_which are as big as_ Geese; _for these_ Pygmies _gather up their Eggs, +and destroy them; the_ Cranes _laying their Eggs there; and neither their +Eggs, nor their Nests, being to be found any where else_. 'Tis plain +therefore from them, that the Quarrel is not out of any _Antipathy_ the +_Pygmies_ have to the _Cranes_, but out of love to their own Bellies. But +the _Cranes_ finding their Nests to be robb'd, and their young Ones prey'd +on by these Invaders, no wonder that they should so sharply engage them; +and the least they could do, was to fight to the utmost so mortal an +Enemy. Hence, no doubt, many a bloody Battle happens, with various success +to the Combatants; sometimes with great slaughter of the _long-necked +Squadron_; sometimes with great effusion of _Pygmæan_ blood. And this may +well enough, in a _Poet's_ phancy, be magnified, and represented as a +dreadful War; and no doubt of it, were one a _Spectator_ of it, 'twould be +diverting enough. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij. Hist. Nat._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 13.] + +[Footnote B: _Strab. Geograph_. lib. 15. pag. 489.] + + -----_Si videas hoc + Gentibus in nostris, risu quatiere: sed illic, + Quanquam eadem assiduè spectantur Prælia, ridet + Nemo, ubi tota cohors pede non est altior uno_.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Juvenal. Satyr_. 13 vers. 170.] + +This Account therefore of these Campaigns renewed every year on this +Provocation between the _Cranes_ and the _Pygmies_, contains nothing but +what a cautious Man may believe; and _Homer's Simile_ in likening the +great shouts of the _Trojans_ to the Noise of the _Cranes_, and the +Silence of the _Greeks_ to that of the _Pygmies_, is very admirable and +delightful. For _Aristotle_[B] tells us, That the _Cranes_, to avoid the +hardships of the Winter, take a Flight out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ +about the _Nile_, where the _Pygmies_ live, and where 'tis very likely the +_Cranes_ may lay their Eggs and breed, before they return. But these rude +_Pygmies_ making too bold with them, what could the _Cranes_ do less for +preserving their Off-spring than fight them; or at least by their mighty +Noise, make a shew as if they would. This is but what we may observe in +all other Birds. And thus far I think our _Geranomachia_ or _Pygmæomachia_ +looks like a true Story; and there is nothing in _Homer_ about it, but +what is credible. He only expresses himself, as a _Poet_ should do; and if +Readers will mistake his meaning, 'tis not his fault. + +[Footnote B: _Aristotle. Hist. Animal_. lib. 8. cap. 15. Edit. Scalig.] + +'Tis not therefore the _Poet_ that is to be blamed, tho' they would father +it all on him; but the fabulous _Historians_ in after Ages, who have so +odly drest up this Story by their fantastical Inventions, that there is no +knowing the truth, till one hath pull'd off those Masks and Visages, +wherewith they have disguised it. For tho' I can believe _Homer_, that +there is a fight between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, yet I think I am no +ways obliged to imagine, that when the _Pygmies_ go to these Campaigns to +fight the _Cranes_, that they ride upon _Partridges_, as _Athenæas_ from +_Basilis_ an _Indian Historian_ tells us; for, saith he,[A] [Greek: +Basilis de en toi deuteroi ton Indikon, oi mikroi, phaesin, andres oi tais +Geranois diapolemountes Perdixin ochaemati chrontai;]. For presently +afterwards he tells us from _Menecles_, that the _Pygmies_ not only fight +the _Cranes_, but the _Partridges_ too, [Greek: Meneklaes de en protae +taes synagogaes oi pygmaioi, phaesi, tois perdixi, kai tais Geranois +polemousi]. This I could more readily agree to, because _Onesicritus_, as +I have quoted him already confirms it; and gives us the same reason for +this as for fighting the _Cranes_, because they rob their Nests. But +whether these _Partridges_ are as big as _Geese_, I leave as a _Quære_. + +[Footnote A: _Athenæi Deipnesoph_. lib. p. 9. m. 390.] + +_Megasthenes_ methinks in _Pliny_ mounts the _Pygmies_ for this expedition +much better, for he sets them not on a _Pegasus_ or _Partridges_, but on +_Rams_ and _Goats_: _Fama est_ (saith _Pliny[A]) insedentes Arietum +Caprarumque dorsis, armatis sagittis, veris tempore universo agmine ad +mare descendere_. And _Onesicritus_ in Strabo tells us, That a _Crane_ has +been often observed to fly from those parts with a brass Sword fixt in +him, [Greek: pleistakis d' ekpiptein geranon chalkaen echousan akida apo +ton ekeithen plaegmaton.][B] But whether the _Pygmies_ do wear Swords, may +be doubted. 'Tis true, _Ctesias_ tells us,[C] That the _King_ of _India_ +every fifth year sends fifty Thousand Swords, besides abundance of other +Weapons, to the Nation of the _Cynocephali_, (a fort of _Monkeys_, as I +shall shew) that live in those Countreys, but higher up in the Mountains: +But he makes no mention of any such Presents to the poor _Pygmies_; tho' +he assures us, that no less than three Thousand of these _Pygmies_ are the +_Kings_ constant Guards: But withal tells us, that they are excellent +_Archers_, and so perhaps by dispatching their Enemies at a distance, they +may have no need of such Weapons to lye dangling by their sides. I may +therefore be mistaken in rendering [Greek: akida] a Sword; it may be any +other sharp pointed Instrument or Weapon, and upon second Thoughts, shall +suppose it a sort of Arrow these cunning _Archers_ use in these +Engagements. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p. 13.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 15. p. 489.] + +[Footnote C: _Vide Photij. Biblioth._] + +These, and a hundred such ridiculous _Fables_, have the _Historians_ +invented of the _Pygmies_, that I can't but be of _Strabo_'s mind,[A] +[Greek: Rhadion d' an tis Haesiodio, kai Homaeroi pisteuseien +haeroologousi, kai tois tragikois poiaetais, hae Ktaesiai te kai +Haerodotoi, kai Hellanikoi, kai allois toioutois;] i.e. _That one may +sooner believe_ Hesiod, _and_ Homer, _and the_ Tragick Poets _speaking of +their_ Hero's, _than_ Ctesias _and_ Herodotus _and_ Hellanicus _and such +like_. So ill an Opinion had _Strabo_ of the _Indian Historians_ in +general, that he censures them _all_ as fabulous;[B] [Greek: Hapantes men +toinun hoi peri taes Indikaes grapsantes hos epi to poly pseudologoi +gegonasi kath' hyperbolaen de Daeimachos; ta de deutera legei +Megasthenaes, Onaesikritos te kai Nearchos, kai alloi toioutoi;] i.e. _All +who have wrote of_ India _for the most part, are fabulous, but in the +highest degree_ Daimachus; _then_ Megasthenes, Onesicritus, _and_ +Nearchus, _and such like_. And as if it had been their greatest Ambition +to excel herein, _Strabo_[C] brings in _Theopompus_, as bragging, [Greek: +Hoti kai mythous en tais Historiais erei kreitton, ae hos Haerodotos, kai +Ktaesias, kai Hellanikos, kai hoi ta Hindika syngrapsantes;] _That he +could foist in Fables into History, better than_ Herodotus _and_ Ctesias +_and_ Hellanicus, _and all that have wrote of_ India. The _Satyrist_ +therefore had reason to say, + + -----_Et quicquid Græcia mendax + Audet in Historia._[D] + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 11. p.m. 350.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 2. p.m. 48.] + +[Footnote C: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 1 p.m. 29.] + +[Footnote D: _Juvenal._ _Satyr._ X. _vers._ 174.] + +_Aristotle_,[A] 'tis true, tells us, [Greek: Holos de ta men agria +agriotera en tae Asia, andreiotera de panta ta en taei Europaei, +polymorphotata de ta en taei libyaei; kai legetai de tis paroimia, hoti +aei pherei ti libyae kainon;] i.e. _That generally the Beasts are wilder +in_ Asia, _stronger in_ Europe, _and of greater variety of shapes in_ +Africa; _for as the_ Proverb _saith_, Africa _always produces something +new_. _Pliny_[B] indeed ascribes it to the Heat of the _Climate, +Animalium, Hominumque effigies monstriferas, circa extremitates ejus +gigni, minimè mirum, artifici ad formanda Corpora, effigiesque cælandas +mobilitate igneâ_. But _Nature_ never formed a whole _Species_ of +_Monsters_; and 'tis not the _heat_ of the Country, but the warm and +fertile Imagination of these _Historians_, that has been more productive +of them, than _Africa_ it self; as will farther appear by what I shall +produce out of them, and particularly from the Relation that _Ctesias_ +makes of the _Pygmies_. + +[Footnote A: _Aristotle Hist. Animal_, lib. 8. cap. 28.] + +[Footnote B: _Plin. Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.] + +I am the more willing to instance in _Ctesias_, because he tells his Story +roundly; he no ways minces it; his Invention is strong and fruitful; and +that you may not in the least mistrust him, he pawns his word, that all +that he writes, is certainly true: And so successful he has been, how +Romantick soever his Stories may appear, that they have been handed down +to us by a great many other Authors, and of Note too; tho' some at the +same time have looked upon them as mere Fables. So that for the present, +till I am better informed, and I am not over curious in it, I shall make +_Ctesias_, and the other _Indian Historians_, the _Inventors_ of the +extravagant Relations we at present have of the _Pygmies_, and not old +_Homer_. He calls them, 'tis true, from something of Resemblance of their +shape, [Greek: andres]: But these _Historians_ make them to speak the +_Indian Language_; to use the same _Laws_; and to be so considerable a +Nation, and so valiant, as that the _King_ of _India_ makes choice of them +for his _Corps de Guards_; which utterly spoils _Homer's Simile_, in +making them so little, as only to fight _Cranes_. + +_Ctesias_'s Account therefore of the _Pygmies_ (as I find it in +_Photius_'s _Bibliotheca_,[A] and at the latter end of some Editions of +_Herodotus_) is this: + +[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec. Cod._ 72. p.m. 145.] + +[Greek: Hoti en mesae tae Indikae anthropoi eisi melanes, kai kalountai +pygmaioi, tois allois homoglossoi Indois. mikroi de eisi lian; hoi +makrotatoi auton paecheon duo, hoi de pleistoi, henos haemiseos paecheos, +komaen de echousi makrotataen, mechri kai hepi ta gonata, kai eti +katoteron, kai pogona megiston panton anthropon; epeidan oun ton pogona +mega physosin, ouketi amphiennyntai ouden emation: alla tas trichas, tas +men ek taes kephalaes, opisthen kathientai poly kato ton gonaton; tas de +ek tou po gonos, emprosthen mechri podon elkomenas. Hepeita +peripykasamenoi tas trichas peri apan to soma, zonnyntai, chromenoi autais +anti himatiou, aidoion de mega echousin, hoste psauein ton sphyron auton, +kai pachy. autoite simoi te kai aischroi. ta de probata auton, hos andres. +kai hai boes kai hoi onoi, schedon hoson krioi? kai hoi hippoi auton kai +hoi aemionoi, kai ta alla panta zoa, ouden maezo krion; hepontai de toi +basilei ton Indon, touton ton pygmaion andres trischilioi. sphodra gar +eisi toxotai; dikaiotatoi de eisi kai nomoisi chrontai osper kai hoi +Indoi. Dagoous te kai alopekas thaereuousin, ou tois kysin, alla koraxi +kai iktisi kai koronais kai aetois.] + +_Narrat præter ista, in media India homines reperiri nigros, qui Pygmæi +appellentur. Eadem hos, qua Inda reliqui, lingua uti, sed valde esse +parvos, ut maximi duorum cubitorum, & plerique unius duntaxat cubiti cum +dimidio altitudinem non excedant. Comam alere longissimam, ad ipsa usque +genua demissam, atque etiam infra, cum barba longiore, quà m, apud ullos +hominum. Quæ quidem ubi illis promissior esse cæperit, nulla deinceps +veste uti: sed capillos multò infra genua à tergo demissos, barbámque +præter pectus ad pedes usque defluentem, per totum corpus in orbem +constipare & cingere, atque ita pilos ipsis suos vestimenti loco esse. +Veretrum illis esse crassum ac longum, quod ad ipsos quoque pedum +malleolos pertingat. Pygmeos hosce simis esse naribus, & deformes. Ipsorum +item oves agnorem nostrotum instar esse; boves & asinos, arietum fere +magnitudine, equos item multosque & cætera jumenta omnia nihilo esse +nostris arietibus majora. Tria horum Pygmæorum millia Indorum regem in suo +comitatu habere, quod sagittarij sint peritissimi. Summos esse justitiæ +cultores iisdemque quibus Indi reliqui, legibus parere. Venari quoque +lepores vulpesque, non canibus, sed corvis, milvis, cornicibus, aquilis +adhibitis._ + +In the middle of _India_ (saith _Ctesias_) there are black Men, they are +call'd _Pygmies_, using the same Language, as the other _Indians_; they +are very little, the tallest of them being but two Cubits, and most of +them but a Cubit and a half high. They have very long hair, reaching down +to their Knees and lower; and a Beard larger than any Man's. After their +Beards are grown long, they wear no Cloaths, but the Hair of their Head +falls behind a great deal below their Hams; and that of their Beards +before comes down to their Feet: then laying their Hair thick all about +their Body, they afterwards gird themselves, making use of their Hair for +Cloaths. They have a _Penis_ so long, that it reaches to the Ancle, and +the thickness is proportionable. They are flat nosed and ill favoured. +Their Sheep are like Lambs; and their Oxen and Asses scarce as big as Rams; +and their Horses and Mules, and all their other Cattle not bigger. Three +thousand Men of these _Pygmies_ do attend the _King_ of _India_. They are +good _Archers_; they are very just, and use the same _Laws_ as the +_Indians_ do. They kill Hares and Foxes, not with Dogs, but with Ravens, +Kites, Crows, and Eagles.' + +Well, if they are so good Sports-men, as to kill Hares and Foxes with +Ravens, Kites, Crows and Eagles, I can't see how I can bring off _Homer_, +for making them fight the _Cranes_ themselves. Why did they not fly their +_Eagles_ against them? these would make greater Slaughter and Execution, +without hazarding themselves. The only excuse I have is, that _Homer_'s +_Pygmies_ were real _Apes_ like _Men_; but those of _Ctesias_ were neither +_Men_ nor _Pygmies_; only a Creature begot in his own Brain, and to be +found no where else. + +_Ctesias_ was Physician to _Artaxerxes Mnemon_ as _Diodorus Siculus_[A] +and _Strabo_[B] inform us. He was contemporary with _Xenophon_, a little +later than _Herodotus_; and _Helvicus_ in his _Chronology_ places him +three hundred eighty three years before _Christ_: He is an ancient Author, +'tis true, and it may be upon that score valued by some. We are beholden +to him, not only for his Improvements on the Story of the _Pygmies_, but +for his Remarks likewise on several other parts of _Natural History_; +which for the most part are all of the same stamp, very wonderful and +incredible; as his _Mantichora_, his _Gryphins_, the _horrible Indian +Worm_, a Fountain of _Liquid Gold_, a Fountain of _Honey_, a Fountain +whose Water will make a Man confess all that ever he did, a Root he calls +[Greek: paraebon], that will attract Lambs and Birds, as the Loadstone +does filings of Steel; and a great many other Wonders he tells us: all of +which are copied from him by _Ælian, Pliny, Solinus, Mela, Philostratus_, +and others. And _Photius_ concludes _Ctesias_'s Account of _India_ with +this passage; [Greek: Tauta graphon kai mythologon Ktaesias. legei t' +alaethestata graphein; epagon hos ta men autos idon graphei, ta de par +auton mathon ton eidoton. polla de touton kai alla thaumasiotera +paralipein, dia to mae doxai tois mae tauta theasamenois apista +syngraphein;] i.e. _These things_ (saith he) Ctesias _writes and feigns, +but he himself says all he has wrote is very true. Adding, that some +things which he describes, he had seen himself; and the others he had +learn'd from those that had seen them: That he had omitted a great many +other things more wonderful, because he would not seem to those that have +not seen them, to write incredibilities_. But notwithstanding all this, +_Lucian_[C] will not believe a word he saith; for he tells us that +_Ctesias_ has wrote of _India_, [Greek: A maete autos eide, maete allou +eipontos aekousen], _What he neither saw himself, nor ever heard from any +Body else._ And _Aristotle_ tells us plainly, he is not fit to be believed: +[Greek: En de taei Indikaei hos phaesi Ktaesias, ouk on axiopistos.][D] +And the same opinion _A. Gellius_[E] seems to have of him, as he had +likewise of several other old _Greek Historians_ which happened to fall +into his hands at _Brundusium_, in his return from _Greece_ into _Italy_; +he gives this Character of them and their performance: _Erant autem isti +omnes libri Græci, miraculorum fabularumque pleni: res inauditæ, +incredulæ, Scriptores veteres non parvæ authoritatis_, Aristeas +Proconnesius, & Isagonus, & Nicæensis, & Ctesias, & Onesicritus, & +Polystephanus, & Hegesias. Not that I think all that _Ctesias_ has wrote +is fabulous; For tho' I cannot believe his _speaking Pygmies_, yet what he +writes of the _Bird_ he calls [Greek: Bittakos], that it would speak +_Greek_ and the _Indian Language_, no doubt is very true; and as _H. +Stephens_[F] observes in his Apology for _Ctesias_, such a Relation would +seem very surprising to one, that had never seen nor heard of a _Parrot_. + +[Footnote A: _Diodor. Siculi Bibliothec_. lib. 2. p.m. 118.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 14. p. 451.] + +[Footnote C: _Lucian_ lib 1. _veræ Histor_. p.m. 373.] + +[Footnote D: _Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 28.] + +[Footnote E: _A. Gellij. Noctes. Attic._ lib. 9. cap. 4.] + +[Footnote F: _Henr. Stephani de Ctesia Historico antiquissimo disquisitio, +ad finem Herodoti._] + +But this Story of _Ctesias_'s _speaking Pygmies_, seems to be confirm'd by +the Account that _Nonnosus_, the Emperour _Justinian_'s Ambassador into +_Æthiopia_, gives of his Travels. I will transcribe the Passage, as I find +it in _Photius_,[A] and 'tis as follows: + +[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec._ cod. 3. p.m. 7.] + +[Greek: Hoti apo taes pharsan pleonti toi Nonnosoi, epi taen eschataen ton +naeson kataentaekoti toion de ti synebae, thauma kai akousai. enetuche gar +tisi morphaen men kai idean echousin anthropinaen, brachytatois de to +megethos, kai melasi taen chroan. hypo de trichon dedasysmenois dia pantos +tou somatos. heiponto de tois andrasi kai gynaikes paraplaesiai kai +paidaria eti brachytera, ton par autois andron. gymnoi de aesan hapantes; +plaen dermati tini mikroi taen aido periekalypron, hoi probebaekotes +homoios andres te kai gynaikes. agrion de ouden eped eiknynto oude +anaemeron; alla kai phonaen eichon men anthropinaen, agnoston de pantapasi +taen dialekton tois te perioikois hapasi, kai polloi pleon tois peri taen +Nonnoson, diezon de ek thalattion ostreion, kai ichthyon, ton apo taes +thalassaes eis taen naeson aporrhiptomenon; tharsos de eichon ouden. alla +kai horontes tous kath' haemas anthropous hypeptaesan, hosper haemeis ta +meiso ton thaerion.] + +_Naviganti à Pharsa Nonoso, & ad extremam usque insularum delato, tale +quid occurrit, vel ipso auditu admirandum. Incidit enim in quosdam forma +quidem & figura humana, sed brevissimos, & cutem nigros, totúmque pilosos +corpus. Sequebantur viros æquales foeminæ, & pueri adhuc breviores. Nudi +omnes agunt, pelle tantum brevi adultiores verenda tecti, viri pariter ac +foeminæ: agreste nihil, neque efferum quid præ se ferentes. Quin & vox +illis humana, sed omnibus, etiam accolis, prorsus ignota lingua, multoque +amplius Nonosi sociis. Vivunt marinis ostreis, & piscibus è mari ad +insulam projectis. Audaces minime sunt, ut nostris conspectis hominibus, +quemadmodum nos visa ingenti fera, metu perculsi fuerint._ + +'That _Nonnosus_ sailing from _Pharsa_, when he came to the farthermost of +the Islands, a thing, very strange to be heard of, happened to him; for he +lighted on some (_Animals_) in shape and appearance like _Men_, but little +of stature, and of a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over +their Bodies. The Women, who were of the same stature, followed the Men: +They were all naked, only the Elder of them, both Men and Women, covered +their Privy Parts with a small Skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; +they had a Humane Voice, but their _Dialect_ was altogether unknown to +every Body that lived about them; much more to those that were with +_Nonnosus_. They liv'd upon Sea Oysters, and Fish that were cast out of +the Sea, upon the Island. They had no Courage; for seeing our Men, they +were frighted, as we are at the sight of the greatest wild Beast.' + +[Greek: _phonaen eichon men anthropinaen_] I render here, _they had a +Humane Voice_, not _Speech_: for had they spoke any Language, tho' their +_Dialect_ might be somewhat different, yet no doubt but some of the +Neighbourhood would have understood something of it, and not have been +such utter Strangers to it. Now 'twas observed of the _Orang-Outang_, that +it's _Voice_ was like the Humane, and it would make a Noise like a Child, +but never was observed to speak, tho' it had the _Organs_ of _Speech_ +exactly formed as they are in _Man_; and no Account that ever has been +given of this Animal do's pretend that ever it did. I should rather agree +to what _Pliny_[A] mentions, _Quibusdam pro Sermone nutus motusque +Membrorum est_; and that they had no more a Speech than _Ctesias_ his +_Cynocephali_ which could only bark, as the same _Pliny_[B] remarks; where +he saith, _In multis autem Montibus Genus Hominum Capitibus Caninis, +ferarum pellibus velari, pro voce latratum edere, unguibus armatum venatu +& Aucupio vesci, horum supra Centum viginti Millia fuisse prodente se +Ctesias scribit._ But in _Photius_ I find, that _Ctesias's Cynocephali_ +did speak the _Indian Language_ as well as the _Pygmies_. Those therefore +in _Nonnosus_ since they did not speak the _Indian_, I doubt, spoke no +_Language_ at all; or at least, no more than other _Brutes_ do. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.] + +[Footnote B: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 11.] + +_Ctesias_ I find is the only Author that ever understood what Language +'twas that the _Pygmies_ spake: For _Herodotus_[A] owns that they use a +sort of Tongue like to no other, but screech like _Bats_. He saith, [Greek: +Hoi Garamantes outoi tous troglodytas Aithiopas thaereuousi toisi +tetrippoisi. Hoi gar Troglodytai aithiopes podas tachistoi anthropon +panton eisi, ton hymeis peri logous apopheromenous akouomen. Siteontai de +hoi Troglodytai ophis, kai Saurous, kai ta toiauta ton Herpeton. Glossan +de oudemiaei allaei paromoiaen nenomikasi, alla tetrygasi kathaper hai +nukterides;] i.e. _These_ Garamantes _hunt the_ Troglodyte Æthiopians _in +Chariots with four Horses. The_ Troglodyte Æthiopians _are the swiftest of +foot of all Men that ever he heard of by any Report. The_ Troglodytes _eat +Serpents and Lizards, and such sort of Reptiles. They use a Language like +to no other Tongue, but screech like Bats._ + +[Footnote A: _Herodot. in Melpomene._ pag. 283.] + +Now that the _Pygmies_ are _Troglodytes_, or do live in Caves, is plain +from _Aristotle_,[A] who saith, [Greek: Troglodytai de' eisi ton bion]. +And so _Philostratus_,[B] [Greek: Tous de pygmaious oikein men +hypogeious]. And methinks _Le Compte_'s Relation concerning the _wild_ or +_savage Man_ in _Borneo_, agrees so well with this, that I shall +transcribe it: for he tells us,[C] _That in_ Borneo _this_ wild _or_ +savage Man _is indued with extraordinary strength; and not withstanding he +walks but upon two Legs, yet he is so swift of foot, that they have much +ado to outrun him. People of Quality course him, as we do Stags here: and +this sort of hunting is the King's usual divertisement._ And _Gassendus_ +in the Life of _Peiresky_, tells us they commonly hunt them too in +_Angola_ in _Africa_, as I have already mentioned. So that very likely +_Herodotus's Troglodyte Æthiopians_ may be no other than our +_Orang-Outang_ or _wild Man_. And the rather, because I fancy their +Language is much the same: for an _Ape_ will chatter, and make a noise +like a _Bat_, as his _Troglodytes_ did: And they undergo to this day the +same Fate of being hunted, as formerly the _Troglodytes_ used to be by the +_Garamantes_. + +[Footnote A: _Arist. Hist. Animal._, lib. 8. cap. 15. p.m. 913.] + +[Footnote B: _Philostrat. in vita Appollon. Tyanæi_, lib. 3. cap. 14. p.m. +152.] + +[Footnote C: _Lewis le Compte_ Memoirs and Observations on _China_, p.m. +510.] + +Whether those [Greek: andras mikrous metrion elassonas andron] which the +_Nasamones_ met with (as _Herodotus_[A] relates) in their Travels to +discover _Libya_, were the _Pygmies_; I will not determine: It seems that +_Nasamones_ neither understood their Language, nor they that of the +_Nasamones_. However, they were so kind to the _Nasamones_ as to be their +Guides along the Lakes, and afterwards brought them to a City, [Greek: en +taei pantas einai toisi agousi to megethos isous, chroma de melanas], i.e. +_in which all were of the same stature with the Guides, and black_. Now +since they were all _little black Men_, and their Language could not be +understood, I do suspect they may be a Colony of the _Pygmies_: And that +they were no farther Guides to the _Nasamones_, than that being frighted +at the sight of them, they ran home, and the _Nasamones_ followed them. + +[Footnote A: _Herodotus in Euterpe_ seu lib. 2. p.m. 102.] + +I do not find therefore any good Authority, unless you will reckon +_Ctesias_ as such, that the _Pygmies_ ever used a Language or Speech, any +more than other _Brutes_ of the same _Species_ do among themselves, and +that we know nothing of, whatever _Democritus_ and _Melampodes_ in +_Pliny_,[A] or _Apollonius Tyanæus_ in _Porphyry_[B] might formerly have +done. Had the _Pygmies_ ever spoke any _Language_ intelligible by Mankind, +this might have furnished our _Historians_ with notable Subjects for their +_Novels_; and no doubt but we should have had plenty of them. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 10. cap. 49.] + +[Footnote B: _Porphyrius de Abstinentia_, lib. 3. pag. m. 103.] + +But _Albertus Magnus_, who was so lucky as to guess that the _Pygmies_ +were a sort of _Apes_; that he should afterwards make these _Apes_ to +_speak_, was very unfortunate, and spoiled all; and he do's it, methinks, +so very awkwardly, that it is as difficult almost to understand his +Language as his _Apes_; if the Reader has a mind to attempt it, he will +find it in the Margin.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Si qui Homines sunt Silvestres, sicut Pygmeus, non secundum +unam rationem nobiscum dicti sunt Homines, sed aliquod habent Hominis in +quadam deliberatione & Loquela, &c._ A little after adds, _Voces quædam +(sc. Animalia) formant ad diversos conceptus quos habent, sicut Homo & +Pygmæus; & quædam non faciunt hoc, sicut multitudo fere tota aliorum +Animalium. Adhuc autem eorum quæ ex ratione cogitativa formant voces, +quædam sunt succumbentia, quædam autem non succumbentia. Dico autem +succumbentia, à conceptu Animæ cadentia & mota ad Naturæ Instinctum, sicut +Pygmeus, qui non, sequitur rationem Loquelæ sed Naturæ Instinctum; Homo +autem non succumbit sed sequitur rationem._ Albert. Magn. de Animal. lib. +1. cap. 3. p.m. 3.] + +Had _Albertus_ only asserted, that the _Pygmies_ were a sort of _Apes_, +his Opinion possibly might have obtained with less difficulty, unless he +could have produced some Body that had heard them talk. But _Ulysses +Aldrovandus_[A] is so far from believing his _Ape Pygmies_ ever spoke, +that he utterly denies, that there were ever any such Creatures in being, +as the _Pygmies_, at all; or that they ever fought the _Cranes_. _Cum +itaque Pygmæos_ (saith he) _dari negemus, Grues etiam cum iis Bellum +gerere, ut fabulantur, negabimus, & tam pertinaciter id negabimus, ut ne +jurantibus credemus._ + +[Footnote A: _Ulys. Aldrovandi Ornitholog._ lib. 20. p.m. 344.] + +I find a great many very Learned Men are of this Opinion: And in the first +place, _Strabo_[A] is very positive; [Greek: Heorakos men gar oudeis +exaegeitai ton pisteos axion andron;] i.e. _No Man worthy of belief did +ever see them_. And upon all occasions he declares the same. So _Julius +Cæsar Scaliger_[B] makes them to be only a Fiction of the Ancients, _At +hæc omnia_ (saith he) _Antiquorum figmenta & meræ Nugæ, si exstarent, +reperirentur. At cum universus Orbis nunc nobis cognitus sit, nullibi hæc +Naturæ Excrementa reperiri certissimum est._ And _Isaac Casaubon_[C] +ridicules such as pretend to justifie them: _Sic nostra ætate_ (saith he) +_non desunt, qui eandem de Pygmæis lepidam fabellam renovent; ut qui etiam +è Sacris Literis, si Deo placet, fidem illis conentur astruere. Legi etiam +Bergei cujusdam Galli Scripta, qui se vidisse diceret. At non ego credulus +illi, illi inquam Omnium Bipedum mendacissimo._ I shall add one Authority +more, and that is of _Adrian Spigelius,_ who produces a Witness that had +examined the very place, where the _Pygmies_ were said to be; yet upon a +diligent enquiry, he could neither find them, nor hear any tidings of +them.[D] _Spigelius_ therefore tells us, _Hoc loco de Pygmæis dicendum +erat, qui [Greek: para pygonos] dicti à statura, quæ ulnam non excedunt. +Verùm ego Poetarum fabulas esse crediderim, pro quibus tamen_ Aristoteles +_minimè haberi vult, sed veram esse Historiam._ 8. Hist. Animal. 12. +_asseverat. Ego quo minùs hoc statuam, tum Authoritate primùm Doctissimi_ +Strabonis I. Geograph. _coactus sum, tum potissimùm nunc moveor, quod +nostro tempore, quo nulla Mundi pars est, quam Nautarum Industria non +perlustrarit, nihil tamen, unquam simile aut visum est, aut auditum. +Accedit quod_ Franciscus Alvarez _Lusitanus, qui ea ipsa loca peragravit, +circa quæ Aristoteles Pygmæos esse scribit, nullibi tamen tam parvam +Gentem à se conspectam tradidit, sed Populum esse Mediocris staturæ, &_ +Æthiopes _tradit._ + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 17. p.m. 565.] + +[Footnote B: _Jul. Cæs. Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. +8. § 126. p.m. 914.] + +[Footnote C: _Isaac Causabon Notæ & Castigat. in_ lib. 1. _Strabonis +Geograph._ p.m. 38.] + +[Footnote D: _Adrian. Spigelij de Corporis Humani fabrica_, lib. 1. cap. +7. p.m. 15.] + +I think my self therefore here obliged to make out, that there were such +Creatures as _Pygmies_, before I determine what they were, since the very +being of them is called in question, and utterly denied by so great Men, +and by others too that might be here produced. Now in the doing this, +_Aristotle_'s Assertion of them is so very positive, that I think there +needs not a greater or better Proof; and it is so remarkable a one, that I +find the very Enemies to this Opinion at a loss, how to shift it off. To +lessen it's Authority they have interpolated the _Text_, by foisting into +the _Translation_ what is not in the Original; or by not translating at +all the most material passage, that makes against them; or by miserably +glossing it, to make him speak what he never intended: Such unfair +dealings plainly argue, that at any rate they are willing to get rid of a +Proof, that otherwise they can neither deny, or answer. + +_Aristotle_'s Text is this, which I shall give with _Theodorus Gaza's_ +Translation: for discoursing of the Migration of Birds, according to the +Season of the Year, from one Country to another, he saith:[A] + +[Footnote A: _Aristotel. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 12.] + +[Greek: Meta men taen phthinoporinaen Isaemerian, ek tou Pontou kaiton +psychron pheugonta ton epionta cheimona; meta de taen earinaen, ek ton +therinon, eis tous topous tous psychrous, phoboumena ta kaumata; ta men, +kai ek ton engus topon poioumena tas metabolas, ta de, kai ek ton eschaton +hos eipein, hoion hai geranoi poiousi. Metaballousi gar ek ton Skythikon +eis ta helae ta ano taes Aigyptou, othen ho Neilos rhei. Esti de ho topos +outos peri on hoi pigmaioi katoikousin; ou gar esti touto mythos, all' +esti kata taen alaetheian. Genos mikron men, hosper legetai, kai autoi kai +hoi hippoi; Troglodytai d' eisi ton bion.] + +_Tam ab Autumnali Æquinoctio ex Ponto, Locisque frigidis fugiunt Hyemem +futuram. A Verno autem ex tepida Regione ad frigidam sese conferunt, æstus +metu futuri: & alia de locis vicinis discedunt, alia de ultimis, prope +dixerim, ut Grues faciunt, quæ ex Scythicis Campis ad Paludes Ægypto +superiores, unde Nilus profluit, veniunt, quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis +dicuntur. Non enim id fabula est, sed certe, genus tum hominum, tum etiam +Equorum pusillum (ut dicitur) est, deguntque in Cavernis, unde Nomen +Troglodytæ a subeundis Cavernis accepere._ + +In English 'tis thus: 'At the _Autumnal Æquinox_ they go out of _Pontus_ +and the cold Countreys to avoid the Winter that is coming on. At the +_Vernal Æquinox_ they pass from hot Countreys into cold ones, for fear of +the ensuing heat; some making their Migrations from nearer places; others +from the most remote (as I may say) as the _Cranes_ do: for they come out +of _Scythia_ to the Lakes above _Ægypt_, whence the _Nile_ do's flow. This +is the place, whereabout the _Pygmies_ dwell: For this is no _Fable_, but +a _Truth_. Both they and the Horses, as 'tis said, are a small kind. They +are _Troglodytes_, or live in Caves.' + +We may here observe how positive the _Philosopher_ is, that there are +_Pygmies_; he tells us where they dwell, and that 'tis no Fable, but a +Truth. But _Theodorus Gaza_ has been unjust in translating him, by +foisting in, _Quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis dicuntur_, whereas there is +nothing in the Text that warrants it: As likewise, where he expresses the +little Stature of the _Pygmies_ and the Horses, there _Gaza_ has rendered +it, _Sed certè Genus tum Hominum, tum etiam Equorum pusillum_. _Aristotle_ +only saith, [Greek: Genos mikron men hosper legetai, kai autoi, kai hoi +hippoi]. He neither makes his _Pygmies Men_, nor saith any thing of their +fighting the _Cranes_; tho' here he had a fair occasion, discoursing of +the Migration of the _Cranes_ out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ above +_Ægypt_, where he tells us the _Pygmies_ are. Cardan[A] therefore must +certainly be out in his guess, that _Aristotle_ only asserted the +_Pygmies_ out of Complement to his friend _Homer_; for surely then he +would not have forgot their fight with the _Cranes_; upon which occasion +only _Homer_ mentions them.[B] I should rather think that _Aristotle_, +being sensible of the many Fables that had been raised on this occasion, +studiously avoided the mentioning this fight, that he might not give +countenance to the Extravagant Relations that had been made of it. + +[Footnote A: _Cardan de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40. p.m. 153.] + +[Footnote B: _Apparet ergo_ (saith _Cardan_) Pygmæorum Historiam esse +fabulosam, quod &_ Strabo _sentit & nosira ætas, cum omnia nunc fermè +orbis mirabilia innotuerint, declarat. Sed quod tantum Philosophum +decepit, fuit Homeri Auctoritas non apud illium levis.] + +But I wonder that neither _Casaubon_ nor _Duvall_ in their Editions of +_Aristotle_'s Works, should have taken notice of these Mistakes of _Gaza_, +and corrected them. And _Gesner_, and _Aldrovandus_, and several other +Learned Men, in quoting this place of _Aristotle_, do make use of this +faulty Translation, which must necessarily lead them into Mistakes. _Sam. +Bochartus_[A] tho' he gives _Aristotle_'s Text in Greek, and adds a new +Translation of it, he leaves out indeed the _Cranes_ fighting with the +_Pygmies_, yet makes them _Men_, which _Aristotle_ do's not; and by +anti-placing, _ut aiunt_, he renders _Aristotle_'s Assertion more dubious; +_Neque enim_ (saith he in the Translation) _id est fabula, sed reverâ, ut +aiunt, Genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum quà m Equorum. Julius Cæsar +Scaliger_ in translating this Text of _Aristotle_, omits both these +Interpretations of _Gaza_; but on the other hand is no less to be blamed +in not translating at all the most remarkable passage, and where the +Philosopher seems to be so much in earnest; as, [Greek: ou gar esti touto +mythos, all' esti kata taen alaetheian], this he leaves wholly out, +without giving us his reason for it, if he had any: And Scaliger's[B] +insinuation in his Comment, _viz. Negat esse fabulam de his (sc. Pygmeis)_ +Herodotus, _at Philosophus semper moderatus & prudens etiam addidit_, +[Greek: hosper legetai], is not to be allowed. Nor can I assent to Sir +_Thomas Brown_'s[C] remark upon this place; _Where indeed_ (saith he) +Aristotle _plays the_ Aristotle; _that is, the wary and evading asserter; +for tho' with_ non est fabula _he seems at first to confirm it, yet at +last he claps in,_ sicut aiunt, _and shakes the belief he placed before +upon it. And therefore_ Scaliger (saith he) _hath not translated the +first, perhaps supposing it surreptitious, or unworthy so great an +Assertor._ But had _Scaliger_ known it to be surreptitious, no doubt but +he would have remarked it; and then there had been some Colour for the +Gloss. But 'tis unworthy to be believed of _Aristotle_, who was so wary +and cautious, that he should in so short a passage, contradict himself: +and after he had so positively affirmed the Truth of it, presently doubt +it. His [Greek: hosper legetai] therefore must have a Reference to what +follows, _Pusillum genus, ut aiunt, ipsi atque etiam Equi_, as _Scaliger_ +himself translates it. + +[Footnote A: _Bocharti Hierozoic. S. de Animalib. S. Script. part. +Posterior_. lib. 1. cap. 11. p.m. 76.] + +[Footnote B: _Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. p.m. +914.] + +[Footnote C: Sir _Thomas Brown_'s _Pseudodoxia_, or, _Enquiries into +Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. cap. 11.] + +I do not here find _Aristotle_ asserting or confirming any thing of the +fabulous Narrations that had been made about the _Pygmies_. He does not +say that they were [Greek: andres], or [Greek: anthropoi mikroi], or +[Greek: melanes]; he only calls them [Greek: pygmaioi]. And discoursing of +the _Pygmies_ in a place, where he is only treating about _Brutes_, 'tis +reasonable to think, that he looked upon them only as such. _This is the +place where the_ Pygmies _are; this is no fable,_ saith Aristotle, as 'tis +that they are a Dwarfish Race of Men; that they speak the _Indian_ +Language; that they are excellent Archers; that they are very Just; and +abundance of other Things that are fabulously reported of them; and +because he thought them _Fables_, he does not take the least notice of +them, but only saith, _This is no Fable, but a Truth, that about the Lakes +of_ Nile such _Animals_, as are called _Pygmies_, do live. And, as if he +had foreseen, that the abundance of Fables that _Ctesias_ (whom he saith +is not to be believed) and the _Indian Historians_ had invented about +them, would make the whole Story to appear as a Figment, and render it +doubtful, whether there were ever such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in Nature; +he more zealously asserts the _Being_ of them, and assures us, That _this +is no Fable, but a Truth_. + +I shall therefore now enquire what sort of Creatures these _Pygmies_ were; +and hope so to manage the Matter, as in a great measure, to abate the +Passion these Great Men have had against them: for, no doubt, what has +incensed them the most, was, the fabulous _Historians_ making them a part +of _Mankind_, and then inventing a hundred ridiculous Stories about them, +which they would impose upon the World as real Truths. If therefore they +have Satisfaction given them in these two Points, I do not see, but that +the Business may be accommodated very fairly; and that they may be allowed +to be _Pygmies_, tho' we do not make them _Men_. + +For I am not of _Gesner_'s mind, _Sed veterum nullus_ (saith he[A]) +_aliter de Pygmæis scripsit, quà m Homunciones esse_. Had they been a Race +of _Men_, no doubt but _Aristotle_ would have informed himself farther +about them. Such a Curiosity could not but have excited his Inquisitive +_Genius_, to a stricter Enquiry and Examination; and we might easily have +expected from him a larger Account of them. But finding them, it may be, a +sort of _Apes_, he only tells us, that in such a place these _Pygmies_ +live. + +[Footnote A: _Gesner. Histor. Quadruped._ p.m. 885.] + +Herodotus[A] plainly makes them _Brutes_: For reckoning up the _Animals_ +of _Libya_, he tells us, [Greek: Kai gar hoi ophies hoi hypermegathees, +kai hoi leontes kata toutous eisi, kai hoi elephantes te kai arktoi, kai +aspides te kai onoi hoi ta kerata echontes; kai hoi kynokephaloi +(akephaloi) hoi en toisi staethesi tous ophthalmous echontes (hos dae +legetai ge hypo libyon) kai agrioi andres, kai gynaikes agriai kai alla +plaethei polla thaeria akatapseusta;] i.e. _That there are here prodigious +large Serpents, and Lions, and Elephants, and Bears, and Asps, and Asses +that have horns, and Cynocephali,_ (in the Margin 'tis _Acephali_) _that +have Eyes in their Breast, (as is reported by the Libyans) and wild Men, +and wild Women, and a great many other wild Beasts that are not fabulous._ +Tis evident therefore that _Herodotus_ his [Greek: agrioi andres, kai +gynaikes agriai] are only [Greek: thaeria] or wild Beasts: and tho' they +are called [Greek: andres], they are no more _Men_ than our +_Orang-Outang_, or _Homo_ _Sylvestris_, or _wild Man_, which has exactly +the same Name, and I must confess I can't but think is the same Animal: +and that the same Name has been continued down to us, from his Time, and +it may be from _Homer's_. + +[Footnote A: _Herodot. Melpomene seu_ lib. 4. p.m. 285.] + +So _Philostratus_ speaking of _Æthiopia_ and _Ægypt_, tells us,[A] [Greek: +Boskousi de kai thaeria hoia ouch heterothi; kai anthropous melanas, ho +mae allai aepeiroi. Pygmaion te en autais ethnae kai hylaktounton allo +allaei.] i.e. _Here are bred wild Beasts that are not in other places; and +black Men, which no other Country affords: and amongst them is the Nation +of the Pygmies, and the_ BARKERS, that is, the _Cynocephali._ For tho' +_Philostratus_ is pleased here only to call them _Barkers_, and to reckon +them, as he does the _Black Men_ and the _Pygmies_ amongst the _wild +Beasts_ of those Countreys; yet _Ctesias_, from whom _Philostratus_ has +borrowed a great deal of his _Natural History_, stiles them _Men_, and +makes them speak, and to perform most notable Feats in Merchandising. But +not being in a merry Humour it may be now, before he was aware, he speaks +Truth: For _Cælius Rhodiginus's_[B] Character of him is, _Philostratus +omnium qui unquam Historiam conscripserunt, mendacissimus._ + +[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, quà m quod +falsissimum_, saith _Harduin_.[E] + +[Footnote A: _Cardan de subtilitate_, lib. 11. p. 458.] + +[Footnote B: _Nicephor. Histor. Ecclesiiast._ lib. 12. cap. 37.] + +[Footnote C: _Happelius in Relat. curiosis_, No. 85. p. 677.] + +[Footnote D: _Thevenot. Voyage de Levant._ lib. 2. c. 68.] + +[Footnote E: _Jo. Harduini Notæ in Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 22. p. +688.] + +Neither likewise must it be granted, that tho' in some _Climates_ there +might be _Men_ generally of less stature, than what are to be met with in +other Countries, that they are presently _Pygmies_. _Nature_ has not fixed +the same standard to the growth of _Mankind_ in all Places alike, no more +than to _Brutes_ or _Plants_. The Dimensions of them all, according to the +_Climate_, may differ. If we consult the Original, _viz. Homer_ that first +mentioned the _Pygmies_, there are only these two _Characteristics_ he +gives of them. That they are [Greek: Pygmaioi] _seu Cubitales_; and that +the _Cranes_ did use to fight them. 'Tis true, as a _Poet_, he calls them +[Greek: andres], which I have accounted for before. Now if there cannot be +found such _Men_ as are _Cubitales_, that the _Cranes_ might probably +fight with, notwithstanding all the Romances of the _Indian Historians_, I +cannot think these _Pygmies_ to be _Men_, but they must be some other +_Animals_, or the whole must be a Fiction. + +Having premised this, we will now enquire into their Assertion that +maintain the _Pygmies_ to be a Race of _Men_. Now because there have been +_Giants_ formerly, that have so much exceeded the usual Stature of _Man_, +that there must be likewise _Pygmies_ as defective in the other extream +from this Standard, I think is no conclusive Argument, tho' made use of by +some. Old _Caspar Bartholine_[A] tells us, that because _J. Cassanius_ and +others had wrote _de Gygantibus_, since no Body else had undertaken it, he +would give us a Book _de Pygmæis_; and since he makes it his design to +prove the Existence of _Pygmies_, and that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_, I +must confess I expected great Matters from him. + +[Footnote A: _Caspar. Bartholin. Opusculum de Pygmæis._] + +But I do not find he has informed us of any thing more of them, than what +_Jo. Talentonius_, a Professor formerly at _Parma_, had told us before in +his _Variarum & Reconditarum Rerum Thesaurus_,[A] from whom he has +borrowed most of this _Tract_. He has made it a little more formal indeed, +by dividing it into _Chapters_; of which I will give you the _Titles_; and +as I see occasion, some Remarks thereon: They will not be many, because I +have prevented my self already. The _first Chapter_ is, _De Homuncionibus +& Pumilionilus seu Nanis à Pygmæis distinctis_. The _second Chapter, De +Pygmæi nominibus & Etymologia_. The _third Chapter, Duplex esse Pygmæorum +Genus; & primum Genus aliquando dari_. He means _Dwarfs_, that are no +_Pygmies_ at all. The _fourth Chapter_ is, _Alterum Genus, nempe Gentem +Pygmæorum esse, aut saltem aliquando fuisse Autoritatibus Humanis, fide +tamen dignorum asseritur_. 'Tis as I find it printed; and no doubt an +Error in the printing. The Authorities he gives, are, _Homer, Ctesias, +Aristotle, Philostratus, Pliny, Juvenal, Oppian, Baptista Mantuan_, St. +_Austin_ and his _Scholiast. Ludovic. Vives, Jo. Laurentius Anania, Joh. +Cassanius, Joh. Talentonius, Gellius, Pomp. Mela_, and _Olaus Magnus_. I +have taken notice of most of them already, as I shall of St. _Austin_ and +_Ludovicus Vives_ by and by. _Jo. Laurentius Anania_[B] ex Mercatorum +relatione tradit (saith _Bartholine_) eos _(sc. Pygmæos) in +Septentrionali Thraciæ Parte reperiri, (quæ Scythiæ est proxima) atque ibi +cum Gruibus pugnare_. And _Joh. Cassanius_[C] (as he is here quoted) +saith, _De Pygmæis fabulosa quidem esse omnia, quæ de iis narrari solent, +aliquando existimavi. Verùm cum videam non unum vel alterum, sed complures +Classicos & probatos Autores de his Homunculis multa in eandem fere +Sententiam tradidisse; eò adducor ut Pygmæos fuisse inficiari non ausim._ +He next brings in _Jo. Talentonius_, to whom he is so much beholden, and +quotes his Opinion, which is full and home, _Constare arbitror_ (saith +_Talentonius_)[D] _debere concedi, Pygmæos non solùm olim fuisse, sed nunc +etiam esse, & homines esse, nec parvitatem illis impedimenta esse quo +minùs sint & homines sint._ But were there such _Men Pygmies_ now in +being, no doubt but we must have heard of them; some or other of our +Saylors, in their Voyages, would have lighted on them. Tho' _Aristotle_ is +here quoted, yet he does not make them _Men_; So neither does _Anania_: +And I must own, tho' _Talentonius_ be of this Opinion, yet he takes notice +of the faulty Translation of this Text of _Aristotle_ by _Gaza_: and tho' +the parvity or lowness of Stature, be no Impediment, because we have +frequently seen such _Dwarf-Men_, yet we did never see a _Nation_ of them: +For then there would be no need of that _Talmudical_ Precept which _Job. +Ludolphus_[E] mentions, _Nanus ne ducat Nanam, ne fortè oriatur ex iis +Digitalis_ (in _Bechor_. fol. 45). + +[Footnote A: _Jo. Talentionij. Variar. & Recondit. Rerum. Thesaurus._ lib. +3. cap. 21.] + +[Footnote B: _Joh. Laurent. Anania prope finem tractatus primi suæ +Geograph._] + +[Footnote C: _Joh. Cassanius libello de Gygantibus_, p. 73.] + +[Footnote D: _Jo. Talentonius Variar. & recondit. Rerum Thesaurus_, lib. 3. +cap. 21. p.m. 515.] + +[Footnote E: _Job Ludolphi Comment. in Historiam Æthiopic._ p.m. 71.] + +I had almost forgotten _Olaus Magnus_, whom _Bartholine_ mentions in the +close of this Chapter, but lays no great stress upon his Authority, +because he tells us, he is fabulous in a great many other Relations, and +he writes but by hear-say, that the _Greenlanders_ fight the _Cranes_; +_Tandem_ (saith _Bartholine_) _neque ideo Pygmæi sunt, si fortè sagittis & +hastis, sicut alij homines, Grues conficiunt & occidunt._ This I think is +great Partiality: For _Ctesias_, an Author whom upon all turns +_Bartholine_ makes use of as an Evidence, is very positive, that the +_Pygmies_ were excellent _Archers_: so that he himself owns, that their +being such, illustrates very much that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_, on which he +spends good part of the next _Chapter_, whose Title is, _Pygmæorum Gens ex +Ezekiele, atque rationibus probabilibus adstruitur_; which we will +consider by and by. And tho' _Olaus Magnus_ may write some things by +hear-say, yet he cannot be so fabulous as _Ctesias_, who (as _Lucian_ +tells us) writes what he neither saw himself, or heard from any Body else. +Not that I think _Olaus Magnus_ his _Greenlanders_ were real _Pygmies_, no +more than _Ctesias_ his _Pygmies_ were real _Men_; tho' he vouches very +notably for them. And if all that have copied this Fable from _Ctesias_, +must be look'd upon as the same Evidence with himself; the number of the +_Testimonies_ produced need not much concern us, since they must all stand +or fall with him. + +The _probable Reasons_ that _Bartholine_ gives in the _fifth Chapter_, are +taken from other _Animals_, as Sheep, Oxen, Horses, Dogs, the _Indian +Formica_ and Plants: For observing in the same _Species_ some excessive +large, and others extreamly little, he infers, _Quæ certè cum in +Animalibus & Vegetabilibus fiant; cur in Humana specie non sit probabile, +haud video: imprimis cum detur magnitudinis excessus Gigantæus; cur non +etiam dabitur Defectus? Quia ergo dantur Gigantes, dabuntur & Pygmæi. Quam +consequentiam ut firmam, admittit Cardanus,[A] licet de Pygmæis hoc tantùm +concedat, qui pro miraculo, non pro Gente._ Now Cardan, tho' he allows +this Consequence, yet in the same place he gives several Reasons why the +_Pygmies_ could not be _Men_, and looks upon the whole Story as fabulous. +_Bartholine_ concludes this _Chapter_ thus: _Ulteriùs ut Probabilitatem +fulciamus, addendum Sceleton Pygmæi, quod_ Dresdæ _vidimus inter alia +plurima, servatum in Arce sereniss._ Electoris Saxoniæ, _altitudine infra +Cubitum, Ossium soliditate, proportioneque tum Capitis, tum aliorum; ut +Embrionem, aut Artificiale quid Nemo rerum peritus suspicari possit. +Addita insuper est Inscriptio_ Veri Pygmæi. I hereupon looked into Dr. +_Brown_'s Travels into those Parts, who has given us a large Catalogue of +the Curiosities, the _Elector_ of _Saxony_ had at _Dresden_, but did not +find amongst them this _Sceleton_; which, by the largeness of the Head, I +suspect to be the _Sceleton_ of an _Orang-Outang_, or our _wild Man_. But +had he given us either a figure of it, or a more particular Description, +it had been a far greater Satisfaction. + +[Footnote A: _Cardan. de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40.] + +The Title of _Bartholine_'s _sixth Chapter_ is, _Pygmæos esse aut fuisse +ex variis eorum adjunctis, accidentibus_, &c. _ab Authoribus descriptis +ostenditur_. As first, their _Magnitude_: which he mentions from _Ctesias, +Pliny, Gellius_, and _Juvenal_; and tho' they do not all agree exactly, +'tis nothing. _Autorum hic dissensus nullus est_ (saith _Bartholine_) +_etenim sicut in nostris hominibus, ita indubiè in Pygmæis non omnes +ejusdem magnitudinis._ 2. The _Place_ and _Country_: As _Ctesias_ (he +saith) places them in the middle of _India_; _Aristotle_ and _Pliny_ at +the Lakes above _Ægypt_; _Homer_'s _Scholiast_ in the middle of _Ægypt_; +_Pliny_ at another time saith they are at the Head of the _Ganges_, and +sometimes at _Gerania_, which is in _Thracia_, which being near _Scythia_, +confirms (he saith) _Anania's Relation_. _Mela_ places them at the +_Arabian Gulf_; and _Paulus Jovius docet Pygmæos ultra Japonem esse_; and +adds, _has Autorum dissensiones facile fuerit conciliare; nec mirum +diversas relationes à _, Plinio _auditas._ For (saith he) as the _Tartars_ +often change their Seats, since they do not live in Houses, but in Tents, +so 'tis no wonder that the _Pygmies_ often change theirs, since instead of +Houses, they live in Caves or Huts, built of Mud, Feathers, and +Egg-shells. And this mutation of their Habitations he thinks is very plain +from _Pliny_, where speaking of _Gerania_, he saith, _Pygmæorum Gens_ +fuisse _(non jam esse) proditur, creduntque à Gruibus fugatos._ Which +passage (saith _Bartholine_) had _Adrian Spigelius_ considered, he would +not so soon have left _Aristotle's_ Opinion, because _Franc. Alvares_ the +_Portuguese_ did not find them in the place where _Aristotle_ left them; +for the _Cranes_, it may be, had driven them thence. His third Article is, +their _Habitation_, which _Aristotle_ saith is in _Caves_; hence they are +_Troglodytes_. _Pliny_ tells us they build Huts with Mud, Feathers, and +Egg-shells. But what _Bartholine_ adds, _Eò quod Terræ Cavernas +inhabitent, non injuriâ dicti sunt olim Pygmæi, Terræ filii_, is wholly +new to me, and I have not met with it in any Author before: tho' he gives +us here several other significations of the word _Terræ filij_ from a +great many Authors, which I will not trouble you at present with. 4. The +_Form_, being flat nosed and ugly, as _Ctesias_. 5. Their _Speech_, which +was the same as the _Indians_, as _Ctesias_; and for this I find he has no +other Author. 6. Their _Hair_; where he quotes _Ctesias_ again, that they +make use of it for _Clothes_. 7. Their _Vertues and Arts_; as that they +use the same Laws as the _Indians_, are very just, excellent Archers, and +that the King of _India_ has Three thousand of them in his Guards. All +from _Ctesias_. 8. Their _Animals_, as in _Ctesias_; and here are +mentioned their Sheep, Oxen, Asses, Mules, and Horses. 9. Their various +_Actions_; as what _Ctesias_ relates of their killing Hares and Foxes with +Crows, Eagles, &c. and fighting the _Cranes_, as _Homer, Pliny, Juvenal_. + +The _seventh Chapter_ in _Bartholine_ has a promising Title, _An Pygmæi +sint homines_, and I expected here something more to our purpose; but I +find he rather endeavours to answer the Reasons of those that would make +them _Apes_, than to lay down any of his own to prove them _Men_. And +_Albertus Magnus's_ Opinion he thinks absurd, that makes them part Men +part Beasts; they must be either one or the other, not a _Medium_ between +both; and to make out this, he gives us a large Quotation out of _Cardan_. +But _Cardan_[A] in the same place argues that they are not Men. As to +_Suessanus_[B] his Argument, that they want _Reason_, this he will not +Grant; but if they use it less or more imperfectly than others (which yet, +he saith, is not certain) by the same parity of Reason _Children_, the +_Boeotians_, _Cumani_ and _Naturals_ may not be reckoned _Men_; and he +thinks, what he has mentioned in the preceding _Chapter_ out of _Ctesias_, +&c. shews that they have no small use of Reason. As to _Suessanus_'s +next Argument, that they want Religion, Justice, &c. this, he saith, is +not confirmed by any grave Writer; and if it was, yet it would not prove +that they are not _Men_. For this defect (he saith) might hence happen, +because they are forced to live in _Caves_ for fear of the _Cranes_; and +others besides them, are herein faulty. For this Opinion, that the +_Pygmies_ were _Apes_ and not _Men_, he quotes likewise _Benedictus +Varchius_,[C] and _Joh. Tinnulus_,[D] and _Paulus Jovius_,[E] and several +others of the Moderns, he tells us, are of the same mind. _Imprimis +Geographici quos non puduit in Mappis Geographicis loco Pygmæorum simias +cum Gruibus pugnantes ridiculè dipinxisse._ + +[Footnote A: _Cardan. de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40.] + +[Footnote B: _Suessanus Comment. in Arist. de Histor. Animal._ lib. 8. +cap. 12.] + +[Footnote C: _Benedict. Varchius de Monstris. lingua vernacula._] + +[Footnote D: _Joh. Tinnulus in Glotto-Chrysio._] + +[Footnote E: _Paulus Jovius lib. de Muscovit. Legalione._] + +The Title of _Bartholine's eighth_ and last _Chapter_ is, _Argumenta eorum +qui Pygmæorum Historiam fabulosam censent, recitantur & refutantur._ Where +he tells us, the only Person amongst the Ancients that thought the Story +of the _Pygmies_ to be fabulous was _Strabo_; but amongst the Moderns +there are several, as _Cardan, Budæus, Aldrovandus, Fullerus_ and others. +The first Objection (he saith) is that of _Spigelius_ and others; that +since the whole World is now discovered, how happens it, that these +_Pygmies_ are not to be met with? He has seven Answers to this Objection; +how satisfactory they are, the Reader may judge, if he pleases, by +perusing them amongst the Quotations.[A] _Cardan_'s second Objection (he +saith) is, that they live but eight years, whence several Inconveniences +would happen, as _Cardan_ shews; he answers that no good Author asserts +this; and if there was, yet what _Cardan_ urges would not follow; and +instances out of _Artemidorus_ in _Pliny_,[B] as a _Parallel_ in the +_Calingæ_ a Nation in _India, where the Women conceive when five years +old, and do not live above eight._ _Gesner_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, +saith, _Vitæ autem longitudo anni arciter octo ut_ Albertus _refert._ +_Cardan_ perhaps had his Authority from _Albertus_, or it may be both took +it from this passage in _Pliny_, which I think would better agree to +_Apes_ than _Men_. But _Artemidorus_ being an _Indian Historian_, and in +the same place telling other Romances, the less Credit is to be given to +him. The third Objection, he saith, is of _Cornelius à Lapide_, who denies +the _Pygmies_, because _Homer_ was the first Author of them. The fourth +Objection he saith is, because Authors differ about the Place where they +should be: This, he tells us, he has answered already in the fifth +Chapter. The _fifth_ and last Objection he mentions is, that but few have +seen them. He answers, there are a great many Wonders in Sacred and +Profane History that we have not seen, yet must not deny. And he instances +in three; As the _Formicæ Indicæ_, which are as big as great Dogs: The +_Cornu Plantabile_ in the Island _Goa_, which when cut off from the Beast, +and flung upon the Ground, will take root like a _Cabbage_: and the +_Scotland Geese_ that grow upon Trees, for which he quotes a great many +Authors, and so concludes. + +[Footnote A: _Respondeo._ 1. _Contrarium testari Mercatorum Relationem +apud_ Ananiam _supra Cap. 4._ 2. _Et licet non inventi essent vivi à +quolibet, pari jure Monocerota & alia negare liceret._ 3. _Qui maria +pernavigant, vix oras paucas maritimas lustrant, adeo non terras omnes à +mari dissitas._ 4. _Neque in Oris illos habitare maritimis ex Capite +quinto manifestum est._ 5. _Quis testatum se omnem adhibuisse diligentiam +in inquirendo eos ut inveniret._ 6. _Ita in terra habitant, ut in Antris +vitam tolerare dicantur._ 7. _Si vel maximè omni ab omnibus diligentia +quæsiti fuissent, nec inventi; fieri potest, ut instar Gigantum jam +desierint nec sint ampliùs_.] + +[Footnote B: _Plinij Hist. Nat._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 14.] + +Now how far _Bartholine_ in his Treatise has made out that the _Pygmies_ +of the Ancients were real _Men_, either from the Authorities he has +quoted, or his Reasonings upon them, I submit to the Reader. I shall +proceed now (as I promised) to consider the Proof they pretend from _Holy +Writ_: For _Bartholine_ and others insist upon that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_ +(_Cap. 27. Vers. 11_) where the _Vulgar_ Translation has it thus; _Filij +Arvad cum Exercitu tuo supra Muros tuos per circuitum, & Pygmæi in +Turribus tuis fuerunt; Scuta sua suspenderunt supra Muros tuos per +circuitum._ Now _Talentonius_ and _Bartholine_ think that what _Ctesias_ +relates of the _Pygmies_, as their being good _Archers_, very well +illustrates this Text of _Ezekiel_: I shall here transcribe what Sir +_Thomas Brown_[A] remarks upon it; and if any one requires further +Satisfaction, they may consult _Job Ludolphus's Comment_ on his _Æthiopic +History_.[B] + +[Footnote A: Sir _Thomas Brown's Enquiries into Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. +cap. 11. p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: _Comment. in Hist. Æthiopic._ p. 73.] + +The _second Testimony_ (saith Sir _Thomas Brown_) _is deduced from Holy +Scripture; thus rendered in the Vulgar Translation_, Sed & Pygmæi qui +erant in turribus tuis, pharetras suas suspenderunt in muris tuis per +gyrum: _from whence notwithstanding we cannot infer this Assertion, for +first the Translators accord not, and the Hebrew word_ Gammadim _is very +variously rendered. Though_ Aquila, Vatablus _and_ Lyra _will have it_ +Pygmæi, _yet in the_ Septuagint, _it is no more than Watchman; and so in +the_ Arabick _and_ High-Dutch. _In the_ Chalde, Cappadocians, _in_ +Symmachus, Medes, _and in the_ French, _those of_ Gamed. Theodotian _of +old, and_ Tremillius _of late, have retained the Textuary word; and so +have the_ Italian, Low Dutch, _and_ English _Translators, that is, the Men +of_ Arvad _were upon thy Walls round about, and the_ Gammadims _were in +thy Towers._ + +_Nor do Men only dissent in the Translation of the word, but in the +Exposition of the Sense and Meaning thereof; for some by_ Gammadims +_understand a People of_ Syria, _so called from the City of_ Gamala; _some +hereby understand the_ Cappadocians, _many the_ Medes: _and hereof_ +Forerius _hath a singular Exposition, conceiving the Watchmen of_ Tyre, +_might well be called_ Pygmies, _the Towers of that City being so high, +that unto Men below, they appeared in a Cubital Stature. Others expound it +quite contrary to common Acception, that is not Men of the least, but of +the largest size; so doth_ Cornelius _construe_ Pygmæi, _or_ Viri +Cubitales, _that is, not Men of a Cubit high, but of the largest Stature, +whose height like that of Giants, is rather to be taken by the Cubit than +the Foot; in which phrase we read the measure of_ Goliah, _whose height is +said to be six Cubits and span. Of affinity hereto is also the Exposition +of_ Jerom; _not taking_ Pygmies _for Dwarfs, but stout and valiant +Champions; not taking the sense of [Greek: pygmae], which signifies the +Cubit measure, but that which expresseth Pugils; that is, Men fit for +Combat and the Exercise of the Fist. Thus there can be no satisfying +illation from this Text, the diversity, or rather contrariety of +Expositions and Interpretations, distracting more than confirming the +Truth of the Story._ + +But why _Aldrovandus_ or _Caspar Bartholine_ should bring in St. _Austin_ +as a Favourer of this Opinion of _Men Pygmies_, I see no Reason. To me he +seems to assert quite the contrary: For proposing this Question, _An ex +propagine_ Adam _vel filiorum_ Noe, _quædam genera Hominum Monstrosa +prodierunt?_ He mentions a great many monstrous Nations of _Men_, as they +are described by the _Indian Historians_, and amongst the rest, the +_Pygmies_, the _Sciopodes_, &c. And adds, _Quid dicam de_ Cynocephalis, +_quorum Canina Capita atque ipse Latratus magis Bestias quà m Homines +confitentur? Sed omnia Genera Hominum, quæ dicuntur esse, esse credere, +non est necesse._ And afterwards so fully expresses himself in favour of +the _Hypothesis_ I am here maintaining, that I think it a great +Confirmation of it. _Nam & Simias_ (saith he) _& Cercopithecos, & +Sphingas, si nesciremus non Homines esse, sed Bestias, possent isti +Historici de sua Curiositate gloriantes velut Gentes Aliquas Hominum nobis +impunitâ vanitate mentiri._ At last he concludes and determines the +Question thus, _Aut illa, quæ talia de quibusdam Gentibus scripta sunt, +omnino nulla sunt, aut si sunt, Homines non sunt, aut ex_ Adam _sunt si +Homines sunt._ + +There is nothing therefore in St. _Austin_ that justifies the being of +_Men Pygmies_, or that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_; he rather makes them +_Apes_. And there is nothing in his _Scholiast Ludovicus Vives_ that tends +this way, he only quotes from other Authors, what might illustrate the +Text he is commenting upon, and no way asserts their being _Men_. I shall +therefore next enquire into _Bochartus_'s Opinion, who would have them to +be the _Nubæ_ or _Nobæ_. _Hos Nubas Troglodyticos_ (saith[A] he) _ad +Avalitem Sinum esse Pygmæos Veterum multa probant._ He gives us five +Reasons to prove this. As, 1. The Authority of _Hesychius_, who saith, +[Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi]. 2. Because _Homer_ places the _Pygmies_ near the +Ocean, where the Nubæ were. 3. _Aristotle_ places them at the lakes of the +_Nile_. Now by the _Nile Bochartus_ tells us, we must understand the +_Astaborus_, which the Ancients thought to be a Branch of the _Nile_, as +he proves from _Pliny, Solinus_ and _Æthicus_. And _Ptolomy_ (he tells us) +places the _Nubæ_ hereabout. 4. Because _Aristotle_ makes the _Pygmies_ to +be _Troglodytes_, and so were the _Nubæ_. 5. He urges that Story of +_Nonnosus_ which I have already mentioned, and thinks that those that +_Nonnosus_ met with, were a Colony of the _Nubæ_; but afterwards adds, +_Quos tamen absit ut putemus Staturâ fuisse Cubitali, prout Poetæ fingunt, +qui omnia in majus augent._ But this methinks spoils them from being +_Pygmies_; several other Nations at this rate may be _Pygmies_ as well as +these _Nubæ_. Besides, he does not inform us, that these _Nubæ_ used to +fight the _Cranes_; and if they do not, and were not _Cubitales_, they +can't be _Homer_'s _Pygmies_, which we are enquiring after. But the Notion +of their being _Men_, had so possessed him, that it put him upon fancying +they must be the _Nubæ_; but 'tis plain that those in _Nonnosus_ could not +be a Colony of the _Nubæ_; for then the _Nubæ_ must have understood their +Language, which the _Text_ saith, none of the Neighbourhood did. And +because the _Nubæ_ are _Troglodytes_, that therefore they must be +_Pygmies_, is no Argument at all. For _Troglodytes_ here is used as an +_Adjective_; and there is a sort of _Sparrow_ which is called _Passer +Troglodytes_. Not but that in _Africa_ there was a Nation of _Men_ called +_Troglodytes_, but quite different from our _Pygmies_. How far _Bochartus_ +may be in the right, in guessing the Lakes of the _Nile_ (whereabout +_Aristotle_ places the _Pygmies_) to be the Fountains of the River +_Astaborus_, which in his description, and likewise the _Map_, he places +in the Country of the _Avalitæ_, near the _Mossylon Emporium_; I shall not +enquire. This I am certain of, he misrepresents _Aristotle_ where he tells +us,[B] _Quamvis in ea fabula hoc saltem verum esse asserat Philosophus, +Pusillos Homines in iis locis degere_: for as I have already observed; +_Aristotle_ in that _Text_ saith nothing at all of their being _Men_: the +contrary rather might be thence inferred, that they were _Brutes_. And +_Bochart's_ Translation, as well as _Gaza's_ is faulty here, and by no +means to be allowed, _viz. Ut aiunt, genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum, +quà m Equorum_; which had _Bochartus_ considered he would not have been so +fond it may be of his _Nubæ_. And if the [Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi] in +_Hesychius_ are such _Pygmies_ as _Bochartus_ makes his _Nubæ, Quos tamen +absit ut putemus staturtâ fuisse Cubitali_, it will not do our business at +all; and neither _Homer's_ Authority, nor _Aristotle's_ does him any +Service. + +[Footnote A: _Sam. Bochart. Geograph. Sacræ_, Part. 1. lib. 2. cap. 23. +p.m. 142.] + +[Footnote B: _Bocharti Hierozoici pars Posterior_, lib. I. cap. II. p. +76.] + +But this Fable of _Men Pygmies_ has not only obtained amongst the _Greeks_ +and _Indian Historians_: the _Arabians_ likewise tell much such Stories of +them, as the same learned _Bochartus_ informs us. I will give his Latin +Translation of one of them, which he has printed in _Arabick_ also: +_Arabes idem_ (saith[A] _Bochartus_) _referunt ex cujusdam_ Græculi _fide, +qui_ Jacobo Isaaci _filio_, Sigariensi _fertur ita narrasse_. _Navigabam +aliquando in mari_ Zingitano, _& impulit me ventus in quandam Insulam_. +_In cujus Oppidum cum devenissem, reperi Incolas Cubitalis esse staturæ, & +plerosque Coclites. Quorum multitudo in me congregata me deduxit ad Regem +suum. Fussit is, ut Captivus detinerer; & inquandam Caveæ speciem +conjectus sum; eos autem aliquando ad bellum instrui cum viderem, dixerunt +Hostem imminere, & fore ut propediem ingrueret. Nec multò post Gruum +exercitus in eos insurrexit. Atque ideo erant Coclites, quod eorum oculos +hæ confodissent. Atque Ego, virgâ assumptâ, in eas impetum feci, & illæ +avolârunt atque aufugerunt; ob quod facinus in honore fui apud illos_. +This Author, it seems, represents them under the same Misfortune with the +_Poet_, who first mentioned them, as being blind, by having their Eyes +peck'd out by their cruel Enemies. Such an Accident possibly might happen +now and then, in these bloody Engagements, tho' I wonder the _Indian +Historians_ have not taken notice of it. However the _Pygmies_ shewed +themselves grateful to their Deliverer, in heaping _Honours_ on him. One +would guess, for their own sakes, they could not do less than make him +their _Generalissimo_; but our Author is modest in not declaring what they +were. + +[Footnote A: _Bochartus ibid_. p.m. 77.] + +Isaac Vossius seems to unsettle all, and endeavours utterly to ruine the +whole Story: for he tells us, If you travel all over _Africa_, you shall +not meet with either a _Crane_ or _Pygmie_: _Se mirari_ (saith[A] _Isaac +Vossius_) Aristotelem, _quod tam seriò affirmet non esse fabellam, quæ de +Pygmæis & Bello, quod cum Gruibus gerant, narrantur. Si quis totam +pervadat_ Africam, _nullas vel Grues vel Pygmæos inveniet_. Now one would +wonder more at _Vossius_, that he should assert this of _Aristotle_, which +he never said. And since _Vossius_ is so mistaken in what he relates of +_Aristotle_; where he might so easily have been in the right, 'tis not +improbable, but he may be out in the rest too: For who has travelled all +_Africa_ over, that could inform him? And why should he be so peremptory +in the Negative, when he had so positive an Affirmation of _Aristotle_ to +the contrary? or if he would not believe _Aristotle's_ Authority, methinks +he should _Aristophanes's_, who tells us,[B] [Greek: Speirein hotau men +Geranos kroizon es taen libyaen metachorae]. _'Tis time to sow when the +noisy Cranes take their flight into_ Libya. Which Observation is likewise +made by _Hesiod, Theognis, Aratus_, and others. And _Maximus Tyrius_ (as I +find him quoted in _Bochartus_) saith, [Greek: Hai geravoi ex Aigyptou ora +therous aphistamenai, ouk anechomenai to thalpos teinasai pterygas hosper +istia, pherontai dia tou aeros euthy ton Skython gaes]. i.e. _Grues per +æstatem ex_ Ægypto _abscedentes, quia Calorem pati non possunt, alis +velorum instar expansis, per aerem ad_ Scythicam _plagam rectà feruntur_. +Which fully confirms that Migration of the _Cranes_ that _Aristotle_ +mentions. + +[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius de Nili aliorumque stuminum Origine_, Cap. +18.] + +[Footnote B: _Aristophanes in Nubibus_.] + +But _Vossius_ I find, tho' he will not allow the _Cranes_, yet upon second +Thoughts did admit of _Pygmies_ here: For this Story of the _Pygmies_ and +the _Cranes_ having made so much _noise_, he thinks there may be something +of truth in it; and then gives us his Conjecture, how that the _Pygmies_ +may be those _Dwarfs_, that are to be met with beyond the Fountains of the +_Nile_; but that they do not fight _Cranes_ but _Elephants_, and kill a +great many of them, and drive a considerable Traffick for their teeth with +the _Jagi_, who sell them to those of _Congo_ and the _Portuguese_. I will +give you _Vossius's_ own words; _Attamen_ (saith[A] he) _ut solent fabellæ +non de nihilo fingi & aliquod plerunque continent veri, id ipsum quoque +que hìc factum esse existimo. Certum quippe est ultra_ Nili _fontes multos +reperiri_ Nanos, _qui tamen non cum Gruibus, sed cum Elephantis perpetuum +gerant bellum. Præcipuum quippe Eboris commercium in regno magni_ Macoki +_per istos transigitur Homunciones; habitant in Sylvis, & mira dexteritate +Elephantos sagittis conficiunt. Carnibus vescuntur, Dentes verô_ Jagis +_divendunt, illi autem_ Congentibus & Lusitanis. + +[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius ibid_.] + +_Job Ludolphus_[A] in his _Commentary_ on his _Æthiopick History_ remarks, +That there was never known a Nation all of Dwarfs. _Nani quippe_ (saith +_Ludolphus_) _Naturæ quodam errore ex aliis justæ staturæ hominibus +generantur. Qualis verô ea Gens sit, ex qua ista Naturæ Ludibria tantâ +copiâ proveniant, Vossium docere oportelat, quia Pumiliones Pumiles alios +non gignunt, sed plerunque steriles sunt, experientia teste; ut planè non +opus habuerunt Doctores Talmudici Nanorum matrimonia prohibere, ne +Digitales ex iis nascerentur. Ludolphus_ it may be is a little too strict +with _Vossius_ for calling them _Nani_; he may only mean a sort of Men in +that Country of less Stature than ordinary. And _Dapper_ in his History of +_Africa_, from whom _Vossius_ takes this Account, describes such in the +Kingdom of _Mokoko_, he calls _Mimos_, and tells us that they kill +_Elephants_. But I see no reason why _Vossius_ should take these Men for +the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients, or think that they gave any occasion or +ground for the inventing this Fable, is there was no other reason, this +was sufficient, because they were able to kill the _Elephants_. The +_Pygmies_ were scarce a Match for the _Cranes_; and for them to have +encountered an _Elephant_, were as vain an Attempt, as the _Pygmies_ were +guilty of in _Philostratus_[B] 'who to revenge the Death of _Antæus_, +having found _Hercules_ napping in _Libya_, mustered up all their Forces +against him. One _Phalanx_ (he tells us) assaulted his left hand; but +against his right hand, that being the stronger, two _Phalanges_ were +appointed. The Archers and Slingers besieged his feet, admiring the +hugeness of his Thighs: But against his Head, as the Arsenal, they raised +Batteries, the King himself taking his Post there. They set fire to his +Hair, put Reaping-hooks in his Eyes; and that he might not breath, clapp'd +Doors to his Mouth and Nostrils; but all the Execution that they could do, +was only to awake him, which when done, deriding their folly, he gather'd +them all up in his Lion's Skin, and carried them (_Philostratus_ thinks) +to _Euristhenes_.' This _Antæus_ was as remarkable for his height, as the +_Pygmies_ were for their lowness of Stature: For _Plutarch_[C] tells us, +that _Q. Sterorius_ not being willing to trust Common Fame, when he came +to _Tingis_ (now _Tangier_) he caused _Antæus's_ Sepulchre to be opened, +and found his Corps full threescore Cubits long. But _Sterorius_ knew well +enough how to impose upon the Credulity of the People, as is evident from +the Story of his _white Hind_, which _Plutarch_ likewise relates. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus in Comment, in Historiam Æthiopicam_, p.m. +71.] + +[Footnote B: _Philostratus. Icon_. lib. 2. p.m. 817.] + +[Footnote C: _Plutarch. in vita Q. Sertorij_.] + +But to return to our _Pygmies_; tho' most of the great and learned Men +would seem to decry this Story as a Fiction and mere Fable, yet there is +something of Truth, they think, must have given the first rise to it, and +that it was not wholly the product of Phancy, but had some real +foundation, tho' disguised, according to the different Imagination and +_Genius_ of the _Relator_: 'Tis this that has incited them to give their +several Conjectures about it. _Job Ludolphus_ finding what has been +offered at in Relation to the _Pygmies_, not to satisfie, he thinks he can +better account for this Story, by leaving out the _Cranes_, and placing in +their stead, another sort of Bird he calls the _Condor_. I will give you +his own words: _Sed ad Pygmæos_ (saith [A] _Ludolphus_) _revertamur; +fabula de Geranomachia Pygmæorum seu pugna cum Gruibus etiam aliquid de +vero trahere videtur, si pro Gruibus_ Condoras _intelligas, Aves in +interiore_ Africa _maximas, ut fidem penè excedat; aiunt enim quod Ales +ista vitulum Elephanti in Aerem extollere possit; ut infra docebimus. Cum +his Pygmæos pugnare, ne pecora sua rapiant, incredibile non est. Error ex +eo natus videtur, quod primus Relator, alio vocabulo destitutus, Grues pro +Condoris nominârit, sicuti_ Plautus _Picos pro Gryphilus_, & Romani _Boves +lucas pro Elephantis dixere_. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus Comment, in Historiam suam Æthiopic_. p. 73.] + +'Tis true, if what _Juvenal_ only in ridicule mentions, was to be admitted +as a thing really done, that the _Cranes_ could fly away with a _Pygmie_, +as our _Kites_ can with a Chicken, there might be some pretence for +_Ludovicus's Condor_ or _Cunctor_: For he mentions afterwards[A] out of +_P. Joh. dos Santos_ the _Portuguese_, that 'twas observed that one of +these _Condors_ once flew away with an Ape, Chain, Clog and all, about ten +or twelve pounds weight, which he carried to a neighbouring Wood, and +there devoured him. And _Garcilasso de la Vega_[B] relates that they will +seize and fly away with a Child ten or twelve years old. But _Juvenal_[C] +only mentions this in ridicule and merriment, where he saith, + + Adsubitas Thracum volucres, nubemque sonoram + Pygmæos parvis currit Bellator in armis: + Mox impar hosti, raptusque per aera curvis + Unguibus à fævâ fertur Grue. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus ibid_. pag. 164.] + +[Footnote B: _Garcilasso de la Vega Royal Comment_, of Peru.] + +[Footnote C: _Juvenal Satyr_. 13 _vers_. 167.] + +Besides, were the _Condors_ to be taken for the _Cranes_, it would utterly +spoil the _Pygmæomachia_; for where the Match is so very unequal, 'tis +impossible for the Pygmies to make the least shew of a fight. _Ludolphus_ +puts as great hardships on them, to fight these _Condors_, as _Vossius_ +did, in making them fight _Elephants_, but not with equal Success; for +_Vossius_'s _Pygmies_ made great Slaughters of the Elephants; but +_Ludolphus_ his _Cranes_ sweep away the _Pygmies_, as easily as an _Owl_ +would a _Mouse_, and eat them up into the bargain; now I never heard the +_Cranes_ were so cruel and barbarous to their Enemies, tho' there are some +Nations in the World that are reported to do so. + +Moreover, these _Condor_'s I find are very rare to be met with; and when +they are, they often appear single or but a few. Now _Homer_'s, and the +_Cranes_ of the Ancients, are always represented in Flocks. Thus +_Oppian_[A] as I find him translated into Latin Verse: + + _Et velut Æthiopum veniunt, Nilique fluenta + Turmalim Palamedis Aves, celsoeque per altum + Aera labentes fugiunt Athlanta nivosum, + Pygmæos imbelle Genus, parvumque saligant, + Non perturbato procedunt ordine densæ + Instructis volucres obscurant aëra Turmis._ + +To imagine these _Grues_ a single Gigantick Bird, would much lessen the +Beauty of _Homer's Simile_, and would not have served his turn; and there +are none who have borrowed Homer's fancy, but have thought so. I will only +farther instance in _Baptista Mantuan_: + + _Pygmæi breve vulgus, iners Plelecula, quando + Convenere Grues longis in prælia rostris, + Sublato clamore fremunt, dumque agmine magno + Hostibus occurrit, tellus tremit Indica, clamant + Littora, arenarum nimbis absconditur aër; + Omnis & involvit Pulvis solemque, Polumque, + Et Genus hoc Hominum naturâ imbelle, quietum, + Mite, facit Mavors pugnax, immane Cruentum._ + +[Footnote: A _Oppian lib. I. de Piscibus_.] + +Having now considered and examined the various Opinions of these learned +Men concerning this _Pygmaeomachia_; and represented the Reasons they give +for maintaining their Conjectures; I shall beg leave to subjoyn my own: +and if what at present I offer, may seem more probable, or account for +this Story with more likelyhood, than what hath hitherto been advanced, I +shall not think my time altogether misspent: But if this will not do, I +shall never trouble my head more about them, nor think my self any ways +concerned to write on this Argument again. And I had not done it now, but +upon the occasion of Dissecting this _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, which +being a Native of _Africa_, and brought from _Angola_, tho' first taken +higher up in the Country, as I was informed by the Relation given me; and +observing so great a Resemblance, both in the outward shape, and, what +surprized me more, in the Structure likewise of the inward Parts, to a +_Man_; this Thought was easily suggested to me, That very probably this +_Animal_, or some other such of the same _Species_, might give the first +rise and occasion to the Stories of the _Pygmies_. What has been the +[Greek: proton pheudos], and rendered this Story so difficult to be +believed, I find hath been the Opinion that has generally obtained, that +these _Pygmies_ were really a Race of _little Men_. And tho' they are only +_Brutes_, yet being at first call'd _wild Men_, no doubt from the +Resemblance they bear to _Men_; there have not been wanting those +especially amongst the Ancients, who have invented a hundred ridiculous +Stories concerning them; and have attributed those things to them, were +they to be believed in what they say, that necessarily conclude them real +_Men_. + +To sum up therefore what I have already discoursed, I think I have proved, +that the _Pygmies_ were not an _Humane Species_ or _Men_. And tho' +_Homer_, who first mentioned them, calls them [Greek: andres pygmaioi], +yet we need not understand by this Expression any thing more than _Apes_: +And tho' his _Geranomachia_ hath been look'd upon by most only as a +Poetical Fiction; yet by assigning what might be the true Cause of this +Quarrel between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, and by divesting it of the +many fabulous Relations that the _Indian Historians_, and others, have +loaded it with, I have endeavoured to render it a true, at least a +probable Story. I have instanced in _Ctesias_ and the _Indian Historians_, +as the Authors and Inventors of the many Fables we have had concerning +them: Particularly, I have Examined those Relations, where Speech or +Language is attributed to them; and shewn, that there is no reason to +believe that they ever spake any Language at all. But these _Indian +Historians_ having related so many extravagant Romances of the _Pygmies_, +as to render their whole History suspected, nay to be utterly denied, that +there were ever any such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in _Nature_, both by +_Strabo_ of old, and most of our learned men of late, I have endeavoured +to assert the Truth of their _being_, from a _Text_ in _Aristotle_; which +being so positive in affirming their Existence, creates a difficulty, that +can no ways be got over by such as are of the contrary Opinion. This +_Text_ I have vindicated from the false Interpretations and Glosses of +several Great Men, who had their Minds so prepossessed and prejudiced with +the Notion of _Men Pygmies_, that they often would quote it, and misapply +it, tho' it contain'd nothing that any ways favoured their Opinion; but +the contrary rather, that they were _Brutes_, and not _Men_. + +And that the _Pygmies_ were really _Brutes_, I think I have plainly proved +out of _Herodotus_ and _Philostratus_, who reckon them amongst the _wild +Beasts_ that breed in those Countries: For tho' by _Herodotus_ they are +call'd [Greek: andres agrioi], and _Philostratus_ calls them [Greek: +anthropous melanas], yet both make them [Greek: theria] or _wild Beasts_. +And I might here add what _Pausanias_[A] relates from _Euphemus Car_, who +by contrary Winds was driven upon some Islands, where he tells us, [Greek: +en de tautais oikein andras agrious], but when he comes to describe them, +tells us that they had no Speech; that they had Tails on their Rumps; and +were very lascivious toward the Women in the Ship. But of these more, when +we come to discourse of _Satyrs_. + +[Footnote A: _Pausanias in Atticis_, p.m. 21.] + +And we may the less wonder to find that they call _Brutes Men_, since +'twas common for these _Historians_ to give the Title of _Men_, not only +to _Brutes_, but they were grown so wanton in their Inventions, as to +describe several Nations of _Monstrous Men_, that had never any Being, but +in their own Imagination, as I have instanced in several. I therefore +excuse _Strabo_, for denying the _Pygmies_, since he could not but be +convinced, they could not be such _Men_, as these _Historians_ have +described them. And the better to judge of the Reasons that some of the +Moderns have given to prove the Being of _Men Pygmies_, I have laid down +as _Postulata's_, that hereby we must not understand _Dwarfs_, nor yet a +Nation of _Men_, tho' somewhat of a lesser size and stature than ordinary; +but we must observe those two Characteristicks that _Homer_ gives of them, +that they are _Cubitales_ and fight _Cranes_. + +Having premised this, I have taken into consideration _Caspar Bartholine +Senior_ his _Opusculum_ _de Pygmæis_, and _Jo. Talentonius_'s Dissertation +about them: and upon examination do find, that neither the Humane +Authorities, nor Divine that they alledge, do any ways prove, as they +pretend, the Being of _Men Pygmies_. St. _Austin_, who is likewise quoted +on their side, is so far from favouring this Opinion, that he doubts +whether any such Creatures exist, and if they do, concludes them to be +_Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and censures those _Indian Historians_ for imposing +such Beasts upon us, as distinct Races of _Men_. _Julius Cæsar Scaliger_, +and _Isaac Casaubon_, and _Adrian Spigelius_ utterly deny the Being of +_Pygmies_, and look upon them as a Figment only of the Ancients, because +such little Men as they describe them to be, are no where to be met with +in all the World. The Learned _Bochartus_ tho' he esteems the +_Geranomachia_ to be a Fable, and slights it, yet thinks that what might +give the occasion to the Story of the _Pygmies_, might be the _Nubæ_ or +_Nobæ_; as _Isaac Vossius_ conjectures that it was those _Dwarfs_ beyond +the Fountains of the _Nile_, that _Dapper_ calls the _Mimos_, and tells +us, they kill _Elephants_ for to make a Traffick with their Teeth. But +_Job Ludolphus_ alters the Scene, and instead of _Cranes_, substitutes his +_Condors_, who do not fight the _Pygmies_, but fly away with them, and +then devour them. + +Now all these Conjectures do no ways account for _Homer's Pygmies_ and +_Cranes_, they are too much forced and strain'd. Truth is always easie and +plain. In our present Case therefore I think the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild +Man_, may exactly supply the place of the _Pygmies_, and without any +violence or injury to the Story, sufficiently account for the whole +History of the _Pygmies_, but what is most apparently fabulous; for what +has been the greatest difficulty to be solved or satisfied, was their +being _Men_; for as _Gesner_ remarks (as I have already quoted him) _Sed +veterum nullus aliter de Pygmæis scripsit, quà m Homunciones esse_. And the +Moderns too, being byassed and misguided by this Notion, have either +wholly denied them, or contented themselves in offering their Conjectures +what might give the first rise to the inventing this Fable. And tho' +_Albertus_, as I find him frequently quoted, thought that the _Pygmies_ +might be only a sort of _Apes_, and he is placed in the Head of those that +espoused this Opinion, yet he spoils all, by his way of reasoning, and by +making them speak; which was more than he needed to do. + +I cannot see therefore any thing that will so fairly solve this doubt, +that will reconcile all, that will so easily and plainly make out this +Story, as by making the _Orang-Outang_ to be the _Pygmie_ of the Ancients; +for 'tis the same Name that Antiquity gave them. For _Herodotus_'s [Greek: +andres agrioi], what can they be else, than _Homines Sylvestres_, or _wild +Men_? as they are now called. And _Homer_'s [Greek: andres pygmaioi], are +no more an Humane Kind, or Men, then _Herodotus_'s [Greek: andres agrioi], +which he makes to be [Greek: theria], or _wild Beasts_: And the [Greek: +andres mikroi] or [Greek: melanes] (as they are often called) were just +the same. Because this sort of _Apes_ had so great a resemblance to Men, +more than other _Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and they going naturally erect, and +being designed by Nature to go so, (as I have shewn in the _Anatomy_) the +Ancients had a very plausible ground for giving them this denomination of +[Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], but commonly they added an Epithet; +as [Greek: agrioi, mikroi, pygmaioi, melanes], or some such like. Now the +Ancient _Greek_ and _Indian Historians_, tho' they might know these +_Pygmies_ to be only _Apes_ like _Men_, and not to be real _Men_, yet +being so extremely addicted to _Mythology_, or making Fables, and finding +this so fit a Subject to engraft upon, and invent Stories about, they have +not been wanting in furnishing us with a great many very Romantick ones on +this occasion. And the Moderns being imposed upon by them, and misguided +by the Name of [Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], as if thereby must +be always understood an _Humane Kind_, or _real Men_, they have altogether +mistaken the Truth of the Story, and have either wholly denied it, or +rendered it as improbable by their own Conjectures. + +This difficulty therefore of their being called _Men_, I think, may fairly +enough be accounted by what I have said. But it may be objected that the +_Orang-Outang_, or these _wild_ or _savage Men_ are not [Greek: pygmaioi], +or _Trispithami_, that is, but two Foot and a quarter high, because by +some Relations that have been given, it appears they have been observed to +be of a higher stature, and as tall as ordinary Men. Now tho' this may be +allowed as to these _wild Men_ that are bred in other places; and probably +enough like wise, there are such in some Parts of the Continent of +_Africa_; yet 'tis sufficient to our business if there are any there, that +will come within our Dimensions; for our Scene lies in _Africa_; where +_Strabo_ observes, that generally the Beasts are of a less size than +ordinary; and this he thinks might give rise to the Story of the +_Pygmies_. For, saith he[A] [Greek: Ta de boskaemata autois esti mikra, +probata kai aiges, kai kynes mikroi, tracheis de kai machimoi (oikountes +mikroi ontes) tacha de kai tous pygmaious apo tes touton mikrophyias +epenoaesan, kai aneplasan.] i.e. _That their Beasts are small, as their +Sheep, Goats and Oxen, and their Dogs are small, but hairy and fierce: and +it may be_ (saith he) _from the [Greek: mikrophyia] or littleness of the +stature of these Animals, they have invented and imposed on us the_ +Pygmies. And then adds, _That no body fit to be believed ever saw them_; +because he fancied, as a great many others have done, that these _Pygmies_ +must be _real Men_, and not a sort of _Brutes_. Now since the other +_Brutes_ in this Country are generally of a less size than in other Parts, +why may not this sort of _Ape_, the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, be so +likewise. _Aristotle_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, saith, [Greek: genos +mikron men kai autoi, kai oi hippoi.] _That both they and the Horses there +are but small_. He does not say _their_ Horses, for they were never +mounted upon _Horses_, but only upon _Partridges, Goats_ and _Rams_. And +as the _Horses_, and other _Beasts_ are naturally less in _Africa_ than in +other Parts, so likewise may the _Orang-Outang_ be. This that I dissected, +which was brought from _Angola_ (as I have often mentioned) wanted +something of the just stature of the _Pygmies_; but it was young, and I am +therefore uncertain to what tallness it might grow, when at full Age: And +neither _Tulpius_, nor _Gassendus_, nor any that I have hitherto met with, +have adjusted the full stature of this _Animal_ that is found in those +parts from whence ours was brought: But 'tis most certain, that there are +sorts of _Apes_ that are much less than the _Pygmies_ are described to be. +And, as other _Brutes_, so the _Ape-kind_, in different Climates, may be +of different Dimensions; and because the other _Brutes_ here are generally +small, why may not _they_ be so likewise. Or if the difference should be +but little, I see no great reason in this case, why we should be +over-nice, or scrupulous. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 17. p.m. 565.] + +As to our _Ape Pygmies_ or _Orang-Outang_ fighting the _Cranes_, this, I +think, may be easily enough made out, by what I have already observed; for +this _wild Man_ I dissected was Carnivorous, and it may be Omnivorous, at +least as much as _Man_ is; for it would eat any thing that was brought to +the Table. And if it was not their Hunger that drove them to it, their +Wantonness, it may be, would make them apt enough to rob the _Cranes_ +Nests; and if they did so, no doubt but the _Cranes_ would noise enough +about it, and endeavour what they could to beat them off, which a Poet +might easily make a Fight: Tho' _Homer_ only makes use of it as a +_Simile_, in comparing the great Shouts of the _Trojans_ to the Noise of +the _Cranes_, and the Silence of the _Greeks_ to that of the _Pygmies_ +when they are going to Engage, which is natural enough, and very just, and +contains nothing, but what may easily be believed; tho' upon this account +he is commonly exposed, and derided, as the Inventor of this Fable; and +that there was nothing of Truth in it, but that 'twas wholly a Fiction of +his own. + +Those _Pygmies_ that _Paulus Jovius_[A] describes, tho' they dwell at a +great distance from _Africa_, and he calls them _Men_, yet are so like +_Apes_, that I cannot think them any thing else. I will give you his own +words: _Ultra Lapones_ (saith he) _in Regione inter Corum & Aquilonem +perpetua oppressa Caligine_ Pygmæos _reperiri, aliqui eximiæ fidei testes +retulerunt; qui postquam ad summum adoleverint, nostratis Pueri denum +annorum Mensuram vix excedunt. Meticulosum genus hominum, & garritu +Sermonem exprimens, adeo ut tam Simiæ propinqui, quam Statura ac sensibus +ab justæ Proceritatis homine remoti videantur_. Now there is this +Advantage in our _Hypothesis_, it will take in all the _Pygmies_, in any +part of the World; or wherever they are to be met with, without supposing, +as some have done, that 'twas the _Cranes_ that forced them to quit their +Quarters; and upon this account several Authors have described them in +different places: For unless we suppose the _Cranes_ so kind to them, as +to waft them over, how came we to find them often in Islands? But this is +more than can be reasonably expected from so great Enemies. + +[Footnote A: _Paul. Jovij de Legatione Muschovitar_. lib. p.m. 489.] + +I shall conclude by observing to you, that this having been the Common +Error of the Age, in believing the _Pygmies_ to be a sort of _little Men_, +and it having been handed down from so great Antiquity, what might +contribute farther to the confirming of this Mistake, might be, the +Imposture of the Navigators, who failing to Parts where these _Apes_ are, +they have embalmed their Bodies, and brought them home, and then made the +People believe that they were the _Men_ of those Countries from whence +they came. This _M.P. Venetus_ assures us to have been done; and 'tis not +unlikely: For, saith he,[A] _Abundat quoque Regio ipsa_ (sc. Basman in +Java majori) _diversis Simiis magnis & parvis, hominibus simillimis, hos +capiunt Venatores & totos depilant, nisi quod, in barba & in loco secreto +Pilos relinquunt, & occisos speciebus Aromaticis condiunt, & postea +desiccant, venduntque Negociatoribus, qui per diversas Orbis Partes +Corpora illa deferentes, homines persuadent Tales Homunciones in Maris +Insulis reperiri. Joh. Jonston_[B] relates the same thing, but without +quoting the Author; and as he is very apt to do, commits a great mistake, +in telling us, _pro Homunculis marinis venditant_. + +[Footnote A: _M. Pauli Veneti de Regionibus Oriental_. lib. 3. cap. 15. p. +m. 390.] + +[Footnote B: _Jo. Jonston. Hist. Nat. de Quadruped_. p.m. 139.] + +I shall only add, That the Servile Offices that these Creatures are +observed to perform, might formerly, as it does to this very day, impose +upon Mankind to believe, that they were of the same _Species_ with +themselves; but that only out of Sullenness or cunning, they think they +will not _speak_, for fear of being made Slaves. _Philostratus_[A] tells +us, That the _Indians_ make use of the _Apes_ in gathering the Pepper; and +for this Reason they do defend and preserve them from the _Lions_, who are +very greedy of preying upon them: And altho' he calls them _Apes_, yet he +speaks of them as _Men_, and as if they were the Husbandmen of the _Pepper +Trees_, [Greek: kai ta dendra oi piperides, on georgoi pithekoi]. And he +calls them the People of _Apes_; [Greek: ou legetai pithekon oikein demos +en mychois tou orous]. _Dapper_[B] tells us, _That the Indians take the_ +Baris _when young, and make them so tame, that they will do almost the +work of a Slave; for they commonly go erect as Men do. They will beat Rice +in a Mortar, carry Water in a Pitcher_, &c. And Gassendus[C] in the Life +of _Pieresky_, tells us, us, _That they will play upon a Pipe or Cittern, +or the like Musick, they will sweep the House, turn the Spit, beat in a +Mortar, and do other Offices in a Family_. And _Acosta_, as I find him +quoted by _Garcilasso de la Vega_[D] tells us of a _Monkey_ he saw at the +Governour's House at _Cartagena_, 'whom they fent often to the Tavern for +Wine, with Money in one hand, and a Bottle in the other; and that when he +came to the Tavern, he would not deliver his Money, until he had received +his Wine. If the Boys met with him by the way, or made a houting or noise +after him, he would set down his Bottle, and throw Stones at them; and +having cleared the way he would take up his Bottle, and hasten home, And +tho' he loved Wine excessively, yet he would not dare to touch it, unless +his Master gave him License.' A great many Instances of this Nature might +be given that are very surprising. And in another place he tells us, That +the Natives think that they can speak, but will not, for fear of being +made to work. And _Bontius_[E] mentions that the _Javans_ had the same +Opinion concerning the _Orang-Outang_, _Loqui vero eos, easque Javani +aiunt, sed non velle, ne ad labores cogerentur_. + +[Footnote A: _Philostratus in vita Apollonij Tyanæi_, lib. 3. cap. I. p. +m. 110, & 111.] + +[Footnote B: _Dapper Description de l'Afrique_, p.m. 249.] + +[Footnote C: _Gassendus in vita Pierskij_, lib. 5. p.m. 169.] + +[Footnote D: _Garcilasso de la Vega Royal Commentaries of Peru_, lib. 8. +cap. 18. p. 1333.] + +[Footnote E: _Jac. Bontij Hist. Nat. & Med_. lib. 5. cap. 32. p.m. 85.] + + * * * * * + +[NOTE.--A few obvious errors in the quotations have been corrected, but +for the most part they stand as in Tyson, who must, therefore, be held +responsible for any inaccuracies which may exist.] + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12850 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bb7954 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12850 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12850) diff --git a/old/12850-8.txt b/old/12850-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c647738 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12850-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4209 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies +of the Ancients, by Edward Tyson, et al, Edited by Bertram C. A. Windle + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients + +Author: Edward Tyson + +Release Date: July 8, 2004 [eBook #12850] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY CONCERNING +THE PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS*** + + +E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Andy Schmitt, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY CONCERNING THE PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS + +By + +EDWARD TYSON + +Now Edited, with an Introduction by Bertram C. A. Windle + + + + + + + + +TO MY DEAR MOTHER + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +It is only necessary for me to state here, what I have mentioned in the +Introduction, that my account of the habits of the Pigmy races of legend +and myth makes no pretence of being in any sense a complete or exhaustive +account of the literature of this subject. I have contented myself with +bringing forward such tales as seemed of value for the purpose of +establishing the points upon which I desire to lay emphasis. + +I have elsewhere expressed my obligations to M. De Quatrefage's book on +Pigmies, obligations which will be at once recognised by those familiar +with that monograph. To his observations I have endeavoured to add such +other published facts as I have been able to gather in relation to these +peoples. + +I have to thank Professors Sir William Turner, Haddon, Schlegel, Brinton, +and Topinard for their kindness in supplying me with information in +response to my inquiries on several points. + +Finally, I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Alexander +Macalister, President of the Anthropological Institute, and to Mr. E. +Sidney Hartland, for their kindness in reading through, the former the +first two sections, and the latter the last two sections of the +Introduction, and for the valuable suggestions which both have made. These +gentlemen have laid me under obligations which I can acknowledge, but +cannot repay. + +BERTRAM C. A. WINDLE. + +MASON COLLEGE, + +BIRMINGHAM, 1894. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + + +I. + + +Edward Tyson, the author of the Essay with which this book is concerned, +was, on the authority of Monk's Roll of the Royal College of Physicians, +born, according to some accounts, at Bristol, according to others, at +Clevedon, co. Somerset, but was descended from a family which had long +settled in Cumberland. He was educated at Magdalene Hall, Oxford, as a +member of which he proceeded Bachelor of Arts on the 8th of February 1670, +and Master of Arts on the 4th of November 1673. His degree of Doctor of +Medicine he took at Cambridge in 1678 as a member of Corpus Christi +College. Dr. Tyson was admitted a candidate of the College of Physicians +on the 30th of September 1680, and a Fellow in April 1683. He was Censor +of the College in 1694, and held the appointments of Physician to the +Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem, and of Anatomical Reader at Surgeons' +Hall. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed several papers +to the "Philosophical Transactions." Besides a number of anatomical works, +he published in 1699 "A Philosophical Essay concerning the Rhymes of the +Ancients," and in the same year the work by which his name is still known, +in which the Philological Essay which is here reprinted finds a place. +Tyson died on the 1st of August 1708, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, +and is buried at St. Dionis Backchurch. He was the original of the Carus +not very flatteringly described in Garth's "Dispensary." + +The title-page of the work above alluded to runs as follows:-- + +_Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris_: + +OR, THE ANATOMY OF A PYGMIE + +Compared with that of a _Monkey_, an _Ape_, and a _Man_. + +To which is added, A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY Concerning the _Pygmies_, the +_Cynocephali_, the _Satyrs_, and _Sphinges_ of the ANCIENTS. + +Wherein it will appear that they are all either _APES_ or _MONKEYS_, and +not _MEN_, as formerly pretended. + +By _EDWARD TYSON_ M.D. + +Fellow of the Colledge of Physicians, and the Royal Society: Physician to +the Hospital of _Bethlem_, and Reader of Anatomy at _Chirurgeons-Hall_. + +_LONDON_: + +Printed for _Thomas Bennet_ at the _Half-Moon in St. Paul's_ Church-yard; +and _Daniel Brown_ at the _Black Swan_ and _Bible_ without _Temple-Bar_ +and are to be had of Mr. _Hunt_ at the _Repository_ in _Gresham-Colledge_. +M DC XCIX. + +It bears the authority of the Royal Society:-- + +17° _Die Maij_, 1699. + +Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus, _Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris,_ &c. +Authore _Edvardo Tyson_, M.D. R.S.S. + +JOHN HOSKINS, _V.P.R.S_. + +The Pygmy described in this work was, as a matter of fact, a chimpanzee, +and its skeleton is at this present moment in the Natural History Museum +at South Kensington. Tyson's granddaughter married a Dr. Allardyce, who +was a physician of good standing in Cheltenham. The "Pygmie" formed a +somewhat remarkable item of her dowry. Her husband presented it to the +Cheltenham Museum, where it was fortunately carefully preserved until, +quite recently, it was transferred to its present position. + +At the conclusion of the purely scientific part of the work the author +added four Philological Essays, as will have appeared from his title-page. +The first of these is both the longest and the most interesting, and has +alone been selected for republication in this volume. + +This is not the place to deal with the scientific merit of the main body +of Tyson's work, but it may at least be said that it was the first attempt +which had been made to deal with the anatomy of any of the anthropoid +apes, and that its execution shows very conspicuous ability on the part of +its author. + +Tyson, however, was not satisfied with the honour of being the author of +an important morphological work; he desired to round off his subject by +considering its bearing upon the, to him, wild and fabulous tales +concerning pigmy races. The various allusions to these races met with in +the pages of the older writers, and discussed in his, were to him what +fairy tales are to us. Like modern folk-lorists, he wished to explain, +even to euhemerise them, and bring them into line with the science of his +day. Hence the "Philological Essay" with which this book is concerned. +There are no pigmy races, he says; "the most diligent enquiries of late +into all the parts of the inhabited world could never discover any such +puny diminutive race of mankind." But there are tales about them, "fables +and wonderful and merry relations, that are transmitted down to us +concerning them," which surely require explanation. That explanation he +found in his theory that all the accounts of pigmy tribes were based upon +the mistakes of travellers who had taken apes for men. Nor was he without +followers in his opinion; amongst whom here need only be mentioned Buffon, +who in his _Histoire des Oiseaux_ explains the Homeric tale much as Tyson +had done. The discoveries, however, of this century have, as all know, +re-established in their essential details the accounts of the older +writers, and in doing so have demolished the theories of Tyson and Buffon. +We now know, not merely that there are pigmy races in existence, but that +the area which they occupy is an extensive one, and in the remote past has +without doubt been more extensive still. Moreover, certain of these races +have been, at least tentatively, identified with the pigmy tribes of +Pliny, Herodotus, Aristotle, and other writers. It will be well, before +considering this question, and before entering into any consideration of +the legends and myths which may possibly be associated with dwarf races, +to sketch briefly their distribution throughout the continents of the +globe. It is necessary to keep clearly in view the upper limit which can +justly be assigned to dwarfishness, and with this object it may be +advisable to commence with a statement as to the average heights reached +by various representative peoples. According to Topinard, the races of the +world may be classified, in respect to their stature, in the following +manner:-- + +Tall 5 ft. 8 in. and upwards. +Above the average 5 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 8 in. +Below the average 5 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. +Short Below 5 ft. 4 in. + +Thus amongst ordinary peoples there is no very striking difference of +height, so far as the average is concerned. It would, however, be a great +mistake to suppose that all races reaching a lower average height than +five feet four inches are, in any accurate sense of the word, to be looked +upon as pigmies. We have to descend to a considerably lower figure before +that appellation can be correctly employed. The stature must fall +considerably below five feet before we can speak of the race as one of +dwarfs or pigmies. Anthropometrical authorities have not as yet agreed +upon any upward limit for such a class, but for our present purposes it +may be convenient to say that any race in which the average male stature +does not exceed four feet nine inches--that is, the average height of a +boy of about twelve years of age--may fairly be described as pigmy. It is +most important to bear this matter of inches in mind in connection with +points which will have to be considered in a later section. + +Pigmy races still exist in considerable numbers in Asia and the adjacent +islands, and as it was in that continent that, so far as our present +knowledge goes, they had in former days their greatest extension, and, if +De Quatrefages be correct, their place of origin, it will be well to deal +first with the tribes of that quarter of the globe. "The Negrito" (_i.e._, +pigmy black) "type," says the authority whom I have just quoted, and to +whom I shall have to be still further indebted,[A] "was first placed in +South Asia, which it without doubt occupied alone during an indeterminate +period. It is thence that its diverse representatives have radiated, and, +some going east, some west, have given rise to the black populations of +Melanesia and Africa. In particular, India and Indo-China first belonged +to the blacks. Invasions and infiltrations of different yellow or white +races have split up these Negrito populations, which formerly occupied a +continuous area, and mixing with them, have profoundly altered them. The +present condition of things is the final result of strifes and mixtures, +the most ancient of which may be referred back to prehistoric times." The +invasions above mentioned having in the past driven many of the races from +the mainland to the islands, and those which remained on the continent +having undergone greater modification by crossing with taller and alien +races, we may expect to find the purest Negritos amongst the tribes +inhabiting the various archipelagoes situated south and east of the +mainland. Amongst these, the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands offer a +convenient starting-point. The knowledge which we possess of these little +blacks is extensive, thanks to the labours in particular of Mr. Man[B] and +Dr. Dobson,[C] which may be found in the Journal of the Anthropological +Institute, and summarised in De Quatrefages' work. The average stature of +the males of this race is four feet six inches, the height of a boy of ten +years of age. Like children, the head is relatively large in comparison +with the stature, since it is contained seven times therein, instead of +seven and a half times, as is the rule amongst most average-sized peoples. +Whilst speaking of the head, it may be well to mention that these +Negritos, and in greater or less measure other Negritos and Negrillos +(_i.e._, pigmy blacks, Asiatic or African), differ in this part of the +body in a most important respect from the ordinary African negro. Like +him, they are black, often intensely so: like him, too, they have woolly +hair arranged in tufts, but, unlike him, they have round (brachycephalic) +heads instead of long (dolichocephalic); and the purer the race, the more +marked is this distinction. The Mincopie has a singularly short life; for +though he attains puberty at much the same age as ourselves, the +twenty-second year brings him to middle life, and the fiftieth, if +reached, is a period of extreme senility. Pure in race, ancient in +history, and carefully studied, this race deserves some further attention +here than can be extended to others with which I have to deal. The moral +side of the Mincopies seems to be highly developed; the modesty of the +young girls is most strict; monogamy is the rule, and-- + + "Their list of forbidden degrees + An extensive morality shows," + +since even the marriage of cousins-german is considered highly immoral. +"Men and women," says Man, "are models of constancy." They believe in a +Supreme Deity, respecting whom they say, that "although He resembles fire, +He is invisible; that He was never born, and is immortal; that He created +the world and all animate and inanimate objects, save only the powers of +evil. During the day He knows everything, even the thoughts of the mind; +He is angry when certain sins are committed, and full of pity for the +unfortunate and miserable, whom He sometimes condescends to assist. He +judges souls after death, and pronounces on each a sentence which sends +them to paradise or condemns them to a kind of purgatory. The hope of +escaping the torments of this latter place influences their conduct. +Puluga, this Deity, inhabits a house of stone; when it rains, He descends +upon the earth in search of food; during the dry weather He is asleep." +Besides this Deity, they believe in numerous evil spirits, the chief of +whom is the Demon of the Woods. These spirits have created themselves, and +have existed _ab immemorabili_. The sun, which is a female, and the moon, +her husband, are secondary deities. + +[Footnote A: The quotations from this author are taken from his work _Les +Pygmées_. Paris, J.B. Baillière et Fils, 1887.] + +[Footnote B: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst_., vii.] + +[Footnote C: _Ibid_., iv.] + +South of the Andaman Islands are the Nicobars, the aborigines of which, +the Shom Pen,[A] now inhabit the mountains, where, like so many of their +brethren, they have been driven by the Malays. They are of small, but not +pigmy stature (five feet two inches), a fact which may be due to crossing. + +[Footnote A: Man, _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, xviii. p. 354.] + +Following the Negritos east amongst the islands, we find in Luzon the +Aetas or Inagtas, a group of which is known in Mindanao as Manamouas. The +Aetas live side by side with the Tagals, who are of Malay origin. They +were called Negritos del Monte by the Spaniards who first colonised these +islands. Their average stature, according to Wallace, ranges from four +feet six inches to four feet eight inches. In New Guinea, the Karons, a +similar race, occupy a chain of mountains parallel to the north coast of +the great north-western peninsula. At Port Moresby, in the same island, +the Koiari appear to represent the most south-easterly group; but my +friend Professor Haddon, who has investigated this district, tells me that +he finds traces of a former existence of Negritos at Torres Straits and in +North Queensland, as shown by the shape of the skulls of the inhabitants +of these regions. + +The Malay Peninsula contains in Perak hill tribes called "savages" by the +Sakays. These tribes have not been seen by Europeans, but are stated to be +pigmy in stature, troglodytic, and still in the Stone Age. Farther south +are the Semangs of Kedah, with an average stature of four feet ten inches, +and the Jakuns of Singapore, rising to five feet. The Annamites admit that +they are not autochthonous, a distinction which they confer upon the Moïs, +of whom little is known, but whose existence and pigmy Negrito +characteristics are considered by De Quatrefages as established. + +China no longer, so far as we know, contains any representatives of this +type, but Professor Lacouperie[A] has recently shown that they formerly +existed in that part of Asia. According to the annals of the Bamboo Books, +"In the twenty-ninth year of the Emperor Yao, in spring, the chief of the +Tsiao-Yao, or dark pigmies, came to court and offered as tribute feathers +from the Mot." The Professor continues, "As shown by this entry, we begin +with the semi-historic times as recorded in the 'Annals of the Bamboo +Books,' and the date about 2048 B.C. The so-called feathers were simply +some sort of marine plant or seaweed with which the immigrant Chinese, +still an inland people, were yet unacquainted. The Mot water or river, +says the Shan-hai-king, or canonical book of hills and seas, was situated +in the south-east of the Tai-shan in Shan-tung. This gives a clue to the +localisation of the pigmies, and this localisation agrees with the +positive knowledge we possess of the small area which the Chinese dominion +covered at this time. Thus the Negritos were part of the native population +of China when, in the twenty-third century B.C., the civilised Bak tribes +came into the land." In Japan we have also evidence of their existence. +This country, now inhabited by the Niphonians, or Japanese, as we have +come to call them, was previously the home of the Ainu, a white, hairy +under-sized race, possibly, even probably, emigrants from Europe, and now +gradually dying out in Yezo and the Kurile Islands. Prior to the Ainu was +a Negrito race, whose connection with the former is a matter of much +dispute, whose remains in the shape of pit-dwellings, stone arrow-heads, +pottery, and other implements still exist, and will be found fully +described by Mr. Savage Landor in a recent most interesting work.[B] In +the Shan-hai-king, as Professor Schlegel[C] points out, their country is +spoken of as the Siao-jin-Kouo, or land of little men, in distinction, be +it noted, to the Peh-min-Kouo, or land of white people, identified by him +with the Ainu. These little men are spoken of by the Ainu as +Koro-puk-guru, _i.e._, according to Milne, men occupying excavations, or +pit-dwellers. According to Chamberlain, the name means dwellers under +burdocks, and is associated with the following legend. Before the time of +the Ainu, Yezo was inhabited by a race of dwarfs, said by some to be two +to three feet, by others only one inch in height. When an enemy +approached, they hid themselves under the great leaves of the burdock +(_koro_), for which reason they are called Koro-puk-guru, i.e., the men +under the burdocks. When they were exterminated by the wooden clubs of the +Ainu, they raised their eyes to heaven, and, weeping, cried aloud to the +gods, "Why were we made so small?" It should be said that Professor +Schlegel and Mr. Savage Landor both seem to prefer the former etymology. + +[Footnote A: Babylonian and Oriental Record, vol. v.] + +[Footnote B: Alone with the Hairy Ainu.] + +[Footnote C: _Problèmes Géographiques. Les Peuples Etrangers chez les +Historiens Chinois_. Extrait du T'oung-pao, vol. _iv_. No. 4. Leide, E.J. +Brill.] + +Passing to the north-west of the Andamans, we find in India a problem of +considerable difficulty. That there were at one period numerous Negrito +tribes inhabiting that part of Asia is indubitable; that some of them +persist to this day in a state of approximate purity is no less true, but +the influence of crossing has here been most potent. Races of lighter hue +and taller stature have invaded the territory of the Negritos, to a +certain extent intermarried with them, and thus have originated the +various Dravidian tribes. These tribes, therefore, afford us a valuable +clue as to the position occupied in former days by their ancestors, the +Negritos. + +In some of the early Indian legends, De Quatrefages thinks that he finds +traces of these prehistoric connections between the indigenous Negrito +tribes and their invaders. The account of the services rendered to Rama by +Hânuman and his monkey-people may, he thinks, easily be explained by +supposing the latter to be a Negrito tribe. Another tale points to unions +of a closer nature between the alien races. Bhimasena, after having +conquered and slain Hidimba, at first resisted the solicitations of the +sister of this monster, who, having become enamoured of him, presented +herself under the guise of a lovely woman. But at the wish of his elder +brother, Youdhichshira, the king of justice, and with the consent of his +mother, he yielded, and passed some time in the dwelling of this Negrito +or Dravidian Armida. + +It will now be necessary to consider some of these races more or less +crossed with alien blood. + +In the centre of India, amongst the Vindyah Mountains, live the Djangals +or Bandra-Lokhs, the latter name signifying man-monkey, and thus +associating itself with the tale of Rama, above alluded to. Like most of +the Dravidian tribes, they live in great misery, and show every sign of +their condition in their attenuated figures. One of this tribe measured by +Rousselet was five feet in height. It may here be remarked that the +stature of the Dravidian races exceeds that of the purer Negritos, a fact +due, no doubt, to the influence of crossing. Farther south, in the +Nilgherry Hills, and in the neighbourhood of the Todas and Badagas, dwell +the Kurumbas. and Irulas (children of darkness). Both are weak and +dwarfish, the latter especially so. They inhabit, says Walhouse,[A] the +most secluded, densely wooded fastnesses of the mountain slopes. They are +by popular tradition connected with the aboriginal builders of the rude +stone monuments of the district, though, according to the above-mentioned +authority, without any claim to such distinction. They, however, worship +at these cromlechs from time to time, and are associated with them in +another interesting manner. "The Kurumbas of Nulli," says Walhouse, "one +of the wildest Nilgherry declivities, come up annually to worship at one +of the dolmens on the table-land above, in which they say one of their old +gods resides. Though they are regarded with fear and hatred as sorcerers +by the agricultural B[)a]d[)a]gas of the table-land, one of them must, +nevertheless, at sowing-time be called to guide the first plough for two +or three yards, and go through a mystic pantomime of propitiation to the +earth deity, without which the crop would certainly fail. When so +summoned, the Kurumba must pass the night by the dolmens alone, and I have +seen one who had been called from his present dwelling for the morning +ceremony, sitting after dark on the capstone of a dolmen, with heels and +hams drawn together and chin on knees, looking like some huge ghostly fowl +perched on the mysterious stone." Mr. Gomme has drawn attention to this +and other similar customs in the interesting remarks which he makes upon +the influence of conquered non-Aryan races upon their Aryan subduers.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, vii. 21.] + +[Footnote B: Ethnology and Folk-Lore, p. 46; The Village Community, p. +105.] + +Farther south, in Ceylon, the Veddahs live, whom Bailey[A] considers to be +identical with the hill-tribes of the mainland, though, if this be true, +some at least must have undergone a large amount of crossing, judging from +the wavy nature of their hair. The author just quoted says, "The tallest +Veddah I ever saw, a man so towering above his fellows that, till I +measured him, I believed him to be not merely comparatively a tall man, +was only five feet three inches in height. The shortest man I have +measured was four feet one inch. I should say that of males the ordinary +height is from four feet six inches to five feet one inch, and of females +from four feet four inches to four feet eight inches." + +[Footnote A: _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, ii. 278.] + +In the east the Santals inhabit the basin of the Ganges, and in the west +the Jats belong to the Punjab, and especially to the district of the +Indus. The Kols inhabit the delta of the Indus and the neighbourhood of +Gujerat, and stretch almost across Central India into Behar and the +eastern extremities of the Vindhya Mountains. Other Dravidian tribes are +the Oraons, Jouangs, Buihers, and Gounds. All these races have a stature +of about five feet, and, though much crossed, present more or less marked +Negrito characteristics. Passing farther west, the Brahouis of +Beluchistan, a Dravidian race, who regard themselves as the aboriginal +inhabitants, live side by side with the Belutchis. Finally, in this +direction, there seem to have been near Lake Zerrah, in Persia, Negrito +tribes who are probably aboriginal, and may have formed the historic black +guard of the ancient kings of Susiana. + +An examination of the present localisation of these remnants of the +Negrito inhabitants shows how they have been split up, amalgamated with, +or driven to the islands by the conquering invaders. An example of what +has taken place may be found in the case of Borneo, where Negritos still +exist in the centre of the island. The Dyaks chase them like wild beasts, +and shoot down the children, who take refuge in the trees. This will not +seem in the least surprising to those who have studied the history of the +relation between autochthonous races and their invaders. It is the same +story that has been told of the Anglo-Saxon race in its dealings with +aborigines in America, and notably, in our case, in Tasmania. + +Turning from Asia to a continent more closely associated, at least in +popular estimation, with pigmy races, we find in Africa several races of +dwarf men, of great antiquity and surpassing interest. The discoveries of +Stanley, Schweinfurth, Miani, and others have now placed at our disposal +very complete information respecting the pigmies of the central part of +the continent, with whom it will, therefore, be convenient to make a +commencement. These pigmies appear to be divided into two tribes, which, +though similar in stature, and alike distinguished by the characteristic +of attaching themselves to some larger race of natives, yet present +considerable points of difference, so much so as to cause Mr. Stanley to +say that they are as unlike as a Scandinavian is to a Turk. "Scattered," +says the same authority,[A] "among the Balessé, between Ipoto and Mount +Pisgah, and inhabiting the land between the Ngaiyu and Ituri rivers, a +region equal in area to about two-thirds of Scotland, are the Wambutti, +variously called Batwa, Akka, and Bazungu. These people are under-sized +nomads, dwarfs or pigmies, who live in the uncleared virgin forest, and +support themselves on game, which they are very expert in catching. They +vary in height from three feet to four feet six inches. A full-grown adult +may weigh ninety pounds. They plant their village camps three miles around +a tribe of agricultural aborigines, the majority of whom are fine stalwart +people. They use poisoned arrows, with which they kill elephants, and they +capture other kinds of game by the use of traps." + +[Footnote A: In Darkest Africa, vol. ii. p. 92.] + +The two groups are respectively called Batwa and Wambutti. The former +inhabit the northern parts of the above-mentioned district, the latter the +southern. The former have longish heads, long narrow faces, and small +reddish eyes set close together, whilst the latter have round faces and +open foreheads, gazelle-like eyes, set far apart, and rich yellow ivory +complexion. Their bodies are covered with stiffish grey short hair. Two +further quotations from the same source may be given to convey an idea to +those ignorant of the original work, if such there be, of the appearances +of these dwarfs. Speaking of the queen of a tribe of pigmies, Stanley +says,[A] "She was brought in to see me, with three rings of polished iron +around her neck, the ends of which were coiled like a watch-spring. Three +iron rings were suspended to each ear. She is of a light-brown complexion +with broad round face, large eyes, and small but full lips. She had a +quiet modest demeanour, though her dress was but a narrow fork clout of +bark cloth. Her height is about four feet four inches, and her age may be +nineteen or twenty. I notice when her arms are held against the light a +whity-brown fell on them. Her skin has not that silky smoothness of touch +common to the Zanzibaris, but altogether she is a very pleasing little +creature." To this female portrait may be subjoined one of a male aged +probably twenty-one years and four feet in height.[B] "His colour was +coppery, the fell over the body was almost furry, being nearly half an +inch long, and his hands were very delicate. On his head he wore a bonnet +of a priestly form, decorated with a bunch of parrot feathers, and a broad +strip of bark covered his nakedness." + +[Footnote A: In Darkest Africa, vol. i. p. 345.] + +[Footnote B: Ibid., ii. 40.] + +Jephson states[A] that he found continual traces of them from 270 30' E. +long., a few miles above the Equator, up to the edge of the great forest, +five days' march from Lake Albert. He also says that they are a hardy +daring race, always ready for war, and are much feared by their +neighbours. As soon as a party of dwarfs makes its appearance near a +village, the chief hastens to propitiate them by presents of corn and such +vegetables as he possesses. They never exceed four feet one inch in +height, he informs us, and adds a characteristic which has not been +mentioned by Stanley, one, too, which is very remarkable when it is +remembered how scanty is the facial hair of the Negros and Negritos--the +men have often very long beards. The southern parts of the continent are +occupied by the Bushmen, who are vigorous and agile, of a stature ranging +from four feet six inches to four feet nine inches, and sufficiently well +known to permit me to pass over them without further description. The +smallest woman of this race who has been measured was only three feet +three inches in height, and Barrow examined one, who was the mother of +several children, with a stature of three feet eight inches. The Akoas of +the Gaboon district were a race of pigmies who, now apparently extinct, +formerly dwelt on the north of the Nazareth River. A male of this tribe +was photographed and measured by the French Admiral Fleuriot de l'Angle. +His age was about forty and his stature four feet six inches. + +[Footnote A: Emm Pasha, p. 367, et seq.] + +Flower[A] says that "another tribe, the M'Boulous, inhabiting the coast +north of the Gaboon River, have been described by M. Marche as probably +the primitive race of the country. They live in little villages, keeping +entirely to themselves, though surrounded by the larger Negro tribes, +M'Pongos and Bakalais, who are encroaching upon them so closely that their +numbers are rapidly diminishing. In 1860 they were not more than 3000; in +1879 they were much less numerous. They are of an earthy-brown colour, and +rarely exceed five feet three inches in height. Another group living +between the Gaboon and the Congo, in Ashangoland, a male of which measured +four feet six inches, has been described by Du Chaillu." + +In Loango there is a tribe called Babonko, which was described by Battell +in 1625, in the work entitled "Purchas his Pilgrimes," in the following +terms:--"To the north-east of Mani-Kesock are a kind of little people +called Matimbas; which are no bigger than boyes of twelve yeares old, but +very thicke, and live only upon flesh, which they kill in the woods with +their bows and darts. They pay tribute to Mani-Kesock, and bring all their +elephants' teeth and tayles to him. They will not enter into any of the +Maramba's houses, nor will suffer any one to come where they dwell. And if +by chance any Maramba or people of Longo pass where they dwell, they will +forsake that place and go to another. The women carry bows and arrows as +well as the men. And one of these will walk in the woods alone and kill +the Pongos with their poysoned arrows." It is somewhat surprising that +Tyson, who gives in his essay (p. 80) the account of the same people +published at a later date (1686) by Dapper, should have missed his +fellow-countryman's narrative. The existence of this tribe has been +established by a German expedition, one of the members of which, Dr. +Falkenstein, photographed and measured an adult male whose stature was +four feet six inches. + +Krapf[A] states that in the south of Schoa, in a part of Abyssinia as yet +unworked, the Dokos live, who are not taller than four feet. According to +his account, they are of a dark olive colour, with thick prominent lips, +flat noses, small eyes, and long flowing hair. They have no dwellings, +temples, holy trees, chiefs, or weapons, live on roots and fruit, and are +ignorant of fire. Another group was described by Mollieu in 1818 as +inhabiting Tenda-Maié, near the Rio Grande, but very little is known about +them. In a work entitled "The Dwarfs of Mount Atlas," Halliburton[B] has +brought forward a number of statements to prove that a tribe of dwarfs, +named like those of Central Africa, Akkas, of a reddish complexion and +with short woolly hair, live in the district adjoining Soos. These dwarfs +have been alluded to by Harris and Dönnenburg,[C] but Mr. Harold Crichton +Browne,[D] who has explored neighbouring districts, is of opinion that +there is no such tribe, and that the accounts of them have been based upon +the examination of sporadic examples of dwarfishness met with in that as +in other parts of the world. + +[Footnote A: _Morgenblatt_, 1853 (quoted by Schaafhausen, _Arch. f. +Anth._, 1866, p. 166).] + +[Footnote B: London, Nutt, 1891.] + +[Footnote C: _Nature_, 1892, ii. 616.] + +[Footnote A: _Nature_, 1892, i. 269.] + +Finally, in Madagascar it is possible that there may be a dwarf race. +Oliver[A] states that "the Vazimbas are supposed to have been the first +occupants of Ankova. They are described by Rochon, under the name of +Kunios, as a nation of dwarfs averaging three feet six inches in stature, +of a lighter colour than the Negroes, with very long arms and woolly hair. +As they were only described by natives of the coast, and have never been +seen, it is natural to suppose that these peculiarities have been +exaggerated; but it is stated that people of diminutive size still exist +on the banks of a certain river to the south-west." There are many tumuli +of rude work and made of rough stones throughout the country, which are +supposed to be their tombs. In idolatrous days, says Mullens,[B] the +Malagasy deified the Vazimba, and their so-called tombs were the most +sacred objects in the country. In this account may be found further +evidence in favour of Mr. Gomme's theory, to which attention has already +been called. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Memoirs_, iii. 1.] + +[Footnote B: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, v. 181.] + +In the great continent of America there does not appear to have ever been, +so far as our present knowledge teaches, any pigmy race. Dr. Brinton, the +distinguished American ethnologist, to whom I applied for information on +this point, has been good enough to write to me that, in his opinion, +there is no evidence of any pigmy race in America. The "little people" of +the "stone graves" in Tennessee, often supposed to be such, were children, +as the bones testify. The German explorer Hassler has alleged the +existence of a pigmy race in Brazil, but testimony is wanting to support +such allegation. There are two tribes of very short but not pigmy stature +in America, the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuégo and the Utes of Colorado, but +both of these average over five feet. + +Leaving aside for the moment the Lapps, to whom I shall return, there does +not appear to have been at any time a really pigmy race in Europe, so far +as any discoveries which have been made up to the present time show. +Professor Topinard, whose authority upon this point cannot be gainsaid, +informs me that the smallest race known to him in Central Europe is that +of the pre-historic people of the Lozère, who were Neolithic troglodytes, +and are represented probably at the present day by some of the peoples of +South Italy and Sardinia. Their average stature was about five feet two +inches. This closely corresponds with what is known of the stature of the +Platycnemic race of Denbighshire, the Perthi-Chwareu. Busk[A] says of them +that they were of low stature, the mean height, deduced from the lengths +of the long bones, being little more than five feet. As both sexes are +considered together in this description, it is fair to give the male a +stature of about five feet two inches,[B] It also corresponds with the +stature assigned by Pitt-Rivers to a tribe occupying the borders of +Wiltshire and Dorsetshire during the Roman occupation, the average height +of whose males and females was five feet two and a half inches and four +feet ten and three-quarter inches respectively. + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Ethn. Soc._, 1869-70, p. 455.] + +[Footnote B: Since these pages were printed, Prof. Kollmann, of Basle, has +described a group of Neolithic pigmies as having existed at Schaffhausen. +The adult interments consisted of the remains of full-grown European types +and of small-sized people. These two races were found interred side by +side under precisely similar conditions, from which he concludes that they +lived peaceably together, notwithstanding racial difference. Their stature +(about three feet six inches) may be compared with that of the Veddahs in +Ceylon. Prof. Kollmann believes that they were a distinct species of +mankind.] + +Dr. Rahon,[A] who has recently made a careful study of the bones of +pre-historic and proto-historic races, with special reference to their +stature, states that the skeletons attributed to the most ancient and to +the Neolithic races are of a stature below the middle height, the average +being a little over five feet three inches. The peoples who constructed +the Megalithic remains of Roknia and of the Caucasus, were of a stature +similar to our own. The diverse proto-historic populations, Gauls, Franks, +Burgundians, and Merovingians, considered together, present a stature +slightly superior to that of the French of the present day, but not so +much so as the accounts of the historians would have led us to believe. + +[Footnote A: _Recherches sur les Ossements Humaines, Anciens et +Préhistonques. Mém. de la Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris_, Sér, ii. tom. iv. +403.] + +It remains now to deal with two races whose physical characters are of +considerable importance in connection with certain points which will be +dealt with in subsequent pages, I mean the Lapps and the Innuit or Eskimo. + +The Lapps, according to Karonzine,[A] one of their most recent describers, +are divisible into two groups, Scandinavian and Russian, the former being +purer than the latter race. The average male stature is five feet, a +figure which corresponds closely with that obtained by Mantegazza and +quoted by Topinard. The extremes obtained by this observer amongst men +were, on the one hand, five feet eight inches, and on the other four feet +four inches. As, however, in a matter of this kind we have to deal with +averages and not with extremes, we must conclude that the Lapps, though a +stunted race, are not pigmies, in the sense in which the word is +scientifically employed. + +[Footnote A: _L'Anthropologie_, ii. 80.] + +The Innuit or Eskimo were called by the original Norse explorers +"Skraelingjar," or dwarfs, a name now converted by the Innuit into +"karalit," which is the nearest approach that they are able to make +phonetically to the former term. They are certainly, on the average, a +people of less than middle stature, yet they can in no sense be described +as Pigmies. Their mean height is five feet three inches. Nansen[A] says of +them, "It is a common error amongst us in Europe to think of the Eskimo as +a diminutive race. Though no doubt smaller than the Scandinavian peoples, +they must be reckoned amongst the middle-sized races, and I even found +amongst those of purest breeding men of nearly six feet in height." + +[Footnote A: _Eskimo Life_, p. 20.] + + + +II. + + +The _raison d'être_ of Tyson's essay was to explain away the accounts of +the older writers relating to Pigmy races, on the ground that, as no such +races existed, an explanation of some kind was necessary in order to +account for so many and such detailed descriptions as were to be found in +their works. Having now seen not merely that there are such things as +Pigmy races, but that they have a wide distribution throughout the world, +it may be well to consider to which of the existing or extinct races, the +above-mentioned accounts may be supposed to have referred. In this task I +am much aided in several instances by the labours of De Quatrefages, and +as his book is easily accessible, it will be unnecessary for me to repeat +the arguments in favour of his decisions which he has there given. + +Starting with Asia, we have in the first place the statement of Pliny, +that "immediately after the nation of the Prusians, in the mountains where +it is said are pigmies, is found the Indus." These Pigmies may be +identified with the Brahouis, now Dravidian, but still possessing the +habit, attributed to them by Pliny, of changing their dwellings twice a +year, in summer and winter, migrations rendered necessary by the search +for food for their flocks. The same author's allusion to the "Spithamæi +Pygmæi" of the mountains in the neighbourhood of the Ganges may apply to +the Santals or some allied tribe, though Pliny's stature for them of two +feet four inches is exaggeratedly diminutive, and he has confused them +with Homer's Pigmies, who were, as will be seen, a totally different +people. + +Ctesias[A] tells us that "Middle India has black men, who are called +Pygmies, using the same language as the other Indians; they are, however, +very little; that the greatest do not exceed the height of two cubits, and +the most part only of one cubit and a half. But they nourish the longest +hair, hanging down unto the knees, and even below; moreover, they carry a +beard more at length than any other men; but, what is more, after this +promised beard is risen to them, they never after use any clothing, but +send down, truly, the hairs from the back much below the knees, but draw +the beard before down to the feet; afterward, when they have covered the +whole body with hairs, they bind themselves, using those in the place of a +vestment. They are, moreover, apes and deformed. Of these Pygmies, the +king of the Indians has three thousand in his train; for they are very +skilful archers." No doubt the actual stature has been much diminished in +this account, and, as De Quatrefages suggests, the garment of long +floating grasses which they may well have worn, may have been mistaken for +hair; yet, in the description, he believes that he is able to recognise +the ancestors of the Bandra-Lokh of the Vindhya Mountains. Ctesias' other +statement, that "the king of India sends every fifth year fifty thousand +swords, besides abundance of other weapons, to the nation of the +Cynocephali," may refer to the same or some other tribe. + +[Footnote A: The quotation is taken from Ritson, _Fairy Tales_, P. 4.] + +De Quatrefages also thinks that an allusion to the ancestors of the Jats, +who would then have been less altered by crossing than now, may be found +in Herodotus' account of the army of Xerxes when he says, "The Eastern +Ethiopians serve with the Indians. They resemble the other Ethiopians, +from whom they only differ in language and hair. The Eastern Ethiopians +have straight hair, while those of Lybia are more woolly than all other +men." + +Writing of isles in the neighbourhood of Java, Maundeville says,[A] "In +another yle, ther ben litylle folk, as dwerghes; and thei ben to so meche +as the Pygmeyes, and thei han no mouthe, but in stede of hire mouthe, thei +han a lytylle round hole; and whan thei schulle eten or drynken, thei +taken thorghe a pipe or a penne or suche a thing, and sowken it in, for +thei han no tongue, and therefore thei speke not, but thei maken a maner +of hissynge, as a Neddre dothe, and thei maken signes on to another, as +monkes don, be the whiche every of hem undirstondethe the other." + +[Footnote A: Ed. Halliwell, p. 205.] + +Strip this statement of the characteristic Maundevillian touches with +regard to the mouth and tongue, and it may refer to some of the insular +races which exist or existed in the district of which he is treating. + +A much fuller account[A] by the same author relates to Pigmies in the +neighbourhood of a river, stated by a commentator[B] to be the +Yangtze-Kiang, "a gret ryvere, that men clepen Dalay, and that is the +grettest ryvere of fressche water that is in the world. For there, as it +is most narow, it is more than 4 myle of brede. And thanne entren men azen +in to the lond of the great Chane. That ryvere gothe thorge the lond of +Pigmaus, where that the folk ben of litylle stature, that ben but 3 span +long, and thei ben right faire and gentylle, aftre here quantytees, bothe +the men and the women. And thei maryen hem, whan thei ben half zere of age +and getten children. And thei lyven not, but 6 zeer or 7 at the moste. And +he that lyveth 8 zeer, men holden him there righte passynge old. Theise +men ben the beste worcheres of gold, sylver, cotoun, sylk, and of alle +such thinges, of ony other, that be in the world. And thei han often tymes +werre with the briddes of the contree, that thei taken and eten. This +litylle folk nouther labouren in londes ne in vynes. But thei han grete +men amonges hem, of oure stature, that tylen the lond, and labouren +amonges the vynes for hem. And of the men of oure stature, han thei als +grete skorne and wondre, as we wolde have among us of Geauntes, zif thei +weren amonges us. There is a gode cytee, amonges othere, where there is +duellynge gret plentee of the lytylle folk, and is a gret cytee and a +fair, and the men ben grete that duellen amonges hem; but whan thei getten +ony children, thei ben als litylle as the Pygmeyes, and therefore thei ben +alle, for the moste part, alle Pygmeyes, for the nature of the land is +suche. The great Cane let kepe this cytee fulle wel, for it is his. And +alle be it, that the Pygmeyes ben litylle, zit thei ben fulle resonable, +aftre here age and connen bothen wytt and gode and malice now." This +passage, as will be noted, incorporates the Homeric tale of the battles +between the Pigmies and the Cranes, and is adorned with a representation +of such an encounter. Whether Maundeville's dwarfs were the same as the +Siao-Jin of the Shan-hai-King is a question difficult to decide; but, in +any case, both these pigmy races of legend inhabited a part of what is now +the Chinese Empire. The same Pigmies seem to be alluded to in the rubric +of the Catalan map of the world in the National Library of Paris, the date +of which is A.D. 1375. "Here (N.W. of Catayo-Cathay) grow little men who +are but five palms in height, and though they be little, and not fit for +weighty matters, yet they be brave and clever at weaving and keeping +cattle." If such an explanation may be hazarded, we may perhaps go further +and suppose that Paulus Jovius may have been alluding to the +Koro-puk-guru, when, as Pomponius Mela tells us, he taught that there were +Pigmies beyond Japan. In both these cases, however, it is well to remember +that there is a river in Macedon as well as in Monmouth, and that it is +hazardous to come to too definite a belief as to the exact location of the +Pigmies of ancient writers. + +[Footnote A: _Maundeville_, p. 211.] + +[Footnote B: _Quart. Rev._, 172, p. 431.] + +The continent of Africa yielded its share of Pigmies to the same writers. +The most celebrated of all are those alluded to by Aristotle in his +classical passage, "They (the Cranes) come out of Scythia to the Lakes +above Egypt whence the Nile flows. This is the place whereabouts the +Pigmies dwell. For this is no fable but a truth. Both they and the horses, +as 'tis said, are of a small kind. They are Troglodytes and live in +caves." + +Leaving aside the crane part of the tale, which it has been suggested may +really have referred to ostriches, Aristotle's Pigmy race may, from their +situation, be fairly identified with the Akkas described by Stanley and +others. That this race is an exceedingly ancient one is proved by the fact +that Marriette Bey has discovered on a tomb of the ancient Empire of Egypt +a figure of a dwarf with the name Akka inscribed by it. This race is also +supposed to have been that which, alluded to by Homer, has become confused +with other dwarf tribes in different parts of the world. + + "So when inclement winters vex the plain + With piercing frosts or thick-descending rain, + To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly, + With noise and order, through the midway sky; + To Pigmy nations wounds and death they bring, + And all the war descends upon the wing." + +Attention may here be drawn to Tyson's quotation (p. 78) from Vossius as +to the trade driven by the Pigmies in elephants' tusks, since, as we have +seen, this corresponds with what we now know as to the habits of the +Akkas. + +The account which Herodotus gives of the expedition of the Nasamonians is +well known. Five men, chosen by lot from amongst their fellows, crossed +the desert of Lybia, and, having marched several days in deep sand, +perceived trees growing in the midst of the plain. They approached and +commenced to eat the fruit which they bore. Scarcely had they begun to +taste it, when they were surprised by a great number of men of a stature +much inferior to the middle height, who seized them and carried them off. +They were eventually taken to a city, the inhabitants of which were black. +Near this city ran a considerable river whose course was from west to +east, and in which crocodiles were found. In his account of the Akkas, Mr. +Stanley believed that he had discovered the representatives of the Pigmies +mentioned in this history. Speaking of one of these, he says,[A] +"Twenty-six centuries ago his ancestors captured the five young Nasamonian +explorers, and made merry with them at their villages on the banks of the +Niger." It may be correct to say that, at the period alluded to, the dwarf +races of Africa were in more continuous occupancy of the land than is now +the case, but such an identification as that just mentioned gives a false +idea of the position of the Pigmies of Herodotus. De Quatrefages, after a +most careful examination of the question in all its aspects, finds himself +obliged to conclude, either that the Pigmy race seen by the Nasamonians +still exists on the north of the Niger, which has been identified with the +river alluded to by Herodotus, but has not, up to the present, been +discovered; or that it has disappeared from those regions. + +[Footnote A: _Op. supra cit._, ii. 40.] + +Pomponius Mela has also his account of African Pigmies. Beyond the Arabian +Gulf, and at the bottom of an indentation of the Red Sea, he places the +Panchæans, also called Ophiophagi, on account of the fact that they fed +upon serpents. More within the Arabian bay than the Panchæans are the +Pigmies, a minute race, which became exterminated in the wars which it was +compelled to wage with the Cranes for the preservation of its fruits. The +region indicated somewhat corresponds with that which is assigned to the +Dokos by their describer. In this district, too, other dwarf races have +been reported. The French writer whom I have so often cited says, "The +tradition of Eastern African Pigmies has never been lost by the Arabs. At +every period the geographers of this nation have placed their River of +Pigmies much more to the south. It is in this region, a little to the +north of the Equator, and towards the 32° of east longitude, that the Rev. +Fr. Léon des Avanchers has found the Wa-Berrikimos or Cincallès, whose +stature is about four feet four inches. The information gathered by M. +D'Abbadie places towards the 6° of north latitude the Mallas or +Mazé-Malléas, with a stature of five feet. Everything indicates that there +exist, at the south of the Galla country, different negro tribes of small +stature. It seems difficult to me not to associate them with the Pigmies +of Pomponius Mela. Only they have retreated farther south. Probably this +change had already taken place at the time when the Roman geographer wrote; +it is, therefore, comprehensible that he may have regarded them as having +disappeared." + +Tyson (p. 29) quotes the following passage from Photius:--"That Nonnosus +sailing from Pharsa, when he came to the farthermost of the islands, a +thing very strange to be heard of happened to him; for he lighted on some +(animals) in shape and appearance like men, but little of stature, and of +a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over their bodies. The +women, who were of the same stature, followed the men. They were all +naked, only the elder of them, both men and women, covered their privy +parts with a small skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; they had a +human voice, but their dialect was altogether unknown to everybody that +lived about them, much more to those that were with Nonnosus. They lived +upon sea-oysters and fish that were cast out of the sea upon the island. +They had no courage for seeing our men; they were frighted, as we are at +the sight of the greatest wild beast." It is not easy to identify this +race with any existing tribe of Pigmies, but the hairiness of their +bodies, and above all their method of clothing themselves, leave no doubt +that in this account we have a genuine story of some group of +small-statured blacks. + +From the foregoing account it will be seen that it is possible with more +or less accuracy and certainty to identify most of those races which, +described by the older writers, had been rejected by their successors. +Time has brought their revenge to Aristotle and Pliny by showing that they +were right, where Tyson, and even Buffon, were wrong. + + + +III. + + +The little people of story and legend have a much wider area of +distribution than those of real life, and it is the object of this section +to give some idea of their localities and dwellings. Imperfect as such an +account must necessarily be, it will yet suffice I trust in some measure +to show that, like the England of Arthurian times, all the world is +"fulfilled of faëry." + +In dealing with this part of the subject, it would be possible, following +the example of Keightley, to treat the little folk of each country +separately. But a better idea of their nature, and certainly one which for +my purpose will be more satisfactory, can, I think, be obtained by +classifying them according to the nature of their habitations, and +mentioning incidentally such other points concerning them as it may seem +advisable to bring out. + +1. In the first place, then, fairies are found dwelling in mounds of +different kinds, or in the interior of hills. This form of habitation is +so frequently met with in Scotch and Irish accounts of the fairies, that +it will not be necessary for me to burden these pages with instances, +especially since I shall have to allude to them in a further section in +greater detail. Suffice it to say, that many instances of such an +association in the former country will be found in the pages of Mr. +MacRitchie's works, whilst as to the latter, I shall content myself by +quoting Sir William Wilde's statement, that every green "rath" in that +country is consecrated to the "good people." In England there are numerous +instances of a similar kind. Gervase of Tilbury in the thirteenth century +mentions such a spot in Gloucestershire: "There is in the county of +Gloucester a forest abounding in boars, stags, and every species of game +that England produces. In a grovy lawn of this forest there is a little +mount, rising in a point to the height of a man." With this mount he +associates the familiar story of the offering of refreshment to travellers +by its unseen inhabitants. In Warwickshire, the mound upon which +Kenilworth Castle is built was formerly a fairy habitation.[A] Ritson[B] +mentions that the "fairies frequented many parts of the Bishopric of +Durham." There is a hillock or tumulus near Bishopton, and a large hill +near Billingham, both of which used in former time to be "haunted by +fairies." Even Ferry-hill, a well-known stage between Darlington and +Durham, is evidently a corruption of "Fairy-hill." In Yorkshire a similar +story attaches to the sepulchral barrow of Willey How,[C] and in Sussex to +a green mound called the Mount in the parish of Pulborough.[D] The fairies +formerly frequented Bussers Hill in St. Mary's Isle, one of the Scilly +group.[E] The Bryn-yr-Ellyllon,[F] or Fairy-hill, near Mold, may be cited +as a similar instance in Wales, which must again be referred to. + +[Footnote A: _Testimony of Tradition_, p. 142.] + +[Footnote B: _Op. cit._, p. 56.] + +[Footnote C: _Folk Lore_, ii. 115.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Record_, i. 16 and 28.] + +[Footnote E: _Ritson_, p. 62.] + +[Footnote F: Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, p. 433.] + +The pages of Keightley's work contain instances of hill-inhabiting fairies +in Scandinavia, Denmark, the Isle of Rugen, Iceland, Germany, and +Switzerland. It is not only in Europe, however, that this form of +habitation is to be met with; we find it also in America. The Sioux have a +curious superstition respecting a mound near the mouth of the Whitestone +River, which they call the Mountain of Little People or Little Spirits; +they believe that it is the abode of little devils in the human form, of +about eighteen inches high and with remarkably large heads; they are armed +with sharp arrows, in the use of which they are very skilful. These little +spirits are always on the watch to kill those who should have the +hardihood to approach their residence. The tradition is that many have +suffered from their malice, and that, among others, three Maha Indians +fell a sacrifice to them a few years since. This has inspired all the +neighbouring nations, Sioux, Mahas, and Ottoes, with such terror, that no +consideration could tempt them to visit the hill.[A] + +[Footnote A: Lewis and Clarke, _Travels to the Source of the Missouri +River._ Quoted in _Flint Chips_, p. 346. The tale is also given in _Folk +Lore, Oriental and American_ (Gibbings & Co.), p. 45.] + +The mounds or hills inhabited by the fairies are, however, of very diverse +kinds, as we discover when we attempt to analyse their actual nature. In +some cases they are undoubtedly natural elevations. Speaking of the +exploration of the Isle of Unst, Hunt[A] says that the term "Fairy Knowe" +is applied alike to artificial and to natural mounds. "We visited," he +states, "two 'Fairy Knowes' in the side of the hill near the turning of +the road from Reay Wick to Safester, and found that these wonderful relics +were merely natural formations. The workmen were soon convinced of this, +and our digging had the effect of proving to them that the fairies had +nothing to do with at least two of these hillocks." The same may surely be +said of that favourite and important fairy haunt Tomnahurich, near +Inverness, though Mr. MacRitchie seems to think that an investigation, +were such possible, of its interior, might lead to a different +explanation. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Mems._, ii. 294.] + +In other cases, and these are of great importance in coming to a +conclusion as to the origin of fairy tales, the mounds inhabited by the +little people are of a sepulchral nature. This is the case in the instance +of Willey How, which, when explored by Canon Greenwell, was found, in +spite of its size and the enormous care evidently bestowed upon its +construction, to be merely a cenotaph. A grave there was, sunk more than +twelve feet deep in the chalk rock; but no corporeal tenant had ever +occupied it. + +This fact is still more clearly shown in the remarkable case mentioned by +Professor Boyd Dawkins. A barrow called Bryn-yr-Ellyllon (Fairy-hill), +near Mold, was said to be haunted by a ghost clad in golden armour which +had been seen to enter it. The barrow was opened in the year 1832, and was +found to contain the skeleton of a man wearing a golden corselet of +Etruscan workmanship. + +The same may be said respecting that famous fairy-hill in Ireland, the +Brugh of the Boyne, though Mr. MacRitchie seems to regard it as having +been a dwelling-place. Mr. Coffey in a most careful study appears to me to +have finally settled the question.[A] He speaks of the remains as those of +probably the most remarkable of the pre-Christian cemeteries of Ireland. +Of the stone basins, whose nature Mr. MacRitchie regards as doubtful, he +says, "There can be hardly any doubt but that they served the purpose of +some rude form of sarcophagus, or of a receptacle for urns." Mr. Coffey +quotes the account from the Leadhar na huidri respecting cemeteries, in +which Brugh is mentioned as amongst the chief of those existing before the +faith (i.e. before the introduction of Christianity). "The nobles of the +Tuatha de Danann were used to bury at Brugh (i.e. the Dagda with his three +sons; also Lugaidh, and Oe, and Ollam, and Ogma, and Etan the Poetess, and +Corpre, the son of Etan), and Cremthain followed them, because his wife +Nar was of the Tuatha Dea, and it was she solicited him that he should +adopt Brugh as a burial-place for himself and his descendants, and this +was the cause that they did not bury at Cruachan." Mr. Coffey also quotes +O'Hartagain's poem, which seems to bear in Mr. MacRitchie's favour:-- + + "Behold the sidhe before your eyes: + It is manifest to you that it is a king's mansion, + Which was built by the firm Dagda; + It was a wonder, a court, a wonderful hill." + +[Footnote A: _Tumuli at New Grange. Trans. Roy. Irish Academy_, XXX. 1.] + +But certain of the expressions in this are evidently to be taken +figuratively, since Mr. Coffey states, in connection with this and other +quotations, that their importance consists in that they establish the +existence at a very early date of a tradition associating Brugh na Boinne, +the burial-place of the kings of Tara, with the tumuli on the Boyne. The +association of particular monuments with the Dagda and other divinities +and heroes of Irish mythology implies that the actual persons for whom +they were erected had been forgotten, the pagan traditions being probably +broken by the introduction of Christianity. The mythological ancestors of +the heroes and kings interred at Brugh, who probably were even +contemporarily associated with the cemetery, no doubt subsequently +overshadowed in tradition the actual persons interred there. + +Finally, it seems that the fairy hills may have been actual +dwelling-places, fortified or not, of prehistoric peoples. Such were no +doubt some of the Picts' houses so fully dealt with by Mr. MacRitchie, +though Petrie[A] seems to have considered that many of these were +sepulchral in their nature. Such were also the Raths of Ireland and +fortified hills, like the White Cater Thun of Forfarshire. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Mems._, ii. 216.] + +The interior of the mound-dwellings, as described in the stories, is a +point to which allusion should be made. Sometimes the mound contains a +splendid palace, adorned with gold and silver and precious stones, like +the palace of the King of Elfland in the tale of "Childe Rowland." In the +Scandinavian mound-stories we find a curious incident, for they are +described as being capable of being raised upon red pillars, and as being +so raised when the occupants gave a feast to their neighbours. "There are +three hills on the lands of Bubbelgaard in Funen, which are to this day +called the Dance-hills, from the following occurrence. A lad named Hans +was at service in Bubbelgaard, and as he was coming one evening past the +hills, he saw one of them raised on red pillars, and great dancing and +much merriment underneath."[A] This feature is met with in several of the +stories collected by Keightley, and is made use of in Cruikshank's +picture, which forms the frontispiece to that volume. Lastly, in a number +of cases there is not merely a habitation, but a vast country underneath +the mound. An instance of this occurs in the tale of John Dietrich from +the Isle of Rügen. Under the Nine-hills he found "that there were in that +place the most beautiful walks, in which he might ramble along for miles +in all directions, without ever finding an end of them, so immensely large +was the hill that the little people lived in, and yet outwardly it seemed +but a little hill, with a few bushes and trees growing on it."[B] + +[Footnote A: Quoted by Keightley (p. 9), from Thiele, i. 118.] + +[Footnote B: Keightley, 178.] + +2. The haunts of the fairies may be in caves, and examples of this form of +dwelling-place are to be met with in different parts of the world. The +Scandinavian hill people live in caves or small hills, and the Elves or +dwarfs of La Romagna "dwell in lonely places, far away in the mountains, +deep in them, in caves or among old ruins and rocks," as Mr. Leland,[A] +who gives a tale respecting these little people, tells us. A Lithuanian +tale[B] tells "how the hero, Martin, went into a forest to hunt, +accompanied by a smith and a tailor. Finding an empty hut, they took +possession of it; the tailor remained in it to cook the dinner, and the +others went forth to the chase. When the dinner was almost ready, there +came to the hut a very little old man with a very long beard, who +piteously begged for food. After receiving it, he sprang on the tailor's +neck and beat him almost to death. When the hunters returned, they found +their comrade groaning on his couch, complaining of illness, but saying +nothing about the bearded dwarf. Next day the smith suffered in a similar +way; but when it came to Martin's turn, he proved too many and too strong +for the dwarf, whom he overcame, and whom he fastened by the beard to the +stump of a tree. But the dwarf tore himself loose before the hunters came +back from the forest and escaped into a cavern. Tracing him by the drops +of blood which had fallen from him, the three companions came to the mouth +of the cavern, and Martin was lowered into it by the two others. Within it +he found three princesses, who had been stolen by three dragons. These +dragons he slew, and the princesses and their property he took to the spot +above which his comrades kept watch, who hoisted them out of the cavern, +but left Martin in it to die. As he wandered about disconsolately, he +found the bearded dwarf, whom he slew. And soon afterwards he was conveyed +out of the cavern by a flying serpent, and was able to punish his +treacherous friends, and to recover the princesses, all three of whom he +simultaneously married." + +[Footnote A: _Etrusco Roman Remains_, p. 222.] + +[Footnote B: _Folk Lore Record_, i. 85. Mr. Hartland points out to me that +this tale, being a Marchen, does not afford quite such good evidence of +belief as actually or recently existing as a saga.] + +Amongst the Magyars,[A] also, in some localities caves are pointed out as +the haunts of fairies, such as the caves in the side of the rock named +Budvár, the cave Borza-vára, near the castle of Dame Rapson; another haunt +of the fairies is the cave near Almás, and the cold wind known as the +"Nemere" is said to blow when the fairy in Almás cave feels cold. On one +occasion the plague was raging in this neighbourhood; the people ascribed +it to the cold blast emanating from the cave; so they hung shirts before +the mouth of the cave and the plague ceased. + +[Footnote A: Jones and Kropf, _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, pp. xxxvi. _et +seq_.] + +In a widely distant part of the world, the Battaks-Karo,[A] of the high +ground north of Lake Toba in Sumatra, believe in three classes of +mysterious beings, one of which closely corresponds with the fairies of +Europe. The first group are called Hantous; they are giants and dead +Begous (i.e. definitely dead souls), who inhabit Mount Sampouran together +with the second group. These are called Omangs; they are dwarfs who marry +and reproduce their species, live generally in mountains, and have their +feet placed transversely. They must be propitiated, and those making the +ascent of Mount Sébayak sacrifice a white hen to them, or otherwise the +Omangs would throw stones at them. They carry off men and women, and often +keep them for years. They love to dwell amongst stones, and the Roumah +Omang, which is one of their favourite habitations, is a cavern. The third +group, or Orangs Boumans, resemble ordinary beings, but have the power of +making themselves invisible. They come down from the mountains to buy +supplies, but have not been seen for some time. Westenberg, from whom this +information is quoted, regards the last class as being proscribed Battaks, +who have fled for refuge to the mountains. Passing to another continent, +the Iroquois[B] have several stories about Pigmies, one of whom, by name +Go-ga-ah, lives in a little cave. + +[Footnote A: _L'Anthropologie_, iv. 83.] + +[Footnote B: Smith, _Myths of the Iroquois_. _American Bureau of +Ethnology_, ii. 65.] + +3. The little people may occupy a castle or house, or the hill upon which +such a building is erected, or a cave under it. Without dwelling upon the +Brownies and other similar distinctly household spirits, there are certain +classes which must be mentioned in this connection. The Magyar fairies +live in castles on lofty mountain peaks. They build them themselves, or +inherit them from giants. Kozma enumerates the names of about twenty-three +castles which belonged to fairies, and which still exist. Although they +have disappeared from earth, they continue to live, even in our days, in +caves under their castles, in which caves their treasures lie hidden. The +iron gates of Zeta Castle, which have subsided into the ground and +disappeared from the surface, open once in every seven years. On one +occasion a man went in there, and met two beautiful fairies whom he +addressed thus, "How long will you still linger here, my little sisters?" +and they replied, "As long as the cows will give warm milk." + +Like the interior of some of the mound-dwellings already mentioned, these +fairy caves are splendid habitations. "Their subterranean habitations are +not less splendid and glittering than were their castles of yore on the +mountain peaks. The one at Firtos is a palace resting on solid gold +columns. The palace at Tartod and the gorgeous one of Dame Rapson are +lighted by three diamond balls, as big as human heads, which hang from +golden chains. The treasure which is heaped up in the latter place +consists of immense gold bars, golden lions with carbuncle eyes, a golden +hen with her brood, and golden casks, filled with gold coin. The treasures +of Fairy Helen are kept in a cellar under Kovászna Castle, the gates of +the cellar being guarded by a magic cock. This bird only goes to sleep +once in seven years, and anybody who could guess the right moment would be +able to scrape no end of diamond crystals from the walls and bring them +out with him. The fairies who guard the treasures of the Pogányvár (Pagan +Castle) in Marosszék even nowadays come on moonlight nights to bathe in +the lake below."[A] In Brittany, "a number of little men, not more than a +foot high, dwell under the castle of Morlaix. They live in holes in the +ground, whither they may often be seen going, and beating on basins. They +possess great treasures, which they sometimes bring out; and if any one +pass by at the time, allow him to take one handful, but no more. Should +any one attempt to fill his pockets, the money vanishes, and he is +instantly assailed by a shower of boxes on the ear from invisible +hands."[B] In the Netherlands, the "Gypnissen," "queer little women," +lived in a castle which had been reared in a single night.[C] The Ainu +have tales of the Poiyaumbe, a name which means literally "little beings +residing on the soil" (Mr. Batchelor says that "little" is probably meant +to express endearment or admiration, but one may be allowed to doubt +this). The Ainu, who is the hero of the story, "comes to a tall mountain +with a beautiful house built on its summit. Descending, for his path had +always been through the air, by the side of the house, and looking through +the chinks of the door, he saw a little man and a little woman sitting +beside the fireplace."[D] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, p. xxxviii.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm, apud Keightley, 441.] + +[Footnote C: _Testimony of Tradition_, p. 86.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Journal_, vi. 195.] + +4. The little people or fairies occupy rude stone monuments or are +connected with their building. In Brittany they are associated with +several of the megalithic remains.[A] "At Carnac, near Quiberon," says M. +De Cambry, "in the department of Morbihan, on the sea-shore, is the Temple +of Carnac, called in Breton 'Ti Goriquet' (House of the Gories), one of +the most remarkable Celtic monuments extant. It is composed of more than +four thousand large stones, standing erect in an arid plain, where neither +tree nor shrub is to be seen, and not even a pebble is to be found in the +soil on which they stand. If the inhabitants are asked concerning this +wonderful monument, they say it is an old camp of Cæsar's, an army turned +into stone, or that it is the work of the Crions or Gories. These they +describe as little men between two and three feet high, who carried these +enormous masses on their hands; for, though little, they are stronger than +giants. Every night they dance around the stones, and woe betide the +traveller who approaches within their reach! he is forced to join in the +dance, where he is whirled about till, breathless and exhausted, he falls +down, amidst the peals of laughter of the Crions. All vanish with the +break of day. In the ruins of Tresmalouen dwell the Courils. They are of a +malignant disposition, but great lovers of dancing. At night they sport +around the Druidical monuments. The unfortunate shepherd that approaches +them must dance their rounds with them till cockcrow; and the instances +are not few of persons thus ensnared who have been found next morning dead +with exhaustion and fatigue. Woe also to the ill-fated maiden who draws +near the Couril dance! nine months after, the family counts one member +more. Yet so great is the cunning and power of these dwarfs, that the +young stranger bears no resemblance to them, but they impart to it the +features of some lad of the village." + +[Footnote A: Keightley, 440.] + +In India megalithic remains are also associated with little people. +"Dwarfs hold a distinct place in Hindu mythology; they appear sculptured +on all temples. Siva is accompanied by a body-guard of dwarfs, one of +whom, the three-legged Bhringi, dances nimbly. But coming nearer to +Northern legend, the cromlechs and kistvaens which abound over Southern +India are believed to have been built by a dwarf race, a cubit high, who +could, nevertheless, move and handle the huge stones easily. The villagers +call them Pandayar."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore_, iv. 401.] + +Mr. Meadows Taylor, speaking of cromlechs in India, says, "Wherever I +found them, the same tradition was attached to them, that they were Morie +humu, or Mories' houses; these Mories having been dwarfs who inhabited the +country before the present race of men." Again, speaking of the cromlechs +of Koodilghee, he states, "Tradition says that former Governments caused +dwellings of the description alluded to to be erected for a species of +human beings called 'Mohories,' whose dwarfish stature is said not to have +exceeded a span when standing, and a fist high when in a sitting posture, +who were endowed with strength sufficient to roll off large stones with a +touch of their thumb." There are, he also tells us, similar traditions +attaching to other places, where the dwarfs are sometimes spoken of as +Gujaries.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Ethnol. Soc_., 1868-69, p. 157.] + +Of stone structures built by fairies or little people for the use of +others, may be mentioned the churches built by dwarfs in Scotland and +Brittany, and described by Mr. MacRitchie, as also the two following +instances, taken from widely distant parts of the globe. In Brittany, the +dolmen of Manné-er Hrock (Montaigne de la Fee), at Locmariaquer, is said +to have been built by a fairy, in order that a mother might stand upon it +and look out for her son's ship.[A] In Fiji the following tale is told +about the Nanga or sacred stone enclosure:--"This is the word of our +fathers concerning the Nanga. Long ago their fathers were ignorant of it; +but one day two strangers were found sitting in the Rara (public square), +and they said they had come up from the sea to give them the Nanga. They +were little men, and very dark-skinned, and one of them had his face and +bust painted red, while the other was painted black. Whether these were +gods or men our fathers did not tell us, but it was they who taught our +people the Nanga. This was in the old times, when our fathers were living +in another land--not in this place, for we are strangers here."[B] It is +worthy of note that the term "Nanga" applies not merely to the enclosure, +but also to the secret society which held its meetings therein.[C] + +[Footnote A: _Flint Chips_, p. 104.] + +[Footnote B: Fison, _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xiv, 14.] + +[Footnote C: Joske, _Internat. Arch. f. Ethnographie_, viii. 254.] + +5. The little people make their dwellings either in the interior of a +stone or amongst stones. I am not here alluding to the stones on the sides +of mountains which are the doorways to fairy dwellings, but to a closer +connection, which will be better understood from some of the following +instances than from any lengthy explanation. The Duergas of the +Scandinavian Eddas had their dwelling-places in stones, as we are told in +the story of Thorston, who "came one day to an open part of the wood, +where he saw a great rock, and out a little way from it a dwarf, who was +horridly ugly."[A] In Ireland, in Innisbofin, co. Galway, Professor Haddon +relates that the men who were quarrying a rock in the neighbourhood of the +harbour refused to work at it any longer, as it was so full of "good +people" as to be hot.[B] In England the Pixy-house of Devon is in a stone, +and a large stone is also connected with the story of the Frensham +caldron, though it is not clear that the fairies lived in the rock +itself.[C] Oseberrow or Osebury (_vulgo_ Rosebury) Rock, in Lulsey, +Worcestershire, was, according to tradition, a favourite haunt of the +fairies.[D] In another part of Worcestershire, on the side of the +Cotswolds, there is, in a little spinney, a large flat stone, much worn on +its under surface, which is called the White Lady's Table. This personage +is supposed to take her meals with the fairies at this rock, but what the +exact relation of the little people to it as a dwelling-place may be, I +have not been able to learn. + +[Footnote A: Keightley, 70.] + +[Footnote B: _Folklore_, iv. 49.] + +[Footnote C: Ritson, 106, quoting Aubrey's _Natural History of Surrey_, +iii. 366.] + +[Footnote D: Allies, _Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire_, +p.443.] + +There is an Iroquois tale of dwarfs, in which the summons to the Pigmies +was given by knocking upon a large stone.[A] The little people of +Melanesia seem also to be associated in some measure with stones. Speaking +of these beings, Mr. Codrington says,[B] "There are certain Vuis having +rather the nature of fairies. The accounts of them are vague, but it is +argued that they had never left the islands before the introduction of +Christianity, and indeed have been seen since. Not long ago there was a +woman living at Mota who was the child of one, and a very few years ago a +female Vui with a child was seen in Saddle Island. Some of these were +called Nopitu, which come invisibly, or possess those with whom they +associate themselves. The possessed are called Nopitu. Such persons would +lift a cocoa-nut to drink, and native shell money would run out instead of +the juice and rattle against their teeth; they would vomit up money, or +scratch and shake themselves on a mat, when money would pour from their +fingers. This was often seen, and believed to be the doing of a Nopitu. In +another manner of manifestation, a Nopitu would make himself known as a +party were sitting round an evening fire. A man would hear a voice in his +thigh, 'Here am I, give me food.' He would roast a little red yam, and +fold it in the corner of his mat. He would soon find it gone, and the +Nopitu would begin a song. Its voice was so small and clear and sweet, +that once heard it never could be forgotten; but it sang the ordinary Mota +songs. Such spirits as these, if seen or found, would disappear beside a +stone; they were smaller than the native people, darker, and with long +straight hair. But they were mostly unseen, or seen only by those to whom +they took a fancy. They were the friendly Trolls or Robin Goodfellows of +the islands; a man would find a fine red yam put for him on the seat +beside the door, or the money which he paid away returned within his +purse. A woman working in her garden heard a voice from the fruit of a +gourd asking for some food, and when she pulled up an arum or dug out a +yam, another still remained; but when she listened to another spirit's +panpipes, the first in his jealousy conveyed away garden and all." Amongst +the Australians also supernatural beings dwell amongst the rocks, and the +Annamites and Arabians know of fairies living amongst the rocks and +hills.[C] + +[Footnote A: Smith, _Myths of Iroquois, ut supra._] + +[Footnote B: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, x. 261.] + +[Footnote C: Hartland, _Science of Fairy Tales_, p. 351.] + + +6. The little people may have their habitation in forests or trees. Such +were the Skovtrolde, or Wood-Trolls of Thorlacius,[A] who made their home +on the earth in great thick woods, and the beings in South Germany who +resemble the dwarfs, and are called Wild, Wood, Timber and Moss People.[B] +"These generally live together in society, but they sometimes appear +singly. They are small in stature, yet somewhat larger than the Elf, being +the size of children of three years, grey and old-looking, hairy and clad +in moss. Their lives are attached, like those of the Hamadryads, to the +trees, and if any one causes by friction the inner bark to loosen, a +Wood-woman dies." In Scandinavia there is also a similarity between +certain of the Elves and Hamadryads. The Elves "not only frequent trees, +but they make an interchange of form with them. In the churchyard of Store +Heddinge, in Zeeland, there are the remains of an oak-wood. These, say the +common people, are the Elle King's soldiers; by day they are trees, by +night valiant soldiers. In the wood of Rugaard, in the same island, is a +tree which by night becomes a whole Elle-people, and goes about all alive. +It has no leaves upon it, yet it would be very unsafe to go to break or +fell it, for the underground people frequently hold their meetings under +its branches. There is, in another place, an elder-tree growing in a +farmyard, which frequently takes a walk in the twilight about the yard, +and peeps in through the window at the children when they are alone. The +linden or lime-tree is the favourite haunt of the Elves and cognate +beings, and it is not safe to be near it after sunset."[C] In England, the +fairies also in some cases frequent the woods, as is their custom in the +Isle of Man, and in Wales, where there was formerly, in the park of Sir +Robert Vaughan, a celebrated old oak-tree, named Crwben-yr-Ellyl, or the +Elf's Hollow Tree. In Formosa[D] there is also a tale of little people +inhabiting a wood. "A young Botan became too ardent in his devotion to a +young lady of the tribe, and was slain by her relatives, while, as a +warning as to the necessity for love's fervour being kept within bounds, +his seven brothers were banished by the chief. The exiles went forth into +the depths of the forest, and in their wanderings after a new land they +crossed a small clearing, in which a little girl, about a span in height, +was seated peeling potatoes. 'Little sister,' they queried, 'how come you +here? where is your home?' 'I am not of homes nor parents,' she replied. +Leaving her, they went still farther into the forest, and had not gone far +when they saw a little man cutting canes, and farther on to the right a +curious-looking house, in front of which sat two diminutive women combing +their hair. Things looked so queer that the travellers hesitated about +approaching nearer, but, eager to find a way out of the forest, they +determined in their extremity to question the strange people. The two +women, when interrogated, turned sharply round, showing eyes of a flashing +red; then looking upward, their eyes became dull and white, and they +immediately ran into the house, the doors and windows of which at once +vanished, the whole taking the form and appearance of an isolated +boulder." Amongst the Maories also we have "te tini ote hakuturi," or "the +multitude of the wood-elves," the little people who put the chips all back +into the tree Rata had felled and stood it up again, because he had not +paid tribute to Tane.[E] + +[Footnote A: Quoted by Keightley, p. 62.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 230.] + +[Footnote C: Keightley, p. 92, quoting from Thiele.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Journal_, v. 143.] + +[Footnote E: Tregear, _Journ. Anth. Inst._, xix. 121.] + +7. The association of little people with water as a home is a widespread +notion. The Sea-Trows of the Shetlanders inhabit a region of their own at +the bottom of the sea. They here respire a peculiar atmosphere, and live +in habitations constructed of the choicest submarine productions. They +are, however, not always small, but may be of diverse statures, like the +Scandinavian Necks. In Germany the Water-Dwarfs are also known. At +Seewenheiher, in the Black Forest, a little water-man (_Seemännlein_) used +to come and join the people, work the whole day along with them, and in +the evening go back into the lakes.[A] The size of the Breton Korrigs or +Korrigan, if we may believe Villemarqué in his account of this folk, does +not exceed two feet, but their proportions are most exact, and they have +long flowing hair, which they comb out with great care. Their only dress +is a long white veil, which they wind round their body. Seen at night or +in the dusk of the evening, their beauty is great; but in the daylight +their eyes appear red, their hair is white, and their faces wrinkled; +hence they rarely let themselves be seen by day. They are fond of music, +and have fine voices, but are not much given to dancing. Their favourite +haunts are the springs, by which they sit and comb their hair.[B] The +Maories also have their Water-Pigmies, the Ponaturi, who are, according to +Mr. Tregear, elves, little tiny people, mostly dwellers in water, coming +ashore to sleep.[C] "The spirits most commonly met with in African +mythology," says Mr. Macdonald, "are water or river spirits, inhabiting +deep pools where there are strong eddies and under-currents. Whether they +are all even seen now-a-days it is difficult to determine, but they must +at one time have either shown themselves willingly, or been dragged from +their hiding-places by some powerful magician, for they are one and all +described. They are dwarfs, and correspond to the Scottish conception of +kelpies or fairies. They are wicked and malevolent beings, and are never +credited with a good or generous action. Whatever they possess they keep, +and greedily seize upon any one who comes within their reach. 'One of +them, the Incanti, corresponds to the Greek Python, and another, called +Hiti, appears in the form of a small and very ugly man, and is exceedingly +malevolent' (Brownlee). It is certain death to see an Incanti, and no one +but the magicians sees them except in dreams, and in that case the +magicians are consulted, and advise and direct what is to be done."[D] + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 261.] + +[Footnote B: Villemarqué, ibid., 431.] + +[Footnote C: Tregear, _ut supra._] + +[Footnote D: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xx. 124.] + +Dr. Nansen, speaking of the Ignerssuit (plural of Ignersuak, which means +"great fire"), says that they are for the most part good spirits, inclined +to help men. The entrance to their dwellings is on the sea-shore. +According to the Eskimo legend, "The first earth which came into existence +had neither seas nor mountains, but was quite smooth. When the One above +was displeased with the people upon it, He destroyed the world. It burst +open, and the people fell down into the rifts and became Ignerssuit and +the water poured over everything."[A] The spirits here alluded to appear +to be the same as those described by Mr. Boas as Uissuit in his monograph +on the Central Eskimo. He describes them as "a strange people that live in +the sea. They are dwarfs, and are frequently seen between Iglulik and +Netchillik, where the Anganidjen live, an Innuit tribe whose women are in +the habit of tracing rings around their eyes. There are men and women +among the Uissuit, and they live in deep water, never coming to the +surface. When the Innuit wish to see them, they go in their boats to a +place where they cannot see the bottom, and try to catch them with hooks +which they slowly move up and down. As soon as they get a bite they draw +in the line. The Uissuit are thus drawn up; but no sooner do they approach +the surface than they dive down headlong again, only their legs having +emerged from the water. The Innuit have never succeeded in getting one out +of the water."[A] + +[Footnote A: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 259.] + +[Footnote A: _American Bureau of Ethnology_, vi. 612.] + +8. Amongst habitations not coming under any of the above categories may be +mentioned the moors and open places affected by the Cornish fairies, and +lastly the curious residences of the Kirkonwaki or Church-folk of the +Finns. "It is an article of faith with the Finns that there dwell under +the altar in every church little misshapen beings which they call +Kirkonwaki, i.e., Church-folk. When the wives of these little people have +a difficult labour, they are relieved if a Christian woman visits them and +lays her hand upon them. Such service is always rewarded by a gift of gold +and silver."[A] These folk evidently correspond to the Kirkgrims of +Scandinavian countries, and the traditions respecting both are probably +referable to the practice of foundation sacrifices. + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 488.] + + + +IV. + + +The subject of Pigmy races and fairy tales cannot be considered to have +been in any sense fully treated without some consideration of a theory +which, put forward by various writers and in connection with the legends +of diverse countries, has recently been formulated by Mr. MacRitchie in a +number of most interesting and suggestive books and papers. An early +statement of this theory is to be found in a paper by Mr. J.F. Campbell, +in which he stated, "It is somewhat remarkable that traditions still +survive in the Highlands of Scotland which seem to be derived from the +habits of Scotch tribes like the Lapps in our day. Stories are told in +Sutherlandshire about a 'witch' who milked deer; a 'ghost' once became +acquainted with a forester, and at his suggestion packed all her +plenishing on a herd of deer, when forced to flit by another and a bigger +'ghost;' the green mounds in which 'fairies' are supposed to dwell closely +resemble the outside of Lapp huts. The fairies themselves are not +represented as airy creatures in gauze wings and spangles, but they appear +in tradition as small cunning people, eating and drinking, living close at +hand in their green mound, stealing children and cattle, milk and food, +from their bigger neighbours. They are uncanny, but so are the Lapps. My +own opinion is that these Scotch traditions relate to the tribes who made +kitchen-middens and lake-dwellings in Scotland, and that they were allied +to Lapps."[A] Such in essence is Mr. MacRitchie's theory, which has been +so admirably summarised by Mr. Jacobs in the first of that series of +fairy-tale books which has added a new joy to life, that I shall do myself +the pleasure of quoting his statement in this place. He says: "Briefly +put, Mr. MacRitchie's view is that the elves, trolls, and fairies +represented in popular tradition are really the mound-dwellers, whose +remains have been discovered in some abundance in the form of green +hillocks, which have been artificially raised over a long and low passage +leading to a central chamber open to the sky. Mr. MacRitchie shows that in +several instances traditions about trolls or 'good people' have attached +themselves to mounds which long afterwards, on investigation, turned out +to be evidently the former residence of men of smaller build than the +mortals of to-day. He goes on further to identify these with the Picts-- +fairies are called 'Pechs' in Scotland--and other early races, but with +these ethnological equations we need not much concern ourselves. It is +otherwise with the mound traditions and their relation, if not to fairy +tales in general, to tales about fairies, trolls, elves, &c. These are +very few in number, and generally bear the character of anecdotes. The +fairies, &c., steal a child; they help a wanderer to a drink and then +disappear into a green hill; they help cottagers with their work at night, +but disappear if their presence is noticed; human midwives are asked to +help fairy mothers; fairy maidens marry ordinary men, or girls marry and +live with fairy husbands. All such things may have happened and bear no +such _a priori_ marks of impossibility as speaking animals, flying through +the air, and similar incidents of the folk-tale pure and simple. If, as +archaeologists tell us, there was once a race of men in Northern Europe +very short and hairy, that dwelt in underground chambers artificially +concealed by green hillocks, it does not seem unlikely that odd survivors +of the race should have lived on after they had been conquered and nearly +exterminated by Aryan invaders, and should occasionally have performed +something like the pranks told of fairies and trolls."[B] In the same +place, and also in another article,[C] the writer just quoted has applied +this theory to the explanation of the story of "Childe Rowland." + +[Footnote A: _Journ. Ethnol. Soc._, 1869-70, p. 325.] + +[Footnote B: _English Fairy Tales_, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: _Folk Lore_, ii. 126.] + +Mr. MacRitchie has, in another paper,[A] collected a number of instances +of the use of the word _Sith_ in connection with hillocks and tumuli, +which are the resort of the fairies. Here also he discusses the possible +connection of that word with that of _Tshud_, the title of the vanished +supernatural inhabitants of the land amongst the Finns and other "Altaic" +Turanian tribes of Russia, as in other places he has endeavoured to trace +a connection between the Finns and the Feinne. Into these etymological +questions I have no intention to enter, since I am not qualified to do so, +nor is it necessary, as they have been fully dealt with by Mr. Nutt, whose +opinion on this point is worthy of all attention.[B] But it may be +permitted to me to inquire how far Mr. MacRitchie's views tally with the +facts mentioned in the foregoing section. I shall therefore allude to a +few points which appear to me to show that the origin of the belief in +fairies cannot be settled in so simple a manner as has been suggested, but +is a question of much greater complexity--one in which, as Mr. Tylor +says, more than one mythic element combines to make up the whole. + +[Footnote A: _Journ. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ireland_, iii. 367.] + +[Footnote A: _Folk and Hero Tales from Argyleshire_, p. 420.] + +(1.) In the first place, then, it seems clear, so far as our present +knowledge teaches us, that there never was a really Pigmy race inhabiting +the northern parts of Scotland. + +The scanty evidence which we have on this point, so far as it goes, proves +the truth of this assertion. Mr. Carter Blake found in the Muckle Heog of +the Island of Unst, one of the Shetlands, together with stone vessels, +human interments of persons of considerable stature and of great muscular +strength. Speaking of the Keiss skeletons, Professor Huxley says that the +males are, the one somewhat above, and the other probably about the +average stature; while the females are short, none exceeding five feet two +inches or three inches in height.[A] And Dr. Garson, treating of the +osteology of the ancient inhabitants of the Orkneys, says that the female +skeleton which he examined was about five feet two inches in height, i.e., +about the mean height of the existing races of England.[B] There is no +evidence that Lapps and Eskimo ever visited these parts of the world; and +if they did, as we have seen, their stature, though stunted, cannot fairly +be described as pigmy. Even if we grant that the stature of the early +races did not average more than five feet two inches, which, by the way, +was the height of the great Napoleon, it is more than doubtful whether it +fell so far short of that of succeeding races as to cause us to imagine +that it gave rise to tales about a race of dwarfs. + +[Footnote A: Laing, _Prehistoric Remains of Caithness_, p. 101.] + +[Footnote B: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xiii. 60.] + +(2.) The mounds with which the tales of little people are associated have +not, in many cases, been habitations, but were natural or sepulchral in +their nature. It may, of course, be argued that the story having once +arisen in connection with one kind of mound, may, by a process easy to +understand, have been transferred to other hillocks similar in appearance, +though diverse in nature. It is difficult to see, however, how this could +have occurred in Yorkshire and other parts of England, where it is not +argued that the stunted inhabitants of the North ever penetrated. It is +still more difficult to explain how similar legends can have originated in +America in connection with mounds, since there never were Pigmy races in +that continent. + +(3.) The rude and simple arrangements of the interior of these mound +dwellings might have, in the process of time, become altered into the +gorgeous halls, decked with gold and silver and precious stones, as we +find them in the stories; they might even, though this is much more +difficult to understand, have become possessed of the capacity for being +raised upon red pillars. But there is one pitch to which, I think, they +could never have attained, and that is the importance which they assume +when they become the external covering of a large and extensive tract of +underground country. Here we are brought face to face with a totally +different explanation, to which I shall recur in due course. + +(4.) The little people are not by any means associated entirely with +mounds, as the foregoing section is largely intended to show. Their +habitations may be in or amongst stones, in caves, under the water, in +trees, or amongst the glades of a forest; they may dwell on mountains, on +moors, or even under the altars of churches. We may freely grant that some +of these habitations fall into line with Mr. MacRitchie's theory, but they +are not all susceptible of such an explanation. + +(5.) The association of giants and dwarfs in certain places, even the +confusion of the two races, seems somewhat difficult of explanation by +this theory. In Ireland the distinction between the two classes is sharper +than in other places, since, as Sir William Wilde pointed out, whilst +every green rath in that island is consecrated to the fairies or "good +people," the remains attributed to the giants are of a different character +and probably of a later date. In some places, however, a mound similar to +those often connected with fairies is associated with a giant, as is the +case at Sessay parish, near Thirsk,[A] and at Fyfield in Wiltshire. The +chambered tumulus at Luckington is spoken of as the Giant's Caves, and +that at Nempnet in Somersetshire as the Fairy's Toot. In Denmark, tumuli +seem to be described indifferently as Zettestuer (Giants' Chambers) or +Troldestuer (Fairies' Chambers).[B] In "Beowulf" a chambered tumulus is +described, in the recesses of which were treasures watched over for three +hundred years by a dragon. This barrow was of stone, and the work of +giants. + +Seah on enta geweorc, Looked on the giant's work, +hû ða stân-bogan, how the stone arches, +stapulinn-faeste, on pillars fast, +êce eorð-reced the eternal earth-house +innan healde. held within. + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore_, i. 130.] + +[Footnote B: _Flint Chips_, p. 412.] + +The mounds have sometimes been made by giants and afterwards inhabited by +dwarfs, as in the case of the Nine-hills, already alluded to. In others, +they are at the same time inhabited by giants, dwarfs, and others, as in +the story of the Dwarf's Banquet,[A] and still more markedly in the +Wunderberg. "The celebrated Wunderberg, or Underberg, on the great moor +near Salzburg, is the chief haunt of the Wild-women. The Wunderberg is +said to be quite hollow, and supplied with stately palaces, churches, +monasteries, gardens, and springs of gold and silver. Its inhabitants, +beside the Wild-women, are little men, who have charge of the treasures it +contains, and who at midnight repair to Salzburg to perform their +devotions in the cathedral; giants, who used to come to the church of +Grödich and exhort the people to lead a godly and pious life; and the +great Emperor Charles V., with golden crown and sceptre, attended by +knights and lords. His grey beard has twice encompassed the table at which +he sits, and when it has the third time grown round it, the end of the +world and the appearance of the Antichrist will take place."[B] + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, 130.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm ap. Keightley, 234.] + +In the folk-tales of the Magyars we meet with a still more remarkable +confusion between these two classes of beings. Some of the castles +described in these stories are inhabited by giants, others by fairies. +Again, the giants marry; their wives are fairies, so are their daughters. +They had no male issue, as their race was doomed to extermination. They +fall in love, and are fond of courting. Near Bikkfalva, in Háromszék, the +people still point out the "Lover's Bench" on a rock where the amorous +giant of Csigavár used to meet his sweetheart, the "fairy of +Veczeltetö."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, p. xxix.] + +(6.) Tales of little people are to be found in countries where there never +were any Pigmy races. Not to deal with other, and perhaps more debatable +districts, we find an excellent example of this in North America. Besides +the instances mentioned in the foregoing section, the following may be +mentioned. Mr. Leland, speaking of the Un-a-games-suk, or Indian spirits +of the rocks and streams, says that these beings enter far more largely, +deeply, and socially into the life and faith of the Indians than elves or +fairies ever did into those of the Aryan race.[A] In his Algonquin Legends +the same author also alludes to small people. + +[Footnote A: _Memoirs_, i. 34.] + +Dr. Brinton tells me that the Micmacs have tales of similar Pigmies, whom +they call Wig[)u]l[)a]d[)u]mooch, who tie people with cords during their +sleep, &c. Mr. L.L. Frost, of Susanville, Lassen County, California, tells +us how, when he requested an Indian to gather and bring in all the +arrow-points he could find, the Indian declared them to be "no good," that +they had been made by the lizards. Whereupon Mr. Frost drew from him the +following lizard-story. "There was a time when the lizards were little +men, and the arrow-points which are now found were shot by them at the +grizzly bear. The bears could talk then, and would eat the little men +whenever they could catch them. The arrows of the little men were so small +that they would not kill the bears when shot into them, and only served to +enrage them." The Indian could not tell how the little men became +transformed into lizards.[A] Again, the Shoshones of California dread +their infants being changed by Ninumbees or dwarfs.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore Journal_, vii. 24.] + +[Footnote B: Hartland, _ut supra_, p. 351.] + +Finally, every one has read about the Pukwudjies, "the envious little +people, the fairies, the pigmies," in the pages of Longfellow's +"Hiawatha."[A] It ought to be mentioned that Mr. Leland states that the +red-capped, scanty-shirted elf of the Algonquins was obtained from the +Norsemen; but if, as he says, the idea of little people has sunk so deeply +into the Indian mind, it cannot in any large measure have been derived +from this source.[B] + +[Footnote A: xviii.] + +[Footnote B: _Etrusco Roman Remains_, p. 162.] + +(7.) The stunted races whom Mr. MacRitchie considers to have formed the +subjects of the fairy legend have themselves tales of little people. This +is true especially of the Eskimo, as will have been already noticed, a +fact to which my attention was called by Mr. Hartland. + +For the reasons just enumerated, I am unable to accept Mr. MacRitchie's +theory as a complete explanation of the fairy question, but I am far from +desirous of under-estimating the value and significance of his work. Mr. +Tylor, as I have already mentioned, states, in a sentence which may yet +serve as a motto for a work on the whole question of the origin of the +fairy myth, that "various different facts have given rise to stories of +giants and dwarfs, more than one mythic element perhaps combining to form +a single legend--a result perplexing in the extreme to the mythological +interpreter."[A] And I think it may be granted that Mr. MacRitchie has +gone far to show that one of these mythic elements, one strand in the +twisted cord of fairy mythology, is the half-forgotten memory of skulking +aborigines, or, as Mr. Nutt well puts it, the "distorted recollections of +alien and inimical races." But it is not the only one. It is far from +being my intention to endeavour to deal exhaustively with the difficult +question of the origin of fairy tales. Knowledge and the space permissible +in an introduction such as this would alike fail me in such a task. It +may, however, be permissible to mention a few points which seem to impress +themselves upon one in making a study of the stories with which I have +been dealing. In the first place, one can scarcely fail to notice how much +in common there is between the tales of the little people and the accounts +of that underground world, which, with so many races, is the habitation of +the souls of the departed. Dr. Callaway has already drawn attention to +this point in connection with the ancestor-worship of the Amazulu.[B] He +says, "It may be worth while to note the curious coincidence of thought +among the Amazulu regarding the Amatongo or Abapansi, and that of the +Scotch and Irish regarding the fairies or 'good people.' For instance, the +'good people' of the Irish have assigned to them, in many respects the +same motives and actions as the Amatongo. They call the living to join +them, that is, by death; they cause disease which common doctors cannot +understand nor cure; they have their feelings, interests, partialities, +and antipathies, and contend with each other about the living. The common +people call them their friends or people, which is equivalent to the term +_abakubo_ given to the Amatongo. They reveal themselves in the form of the +dead, and it appears to be supposed that the dead become 'good people,' as +the dead among the Amazulu become Amatongo; and in funeral processions of +the 'good people' which some have professed to see, are recognised the +forms of those who have just died, as Umkatshana saw his relatives amongst +the Abapansi. The power of holding communion with the 'good people' is +consequent on an illness, just as the power to divine amongst the natives +of this country. So also in the Highland tales, a boy who had been carried +away by the fairies, on his return to his own home speaks of them as 'our +folks,' which is equivalent to _abakwetu_, applied to the Amatongo, and +among the Highlands they are called the 'good people' and 'the folk.' They +are also said to 'live underground,' and are therefore Abapansi or +subterranean. They are also, like the Abapansi, called ancestors. Thus the +Red Book of Clanranald is said not to have been dug up, but to have been +found on the moss; it seemed as if the ancestors sent it." There are other +points which make in the same direction. The soul is supposed by various +races to be a little man, an idea which at once links the manes of the +departed with Pigmy people. Thus Dr. Nansen tells us that amongst the +Eskimo a man has many souls. The largest dwell in the larynx and in the +left side, and are tiny men about the size of a sparrow. The other souls +dwell in other parts of the body, and are the size of a finger-joint.[C] +And the Macusi Indians[D] believe that although the body will decay, "the +man in our eyes" will not die, but wander about; an idea which is met with +even in Europe, and which perhaps gives us a clue to the conception of +smallness in size of the shades of the dead. Again, the belief that the +soul lives near the resting-place of its body is widespread, and at least +comparable with, if not equivalent to, the idea that the little people of +Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, and India live in the sepulchral mounds or +cromlechs of those countries. Closely connected with this is the idea of +the underground world, peopled by the souls of the departed like the +Abapansi, the widespread nature of which idea is shown by Dr. Tylor. "To +take one example, in which the more limited idea seems to have preceded +the more extensive, the Finns,[E] who feared the ghost of the departed as +unkind, harmful beings, fancied them dwelling with their bodies in the +grave, or else, with what Castrén thinks a later philosophy, assigned them +their dwelling in the subterranean Tuonela. Tuonela was like this upper +earth; the sun shone there, there was no lack of land and water, wood and +field, tilth and meadow; there were bears and wolves, snakes and pike, but +all things were of a hurtful, dismal kind; the woods dark and swarming +with wild beasts, the water black, the cornfields bearing seed of snake's +teeth; and there stern, pitiless old Tuoni, and his grim wife and son, +with the hooked fingers with iron points, kept watch and ward over the +dead lest they should escape." + +[Footnote A: _Primitive Culture_, i. 388.] + +[Footnote B: _Religious System of the Amazulu_, p. 226.] + +[Footnote C: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 227.] + +[Footnote D: Tylor, _ut supra_, i. 431.] + +[Footnote E: Tylor, _ut supra_, ii. 80.] + +It is impossible not to see a connection between such conceptions as these +and the underground habitations of the little people entered by the green +mound which covered the bones of the dead. But the underground world was +not only associated with the shades of the departed; it was in many parts +of the world the place whence races had their origin, and here also we +meet in at least one instance known to me with the conception of a little +folk. A very widespread legend in Europe, and especially in Scandinavia, +according to Dr. Nansen, tells how the underground or invisible people +came into existence. "The Lord one day paid a visit to Eve as she was busy +washing her children. All those who were not yet washed she hurriedly hid +in cellars and corners and under big vessels, and presented the others to +the Visitor. The Lord asked if these were all, and she answered 'Yes;' +whereupon He replied, 'Then those which are _dulde_ (hidden) shall remain +_hulde_ (concealed, invisible). And from them the huldre-folk are +sprung."[A] There is also the widespread story of an origin underground, +as amongst the Wasabe, a sub-gens of the Omahas, who believe that their +ancestors were made under the earth and subsequently came to the +surface.[B] There is a similar story amongst the Z[=u]nis of Western New +Mexico. In journeying to their present place of habitation, they passed +through four worlds, all in the interior of this, the passage way from +darkness to light being through a large reed. From the inner world they +were led by the two little war-gods, Ah-ai-[=u]-ta and M[=a]-[=a]-s[=e]-we, +twin brothers, sons of the Sun, who were sent by the Sun to bring this +people to his presence.[C] From these stories it would appear that the +underground world, whether looked upon as the habitation of the dead or +the place of origination of nations, is connected with the conception of +little races and people. That it is thus responsible for some portion of +the conception of fairies seems to me to be more than probable. + +[Footnote A: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 262.] + +[Footnote B: Dorset, _Omaha Sociology. American Bureau of Ethnology_, iii. +211.] + +[Footnote C: Stevenson, _Religious Life of Zuni Child. American Bureau of +Ethnology_, v. 539.] + +It is hardly necessary to allude to those spirits which animistic ideas +have attached amongst other objects and places, to trees and wells. They +are fully dealt with in Dr. Tylor's pages, and must not be forgotten in +connection with the present question. + +To sum up, then, it appears as if the idea, so widely diffused, of little, +invisible, or only sometimes visible, people, is of the most complex +nature. From the darkness which shrouds it, however, it is possible to +discern some rays of light. That the souls of the departed, and the +underground world which they inhabit, are largely responsible for it, is, +I hope, rendered probable by the facts which I have brought forward. That +animistic ideas have played an important part in the evolution of the idea +of fairy peoples, is not open to doubt. That to these conceptions were +superadded many features really derived from the actions of aboriginal +races hiding before the destroying might of their invaders, and this not +merely in these islands, but in many parts of the world, has been, I +think, demonstrated by the labours of the gentleman whose theory I have so +often alluded to. But the point upon which it is desired to lay stress is +that the features derived from aboriginal races are only one amongst many +sources. Possibly they play an important part, but scarcely, I think, one +so important as Mr. MacRitchie would have us believe. + + + + +A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY + +Concerning the PYGMIES, THE CYNOCEPHALI, THE SATYRS and SPHINGES OF THE +ANCIENTS, + +Wherein it will appear that they were all either APES or MONKEYS; and not +MEN, as formerly pretended. + +By Edward Tyson M.D. + + + + +A Philological Essay Concerning the PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS. + + +Having had the Opportunity of Dissecting this remarkable Creature, which +not only in the _outward shape_ of the Body, but likewise in the structure +of many of the Inward Parts, so nearly resembles a Man, as plainly appears +by the _Anatomy_ I have here given of it, it suggested the Thought to me, +whether this sort of _Animal_, might not give the Foundation to the +Stories of the _Pygmies_ and afford an occasion not only to the _Poets_, +but _Historians_ too, of inventing the many Fables and wonderful and merry +Relations, that are transmitted down to us concerning them? I must +confess, I could never before entertain any other Opinion about them, but +that the whole was a _Fiction_: and as the first Account we have of them, +was from a _Poet_, so that they were only a Creature of the Brain, +produced by a warm and wanton Imagination, and that they never had any +Existence or Habitation elsewhere. + +In this Opinion I was the more confirmed, because the most diligent +Enquiries of late into all the Parts of the inhabited World, could never +discover any such _Puny_ diminutive _Race_ of _Mankind_. That they should +be totally destroyed by the _Cranes_, their Enemies, and not a Straggler +here and there left remaining, was a Fate, that even those _Animals_ that +are constantly preyed upon by others, never undergo. Nothing therefore +appeared to me more Fabulous and Romantick, than their _History_, and the +Relations about them, that _Antiquity_ has delivered to us. And not only +_Strabo_ of old, but our greatest Men of Learning of late, have wholly +exploded them, as a mere _figment_; invented only to amuse, and divert the +Reader with the Comical Narration of their Atchievements, believing that +there were never any such Creatures in Nature. + +This opinion had so fully obtained with me, that I never thought it worth +the Enquiry, how they came to invent such Extravagant Stories: Nor should +I now, but upon the Occasion of Dissecting this _Animal_: For observing +that 'tis call'd even to this day in the _Indian_ or _Malabar_ Language, +_Orang-Outang_, i.e. a _Man_ of the _Woods_, or _Wild-men_; and being +brought from _Africa_, that part of the World, where the _Pygmies_ are +said to inhabit; and it's present _Stature_ likewise tallying so well with +that of the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients; these Considerations put me upon +the search, to inform my self farther about them, and to examine, whether +I could meet with any thing that might illustrate their _History_. For I +thought it strange, that if the whole was but a meer Fiction, that so many +succeeding Generations should be so fond of preserving a _Story_, that had +no Foundation at all in Nature; and that the _Ancients_ should trouble +themselves so much about them. If therefore I can make out in this +_Essay_, that there were such _Animals_ as _Pygmies_; and that they were +not a _Race_ of _Men_, but _Apes_; and can discover the _Authors_, who +have forged all, or most of the idle Stories concerning them; and shew how +the Cheat in after Ages has been carried on, by embalming the Bodies of +_Apes_, then exposing them for the _Men_ of the Country, from whence they +brought them: If I can do this, I shall think my time not wholly lost, nor +the trouble altogether useless, that I have had in this Enquiry. + +My Design is not to justifie all the Relations that have been given of +this _Animal_, even by Authors of reputed Credit; but, as far as I can, to +distinguish Truth from Fable; and herein, if what I assert amounts to a +Probability, 'tis all I pretend to. I shall accordingly endeavour to make +it appear, that not only the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients, but also the +_Cynocephali_, and _Satyrs_ and _Sphinges_ were only _Apes_ or _Monkeys_, +not _Men_, as they have been represented. But the Story of the _Pygmies_ +being the greatest Imposture, I shall chiefly concern my self about them, +and shall be more concise on the others, since they will not need so +strict an Examination. + +We will begin with the Poet _Homer_, who is generally owned as the first +Inventor of the Fable of the _Pygmies_, if it be a Fable, and not a true +Story, as I believe will appear in the Account I shall give of them. Now +_Homer_ only mentions them in a _Simile_, wherein he compares the Shouts +that the _Trojans_ made, when they were going to joyn Battle with the +_Græcians_, to the great Noise of the _Cranes_, going to fight the +_Pygmies_: he saith,[A] + +[Greek: Ai t' epei oun cheimona phygon, kai athesphaton ombron +Klangae tai ge petontai ep' okeanoio rhoaon +'Andrasi pygmaioisi phonon kai kaera pherousai.] i.e. + +_Quæ simul ac fugere Imbres, Hyememque Nivalem +Cum magno Oceani clangore ferantur ad undas +Pygmæis pugnamque Viris, cædesque ferentes._ + +[Footnote A: _Homer. Iliad_. lib. 3. ver. 4.] + +Or as _Helius Eobanus Hessus_ paraphrases the whole.[A] + +_Postquam sub Ducibus digesta per agmina stabant +Quæque fuis, Equitum turmæ, Peditumque Cohortes, +Obvia torquentes Danais vestigia Troës +Ibant, sublato Campum clamore replentes: +Non secus ac cuneata Gruum sublime volantum +Agmina, dum fugiunt Imbres, ac frigora Brumæ, +Per Coelum matutino clangore feruntur, +Oceanumque petunt, mortem exitiumque cruentum +Irrita Pigmæis moturis arma ferentes._ + +[Footnote A: _Homeri Ilias Latino Carmine reddita ab Helio Eobano Hesso_.] + +By [Greek: andrasi pygmaioisi] therefore, which is the Passage upon which +they have grounded all their fabulous Relations of the _Pygmies_, why may +not _Homer_ mean only _Pygmies_ or _Apes_ like _Men_. Such an Expression +is very allowable in a _Poet_, and is elegant and significant, especially +since there is so good a Foundation in Nature for him to use it, as we +have already seen, in the _Anatomy of the Orang-Outang_. Nor is a _Poet_ +tied to that strictness of Expression, as an _Historian_ or _Philosopher_; +he has the liberty of pleasing the Reader's Phancy, by Pictures and +Representations of his own. If there be a becoming likeness, 'tis all that +he is accountable for. I might therefore here make the same _Apology_ for +him, as _Strabo_[A] do's on another account for his _Geography_, [Greek: +ou gar kat' agnoian ton topikon legetai, all' haedonaes kai terpseos +charin]. That he said it, not thro' Ignorance, but to please and delight: +Or, as in another place he expresses himself,[B] [Greek: ou gar kat' +agnoian taes istorias hypolaepteon genesthai touto, alla tragodias +charin]. _Homer_ did not make this slip thro' Ignorance of the true +_History_, but for the Beauty of his _Poem_. So that tho' he calls them +_Men Pygmies_, yet he may mean no more by it, than that they were like +_Men_. As to his Purpose, 'twill serve altogether as well, whether this +bloody Battle be fought between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmæan Men_, or the +_Cranes_ and _Apes_, which from their Stature he calls _Pygmies_, and from +their shape _Men_; provided that when the _Cranes_ go to engage, they make +a mighty terrible noise, and clang enough to fright these little _Wights_ +their mortal Enemies. To have called them only _Apes_, had been flat and +low, and lessened the grandieur of the Battle. But this _Periphrasis_ of +them, [Greek: andres pygmaioi], raises the Reader's Phancy, and surprises +him, and is more becoming the Language of an Heroic Poem. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 1. p.m. 25.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo_ ibid. p.m. 30.] + +But how came the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_ to fall out? What may be the Cause +of this Mortal Feud, and constant War between them? For _Brutes_, like +_Men_, don't war upon one another, to raise and encrease their Glory, or +to enlarge their Empire. Unless I can acquit my self herein, and assign +some probable Cause hereof, I may incur the same Censure as _Strabo_[A] +passed on several of the _Indian Historians_, [Greek: enekainisan de kai +taen 'Omaerikaen ton Pygmaion geranomachin trispithameis eipontes], for +reviewing the _Homerical_ Fight of the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, which he +looks upon only as a fiction of the Poet. But this had been very +unbecoming _Homer_ to take a _Simile_ (which is designed for illustration) +from what had no Foundation in Nature. His _Betrachomyomachia_, 'tis true, +was a meer Invention, and never otherwise esteemed: But his _Geranomachia_ +hath all the likelyhood of a true Story. And therefore I shall enquire now +what may be the just Occasion of this Quarrel. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 2. p.m. 48.] + +_Athenæus_[A] out of _Philochorus_, and so likewise _Ælian_[B], tell us a +Story, That in the Nation of the _Pygmies_ the Male-line failing, one +_Gerana_ was the Queen; a Woman of an admired Beauty, and whom the +Citizens worshipped as a Goddess; but she became so vain and proud, as to +prefer her own, before the Beauty of all the other Goddesses, at which +they grew enraged; and to punish her for her Insolence, Athenæus tells us +that it was _Diana_, but _Ælian_ saith 'twas _Juno_ that transformed her +into a _Crane_, and made her an Enemy to the _Pygmies_ that worshipped her +before. But since they are not agreed which Goddess 'twas, I shall let +this pass. + +[Footnote A: _Athenæi Deipnosoph_. lib. 9 p.m. 393.] + +[Footnote B: _Ælian. Hist. Animal_. lib. 15. cap. 29.] + +_Pomponius Mela_ will have it, and I think some others, that these cruel +Engagements use to happen, upon the _Cranes_ coming to devour the _Corn_ +the _Pygmies_ had sowed; and that at last they became so victorious, as +not only to destroy their Corn, but them also: For he tells us,[A] _Fuere +interiùs Pygmæi, minutum genus, & quod pro satis frugibus contra Grues +dimicando, defecit._ This may seem a reasonable Cause of a Quarrel; but it +not being certain that the _Pygmies_ used to sow _Corn_, I will not insist +on this neither. + +[Footnote A: _Pomp. Mela de situ Orbis_, lib. 3. cap. 8.] + +Now what seems most likely to me, is the account that _Pliny_ out of +_Megasthenes_, and _Strabo_ from _Onesicritus_ give us; and, provided I be +not obliged to believe or justifie _all_ that they say, I could rest +satisfied in great part of their Relation: For _Pliny_[B] tells us, _Veris +tempore universo agmine ad mare descendere, & Ova, Pullosque earum Alitum +consumere_: That in the Spring-time the whole drove of the _Pygmies_ go +down to the Sea side, to devour the _Cranes_ Eggs and their young Ones. So +likewise _Onesicritus_,[B] [Greek: Pros de tous trispithamous polemon +einai tais Geranois (hon kai Homaeron daeloun) kai tois Perdixin, ous +chaenomegetheis einai; toutous d' eklegein auton ta oa, kai phtheirein; +ekei gar ootokein tas Geranous; dioper maedamou maed' oa euriskesthai +Geranon, maet' oun neottia;] i.e. _That there is a fight between the_ +Pygmies _and the_ Cranes (_as_ Homer _relates_) _and the_ Partridges +_which are as big as_ Geese; _for these_ Pygmies _gather up their Eggs, +and destroy them; the_ Cranes _laying their Eggs there; and neither their +Eggs, nor their Nests, being to be found any where else_. 'Tis plain +therefore from them, that the Quarrel is not out of any _Antipathy_ the +_Pygmies_ have to the _Cranes_, but out of love to their own Bellies. But +the _Cranes_ finding their Nests to be robb'd, and their young Ones prey'd +on by these Invaders, no wonder that they should so sharply engage them; +and the least they could do, was to fight to the utmost so mortal an +Enemy. Hence, no doubt, many a bloody Battle happens, with various success +to the Combatants; sometimes with great slaughter of the _long-necked +Squadron_; sometimes with great effusion of _Pygmæan_ blood. And this may +well enough, in a _Poet's_ phancy, be magnified, and represented as a +dreadful War; and no doubt of it, were one a _Spectator_ of it, 'twould be +diverting enough. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij. Hist. Nat._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 13.] + +[Footnote B: _Strab. Geograph_. lib. 15. pag. 489.] + + -----_Si videas hoc + Gentibus in nostris, risu quatiere: sed illic, + Quanquam eadem assiduè spectantur Prælia, ridet + Nemo, ubi tota cohors pede non est altior uno_.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Juvenal. Satyr_. 13 vers. 170.] + +This Account therefore of these Campaigns renewed every year on this +Provocation between the _Cranes_ and the _Pygmies_, contains nothing but +what a cautious Man may believe; and _Homer's Simile_ in likening the +great shouts of the _Trojans_ to the Noise of the _Cranes_, and the +Silence of the _Greeks_ to that of the _Pygmies_, is very admirable and +delightful. For _Aristotle_[B] tells us, That the _Cranes_, to avoid the +hardships of the Winter, take a Flight out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ +about the _Nile_, where the _Pygmies_ live, and where 'tis very likely the +_Cranes_ may lay their Eggs and breed, before they return. But these rude +_Pygmies_ making too bold with them, what could the _Cranes_ do less for +preserving their Off-spring than fight them; or at least by their mighty +Noise, make a shew as if they would. This is but what we may observe in +all other Birds. And thus far I think our _Geranomachia_ or _Pygmæomachia_ +looks like a true Story; and there is nothing in _Homer_ about it, but +what is credible. He only expresses himself, as a _Poet_ should do; and if +Readers will mistake his meaning, 'tis not his fault. + +[Footnote B: _Aristotle. Hist. Animal_. lib. 8. cap. 15. Edit. Scalig.] + +'Tis not therefore the _Poet_ that is to be blamed, tho' they would father +it all on him; but the fabulous _Historians_ in after Ages, who have so +odly drest up this Story by their fantastical Inventions, that there is no +knowing the truth, till one hath pull'd off those Masks and Visages, +wherewith they have disguised it. For tho' I can believe _Homer_, that +there is a fight between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, yet I think I am no +ways obliged to imagine, that when the _Pygmies_ go to these Campaigns to +fight the _Cranes_, that they ride upon _Partridges_, as _Athenæas_ from +_Basilis_ an _Indian Historian_ tells us; for, saith he,[A] [Greek: +Basilis de en toi deuteroi ton Indikon, oi mikroi, phaesin, andres oi tais +Geranois diapolemountes Perdixin ochaemati chrontai;]. For presently +afterwards he tells us from _Menecles_, that the _Pygmies_ not only fight +the _Cranes_, but the _Partridges_ too, [Greek: Meneklaes de en protae +taes synagogaes oi pygmaioi, phaesi, tois perdixi, kai tais Geranois +polemousi]. This I could more readily agree to, because _Onesicritus_, as +I have quoted him already confirms it; and gives us the same reason for +this as for fighting the _Cranes_, because they rob their Nests. But +whether these _Partridges_ are as big as _Geese_, I leave as a _Quære_. + +[Footnote A: _Athenæi Deipnesoph_. lib. p. 9. m. 390.] + +_Megasthenes_ methinks in _Pliny_ mounts the _Pygmies_ for this expedition +much better, for he sets them not on a _Pegasus_ or _Partridges_, but on +_Rams_ and _Goats_: _Fama est_ (saith _Pliny[A]) insedentes Arietum +Caprarumque dorsis, armatis sagittis, veris tempore universo agmine ad +mare descendere_. And _Onesicritus_ in Strabo tells us, That a _Crane_ has +been often observed to fly from those parts with a brass Sword fixt in +him, [Greek: pleistakis d' ekpiptein geranon chalkaen echousan akida apo +ton ekeithen plaegmaton.][B] But whether the _Pygmies_ do wear Swords, may +be doubted. 'Tis true, _Ctesias_ tells us,[C] That the _King_ of _India_ +every fifth year sends fifty Thousand Swords, besides abundance of other +Weapons, to the Nation of the _Cynocephali_, (a fort of _Monkeys_, as I +shall shew) that live in those Countreys, but higher up in the Mountains: +But he makes no mention of any such Presents to the poor _Pygmies_; tho' +he assures us, that no less than three Thousand of these _Pygmies_ are the +_Kings_ constant Guards: But withal tells us, that they are excellent +_Archers_, and so perhaps by dispatching their Enemies at a distance, they +may have no need of such Weapons to lye dangling by their sides. I may +therefore be mistaken in rendering [Greek: akida] a Sword; it may be any +other sharp pointed Instrument or Weapon, and upon second Thoughts, shall +suppose it a sort of Arrow these cunning _Archers_ use in these +Engagements. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p. 13.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 15. p. 489.] + +[Footnote C: _Vide Photij. Biblioth._] + +These, and a hundred such ridiculous _Fables_, have the _Historians_ +invented of the _Pygmies_, that I can't but be of _Strabo_'s mind,[A] +[Greek: Rhadion d' an tis Haesiodio, kai Homaeroi pisteuseien +haeroologousi, kai tois tragikois poiaetais, hae Ktaesiai te kai +Haerodotoi, kai Hellanikoi, kai allois toioutois;] i.e. _That one may +sooner believe_ Hesiod, _and_ Homer, _and the_ Tragick Poets _speaking of +their_ Hero's, _than_ Ctesias _and_ Herodotus _and_ Hellanicus _and such +like_. So ill an Opinion had _Strabo_ of the _Indian Historians_ in +general, that he censures them _all_ as fabulous;[B] [Greek: Hapantes men +toinun hoi peri taes Indikaes grapsantes hos epi to poly pseudologoi +gegonasi kath' hyperbolaen de Daeimachos; ta de deutera legei +Megasthenaes, Onaesikritos te kai Nearchos, kai alloi toioutoi;] i.e. _All +who have wrote of_ India _for the most part, are fabulous, but in the +highest degree_ Daimachus; _then_ Megasthenes, Onesicritus, _and_ +Nearchus, _and such like_. And as if it had been their greatest Ambition +to excel herein, _Strabo_[C] brings in _Theopompus_, as bragging, [Greek: +Hoti kai mythous en tais Historiais erei kreitton, ae hos Haerodotos, kai +Ktaesias, kai Hellanikos, kai hoi ta Hindika syngrapsantes;] _That he +could foist in Fables into History, better than_ Herodotus _and_ Ctesias +_and_ Hellanicus, _and all that have wrote of_ India. The _Satyrist_ +therefore had reason to say, + + -----_Et quicquid Græcia mendax + Audet in Historia._[D] + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 11. p.m. 350.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 2. p.m. 48.] + +[Footnote C: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 1 p.m. 29.] + +[Footnote D: _Juvenal._ _Satyr._ X. _vers._ 174.] + +_Aristotle_,[A] 'tis true, tells us, [Greek: Holos de ta men agria +agriotera en tae Asia, andreiotera de panta ta en taei Europaei, +polymorphotata de ta en taei libyaei; kai legetai de tis paroimia, hoti +aei pherei ti libyae kainon;] i.e. _That generally the Beasts are wilder +in_ Asia, _stronger in_ Europe, _and of greater variety of shapes in_ +Africa; _for as the_ Proverb _saith_, Africa _always produces something +new_. _Pliny_[B] indeed ascribes it to the Heat of the _Climate, +Animalium, Hominumque effigies monstriferas, circa extremitates ejus +gigni, minimè mirum, artifici ad formanda Corpora, effigiesque cælandas +mobilitate igneâ_. But _Nature_ never formed a whole _Species_ of +_Monsters_; and 'tis not the _heat_ of the Country, but the warm and +fertile Imagination of these _Historians_, that has been more productive +of them, than _Africa_ it self; as will farther appear by what I shall +produce out of them, and particularly from the Relation that _Ctesias_ +makes of the _Pygmies_. + +[Footnote A: _Aristotle Hist. Animal_, lib. 8. cap. 28.] + +[Footnote B: _Plin. Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.] + +I am the more willing to instance in _Ctesias_, because he tells his Story +roundly; he no ways minces it; his Invention is strong and fruitful; and +that you may not in the least mistrust him, he pawns his word, that all +that he writes, is certainly true: And so successful he has been, how +Romantick soever his Stories may appear, that they have been handed down +to us by a great many other Authors, and of Note too; tho' some at the +same time have looked upon them as mere Fables. So that for the present, +till I am better informed, and I am not over curious in it, I shall make +_Ctesias_, and the other _Indian Historians_, the _Inventors_ of the +extravagant Relations we at present have of the _Pygmies_, and not old +_Homer_. He calls them, 'tis true, from something of Resemblance of their +shape, [Greek: andres]: But these _Historians_ make them to speak the +_Indian Language_; to use the same _Laws_; and to be so considerable a +Nation, and so valiant, as that the _King_ of _India_ makes choice of them +for his _Corps de Guards_; which utterly spoils _Homer's Simile_, in +making them so little, as only to fight _Cranes_. + +_Ctesias_'s Account therefore of the _Pygmies_ (as I find it in +_Photius_'s _Bibliotheca_,[A] and at the latter end of some Editions of +_Herodotus_) is this: + +[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec. Cod._ 72. p.m. 145.] + +[Greek: Hoti en mesae tae Indikae anthropoi eisi melanes, kai kalountai +pygmaioi, tois allois homoglossoi Indois. mikroi de eisi lian; hoi +makrotatoi auton paecheon duo, hoi de pleistoi, henos haemiseos paecheos, +komaen de echousi makrotataen, mechri kai hepi ta gonata, kai eti +katoteron, kai pogona megiston panton anthropon; epeidan oun ton pogona +mega physosin, ouketi amphiennyntai ouden emation: alla tas trichas, tas +men ek taes kephalaes, opisthen kathientai poly kato ton gonaton; tas de +ek tou po gonos, emprosthen mechri podon elkomenas. Hepeita +peripykasamenoi tas trichas peri apan to soma, zonnyntai, chromenoi autais +anti himatiou, aidoion de mega echousin, hoste psauein ton sphyron auton, +kai pachy. autoite simoi te kai aischroi. ta de probata auton, hos andres. +kai hai boes kai hoi onoi, schedon hoson krioi? kai hoi hippoi auton kai +hoi aemionoi, kai ta alla panta zoa, ouden maezo krion; hepontai de toi +basilei ton Indon, touton ton pygmaion andres trischilioi. sphodra gar +eisi toxotai; dikaiotatoi de eisi kai nomoisi chrontai osper kai hoi +Indoi. Dagoous te kai alopekas thaereuousin, ou tois kysin, alla koraxi +kai iktisi kai koronais kai aetois.] + +_Narrat præter ista, in media India homines reperiri nigros, qui Pygmæi +appellentur. Eadem hos, qua Inda reliqui, lingua uti, sed valde esse +parvos, ut maximi duorum cubitorum, & plerique unius duntaxat cubiti cum +dimidio altitudinem non excedant. Comam alere longissimam, ad ipsa usque +genua demissam, atque etiam infra, cum barba longiore, quàm, apud ullos +hominum. Quæ quidem ubi illis promissior esse cæperit, nulla deinceps +veste uti: sed capillos multò infra genua à tergo demissos, barbámque +præter pectus ad pedes usque defluentem, per totum corpus in orbem +constipare & cingere, atque ita pilos ipsis suos vestimenti loco esse. +Veretrum illis esse crassum ac longum, quod ad ipsos quoque pedum +malleolos pertingat. Pygmeos hosce simis esse naribus, & deformes. Ipsorum +item oves agnorem nostrotum instar esse; boves & asinos, arietum fere +magnitudine, equos item multosque & cætera jumenta omnia nihilo esse +nostris arietibus majora. Tria horum Pygmæorum millia Indorum regem in suo +comitatu habere, quod sagittarij sint peritissimi. Summos esse justitiæ +cultores iisdemque quibus Indi reliqui, legibus parere. Venari quoque +lepores vulpesque, non canibus, sed corvis, milvis, cornicibus, aquilis +adhibitis._ + +In the middle of _India_ (saith _Ctesias_) there are black Men, they are +call'd _Pygmies_, using the same Language, as the other _Indians_; they +are very little, the tallest of them being but two Cubits, and most of +them but a Cubit and a half high. They have very long hair, reaching down +to their Knees and lower; and a Beard larger than any Man's. After their +Beards are grown long, they wear no Cloaths, but the Hair of their Head +falls behind a great deal below their Hams; and that of their Beards +before comes down to their Feet: then laying their Hair thick all about +their Body, they afterwards gird themselves, making use of their Hair for +Cloaths. They have a _Penis_ so long, that it reaches to the Ancle, and +the thickness is proportionable. They are flat nosed and ill favoured. +Their Sheep are like Lambs; and their Oxen and Asses scarce as big as Rams; +and their Horses and Mules, and all their other Cattle not bigger. Three +thousand Men of these _Pygmies_ do attend the _King_ of _India_. They are +good _Archers_; they are very just, and use the same _Laws_ as the +_Indians_ do. They kill Hares and Foxes, not with Dogs, but with Ravens, +Kites, Crows, and Eagles.' + +Well, if they are so good Sports-men, as to kill Hares and Foxes with +Ravens, Kites, Crows and Eagles, I can't see how I can bring off _Homer_, +for making them fight the _Cranes_ themselves. Why did they not fly their +_Eagles_ against them? these would make greater Slaughter and Execution, +without hazarding themselves. The only excuse I have is, that _Homer_'s +_Pygmies_ were real _Apes_ like _Men_; but those of _Ctesias_ were neither +_Men_ nor _Pygmies_; only a Creature begot in his own Brain, and to be +found no where else. + +_Ctesias_ was Physician to _Artaxerxes Mnemon_ as _Diodorus Siculus_[A] +and _Strabo_[B] inform us. He was contemporary with _Xenophon_, a little +later than _Herodotus_; and _Helvicus_ in his _Chronology_ places him +three hundred eighty three years before _Christ_: He is an ancient Author, +'tis true, and it may be upon that score valued by some. We are beholden +to him, not only for his Improvements on the Story of the _Pygmies_, but +for his Remarks likewise on several other parts of _Natural History_; +which for the most part are all of the same stamp, very wonderful and +incredible; as his _Mantichora_, his _Gryphins_, the _horrible Indian +Worm_, a Fountain of _Liquid Gold_, a Fountain of _Honey_, a Fountain +whose Water will make a Man confess all that ever he did, a Root he calls +[Greek: paraebon], that will attract Lambs and Birds, as the Loadstone +does filings of Steel; and a great many other Wonders he tells us: all of +which are copied from him by _Ælian, Pliny, Solinus, Mela, Philostratus_, +and others. And _Photius_ concludes _Ctesias_'s Account of _India_ with +this passage; [Greek: Tauta graphon kai mythologon Ktaesias. legei t' +alaethestata graphein; epagon hos ta men autos idon graphei, ta de par +auton mathon ton eidoton. polla de touton kai alla thaumasiotera +paralipein, dia to mae doxai tois mae tauta theasamenois apista +syngraphein;] i.e. _These things_ (saith he) Ctesias _writes and feigns, +but he himself says all he has wrote is very true. Adding, that some +things which he describes, he had seen himself; and the others he had +learn'd from those that had seen them: That he had omitted a great many +other things more wonderful, because he would not seem to those that have +not seen them, to write incredibilities_. But notwithstanding all this, +_Lucian_[C] will not believe a word he saith; for he tells us that +_Ctesias_ has wrote of _India_, [Greek: A maete autos eide, maete allou +eipontos aekousen], _What he neither saw himself, nor ever heard from any +Body else._ And _Aristotle_ tells us plainly, he is not fit to be believed: +[Greek: En de taei Indikaei hos phaesi Ktaesias, ouk on axiopistos.][D] +And the same opinion _A. Gellius_[E] seems to have of him, as he had +likewise of several other old _Greek Historians_ which happened to fall +into his hands at _Brundusium_, in his return from _Greece_ into _Italy_; +he gives this Character of them and their performance: _Erant autem isti +omnes libri Græci, miraculorum fabularumque pleni: res inauditæ, +incredulæ, Scriptores veteres non parvæ authoritatis_, Aristeas +Proconnesius, & Isagonus, & Nicæensis, & Ctesias, & Onesicritus, & +Polystephanus, & Hegesias. Not that I think all that _Ctesias_ has wrote +is fabulous; For tho' I cannot believe his _speaking Pygmies_, yet what he +writes of the _Bird_ he calls [Greek: Bittakos], that it would speak +_Greek_ and the _Indian Language_, no doubt is very true; and as _H. +Stephens_[F] observes in his Apology for _Ctesias_, such a Relation would +seem very surprising to one, that had never seen nor heard of a _Parrot_. + +[Footnote A: _Diodor. Siculi Bibliothec_. lib. 2. p.m. 118.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 14. p. 451.] + +[Footnote C: _Lucian_ lib 1. _veræ Histor_. p.m. 373.] + +[Footnote D: _Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 28.] + +[Footnote E: _A. Gellij. Noctes. Attic._ lib. 9. cap. 4.] + +[Footnote F: _Henr. Stephani de Ctesia Historico antiquissimo disquisitio, +ad finem Herodoti._] + +But this Story of _Ctesias_'s _speaking Pygmies_, seems to be confirm'd by +the Account that _Nonnosus_, the Emperour _Justinian_'s Ambassador into +_Æthiopia_, gives of his Travels. I will transcribe the Passage, as I find +it in _Photius_,[A] and 'tis as follows: + +[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec._ cod. 3. p.m. 7.] + +[Greek: Hoti apo taes pharsan pleonti toi Nonnosoi, epi taen eschataen ton +naeson kataentaekoti toion de ti synebae, thauma kai akousai. enetuche gar +tisi morphaen men kai idean echousin anthropinaen, brachytatois de to +megethos, kai melasi taen chroan. hypo de trichon dedasysmenois dia pantos +tou somatos. heiponto de tois andrasi kai gynaikes paraplaesiai kai +paidaria eti brachytera, ton par autois andron. gymnoi de aesan hapantes; +plaen dermati tini mikroi taen aido periekalypron, hoi probebaekotes +homoios andres te kai gynaikes. agrion de ouden eped eiknynto oude +anaemeron; alla kai phonaen eichon men anthropinaen, agnoston de pantapasi +taen dialekton tois te perioikois hapasi, kai polloi pleon tois peri taen +Nonnoson, diezon de ek thalattion ostreion, kai ichthyon, ton apo taes +thalassaes eis taen naeson aporrhiptomenon; tharsos de eichon ouden. alla +kai horontes tous kath' haemas anthropous hypeptaesan, hosper haemeis ta +meiso ton thaerion.] + +_Naviganti à Pharsa Nonoso, & ad extremam usque insularum delato, tale +quid occurrit, vel ipso auditu admirandum. Incidit enim in quosdam forma +quidem & figura humana, sed brevissimos, & cutem nigros, totúmque pilosos +corpus. Sequebantur viros æquales foeminæ, & pueri adhuc breviores. Nudi +omnes agunt, pelle tantum brevi adultiores verenda tecti, viri pariter ac +foeminæ: agreste nihil, neque efferum quid præ se ferentes. Quin & vox +illis humana, sed omnibus, etiam accolis, prorsus ignota lingua, multoque +amplius Nonosi sociis. Vivunt marinis ostreis, & piscibus è mari ad +insulam projectis. Audaces minime sunt, ut nostris conspectis hominibus, +quemadmodum nos visa ingenti fera, metu perculsi fuerint._ + +'That _Nonnosus_ sailing from _Pharsa_, when he came to the farthermost of +the Islands, a thing, very strange to be heard of, happened to him; for he +lighted on some (_Animals_) in shape and appearance like _Men_, but little +of stature, and of a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over +their Bodies. The Women, who were of the same stature, followed the Men: +They were all naked, only the Elder of them, both Men and Women, covered +their Privy Parts with a small Skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; +they had a Humane Voice, but their _Dialect_ was altogether unknown to +every Body that lived about them; much more to those that were with +_Nonnosus_. They liv'd upon Sea Oysters, and Fish that were cast out of +the Sea, upon the Island. They had no Courage; for seeing our Men, they +were frighted, as we are at the sight of the greatest wild Beast.' + +[Greek: _phonaen eichon men anthropinaen_] I render here, _they had a +Humane Voice_, not _Speech_: for had they spoke any Language, tho' their +_Dialect_ might be somewhat different, yet no doubt but some of the +Neighbourhood would have understood something of it, and not have been +such utter Strangers to it. Now 'twas observed of the _Orang-Outang_, that +it's _Voice_ was like the Humane, and it would make a Noise like a Child, +but never was observed to speak, tho' it had the _Organs_ of _Speech_ +exactly formed as they are in _Man_; and no Account that ever has been +given of this Animal do's pretend that ever it did. I should rather agree +to what _Pliny_[A] mentions, _Quibusdam pro Sermone nutus motusque +Membrorum est_; and that they had no more a Speech than _Ctesias_ his +_Cynocephali_ which could only bark, as the same _Pliny_[B] remarks; where +he saith, _In multis autem Montibus Genus Hominum Capitibus Caninis, +ferarum pellibus velari, pro voce latratum edere, unguibus armatum venatu +& Aucupio vesci, horum supra Centum viginti Millia fuisse prodente se +Ctesias scribit._ But in _Photius_ I find, that _Ctesias's Cynocephali_ +did speak the _Indian Language_ as well as the _Pygmies_. Those therefore +in _Nonnosus_ since they did not speak the _Indian_, I doubt, spoke no +_Language_ at all; or at least, no more than other _Brutes_ do. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.] + +[Footnote B: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 11.] + +_Ctesias_ I find is the only Author that ever understood what Language +'twas that the _Pygmies_ spake: For _Herodotus_[A] owns that they use a +sort of Tongue like to no other, but screech like _Bats_. He saith, [Greek: +Hoi Garamantes outoi tous troglodytas Aithiopas thaereuousi toisi +tetrippoisi. Hoi gar Troglodytai aithiopes podas tachistoi anthropon +panton eisi, ton hymeis peri logous apopheromenous akouomen. Siteontai de +hoi Troglodytai ophis, kai Saurous, kai ta toiauta ton Herpeton. Glossan +de oudemiaei allaei paromoiaen nenomikasi, alla tetrygasi kathaper hai +nukterides;] i.e. _These_ Garamantes _hunt the_ Troglodyte Æthiopians _in +Chariots with four Horses. The_ Troglodyte Æthiopians _are the swiftest of +foot of all Men that ever he heard of by any Report. The_ Troglodytes _eat +Serpents and Lizards, and such sort of Reptiles. They use a Language like +to no other Tongue, but screech like Bats._ + +[Footnote A: _Herodot. in Melpomene._ pag. 283.] + +Now that the _Pygmies_ are _Troglodytes_, or do live in Caves, is plain +from _Aristotle_,[A] who saith, [Greek: Troglodytai de' eisi ton bion]. +And so _Philostratus_,[B] [Greek: Tous de pygmaious oikein men +hypogeious]. And methinks _Le Compte_'s Relation concerning the _wild_ or +_savage Man_ in _Borneo_, agrees so well with this, that I shall +transcribe it: for he tells us,[C] _That in_ Borneo _this_ wild _or_ +savage Man _is indued with extraordinary strength; and not withstanding he +walks but upon two Legs, yet he is so swift of foot, that they have much +ado to outrun him. People of Quality course him, as we do Stags here: and +this sort of hunting is the King's usual divertisement._ And _Gassendus_ +in the Life of _Peiresky_, tells us they commonly hunt them too in +_Angola_ in _Africa_, as I have already mentioned. So that very likely +_Herodotus's Troglodyte Æthiopians_ may be no other than our +_Orang-Outang_ or _wild Man_. And the rather, because I fancy their +Language is much the same: for an _Ape_ will chatter, and make a noise +like a _Bat_, as his _Troglodytes_ did: And they undergo to this day the +same Fate of being hunted, as formerly the _Troglodytes_ used to be by the +_Garamantes_. + +[Footnote A: _Arist. Hist. Animal._, lib. 8. cap. 15. p.m. 913.] + +[Footnote B: _Philostrat. in vita Appollon. Tyanæi_, lib. 3. cap. 14. p.m. +152.] + +[Footnote C: _Lewis le Compte_ Memoirs and Observations on _China_, p.m. +510.] + +Whether those [Greek: andras mikrous metrion elassonas andron] which the +_Nasamones_ met with (as _Herodotus_[A] relates) in their Travels to +discover _Libya_, were the _Pygmies_; I will not determine: It seems that +_Nasamones_ neither understood their Language, nor they that of the +_Nasamones_. However, they were so kind to the _Nasamones_ as to be their +Guides along the Lakes, and afterwards brought them to a City, [Greek: en +taei pantas einai toisi agousi to megethos isous, chroma de melanas], i.e. +_in which all were of the same stature with the Guides, and black_. Now +since they were all _little black Men_, and their Language could not be +understood, I do suspect they may be a Colony of the _Pygmies_: And that +they were no farther Guides to the _Nasamones_, than that being frighted +at the sight of them, they ran home, and the _Nasamones_ followed them. + +[Footnote A: _Herodotus in Euterpe_ seu lib. 2. p.m. 102.] + +I do not find therefore any good Authority, unless you will reckon +_Ctesias_ as such, that the _Pygmies_ ever used a Language or Speech, any +more than other _Brutes_ of the same _Species_ do among themselves, and +that we know nothing of, whatever _Democritus_ and _Melampodes_ in +_Pliny_,[A] or _Apollonius Tyanæus_ in _Porphyry_[B] might formerly have +done. Had the _Pygmies_ ever spoke any _Language_ intelligible by Mankind, +this might have furnished our _Historians_ with notable Subjects for their +_Novels_; and no doubt but we should have had plenty of them. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 10. cap. 49.] + +[Footnote B: _Porphyrius de Abstinentia_, lib. 3. pag. m. 103.] + +But _Albertus Magnus_, who was so lucky as to guess that the _Pygmies_ +were a sort of _Apes_; that he should afterwards make these _Apes_ to +_speak_, was very unfortunate, and spoiled all; and he do's it, methinks, +so very awkwardly, that it is as difficult almost to understand his +Language as his _Apes_; if the Reader has a mind to attempt it, he will +find it in the Margin.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Si qui Homines sunt Silvestres, sicut Pygmeus, non secundum +unam rationem nobiscum dicti sunt Homines, sed aliquod habent Hominis in +quadam deliberatione & Loquela, &c._ A little after adds, _Voces quædam +(sc. Animalia) formant ad diversos conceptus quos habent, sicut Homo & +Pygmæus; & quædam non faciunt hoc, sicut multitudo fere tota aliorum +Animalium. Adhuc autem eorum quæ ex ratione cogitativa formant voces, +quædam sunt succumbentia, quædam autem non succumbentia. Dico autem +succumbentia, à conceptu Animæ cadentia & mota ad Naturæ Instinctum, sicut +Pygmeus, qui non, sequitur rationem Loquelæ sed Naturæ Instinctum; Homo +autem non succumbit sed sequitur rationem._ Albert. Magn. de Animal. lib. +1. cap. 3. p.m. 3.] + +Had _Albertus_ only asserted, that the _Pygmies_ were a sort of _Apes_, +his Opinion possibly might have obtained with less difficulty, unless he +could have produced some Body that had heard them talk. But _Ulysses +Aldrovandus_[A] is so far from believing his _Ape Pygmies_ ever spoke, +that he utterly denies, that there were ever any such Creatures in being, +as the _Pygmies_, at all; or that they ever fought the _Cranes_. _Cum +itaque Pygmæos_ (saith he) _dari negemus, Grues etiam cum iis Bellum +gerere, ut fabulantur, negabimus, & tam pertinaciter id negabimus, ut ne +jurantibus credemus._ + +[Footnote A: _Ulys. Aldrovandi Ornitholog._ lib. 20. p.m. 344.] + +I find a great many very Learned Men are of this Opinion: And in the first +place, _Strabo_[A] is very positive; [Greek: Heorakos men gar oudeis +exaegeitai ton pisteos axion andron;] i.e. _No Man worthy of belief did +ever see them_. And upon all occasions he declares the same. So _Julius +Cæsar Scaliger_[B] makes them to be only a Fiction of the Ancients, _At +hæc omnia_ (saith he) _Antiquorum figmenta & meræ Nugæ, si exstarent, +reperirentur. At cum universus Orbis nunc nobis cognitus sit, nullibi hæc +Naturæ Excrementa reperiri certissimum est._ And _Isaac Casaubon_[C] +ridicules such as pretend to justifie them: _Sic nostra ætate_ (saith he) +_non desunt, qui eandem de Pygmæis lepidam fabellam renovent; ut qui etiam +è Sacris Literis, si Deo placet, fidem illis conentur astruere. Legi etiam +Bergei cujusdam Galli Scripta, qui se vidisse diceret. At non ego credulus +illi, illi inquam Omnium Bipedum mendacissimo._ I shall add one Authority +more, and that is of _Adrian Spigelius,_ who produces a Witness that had +examined the very place, where the _Pygmies_ were said to be; yet upon a +diligent enquiry, he could neither find them, nor hear any tidings of +them.[D] _Spigelius_ therefore tells us, _Hoc loco de Pygmæis dicendum +erat, qui [Greek: para pygonos] dicti à statura, quæ ulnam non excedunt. +Verùm ego Poetarum fabulas esse crediderim, pro quibus tamen_ Aristoteles +_minimè haberi vult, sed veram esse Historiam._ 8. Hist. Animal. 12. +_asseverat. Ego quo minùs hoc statuam, tum Authoritate primùm Doctissimi_ +Strabonis I. Geograph. _coactus sum, tum potissimùm nunc moveor, quod +nostro tempore, quo nulla Mundi pars est, quam Nautarum Industria non +perlustrarit, nihil tamen, unquam simile aut visum est, aut auditum. +Accedit quod_ Franciscus Alvarez _Lusitanus, qui ea ipsa loca peragravit, +circa quæ Aristoteles Pygmæos esse scribit, nullibi tamen tam parvam +Gentem à se conspectam tradidit, sed Populum esse Mediocris staturæ, &_ +Æthiopes _tradit._ + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 17. p.m. 565.] + +[Footnote B: _Jul. Cæs. Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. +8. § 126. p.m. 914.] + +[Footnote C: _Isaac Causabon Notæ & Castigat. in_ lib. 1. _Strabonis +Geograph._ p.m. 38.] + +[Footnote D: _Adrian. Spigelij de Corporis Humani fabrica_, lib. 1. cap. +7. p.m. 15.] + +I think my self therefore here obliged to make out, that there were such +Creatures as _Pygmies_, before I determine what they were, since the very +being of them is called in question, and utterly denied by so great Men, +and by others too that might be here produced. Now in the doing this, +_Aristotle_'s Assertion of them is so very positive, that I think there +needs not a greater or better Proof; and it is so remarkable a one, that I +find the very Enemies to this Opinion at a loss, how to shift it off. To +lessen it's Authority they have interpolated the _Text_, by foisting into +the _Translation_ what is not in the Original; or by not translating at +all the most material passage, that makes against them; or by miserably +glossing it, to make him speak what he never intended: Such unfair +dealings plainly argue, that at any rate they are willing to get rid of a +Proof, that otherwise they can neither deny, or answer. + +_Aristotle_'s Text is this, which I shall give with _Theodorus Gaza's_ +Translation: for discoursing of the Migration of Birds, according to the +Season of the Year, from one Country to another, he saith:[A] + +[Footnote A: _Aristotel. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 12.] + +[Greek: Meta men taen phthinoporinaen Isaemerian, ek tou Pontou kaiton +psychron pheugonta ton epionta cheimona; meta de taen earinaen, ek ton +therinon, eis tous topous tous psychrous, phoboumena ta kaumata; ta men, +kai ek ton engus topon poioumena tas metabolas, ta de, kai ek ton eschaton +hos eipein, hoion hai geranoi poiousi. Metaballousi gar ek ton Skythikon +eis ta helae ta ano taes Aigyptou, othen ho Neilos rhei. Esti de ho topos +outos peri on hoi pigmaioi katoikousin; ou gar esti touto mythos, all' +esti kata taen alaetheian. Genos mikron men, hosper legetai, kai autoi kai +hoi hippoi; Troglodytai d' eisi ton bion.] + +_Tam ab Autumnali Æquinoctio ex Ponto, Locisque frigidis fugiunt Hyemem +futuram. A Verno autem ex tepida Regione ad frigidam sese conferunt, æstus +metu futuri: & alia de locis vicinis discedunt, alia de ultimis, prope +dixerim, ut Grues faciunt, quæ ex Scythicis Campis ad Paludes Ægypto +superiores, unde Nilus profluit, veniunt, quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis +dicuntur. Non enim id fabula est, sed certe, genus tum hominum, tum etiam +Equorum pusillum (ut dicitur) est, deguntque in Cavernis, unde Nomen +Troglodytæ a subeundis Cavernis accepere._ + +In English 'tis thus: 'At the _Autumnal Æquinox_ they go out of _Pontus_ +and the cold Countreys to avoid the Winter that is coming on. At the +_Vernal Æquinox_ they pass from hot Countreys into cold ones, for fear of +the ensuing heat; some making their Migrations from nearer places; others +from the most remote (as I may say) as the _Cranes_ do: for they come out +of _Scythia_ to the Lakes above _Ægypt_, whence the _Nile_ do's flow. This +is the place, whereabout the _Pygmies_ dwell: For this is no _Fable_, but +a _Truth_. Both they and the Horses, as 'tis said, are a small kind. They +are _Troglodytes_, or live in Caves.' + +We may here observe how positive the _Philosopher_ is, that there are +_Pygmies_; he tells us where they dwell, and that 'tis no Fable, but a +Truth. But _Theodorus Gaza_ has been unjust in translating him, by +foisting in, _Quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis dicuntur_, whereas there is +nothing in the Text that warrants it: As likewise, where he expresses the +little Stature of the _Pygmies_ and the Horses, there _Gaza_ has rendered +it, _Sed certè Genus tum Hominum, tum etiam Equorum pusillum_. _Aristotle_ +only saith, [Greek: Genos mikron men hosper legetai, kai autoi, kai hoi +hippoi]. He neither makes his _Pygmies Men_, nor saith any thing of their +fighting the _Cranes_; tho' here he had a fair occasion, discoursing of +the Migration of the _Cranes_ out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ above +_Ægypt_, where he tells us the _Pygmies_ are. Cardan[A] therefore must +certainly be out in his guess, that _Aristotle_ only asserted the +_Pygmies_ out of Complement to his friend _Homer_; for surely then he +would not have forgot their fight with the _Cranes_; upon which occasion +only _Homer_ mentions them.[B] I should rather think that _Aristotle_, +being sensible of the many Fables that had been raised on this occasion, +studiously avoided the mentioning this fight, that he might not give +countenance to the Extravagant Relations that had been made of it. + +[Footnote A: _Cardan de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40. p.m. 153.] + +[Footnote B: _Apparet ergo_ (saith _Cardan_) Pygmæorum Historiam esse +fabulosam, quod &_ Strabo _sentit & nosira ætas, cum omnia nunc fermè +orbis mirabilia innotuerint, declarat. Sed quod tantum Philosophum +decepit, fuit Homeri Auctoritas non apud illium levis.] + +But I wonder that neither _Casaubon_ nor _Duvall_ in their Editions of +_Aristotle_'s Works, should have taken notice of these Mistakes of _Gaza_, +and corrected them. And _Gesner_, and _Aldrovandus_, and several other +Learned Men, in quoting this place of _Aristotle_, do make use of this +faulty Translation, which must necessarily lead them into Mistakes. _Sam. +Bochartus_[A] tho' he gives _Aristotle_'s Text in Greek, and adds a new +Translation of it, he leaves out indeed the _Cranes_ fighting with the +_Pygmies_, yet makes them _Men_, which _Aristotle_ do's not; and by +anti-placing, _ut aiunt_, he renders _Aristotle_'s Assertion more dubious; +_Neque enim_ (saith he in the Translation) _id est fabula, sed reverâ, ut +aiunt, Genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum quàm Equorum. Julius Cæsar +Scaliger_ in translating this Text of _Aristotle_, omits both these +Interpretations of _Gaza_; but on the other hand is no less to be blamed +in not translating at all the most remarkable passage, and where the +Philosopher seems to be so much in earnest; as, [Greek: ou gar esti touto +mythos, all' esti kata taen alaetheian], this he leaves wholly out, +without giving us his reason for it, if he had any: And Scaliger's[B] +insinuation in his Comment, _viz. Negat esse fabulam de his (sc. Pygmeis)_ +Herodotus, _at Philosophus semper moderatus & prudens etiam addidit_, +[Greek: hosper legetai], is not to be allowed. Nor can I assent to Sir +_Thomas Brown_'s[C] remark upon this place; _Where indeed_ (saith he) +Aristotle _plays the_ Aristotle; _that is, the wary and evading asserter; +for tho' with_ non est fabula _he seems at first to confirm it, yet at +last he claps in,_ sicut aiunt, _and shakes the belief he placed before +upon it. And therefore_ Scaliger (saith he) _hath not translated the +first, perhaps supposing it surreptitious, or unworthy so great an +Assertor._ But had _Scaliger_ known it to be surreptitious, no doubt but +he would have remarked it; and then there had been some Colour for the +Gloss. But 'tis unworthy to be believed of _Aristotle_, who was so wary +and cautious, that he should in so short a passage, contradict himself: +and after he had so positively affirmed the Truth of it, presently doubt +it. His [Greek: hosper legetai] therefore must have a Reference to what +follows, _Pusillum genus, ut aiunt, ipsi atque etiam Equi_, as _Scaliger_ +himself translates it. + +[Footnote A: _Bocharti Hierozoic. S. de Animalib. S. Script. part. +Posterior_. lib. 1. cap. 11. p.m. 76.] + +[Footnote B: _Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. p.m. +914.] + +[Footnote C: Sir _Thomas Brown_'s _Pseudodoxia_, or, _Enquiries into +Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. cap. 11.] + +I do not here find _Aristotle_ asserting or confirming any thing of the +fabulous Narrations that had been made about the _Pygmies_. He does not +say that they were [Greek: andres], or [Greek: anthropoi mikroi], or +[Greek: melanes]; he only calls them [Greek: pygmaioi]. And discoursing of +the _Pygmies_ in a place, where he is only treating about _Brutes_, 'tis +reasonable to think, that he looked upon them only as such. _This is the +place where the_ Pygmies _are; this is no fable,_ saith Aristotle, as 'tis +that they are a Dwarfish Race of Men; that they speak the _Indian_ +Language; that they are excellent Archers; that they are very Just; and +abundance of other Things that are fabulously reported of them; and +because he thought them _Fables_, he does not take the least notice of +them, but only saith, _This is no Fable, but a Truth, that about the Lakes +of_ Nile such _Animals_, as are called _Pygmies_, do live. And, as if he +had foreseen, that the abundance of Fables that _Ctesias_ (whom he saith +is not to be believed) and the _Indian Historians_ had invented about +them, would make the whole Story to appear as a Figment, and render it +doubtful, whether there were ever such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in Nature; +he more zealously asserts the _Being_ of them, and assures us, That _this +is no Fable, but a Truth_. + +I shall therefore now enquire what sort of Creatures these _Pygmies_ were; +and hope so to manage the Matter, as in a great measure, to abate the +Passion these Great Men have had against them: for, no doubt, what has +incensed them the most, was, the fabulous _Historians_ making them a part +of _Mankind_, and then inventing a hundred ridiculous Stories about them, +which they would impose upon the World as real Truths. If therefore they +have Satisfaction given them in these two Points, I do not see, but that +the Business may be accommodated very fairly; and that they may be allowed +to be _Pygmies_, tho' we do not make them _Men_. + +For I am not of _Gesner_'s mind, _Sed veterum nullus_ (saith he[A]) +_aliter de Pygmæis scripsit, quàm Homunciones esse_. Had they been a Race +of _Men_, no doubt but _Aristotle_ would have informed himself farther +about them. Such a Curiosity could not but have excited his Inquisitive +_Genius_, to a stricter Enquiry and Examination; and we might easily have +expected from him a larger Account of them. But finding them, it may be, a +sort of _Apes_, he only tells us, that in such a place these _Pygmies_ +live. + +[Footnote A: _Gesner. Histor. Quadruped._ p.m. 885.] + +Herodotus[A] plainly makes them _Brutes_: For reckoning up the _Animals_ +of _Libya_, he tells us, [Greek: Kai gar hoi ophies hoi hypermegathees, +kai hoi leontes kata toutous eisi, kai hoi elephantes te kai arktoi, kai +aspides te kai onoi hoi ta kerata echontes; kai hoi kynokephaloi +(akephaloi) hoi en toisi staethesi tous ophthalmous echontes (hos dae +legetai ge hypo libyon) kai agrioi andres, kai gynaikes agriai kai alla +plaethei polla thaeria akatapseusta;] i.e. _That there are here prodigious +large Serpents, and Lions, and Elephants, and Bears, and Asps, and Asses +that have horns, and Cynocephali,_ (in the Margin 'tis _Acephali_) _that +have Eyes in their Breast, (as is reported by the Libyans) and wild Men, +and wild Women, and a great many other wild Beasts that are not fabulous._ +Tis evident therefore that _Herodotus_ his [Greek: agrioi andres, kai +gynaikes agriai] are only [Greek: thaeria] or wild Beasts: and tho' they +are called [Greek: andres], they are no more _Men_ than our +_Orang-Outang_, or _Homo_ _Sylvestris_, or _wild Man_, which has exactly +the same Name, and I must confess I can't but think is the same Animal: +and that the same Name has been continued down to us, from his Time, and +it may be from _Homer's_. + +[Footnote A: _Herodot. Melpomene seu_ lib. 4. p.m. 285.] + +So _Philostratus_ speaking of _Æthiopia_ and _Ægypt_, tells us,[A] [Greek: +Boskousi de kai thaeria hoia ouch heterothi; kai anthropous melanas, ho +mae allai aepeiroi. Pygmaion te en autais ethnae kai hylaktounton allo +allaei.] i.e. _Here are bred wild Beasts that are not in other places; and +black Men, which no other Country affords: and amongst them is the Nation +of the Pygmies, and the_ BARKERS, that is, the _Cynocephali._ For tho' +_Philostratus_ is pleased here only to call them _Barkers_, and to reckon +them, as he does the _Black Men_ and the _Pygmies_ amongst the _wild +Beasts_ of those Countreys; yet _Ctesias_, from whom _Philostratus_ has +borrowed a great deal of his _Natural History_, stiles them _Men_, and +makes them speak, and to perform most notable Feats in Merchandising. But +not being in a merry Humour it may be now, before he was aware, he speaks +Truth: For _Cælius Rhodiginus's_[B] Character of him is, _Philostratus +omnium qui unquam Historiam conscripserunt, mendacissimus._ + +[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.] + +[Footnote C: _Happelius in Relat. curiosis_, No. 85. p. 677.] + +[Footnote D: _Thevenot. Voyage de Levant._ lib. 2. c. 68.] + +[Footnote E: _Jo. Harduini Notæ in Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 22. p. +688.] + +Neither likewise must it be granted, that tho' in some _Climates_ there +might be _Men_ generally of less stature, than what are to be met with in +other Countries, that they are presently _Pygmies_. _Nature_ has not fixed +the same standard to the growth of _Mankind_ in all Places alike, no more +than to _Brutes_ or _Plants_. The Dimensions of them all, according to the +_Climate_, may differ. If we consult the Original, _viz. Homer_ that first +mentioned the _Pygmies_, there are only these two _Characteristics_ he +gives of them. That they are [Greek: Pygmaioi] _seu Cubitales_; and that +the _Cranes_ did use to fight them. 'Tis true, as a _Poet_, he calls them +[Greek: andres], which I have accounted for before. Now if there cannot be +found such _Men_ as are _Cubitales_, that the _Cranes_ might probably +fight with, notwithstanding all the Romances of the _Indian Historians_, I +cannot think these _Pygmies_ to be _Men_, but they must be some other +_Animals_, or the whole must be a Fiction. + +Having premised this, we will now enquire into their Assertion that +maintain the _Pygmies_ to be a Race of _Men_. Now because there have been +_Giants_ formerly, that have so much exceeded the usual Stature of _Man_, +that there must be likewise _Pygmies_ as defective in the other extream +from this Standard, I think is no conclusive Argument, tho' made use of by +some. Old _Caspar Bartholine_[A] tells us, that because _J. Cassanius_ and +others had wrote _de Gygantibus_, since no Body else had undertaken it, he +would give us a Book _de Pygmæis_; and since he makes it his design to +prove the Existence of _Pygmies_, and that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_, I +must confess I expected great Matters from him. + +[Footnote A: _Caspar. Bartholin. Opusculum de Pygmæis._] + +But I do not find he has informed us of any thing more of them, than what +_Jo. Talentonius_, a Professor formerly at _Parma_, had told us before in +his _Variarum & Reconditarum Rerum Thesaurus_,[A] from whom he has +borrowed most of this _Tract_. He has made it a little more formal indeed, +by dividing it into _Chapters_; of which I will give you the _Titles_; and +as I see occasion, some Remarks thereon: They will not be many, because I +have prevented my self already. The _first Chapter_ is, _De Homuncionibus +& Pumilionilus seu Nanis à Pygmæis distinctis_. The _second Chapter, De +Pygmæi nominibus & Etymologia_. The _third Chapter, Duplex esse Pygmæorum +Genus; & primum Genus aliquando dari_. He means _Dwarfs_, that are no +_Pygmies_ at all. The _fourth Chapter_ is, _Alterum Genus, nempe Gentem +Pygmæorum esse, aut saltem aliquando fuisse Autoritatibus Humanis, fide +tamen dignorum asseritur_. 'Tis as I find it printed; and no doubt an +Error in the printing. The Authorities he gives, are, _Homer, Ctesias, +Aristotle, Philostratus, Pliny, Juvenal, Oppian, Baptista Mantuan_, St. +_Austin_ and his _Scholiast. Ludovic. Vives, Jo. Laurentius Anania, Joh. +Cassanius, Joh. Talentonius, Gellius, Pomp. Mela_, and _Olaus Magnus_. I +have taken notice of most of them already, as I shall of St. _Austin_ and +_Ludovicus Vives_ by and by. _Jo. Laurentius Anania_[B] ex Mercatorum +relatione tradit (saith _Bartholine_) eos _(sc. Pygmæos) in +Septentrionali Thraciæ Parte reperiri, (quæ Scythiæ est proxima) atque ibi +cum Gruibus pugnare_. And _Joh. Cassanius_[C] (as he is here quoted) +saith, _De Pygmæis fabulosa quidem esse omnia, quæ de iis narrari solent, +aliquando existimavi. Verùm cum videam non unum vel alterum, sed complures +Classicos & probatos Autores de his Homunculis multa in eandem fere +Sententiam tradidisse; eò adducor ut Pygmæos fuisse inficiari non ausim._ +He next brings in _Jo. Talentonius_, to whom he is so much beholden, and +quotes his Opinion, which is full and home, _Constare arbitror_ (saith +_Talentonius_)[D] _debere concedi, Pygmæos non solùm olim fuisse, sed nunc +etiam esse, & homines esse, nec parvitatem illis impedimenta esse quo +minùs sint & homines sint._ But were there such _Men Pygmies_ now in +being, no doubt but we must have heard of them; some or other of our +Saylors, in their Voyages, would have lighted on them. Tho' _Aristotle_ is +here quoted, yet he does not make them _Men_; So neither does _Anania_: +And I must own, tho' _Talentonius_ be of this Opinion, yet he takes notice +of the faulty Translation of this Text of _Aristotle_ by _Gaza_: and tho' +the parvity or lowness of Stature, be no Impediment, because we have +frequently seen such _Dwarf-Men_, yet we did never see a _Nation_ of them: +For then there would be no need of that _Talmudical_ Precept which _Job. +Ludolphus_[E] mentions, _Nanus ne ducat Nanam, ne fortè oriatur ex iis +Digitalis_ (in _Bechor_. fol. 45). + +[Footnote A: _Jo. Talentionij. Variar. & Recondit. Rerum. Thesaurus._ lib. +3. cap. 21.] + +[Footnote B: _Joh. Laurent. Anania prope finem tractatus primi suæ +Geograph._] + +[Footnote C: _Joh. Cassanius libello de Gygantibus_, p. 73.] + +[Footnote D: _Jo. Talentonius Variar. & recondit. Rerum Thesaurus_, lib. 3. +cap. 21. p.m. 515.] + +[Footnote E: _Job Ludolphi Comment. in Historiam Æthiopic._ p.m. 71.] + +I had almost forgotten _Olaus Magnus_, whom _Bartholine_ mentions in the +close of this Chapter, but lays no great stress upon his Authority, +because he tells us, he is fabulous in a great many other Relations, and +he writes but by hear-say, that the _Greenlanders_ fight the _Cranes_; +_Tandem_ (saith _Bartholine_) _neque ideo Pygmæi sunt, si fortè sagittis & +hastis, sicut alij homines, Grues conficiunt & occidunt._ This I think is +great Partiality: For _Ctesias_, an Author whom upon all turns +_Bartholine_ makes use of as an Evidence, is very positive, that the +_Pygmies_ were excellent _Archers_: so that he himself owns, that their +being such, illustrates very much that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_, on which he +spends good part of the next _Chapter_, whose Title is, _Pygmæorum Gens ex +Ezekiele, atque rationibus probabilibus adstruitur_; which we will +consider by and by. And tho' _Olaus Magnus_ may write some things by +hear-say, yet he cannot be so fabulous as _Ctesias_, who (as _Lucian_ +tells us) writes what he neither saw himself, or heard from any Body else. +Not that I think _Olaus Magnus_ his _Greenlanders_ were real _Pygmies_, no +more than _Ctesias_ his _Pygmies_ were real _Men_; tho' he vouches very +notably for them. And if all that have copied this Fable from _Ctesias_, +must be look'd upon as the same Evidence with himself; the number of the +_Testimonies_ produced need not much concern us, since they must all stand +or fall with him. + +The _probable Reasons_ that _Bartholine_ gives in the _fifth Chapter_, are +taken from other _Animals_, as Sheep, Oxen, Horses, Dogs, the _Indian +Formica_ and Plants: For observing in the same _Species_ some excessive +large, and others extreamly little, he infers, _Quæ certè cum in +Animalibus & Vegetabilibus fiant; cur in Humana specie non sit probabile, +haud video: imprimis cum detur magnitudinis excessus Gigantæus; cur non +etiam dabitur Defectus? Quia ergo dantur Gigantes, dabuntur & Pygmæi. Quam +consequentiam ut firmam, admittit Cardanus,[A] licet de Pygmæis hoc tantùm +concedat, qui pro miraculo, non pro Gente._ Now Cardan, tho' he allows +this Consequence, yet in the same place he gives several Reasons why the +_Pygmies_ could not be _Men_, and looks upon the whole Story as fabulous. +_Bartholine_ concludes this _Chapter_ thus: _Ulteriùs ut Probabilitatem +fulciamus, addendum Sceleton Pygmæi, quod_ Dresdæ _vidimus inter alia +plurima, servatum in Arce sereniss._ Electoris Saxoniæ, _altitudine infra +Cubitum, Ossium soliditate, proportioneque tum Capitis, tum aliorum; ut +Embrionem, aut Artificiale quid Nemo rerum peritus suspicari possit. +Addita insuper est Inscriptio_ Veri Pygmæi. I hereupon looked into Dr. +_Brown_'s Travels into those Parts, who has given us a large Catalogue of +the Curiosities, the _Elector_ of _Saxony_ had at _Dresden_, but did not +find amongst them this _Sceleton_; which, by the largeness of the Head, I +suspect to be the _Sceleton_ of an _Orang-Outang_, or our _wild Man_. But +had he given us either a figure of it, or a more particular Description, +it had been a far greater Satisfaction. + +[Footnote A: _Cardan. de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40.] + +The Title of _Bartholine_'s _sixth Chapter_ is, _Pygmæos esse aut fuisse +ex variis eorum adjunctis, accidentibus_, &c. _ab Authoribus descriptis +ostenditur_. As first, their _Magnitude_: which he mentions from _Ctesias, +Pliny, Gellius_, and _Juvenal_; and tho' they do not all agree exactly, +'tis nothing. _Autorum hic dissensus nullus est_ (saith _Bartholine_) +_etenim sicut in nostris hominibus, ita indubiè in Pygmæis non omnes +ejusdem magnitudinis._ 2. The _Place_ and _Country_: As _Ctesias_ (he +saith) places them in the middle of _India_; _Aristotle_ and _Pliny_ at +the Lakes above _Ægypt_; _Homer_'s _Scholiast_ in the middle of _Ægypt_; +_Pliny_ at another time saith they are at the Head of the _Ganges_, and +sometimes at _Gerania_, which is in _Thracia_, which being near _Scythia_, +confirms (he saith) _Anania's Relation_. _Mela_ places them at the +_Arabian Gulf_; and _Paulus Jovius docet Pygmæos ultra Japonem esse_; and +adds, _has Autorum dissensiones facile fuerit conciliare; nec mirum +diversas relationes à_, Plinio _auditas._ For (saith he) as the _Tartars_ +often change their Seats, since they do not live in Houses, but in Tents, +so 'tis no wonder that the _Pygmies_ often change theirs, since instead of +Houses, they live in Caves or Huts, built of Mud, Feathers, and +Egg-shells. And this mutation of their Habitations he thinks is very plain +from _Pliny_, where speaking of _Gerania_, he saith, _Pygmæorum Gens_ +fuisse _(non jam esse) proditur, creduntque à Gruibus fugatos._ Which +passage (saith _Bartholine_) had _Adrian Spigelius_ considered, he would +not so soon have left _Aristotle's_ Opinion, because _Franc. Alvares_ the +_Portuguese_ did not find them in the place where _Aristotle_ left them; +for the _Cranes_, it may be, had driven them thence. His third Article is, +their _Habitation_, which _Aristotle_ saith is in _Caves_; hence they are +_Troglodytes_. _Pliny_ tells us they build Huts with Mud, Feathers, and +Egg-shells. But what _Bartholine_ adds, _Eò quod Terræ Cavernas +inhabitent, non injuriâ dicti sunt olim Pygmæi, Terræ filii_, is wholly +new to me, and I have not met with it in any Author before: tho' he gives +us here several other significations of the word _Terræ filij_ from a +great many Authors, which I will not trouble you at present with. 4. The +_Form_, being flat nosed and ugly, as _Ctesias_. 5. Their _Speech_, which +was the same as the _Indians_, as _Ctesias_; and for this I find he has no +other Author. 6. Their _Hair_; where he quotes _Ctesias_ again, that they +make use of it for _Clothes_. 7. Their _Vertues and Arts_; as that they +use the same Laws as the _Indians_, are very just, excellent Archers, and +that the King of _India_ has Three thousand of them in his Guards. All +from _Ctesias_. 8. Their _Animals_, as in _Ctesias_; and here are +mentioned their Sheep, Oxen, Asses, Mules, and Horses. 9. Their various +_Actions_; as what _Ctesias_ relates of their killing Hares and Foxes with +Crows, Eagles, &c. and fighting the _Cranes_, as _Homer, Pliny, Juvenal_. + +The _seventh Chapter_ in _Bartholine_ has a promising Title, _An Pygmæi +sint homines_, and I expected here something more to our purpose; but I +find he rather endeavours to answer the Reasons of those that would make +them _Apes_, than to lay down any of his own to prove them _Men_. And +_Albertus Magnus's_ Opinion he thinks absurd, that makes them part Men +part Beasts; they must be either one or the other, not a _Medium_ between +both; and to make out this, he gives us a large Quotation out of _Cardan_. +But _Cardan_[A] in the same place argues that they are not Men. As to +_Suessanus_[B] his Argument, that they want _Reason_, this he will not +Grant; but if they use it less or more imperfectly than others (which yet, +he saith, is not certain) by the same parity of Reason _Children_, the +_Boeotians_, _Cumani_ and _Naturals_ may not be reckoned _Men_; and he +thinks, what he has mentioned in the preceding _Chapter_ out of _Ctesias_, +&c. shews that they have no small use of Reason. As to _Suessanus_'s +next Argument, that they want Religion, Justice, &c. this, he saith, is +not confirmed by any grave Writer; and if it was, yet it would not prove +that they are not _Men_. For this defect (he saith) might hence happen, +because they are forced to live in _Caves_ for fear of the _Cranes_; and +others besides them, are herein faulty. For this Opinion, that the +_Pygmies_ were _Apes_ and not _Men_, he quotes likewise _Benedictus +Varchius_,[C] and _Joh. Tinnulus_,[D] and _Paulus Jovius_,[E] and several +others of the Moderns, he tells us, are of the same mind. _Imprimis +Geographici quos non puduit in Mappis Geographicis loco Pygmæorum simias +cum Gruibus pugnantes ridiculè dipinxisse._ + +[Footnote A: _Cardan. de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40.] + +[Footnote B: _Suessanus Comment. in Arist. de Histor. Animal._ lib. 8. +cap. 12.] + +[Footnote C: _Benedict. Varchius de Monstris. lingua vernacula._] + +[Footnote D: _Joh. Tinnulus in Glotto-Chrysio._] + +[Footnote E: _Paulus Jovius lib. de Muscovit. Legalione._] + +The Title of _Bartholine's eighth_ and last _Chapter_ is, _Argumenta eorum +qui Pygmæorum Historiam fabulosam censent, recitantur & refutantur._ Where +he tells us, the only Person amongst the Ancients that thought the Story +of the _Pygmies_ to be fabulous was _Strabo_; but amongst the Moderns +there are several, as _Cardan, Budæus, Aldrovandus, Fullerus_ and others. +The first Objection (he saith) is that of _Spigelius_ and others; that +since the whole World is now discovered, how happens it, that these +_Pygmies_ are not to be met with? He has seven Answers to this Objection; +how satisfactory they are, the Reader may judge, if he pleases, by +perusing them amongst the Quotations.[A] _Cardan_'s second Objection (he +saith) is, that they live but eight years, whence several Inconveniences +would happen, as _Cardan_ shews; he answers that no good Author asserts +this; and if there was, yet what _Cardan_ urges would not follow; and +instances out of _Artemidorus_ in _Pliny_,[B] as a _Parallel_ in the +_Calingæ_ a Nation in _India, where the Women conceive when five years +old, and do not live above eight._ _Gesner_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, +saith, _Vitæ autem longitudo anni arciter octo ut_ Albertus _refert._ +_Cardan_ perhaps had his Authority from _Albertus_, or it may be both took +it from this passage in _Pliny_, which I think would better agree to +_Apes_ than _Men_. But _Artemidorus_ being an _Indian Historian_, and in +the same place telling other Romances, the less Credit is to be given to +him. The third Objection, he saith, is of _Cornelius à Lapide_, who denies +the _Pygmies_, because _Homer_ was the first Author of them. The fourth +Objection he saith is, because Authors differ about the Place where they +should be: This, he tells us, he has answered already in the fifth +Chapter. The _fifth_ and last Objection he mentions is, that but few have +seen them. He answers, there are a great many Wonders in Sacred and +Profane History that we have not seen, yet must not deny. And he instances +in three; As the _Formicæ Indicæ_, which are as big as great Dogs: The +_Cornu Plantabile_ in the Island _Goa_, which when cut off from the Beast, +and flung upon the Ground, will take root like a _Cabbage_: and the +_Scotland Geese_ that grow upon Trees, for which he quotes a great many +Authors, and so concludes. + +[Footnote A: _Respondeo._ 1. _Contrarium testari Mercatorum Relationem +apud_ Ananiam _supra Cap. 4._ 2. _Et licet non inventi essent vivi à +quolibet, pari jure Monocerota & alia negare liceret._ 3. _Qui maria +pernavigant, vix oras paucas maritimas lustrant, adeo non terras omnes à +mari dissitas._ 4. _Neque in Oris illos habitare maritimis ex Capite +quinto manifestum est._ 5. _Quis testatum se omnem adhibuisse diligentiam +in inquirendo eos ut inveniret._ 6. _Ita in terra habitant, ut in Antris +vitam tolerare dicantur._ 7. _Si vel maximè omni ab omnibus diligentia +quæsiti fuissent, nec inventi; fieri potest, ut instar Gigantum jam +desierint nec sint ampliùs_.] + +[Footnote B: _Plinij Hist. Nat._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 14.] + +Now how far _Bartholine_ in his Treatise has made out that the _Pygmies_ +of the Ancients were real _Men_, either from the Authorities he has +quoted, or his Reasonings upon them, I submit to the Reader. I shall +proceed now (as I promised) to consider the Proof they pretend from _Holy +Writ_: For _Bartholine_ and others insist upon that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_ +(_Cap. 27. Vers. 11_) where the _Vulgar_ Translation has it thus; _Filij +Arvad cum Exercitu tuo supra Muros tuos per circuitum, & Pygmæi in +Turribus tuis fuerunt; Scuta sua suspenderunt supra Muros tuos per +circuitum._ Now _Talentonius_ and _Bartholine_ think that what _Ctesias_ +relates of the _Pygmies_, as their being good _Archers_, very well +illustrates this Text of _Ezekiel_: I shall here transcribe what Sir +_Thomas Brown_[A] remarks upon it; and if any one requires further +Satisfaction, they may consult _Job Ludolphus's Comment_ on his _Æthiopic +History_.[B] + +[Footnote A: Sir _Thomas Brown's Enquiries into Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. +cap. 11. p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: _Comment. in Hist. Æthiopic._ p. 73.] + +The _second Testimony_ (saith Sir _Thomas Brown_) _is deduced from Holy +Scripture; thus rendered in the Vulgar Translation_, Sed & Pygmæi qui +erant in turribus tuis, pharetras suas suspenderunt in muris tuis per +gyrum: _from whence notwithstanding we cannot infer this Assertion, for +first the Translators accord not, and the Hebrew word_ Gammadim _is very +variously rendered. Though_ Aquila, Vatablus _and_ Lyra _will have it_ +Pygmæi, _yet in the_ Septuagint, _it is no more than Watchman; and so in +the_ Arabick _and_ High-Dutch. _In the_ Chalde, Cappadocians, _in_ +Symmachus, Medes, _and in the_ French, _those of_ Gamed. Theodotian _of +old, and_ Tremillius _of late, have retained the Textuary word; and so +have the_ Italian, Low Dutch, _and_ English _Translators, that is, the Men +of_ Arvad _were upon thy Walls round about, and the_ Gammadims _were in +thy Towers._ + +_Nor do Men only dissent in the Translation of the word, but in the +Exposition of the Sense and Meaning thereof; for some by_ Gammadims +_understand a People of_ Syria, _so called from the City of_ Gamala; _some +hereby understand the_ Cappadocians, _many the_ Medes: _and hereof_ +Forerius _hath a singular Exposition, conceiving the Watchmen of_ Tyre, +_might well be called_ Pygmies, _the Towers of that City being so high, +that unto Men below, they appeared in a Cubital Stature. Others expound it +quite contrary to common Acception, that is not Men of the least, but of +the largest size; so doth_ Cornelius _construe_ Pygmæi, _or_ Viri +Cubitales, _that is, not Men of a Cubit high, but of the largest Stature, +whose height like that of Giants, is rather to be taken by the Cubit than +the Foot; in which phrase we read the measure of_ Goliah, _whose height is +said to be six Cubits and span. Of affinity hereto is also the Exposition +of_ Jerom; _not taking_ Pygmies _for Dwarfs, but stout and valiant +Champions; not taking the sense of [Greek: pygmae], which signifies the +Cubit measure, but that which expresseth Pugils; that is, Men fit for +Combat and the Exercise of the Fist. Thus there can be no satisfying +illation from this Text, the diversity, or rather contrariety of +Expositions and Interpretations, distracting more than confirming the +Truth of the Story._ + +But why _Aldrovandus_ or _Caspar Bartholine_ should bring in St. _Austin_ +as a Favourer of this Opinion of _Men Pygmies_, I see no Reason. To me he +seems to assert quite the contrary: For proposing this Question, _An ex +propagine_ Adam _vel filiorum_ Noe, _quædam genera Hominum Monstrosa +prodierunt?_ He mentions a great many monstrous Nations of _Men_, as they +are described by the _Indian Historians_, and amongst the rest, the +_Pygmies_, the _Sciopodes_, &c. And adds, _Quid dicam de_ Cynocephalis, +_quorum Canina Capita atque ipse Latratus magis Bestias quàm Homines +confitentur? Sed omnia Genera Hominum, quæ dicuntur esse, esse credere, +non est necesse._ And afterwards so fully expresses himself in favour of +the _Hypothesis_ I am here maintaining, that I think it a great +Confirmation of it. _Nam & Simias_ (saith he) _& Cercopithecos, & +Sphingas, si nesciremus non Homines esse, sed Bestias, possent isti +Historici de sua Curiositate gloriantes velut Gentes Aliquas Hominum nobis +impunitâ vanitate mentiri._ At last he concludes and determines the +Question thus, _Aut illa, quæ talia de quibusdam Gentibus scripta sunt, +omnino nulla sunt, aut si sunt, Homines non sunt, aut ex_ Adam _sunt si +Homines sunt._ + +There is nothing therefore in St. _Austin_ that justifies the being of +_Men Pygmies_, or that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_; he rather makes them +_Apes_. And there is nothing in his _Scholiast Ludovicus Vives_ that tends +this way, he only quotes from other Authors, what might illustrate the +Text he is commenting upon, and no way asserts their being _Men_. I shall +therefore next enquire into _Bochartus_'s Opinion, who would have them to +be the _Nubæ_ or _Nobæ_. _Hos Nubas Troglodyticos_ (saith[A] he) _ad +Avalitem Sinum esse Pygmæos Veterum multa probant._ He gives us five +Reasons to prove this. As, 1. The Authority of _Hesychius_, who saith, +[Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi]. 2. Because _Homer_ places the _Pygmies_ near the +Ocean, where the Nubæ were. 3. _Aristotle_ places them at the lakes of the +_Nile_. Now by the _Nile Bochartus_ tells us, we must understand the +_Astaborus_, which the Ancients thought to be a Branch of the _Nile_, as +he proves from _Pliny, Solinus_ and _Æthicus_. And _Ptolomy_ (he tells us) +places the _Nubæ_ hereabout. 4. Because _Aristotle_ makes the _Pygmies_ to +be _Troglodytes_, and so were the _Nubæ_. 5. He urges that Story of +_Nonnosus_ which I have already mentioned, and thinks that those that +_Nonnosus_ met with, were a Colony of the _Nubæ_; but afterwards adds, +_Quos tamen absit ut putemus Staturâ fuisse Cubitali, prout Poetæ fingunt, +qui omnia in majus augent._ But this methinks spoils them from being +_Pygmies_; several other Nations at this rate may be _Pygmies_ as well as +these _Nubæ_. Besides, he does not inform us, that these _Nubæ_ used to +fight the _Cranes_; and if they do not, and were not _Cubitales_, they +can't be _Homer_'s _Pygmies_, which we are enquiring after. But the Notion +of their being _Men_, had so possessed him, that it put him upon fancying +they must be the _Nubæ_; but 'tis plain that those in _Nonnosus_ could not +be a Colony of the _Nubæ_; for then the _Nubæ_ must have understood their +Language, which the _Text_ saith, none of the Neighbourhood did. And +because the _Nubæ_ are _Troglodytes_, that therefore they must be +_Pygmies_, is no Argument at all. For _Troglodytes_ here is used as an +_Adjective_; and there is a sort of _Sparrow_ which is called _Passer +Troglodytes_. Not but that in _Africa_ there was a Nation of _Men_ called +_Troglodytes_, but quite different from our _Pygmies_. How far _Bochartus_ +may be in the right, in guessing the Lakes of the _Nile_ (whereabout +_Aristotle_ places the _Pygmies_) to be the Fountains of the River +_Astaborus_, which in his description, and likewise the _Map_, he places +in the Country of the _Avalitæ_, near the _Mossylon Emporium_; I shall not +enquire. This I am certain of, he misrepresents _Aristotle_ where he tells +us,[B] _Quamvis in ea fabula hoc saltem verum esse asserat Philosophus, +Pusillos Homines in iis locis degere_: for as I have already observed; +_Aristotle_ in that _Text_ saith nothing at all of their being _Men_: the +contrary rather might be thence inferred, that they were _Brutes_. And +_Bochart's_ Translation, as well as _Gaza's_ is faulty here, and by no +means to be allowed, _viz. Ut aiunt, genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum, +quàm Equorum_; which had _Bochartus_ considered he would not have been so +fond it may be of his _Nubæ_. And if the [Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi] in +_Hesychius_ are such _Pygmies_ as _Bochartus_ makes his _Nubæ, Quos tamen +absit ut putemus staturtâ fuisse Cubitali_, it will not do our business at +all; and neither _Homer's_ Authority, nor _Aristotle's_ does him any +Service. + +[Footnote A: _Sam. Bochart. Geograph. Sacræ_, Part. 1. lib. 2. cap. 23. +p.m. 142.] + +[Footnote B: _Bocharti Hierozoici pars Posterior_, lib. I. cap. II. p. +76.] + +But this Fable of _Men Pygmies_ has not only obtained amongst the _Greeks_ +and _Indian Historians_: the _Arabians_ likewise tell much such Stories of +them, as the same learned _Bochartus_ informs us. I will give his Latin +Translation of one of them, which he has printed in _Arabick_ also: +_Arabes idem_ (saith[A] _Bochartus_) _referunt ex cujusdam_ Græculi _fide, +qui_ Jacobo Isaaci _filio_, Sigariensi _fertur ita narrasse_. _Navigabam +aliquando in mari_ Zingitano, _& impulit me ventus in quandam Insulam_. +_In cujus Oppidum cum devenissem, reperi Incolas Cubitalis esse staturæ, & +plerosque Coclites. Quorum multitudo in me congregata me deduxit ad Regem +suum. Fussit is, ut Captivus detinerer; & inquandam Caveæ speciem +conjectus sum; eos autem aliquando ad bellum instrui cum viderem, dixerunt +Hostem imminere, & fore ut propediem ingrueret. Nec multò post Gruum +exercitus in eos insurrexit. Atque ideo erant Coclites, quod eorum oculos +hæ confodissent. Atque Ego, virgâ assumptâ, in eas impetum feci, & illæ +avolârunt atque aufugerunt; ob quod facinus in honore fui apud illos_. +This Author, it seems, represents them under the same Misfortune with the +_Poet_, who first mentioned them, as being blind, by having their Eyes +peck'd out by their cruel Enemies. Such an Accident possibly might happen +now and then, in these bloody Engagements, tho' I wonder the _Indian +Historians_ have not taken notice of it. However the _Pygmies_ shewed +themselves grateful to their Deliverer, in heaping _Honours_ on him. One +would guess, for their own sakes, they could not do less than make him +their _Generalissimo_; but our Author is modest in not declaring what they +were. + +[Footnote A: _Bochartus ibid_. p.m. 77.] + +Isaac Vossius seems to unsettle all, and endeavours utterly to ruine the +whole Story: for he tells us, If you travel all over _Africa_, you shall +not meet with either a _Crane_ or _Pygmie_: _Se mirari_ (saith[A] _Isaac +Vossius_) Aristotelem, _quod tam seriò affirmet non esse fabellam, quæ de +Pygmæis & Bello, quod cum Gruibus gerant, narrantur. Si quis totam +pervadat_ Africam, _nullas vel Grues vel Pygmæos inveniet_. Now one would +wonder more at _Vossius_, that he should assert this of _Aristotle_, which +he never said. And since _Vossius_ is so mistaken in what he relates of +_Aristotle_; where he might so easily have been in the right, 'tis not +improbable, but he may be out in the rest too: For who has travelled all +_Africa_ over, that could inform him? And why should he be so peremptory +in the Negative, when he had so positive an Affirmation of _Aristotle_ to +the contrary? or if he would not believe _Aristotle's_ Authority, methinks +he should _Aristophanes's_, who tells us,[B] [Greek: Speirein hotau men +Geranos kroizon es taen libyaen metachorae]. _'Tis time to sow when the +noisy Cranes take their flight into_ Libya. Which Observation is likewise +made by _Hesiod, Theognis, Aratus_, and others. And _Maximus Tyrius_ (as I +find him quoted in _Bochartus_) saith, [Greek: Hai geravoi ex Aigyptou ora +therous aphistamenai, ouk anechomenai to thalpos teinasai pterygas hosper +istia, pherontai dia tou aeros euthy ton Skython gaes]. i.e. _Grues per +æstatem ex_ Ægypto _abscedentes, quia Calorem pati non possunt, alis +velorum instar expansis, per aerem ad_ Scythicam _plagam rectà feruntur_. +Which fully confirms that Migration of the _Cranes_ that _Aristotle_ +mentions. + +[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius de Nili aliorumque stuminum Origine_, Cap. +18.] + +[Footnote B: _Aristophanes in Nubibus_.] + +But _Vossius_ I find, tho' he will not allow the _Cranes_, yet upon second +Thoughts did admit of _Pygmies_ here: For this Story of the _Pygmies_ and +the _Cranes_ having made so much _noise_, he thinks there may be something +of truth in it; and then gives us his Conjecture, how that the _Pygmies_ +may be those _Dwarfs_, that are to be met with beyond the Fountains of the +_Nile_; but that they do not fight _Cranes_ but _Elephants_, and kill a +great many of them, and drive a considerable Traffick for their teeth with +the _Jagi_, who sell them to those of _Congo_ and the _Portuguese_. I will +give you _Vossius's_ own words; _Attamen_ (saith[A] he) _ut solent fabellæ +non de nihilo fingi & aliquod plerunque continent veri, id ipsum quoque +que hìc factum esse existimo. Certum quippe est ultra_ Nili _fontes multos +reperiri_ Nanos, _qui tamen non cum Gruibus, sed cum Elephantis perpetuum +gerant bellum. Præcipuum quippe Eboris commercium in regno magni_ Macoki +_per istos transigitur Homunciones; habitant in Sylvis, & mira dexteritate +Elephantos sagittis conficiunt. Carnibus vescuntur, Dentes verô_ Jagis +_divendunt, illi autem_ Congentibus & Lusitanis. + +[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius ibid_.] + +_Job Ludolphus_[A] in his _Commentary_ on his _Æthiopick History_ remarks, +That there was never known a Nation all of Dwarfs. _Nani quippe_ (saith +_Ludolphus_) _Naturæ quodam errore ex aliis justæ staturæ hominibus +generantur. Qualis verô ea Gens sit, ex qua ista Naturæ Ludibria tantâ +copiâ proveniant, Vossium docere oportelat, quia Pumiliones Pumiles alios +non gignunt, sed plerunque steriles sunt, experientia teste; ut planè non +opus habuerunt Doctores Talmudici Nanorum matrimonia prohibere, ne +Digitales ex iis nascerentur. Ludolphus_ it may be is a little too strict +with _Vossius_ for calling them _Nani_; he may only mean a sort of Men in +that Country of less Stature than ordinary. And _Dapper_ in his History of +_Africa_, from whom _Vossius_ takes this Account, describes such in the +Kingdom of _Mokoko_, he calls _Mimos_, and tells us that they kill +_Elephants_. But I see no reason why _Vossius_ should take these Men for +the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients, or think that they gave any occasion or +ground for the inventing this Fable, is there was no other reason, this +was sufficient, because they were able to kill the _Elephants_. The +_Pygmies_ were scarce a Match for the _Cranes_; and for them to have +encountered an _Elephant_, were as vain an Attempt, as the _Pygmies_ were +guilty of in _Philostratus_[B] 'who to revenge the Death of _Antæus_, +having found _Hercules_ napping in _Libya_, mustered up all their Forces +against him. One _Phalanx_ (he tells us) assaulted his left hand; but +against his right hand, that being the stronger, two _Phalanges_ were +appointed. The Archers and Slingers besieged his feet, admiring the +hugeness of his Thighs: But against his Head, as the Arsenal, they raised +Batteries, the King himself taking his Post there. They set fire to his +Hair, put Reaping-hooks in his Eyes; and that he might not breath, clapp'd +Doors to his Mouth and Nostrils; but all the Execution that they could do, +was only to awake him, which when done, deriding their folly, he gather'd +them all up in his Lion's Skin, and carried them (_Philostratus_ thinks) +to _Euristhenes_.' This _Antæus_ was as remarkable for his height, as the +_Pygmies_ were for their lowness of Stature: For _Plutarch_[C] tells us, +that _Q. Sterorius_ not being willing to trust Common Fame, when he came +to _Tingis_ (now _Tangier_) he caused _Antæus's_ Sepulchre to be opened, +and found his Corps full threescore Cubits long. But _Sterorius_ knew well +enough how to impose upon the Credulity of the People, as is evident from +the Story of his _white Hind_, which _Plutarch_ likewise relates. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus in Comment, in Historiam Æthiopicam_, p.m. +71.] + +[Footnote B: _Philostratus. Icon_. lib. 2. p.m. 817.] + +[Footnote C: _Plutarch. in vita Q. Sertorij_.] + +But to return to our _Pygmies_; tho' most of the great and learned Men +would seem to decry this Story as a Fiction and mere Fable, yet there is +something of Truth, they think, must have given the first rise to it, and +that it was not wholly the product of Phancy, but had some real +foundation, tho' disguised, according to the different Imagination and +_Genius_ of the _Relator_: 'Tis this that has incited them to give their +several Conjectures about it. _Job Ludolphus_ finding what has been +offered at in Relation to the _Pygmies_, not to satisfie, he thinks he can +better account for this Story, by leaving out the _Cranes_, and placing in +their stead, another sort of Bird he calls the _Condor_. I will give you +his own words: _Sed ad Pygmæos_ (saith [A] _Ludolphus_) _revertamur; +fabula de Geranomachia Pygmæorum seu pugna cum Gruibus etiam aliquid de +vero trahere videtur, si pro Gruibus_ Condoras _intelligas, Aves in +interiore_ Africa _maximas, ut fidem penè excedat; aiunt enim quod Ales +ista vitulum Elephanti in Aerem extollere possit; ut infra docebimus. Cum +his Pygmæos pugnare, ne pecora sua rapiant, incredibile non est. Error ex +eo natus videtur, quod primus Relator, alio vocabulo destitutus, Grues pro +Condoris nominârit, sicuti_ Plautus _Picos pro Gryphilus_, & Romani _Boves +lucas pro Elephantis dixere_. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus Comment, in Historiam suam Æthiopic_. p. 73.] + +'Tis true, if what _Juvenal_ only in ridicule mentions, was to be admitted +as a thing really done, that the _Cranes_ could fly away with a _Pygmie_, +as our _Kites_ can with a Chicken, there might be some pretence for +_Ludovicus's Condor_ or _Cunctor_: For he mentions afterwards[A] out of +_P. Joh. dos Santos_ the _Portuguese_, that 'twas observed that one of +these _Condors_ once flew away with an Ape, Chain, Clog and all, about ten +or twelve pounds weight, which he carried to a neighbouring Wood, and +there devoured him. And _Garcilasso de la Vega_[B] relates that they will +seize and fly away with a Child ten or twelve years old. But _Juvenal_[C] +only mentions this in ridicule and merriment, where he saith, + + Adsubitas Thracum volucres, nubemque sonoram + Pygmæos parvis currit Bellator in armis: + Mox impar hosti, raptusque per aera curvis + Unguibus à fævâ fertur Grue. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus ibid_. pag. 164.] + +[Footnote B: _Garcilasso de la Vega Royal Comment_, of Peru.] + +[Footnote C: _Juvenal Satyr_. 13 _vers_. 167.] + +Besides, were the _Condors_ to be taken for the _Cranes_, it would utterly +spoil the _Pygmæomachia_; for where the Match is so very unequal, 'tis +impossible for the Pygmies to make the least shew of a fight. _Ludolphus_ +puts as great hardships on them, to fight these _Condors_, as _Vossius_ +did, in making them fight _Elephants_, but not with equal Success; for +_Vossius_'s _Pygmies_ made great Slaughters of the Elephants; but +_Ludolphus_ his _Cranes_ sweep away the _Pygmies_, as easily as an _Owl_ +would a _Mouse_, and eat them up into the bargain; now I never heard the +_Cranes_ were so cruel and barbarous to their Enemies, tho' there are some +Nations in the World that are reported to do so. + +Moreover, these _Condor_'s I find are very rare to be met with; and when +they are, they often appear single or but a few. Now _Homer_'s, and the +_Cranes_ of the Ancients, are always represented in Flocks. Thus +_Oppian_[A] as I find him translated into Latin Verse: + + _Et velut Æthiopum veniunt, Nilique fluenta + Turmalim Palamedis Aves, celsoeque per altum + Aera labentes fugiunt Athlanta nivosum, + Pygmæos imbelle Genus, parvumque saligant, + Non perturbato procedunt ordine densæ + Instructis volucres obscurant aëra Turmis._ + +To imagine these _Grues_ a single Gigantick Bird, would much lessen the +Beauty of _Homer's Simile_, and would not have served his turn; and there +are none who have borrowed Homer's fancy, but have thought so. I will only +farther instance in _Baptista Mantuan_: + + _Pygmæi breve vulgus, iners Plelecula, quando + Convenere Grues longis in prælia rostris, + Sublato clamore fremunt, dumque agmine magno + Hostibus occurrit, tellus tremit Indica, clamant + Littora, arenarum nimbis absconditur aër; + Omnis & involvit Pulvis solemque, Polumque, + Et Genus hoc Hominum naturâ imbelle, quietum, + Mite, facit Mavors pugnax, immane Cruentum._ + +[Footnote: A _Oppian lib. I. de Piscibus_.] + +Having now considered and examined the various Opinions of these learned +Men concerning this _Pygmaeomachia_; and represented the Reasons they give +for maintaining their Conjectures; I shall beg leave to subjoyn my own: +and if what at present I offer, may seem more probable, or account for +this Story with more likelyhood, than what hath hitherto been advanced, I +shall not think my time altogether misspent: But if this will not do, I +shall never trouble my head more about them, nor think my self any ways +concerned to write on this Argument again. And I had not done it now, but +upon the occasion of Dissecting this _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, which +being a Native of _Africa_, and brought from _Angola_, tho' first taken +higher up in the Country, as I was informed by the Relation given me; and +observing so great a Resemblance, both in the outward shape, and, what +surprized me more, in the Structure likewise of the inward Parts, to a +_Man_; this Thought was easily suggested to me, That very probably this +_Animal_, or some other such of the same _Species_, might give the first +rise and occasion to the Stories of the _Pygmies_. What has been the +[Greek: proton pheudos], and rendered this Story so difficult to be +believed, I find hath been the Opinion that has generally obtained, that +these _Pygmies_ were really a Race of _little Men_. And tho' they are only +_Brutes_, yet being at first call'd _wild Men_, no doubt from the +Resemblance they bear to _Men_; there have not been wanting those +especially amongst the Ancients, who have invented a hundred ridiculous +Stories concerning them; and have attributed those things to them, were +they to be believed in what they say, that necessarily conclude them real +_Men_. + +To sum up therefore what I have already discoursed, I think I have proved, +that the _Pygmies_ were not an _Humane Species_ or _Men_. And tho' +_Homer_, who first mentioned them, calls them [Greek: andres pygmaioi], +yet we need not understand by this Expression any thing more than _Apes_: +And tho' his _Geranomachia_ hath been look'd upon by most only as a +Poetical Fiction; yet by assigning what might be the true Cause of this +Quarrel between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, and by divesting it of the +many fabulous Relations that the _Indian Historians_, and others, have +loaded it with, I have endeavoured to render it a true, at least a +probable Story. I have instanced in _Ctesias_ and the _Indian Historians_, +as the Authors and Inventors of the many Fables we have had concerning +them: Particularly, I have Examined those Relations, where Speech or +Language is attributed to them; and shewn, that there is no reason to +believe that they ever spake any Language at all. But these _Indian +Historians_ having related so many extravagant Romances of the _Pygmies_, +as to render their whole History suspected, nay to be utterly denied, that +there were ever any such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in _Nature_, both by +_Strabo_ of old, and most of our learned men of late, I have endeavoured +to assert the Truth of their _being_, from a _Text_ in _Aristotle_; which +being so positive in affirming their Existence, creates a difficulty, that +can no ways be got over by such as are of the contrary Opinion. This +_Text_ I have vindicated from the false Interpretations and Glosses of +several Great Men, who had their Minds so prepossessed and prejudiced with +the Notion of _Men Pygmies_, that they often would quote it, and misapply +it, tho' it contain'd nothing that any ways favoured their Opinion; but +the contrary rather, that they were _Brutes_, and not _Men_. + +And that the _Pygmies_ were really _Brutes_, I think I have plainly proved +out of _Herodotus_ and _Philostratus_, who reckon them amongst the _wild +Beasts_ that breed in those Countries: For tho' by _Herodotus_ they are +call'd [Greek: andres agrioi], and _Philostratus_ calls them [Greek: +anthropous melanas], yet both make them [Greek: theria] or _wild Beasts_. +And I might here add what _Pausanias_[A] relates from _Euphemus Car_, who +by contrary Winds was driven upon some Islands, where he tells us, [Greek: +en de tautais oikein andras agrious], but when he comes to describe them, +tells us that they had no Speech; that they had Tails on their Rumps; and +were very lascivious toward the Women in the Ship. But of these more, when +we come to discourse of _Satyrs_. + +[Footnote A: _Pausanias in Atticis_, p.m. 21.] + +And we may the less wonder to find that they call _Brutes Men_, since +'twas common for these _Historians_ to give the Title of _Men_, not only +to _Brutes_, but they were grown so wanton in their Inventions, as to +describe several Nations of _Monstrous Men_, that had never any Being, but +in their own Imagination, as I have instanced in several. I therefore +excuse _Strabo_, for denying the _Pygmies_, since he could not but be +convinced, they could not be such _Men_, as these _Historians_ have +described them. And the better to judge of the Reasons that some of the +Moderns have given to prove the Being of _Men Pygmies_, I have laid down +as _Postulata's_, that hereby we must not understand _Dwarfs_, nor yet a +Nation of _Men_, tho' somewhat of a lesser size and stature than ordinary; +but we must observe those two Characteristicks that _Homer_ gives of them, +that they are _Cubitales_ and fight _Cranes_. + +Having premised this, I have taken into consideration _Caspar Bartholine +Senior_ his _Opusculum_ _de Pygmæis_, and _Jo. Talentonius_'s Dissertation +about them: and upon examination do find, that neither the Humane +Authorities, nor Divine that they alledge, do any ways prove, as they +pretend, the Being of _Men Pygmies_. St. _Austin_, who is likewise quoted +on their side, is so far from favouring this Opinion, that he doubts +whether any such Creatures exist, and if they do, concludes them to be +_Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and censures those _Indian Historians_ for imposing +such Beasts upon us, as distinct Races of _Men_. _Julius Cæsar Scaliger_, +and _Isaac Casaubon_, and _Adrian Spigelius_ utterly deny the Being of +_Pygmies_, and look upon them as a Figment only of the Ancients, because +such little Men as they describe them to be, are no where to be met with +in all the World. The Learned _Bochartus_ tho' he esteems the +_Geranomachia_ to be a Fable, and slights it, yet thinks that what might +give the occasion to the Story of the _Pygmies_, might be the _Nubæ_ or +_Nobæ_; as _Isaac Vossius_ conjectures that it was those _Dwarfs_ beyond +the Fountains of the _Nile_, that _Dapper_ calls the _Mimos_, and tells +us, they kill _Elephants_ for to make a Traffick with their Teeth. But +_Job Ludolphus_ alters the Scene, and instead of _Cranes_, substitutes his +_Condors_, who do not fight the _Pygmies_, but fly away with them, and +then devour them. + +Now all these Conjectures do no ways account for _Homer's Pygmies_ and +_Cranes_, they are too much forced and strain'd. Truth is always easie and +plain. In our present Case therefore I think the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild +Man_, may exactly supply the place of the _Pygmies_, and without any +violence or injury to the Story, sufficiently account for the whole +History of the _Pygmies_, but what is most apparently fabulous; for what +has been the greatest difficulty to be solved or satisfied, was their +being _Men_; for as _Gesner_ remarks (as I have already quoted him) _Sed +veterum nullus aliter de Pygmæis scripsit, quàm Homunciones esse_. And the +Moderns too, being byassed and misguided by this Notion, have either +wholly denied them, or contented themselves in offering their Conjectures +what might give the first rise to the inventing this Fable. And tho' +_Albertus_, as I find him frequently quoted, thought that the _Pygmies_ +might be only a sort of _Apes_, and he is placed in the Head of those that +espoused this Opinion, yet he spoils all, by his way of reasoning, and by +making them speak; which was more than he needed to do. + +I cannot see therefore any thing that will so fairly solve this doubt, +that will reconcile all, that will so easily and plainly make out this +Story, as by making the _Orang-Outang_ to be the _Pygmie_ of the Ancients; +for 'tis the same Name that Antiquity gave them. For _Herodotus_'s [Greek: +andres agrioi], what can they be else, than _Homines Sylvestres_, or _wild +Men_? as they are now called. And _Homer_'s [Greek: andres pygmaioi], are +no more an Humane Kind, or Men, then _Herodotus_'s [Greek: andres agrioi], +which he makes to be [Greek: theria], or _wild Beasts_: And the [Greek: +andres mikroi] or [Greek: melanes] (as they are often called) were just +the same. Because this sort of _Apes_ had so great a resemblance to Men, +more than other _Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and they going naturally erect, and +being designed by Nature to go so, (as I have shewn in the _Anatomy_) the +Ancients had a very plausible ground for giving them this denomination of +[Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], but commonly they added an Epithet; +as [Greek: agrioi, mikroi, pygmaioi, melanes], or some such like. Now the +Ancient _Greek_ and _Indian Historians_, tho' they might know these +_Pygmies_ to be only _Apes_ like _Men_, and not to be real _Men_, yet +being so extremely addicted to _Mythology_, or making Fables, and finding +this so fit a Subject to engraft upon, and invent Stories about, they have +not been wanting in furnishing us with a great many very Romantick ones on +this occasion. And the Moderns being imposed upon by them, and misguided +by the Name of [Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], as if thereby must +be always understood an _Humane Kind_, or _real Men_, they have altogether +mistaken the Truth of the Story, and have either wholly denied it, or +rendered it as improbable by their own Conjectures. + +This difficulty therefore of their being called _Men_, I think, may fairly +enough be accounted by what I have said. But it may be objected that the +_Orang-Outang_, or these _wild_ or _savage Men_ are not [Greek: pygmaioi], +or _Trispithami_, that is, but two Foot and a quarter high, because by +some Relations that have been given, it appears they have been observed to +be of a higher stature, and as tall as ordinary Men. Now tho' this may be +allowed as to these _wild Men_ that are bred in other places; and probably +enough like wise, there are such in some Parts of the Continent of +_Africa_; yet 'tis sufficient to our business if there are any there, that +will come within our Dimensions; for our Scene lies in _Africa_; where +_Strabo_ observes, that generally the Beasts are of a less size than +ordinary; and this he thinks might give rise to the Story of the +_Pygmies_. For, saith he[A] [Greek: Ta de boskaemata autois esti mikra, +probata kai aiges, kai kynes mikroi, tracheis de kai machimoi (oikountes +mikroi ontes) tacha de kai tous pygmaious apo tes touton mikrophyias +epenoaesan, kai aneplasan.] i.e. _That their Beasts are small, as their +Sheep, Goats and Oxen, and their Dogs are small, but hairy and fierce: and +it may be_ (saith he) _from the [Greek: mikrophyia] or littleness of the +stature of these Animals, they have invented and imposed on us the_ +Pygmies. And then adds, _That no body fit to be believed ever saw them_; +because he fancied, as a great many others have done, that these _Pygmies_ +must be _real Men_, and not a sort of _Brutes_. Now since the other +_Brutes_ in this Country are generally of a less size than in other Parts, +why may not this sort of _Ape_, the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, be so +likewise. _Aristotle_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, saith, [Greek: genos +mikron men kai autoi, kai oi hippoi.] _That both they and the Horses there +are but small_. He does not say _their_ Horses, for they were never +mounted upon _Horses_, but only upon _Partridges, Goats_ and _Rams_. And +as the _Horses_, and other _Beasts_ are naturally less in _Africa_ than in +other Parts, so likewise may the _Orang-Outang_ be. This that I dissected, +which was brought from _Angola_ (as I have often mentioned) wanted +something of the just stature of the _Pygmies_; but it was young, and I am +therefore uncertain to what tallness it might grow, when at full Age: And +neither _Tulpius_, nor _Gassendus_, nor any that I have hitherto met with, +have adjusted the full stature of this _Animal_ that is found in those +parts from whence ours was brought: But 'tis most certain, that there are +sorts of _Apes_ that are much less than the _Pygmies_ are described to be. +And, as other _Brutes_, so the _Ape-kind_, in different Climates, may be +of different Dimensions; and because the other _Brutes_ here are generally +small, why may not _they_ be so likewise. Or if the difference should be +but little, I see no great reason in this case, why we should be +over-nice, or scrupulous. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 17. p.m. 565.] + +As to our _Ape Pygmies_ or _Orang-Outang_ fighting the _Cranes_, this, I +think, may be easily enough made out, by what I have already observed; for +this _wild Man_ I dissected was Carnivorous, and it may be Omnivorous, at +least as much as _Man_ is; for it would eat any thing that was brought to +the Table. And if it was not their Hunger that drove them to it, their +Wantonness, it may be, would make them apt enough to rob the _Cranes_ +Nests; and if they did so, no doubt but the _Cranes_ would noise enough +about it, and endeavour what they could to beat them off, which a Poet +might easily make a Fight: Tho' _Homer_ only makes use of it as a +_Simile_, in comparing the great Shouts of the _Trojans_ to the Noise of +the _Cranes_, and the Silence of the _Greeks_ to that of the _Pygmies_ +when they are going to Engage, which is natural enough, and very just, and +contains nothing, but what may easily be believed; tho' upon this account +he is commonly exposed, and derided, as the Inventor of this Fable; and +that there was nothing of Truth in it, but that 'twas wholly a Fiction of +his own. + +Those _Pygmies_ that _Paulus Jovius_[A] describes, tho' they dwell at a +great distance from _Africa_, and he calls them _Men_, yet are so like +_Apes_, that I cannot think them any thing else. I will give you his own +words: _Ultra Lapones_ (saith he) _in Regione inter Corum & Aquilonem +perpetua oppressa Caligine_ Pygmæos _reperiri, aliqui eximiæ fidei testes +retulerunt; qui postquam ad summum adoleverint, nostratis Pueri denum +annorum Mensuram vix excedunt. Meticulosum genus hominum, & garritu +Sermonem exprimens, adeo ut tam Simiæ propinqui, quam Statura ac sensibus +ab justæ Proceritatis homine remoti videantur_. Now there is this +Advantage in our _Hypothesis_, it will take in all the _Pygmies_, in any +part of the World; or wherever they are to be met with, without supposing, +as some have done, that 'twas the _Cranes_ that forced them to quit their +Quarters; and upon this account several Authors have described them in +different places: For unless we suppose the _Cranes_ so kind to them, as +to waft them over, how came we to find them often in Islands? But this is +more than can be reasonably expected from so great Enemies. + +[Footnote A: _Paul. Jovij de Legatione Muschovitar_. lib. p.m. 489.] + +I shall conclude by observing to you, that this having been the Common +Error of the Age, in believing the _Pygmies_ to be a sort of _little Men_, +and it having been handed down from so great Antiquity, what might +contribute farther to the confirming of this Mistake, might be, the +Imposture of the Navigators, who failing to Parts where these _Apes_ are, +they have embalmed their Bodies, and brought them home, and then made the +People believe that they were the _Men_ of those Countries from whence +they came. This _M.P. Venetus_ assures us to have been done; and 'tis not +unlikely: For, saith he,[A] _Abundat quoque Regio ipsa_ (sc. Basman in +Java majori) _diversis Simiis magnis & parvis, hominibus simillimis, hos +capiunt Venatores & totos depilant, nisi quod, in barba & in loco secreto +Pilos relinquunt, & occisos speciebus Aromaticis condiunt, & postea +desiccant, venduntque Negociatoribus, qui per diversas Orbis Partes +Corpora illa deferentes, homines persuadent Tales Homunciones in Maris +Insulis reperiri. Joh. Jonston_[B] relates the same thing, but without +quoting the Author; and as he is very apt to do, commits a great mistake, +in telling us, _pro Homunculis marinis venditant_. + +[Footnote A: _M. Pauli Veneti de Regionibus Oriental_. lib. 3. cap. 15. p. +m. 390.] + +[Footnote B: _Jo. Jonston. Hist. Nat. de Quadruped_. p.m. 139.] + +I shall only add, That the Servile Offices that these Creatures are +observed to perform, might formerly, as it does to this very day, impose +upon Mankind to believe, that they were of the same _Species_ with +themselves; but that only out of Sullenness or cunning, they think they +will not _speak_, for fear of being made Slaves. _Philostratus_[A] tells +us, That the _Indians_ make use of the _Apes_ in gathering the Pepper; and +for this Reason they do defend and preserve them from the _Lions_, who are +very greedy of preying upon them: And altho' he calls them _Apes_, yet he +speaks of them as _Men_, and as if they were the Husbandmen of the _Pepper +Trees_, [Greek: kai ta dendra oi piperides, on georgoi pithekoi]. And he +calls them the People of _Apes_; [Greek: ou legetai pithekon oikein demos +en mychois tou orous]. _Dapper_[B] tells us, _That the Indians take the_ +Baris _when young, and make them so tame, that they will do almost the +work of a Slave; for they commonly go erect as Men do. They will beat Rice +in a Mortar, carry Water in a Pitcher_, &c. And Gassendus[C] in the Life +of _Pieresky_, tells us, us, _That they will play upon a Pipe or Cittern, +or the like Musick, they will sweep the House, turn the Spit, beat in a +Mortar, and do other Offices in a Family_. And _Acosta_, as I find him +quoted by _Garcilasso de la Vega_[D] tells us of a _Monkey_ he saw at the +Governour's House at _Cartagena_, 'whom they fent often to the Tavern for +Wine, with Money in one hand, and a Bottle in the other; and that when he +came to the Tavern, he would not deliver his Money, until he had received +his Wine. If the Boys met with him by the way, or made a houting or noise +after him, he would set down his Bottle, and throw Stones at them; and +having cleared the way he would take up his Bottle, and hasten home, And +tho' he loved Wine excessively, yet he would not dare to touch it, unless +his Master gave him License.' A great many Instances of this Nature might +be given that are very surprising. And in another place he tells us, That +the Natives think that they can speak, but will not, for fear of being +made to work. And _Bontius_[E] mentions that the _Javans_ had the same +Opinion concerning the _Orang-Outang_, _Loqui vero eos, easque Javani +aiunt, sed non velle, ne ad labores cogerentur_. + +[Footnote A: _Philostratus in vita Apollonij Tyanæi_, lib. 3. cap. I. p. +m. 110, & 111.] + +[Footnote B: _Dapper Description de l'Afrique_, p.m. 249.] + +[Footnote C: _Gassendus in vita Pierskij_, lib. 5. p.m. 169.] + +[Footnote D: _Garcilasso de la Vega Royal Commentaries of Peru_, lib. 8. +cap. 18. p. 1333.] + +[Footnote E: _Jac. Bontij Hist. Nat. & Med_. lib. 5. cap. 32. p.m. 85.] + + * * * * * + +[NOTE.--A few obvious errors in the quotations have been corrected, but +for the most part they stand as in Tyson, who must, therefore, be held +responsible for any inaccuracies which may exist.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY CONCERNING THE +PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS*** + + +******* This file should be named 12850-8.txt or 12850-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/8/5/12850 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/12850-8.zip b/old/12850-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..11f35a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12850-8.zip diff --git a/old/12850.txt b/old/12850.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2d0565 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12850.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4209 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies +of the Ancients, by Edward Tyson, et al, Edited by Bertram C. A. Windle + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients + +Author: Edward Tyson + +Release Date: July 8, 2004 [eBook #12850] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY CONCERNING +THE PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS*** + + +E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Andy Schmitt, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY CONCERNING THE PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS + +By + +EDWARD TYSON + +Now Edited, with an Introduction by Bertram C. A. Windle + + + + + + + + +TO MY DEAR MOTHER + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +It is only necessary for me to state here, what I have mentioned in the +Introduction, that my account of the habits of the Pigmy races of legend +and myth makes no pretence of being in any sense a complete or exhaustive +account of the literature of this subject. I have contented myself with +bringing forward such tales as seemed of value for the purpose of +establishing the points upon which I desire to lay emphasis. + +I have elsewhere expressed my obligations to M. De Quatrefage's book on +Pigmies, obligations which will be at once recognised by those familiar +with that monograph. To his observations I have endeavoured to add such +other published facts as I have been able to gather in relation to these +peoples. + +I have to thank Professors Sir William Turner, Haddon, Schlegel, Brinton, +and Topinard for their kindness in supplying me with information in +response to my inquiries on several points. + +Finally, I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Alexander +Macalister, President of the Anthropological Institute, and to Mr. E. +Sidney Hartland, for their kindness in reading through, the former the +first two sections, and the latter the last two sections of the +Introduction, and for the valuable suggestions which both have made. These +gentlemen have laid me under obligations which I can acknowledge, but +cannot repay. + +BERTRAM C. A. WINDLE. + +MASON COLLEGE, + +BIRMINGHAM, 1894. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + + +I. + + +Edward Tyson, the author of the Essay with which this book is concerned, +was, on the authority of Monk's Roll of the Royal College of Physicians, +born, according to some accounts, at Bristol, according to others, at +Clevedon, co. Somerset, but was descended from a family which had long +settled in Cumberland. He was educated at Magdalene Hall, Oxford, as a +member of which he proceeded Bachelor of Arts on the 8th of February 1670, +and Master of Arts on the 4th of November 1673. His degree of Doctor of +Medicine he took at Cambridge in 1678 as a member of Corpus Christi +College. Dr. Tyson was admitted a candidate of the College of Physicians +on the 30th of September 1680, and a Fellow in April 1683. He was Censor +of the College in 1694, and held the appointments of Physician to the +Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem, and of Anatomical Reader at Surgeons' +Hall. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed several papers +to the "Philosophical Transactions." Besides a number of anatomical works, +he published in 1699 "A Philosophical Essay concerning the Rhymes of the +Ancients," and in the same year the work by which his name is still known, +in which the Philological Essay which is here reprinted finds a place. +Tyson died on the 1st of August 1708, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, +and is buried at St. Dionis Backchurch. He was the original of the Carus +not very flatteringly described in Garth's "Dispensary." + +The title-page of the work above alluded to runs as follows:-- + +_Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris_: + +OR, THE ANATOMY OF A PYGMIE + +Compared with that of a _Monkey_, an _Ape_, and a _Man_. + +To which is added, A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY Concerning the _Pygmies_, the +_Cynocephali_, the _Satyrs_, and _Sphinges_ of the ANCIENTS. + +Wherein it will appear that they are all either _APES_ or _MONKEYS_, and +not _MEN_, as formerly pretended. + +By _EDWARD TYSON_ M.D. + +Fellow of the Colledge of Physicians, and the Royal Society: Physician to +the Hospital of _Bethlem_, and Reader of Anatomy at _Chirurgeons-Hall_. + +_LONDON_: + +Printed for _Thomas Bennet_ at the _Half-Moon in St. Paul's_ Church-yard; +and _Daniel Brown_ at the _Black Swan_ and _Bible_ without _Temple-Bar_ +and are to be had of Mr. _Hunt_ at the _Repository_ in _Gresham-Colledge_. +M DC XCIX. + +It bears the authority of the Royal Society:-- + +17 deg. _Die Maij_, 1699. + +Imprimatur Liber cui Titulus, _Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris,_ &c. +Authore _Edvardo Tyson_, M.D. R.S.S. + +JOHN HOSKINS, _V.P.R.S_. + +The Pygmy described in this work was, as a matter of fact, a chimpanzee, +and its skeleton is at this present moment in the Natural History Museum +at South Kensington. Tyson's granddaughter married a Dr. Allardyce, who +was a physician of good standing in Cheltenham. The "Pygmie" formed a +somewhat remarkable item of her dowry. Her husband presented it to the +Cheltenham Museum, where it was fortunately carefully preserved until, +quite recently, it was transferred to its present position. + +At the conclusion of the purely scientific part of the work the author +added four Philological Essays, as will have appeared from his title-page. +The first of these is both the longest and the most interesting, and has +alone been selected for republication in this volume. + +This is not the place to deal with the scientific merit of the main body +of Tyson's work, but it may at least be said that it was the first attempt +which had been made to deal with the anatomy of any of the anthropoid +apes, and that its execution shows very conspicuous ability on the part of +its author. + +Tyson, however, was not satisfied with the honour of being the author of +an important morphological work; he desired to round off his subject by +considering its bearing upon the, to him, wild and fabulous tales +concerning pigmy races. The various allusions to these races met with in +the pages of the older writers, and discussed in his, were to him what +fairy tales are to us. Like modern folk-lorists, he wished to explain, +even to euhemerise them, and bring them into line with the science of his +day. Hence the "Philological Essay" with which this book is concerned. +There are no pigmy races, he says; "the most diligent enquiries of late +into all the parts of the inhabited world could never discover any such +puny diminutive race of mankind." But there are tales about them, "fables +and wonderful and merry relations, that are transmitted down to us +concerning them," which surely require explanation. That explanation he +found in his theory that all the accounts of pigmy tribes were based upon +the mistakes of travellers who had taken apes for men. Nor was he without +followers in his opinion; amongst whom here need only be mentioned Buffon, +who in his _Histoire des Oiseaux_ explains the Homeric tale much as Tyson +had done. The discoveries, however, of this century have, as all know, +re-established in their essential details the accounts of the older +writers, and in doing so have demolished the theories of Tyson and Buffon. +We now know, not merely that there are pigmy races in existence, but that +the area which they occupy is an extensive one, and in the remote past has +without doubt been more extensive still. Moreover, certain of these races +have been, at least tentatively, identified with the pigmy tribes of +Pliny, Herodotus, Aristotle, and other writers. It will be well, before +considering this question, and before entering into any consideration of +the legends and myths which may possibly be associated with dwarf races, +to sketch briefly their distribution throughout the continents of the +globe. It is necessary to keep clearly in view the upper limit which can +justly be assigned to dwarfishness, and with this object it may be +advisable to commence with a statement as to the average heights reached +by various representative peoples. According to Topinard, the races of the +world may be classified, in respect to their stature, in the following +manner:-- + +Tall 5 ft. 8 in. and upwards. +Above the average 5 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 8 in. +Below the average 5 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. +Short Below 5 ft. 4 in. + +Thus amongst ordinary peoples there is no very striking difference of +height, so far as the average is concerned. It would, however, be a great +mistake to suppose that all races reaching a lower average height than +five feet four inches are, in any accurate sense of the word, to be looked +upon as pigmies. We have to descend to a considerably lower figure before +that appellation can be correctly employed. The stature must fall +considerably below five feet before we can speak of the race as one of +dwarfs or pigmies. Anthropometrical authorities have not as yet agreed +upon any upward limit for such a class, but for our present purposes it +may be convenient to say that any race in which the average male stature +does not exceed four feet nine inches--that is, the average height of a +boy of about twelve years of age--may fairly be described as pigmy. It is +most important to bear this matter of inches in mind in connection with +points which will have to be considered in a later section. + +Pigmy races still exist in considerable numbers in Asia and the adjacent +islands, and as it was in that continent that, so far as our present +knowledge goes, they had in former days their greatest extension, and, if +De Quatrefages be correct, their place of origin, it will be well to deal +first with the tribes of that quarter of the globe. "The Negrito" (_i.e._, +pigmy black) "type," says the authority whom I have just quoted, and to +whom I shall have to be still further indebted,[A] "was first placed in +South Asia, which it without doubt occupied alone during an indeterminate +period. It is thence that its diverse representatives have radiated, and, +some going east, some west, have given rise to the black populations of +Melanesia and Africa. In particular, India and Indo-China first belonged +to the blacks. Invasions and infiltrations of different yellow or white +races have split up these Negrito populations, which formerly occupied a +continuous area, and mixing with them, have profoundly altered them. The +present condition of things is the final result of strifes and mixtures, +the most ancient of which may be referred back to prehistoric times." The +invasions above mentioned having in the past driven many of the races from +the mainland to the islands, and those which remained on the continent +having undergone greater modification by crossing with taller and alien +races, we may expect to find the purest Negritos amongst the tribes +inhabiting the various archipelagoes situated south and east of the +mainland. Amongst these, the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands offer a +convenient starting-point. The knowledge which we possess of these little +blacks is extensive, thanks to the labours in particular of Mr. Man[B] and +Dr. Dobson,[C] which may be found in the Journal of the Anthropological +Institute, and summarised in De Quatrefages' work. The average stature of +the males of this race is four feet six inches, the height of a boy of ten +years of age. Like children, the head is relatively large in comparison +with the stature, since it is contained seven times therein, instead of +seven and a half times, as is the rule amongst most average-sized peoples. +Whilst speaking of the head, it may be well to mention that these +Negritos, and in greater or less measure other Negritos and Negrillos +(_i.e._, pigmy blacks, Asiatic or African), differ in this part of the +body in a most important respect from the ordinary African negro. Like +him, they are black, often intensely so: like him, too, they have woolly +hair arranged in tufts, but, unlike him, they have round (brachycephalic) +heads instead of long (dolichocephalic); and the purer the race, the more +marked is this distinction. The Mincopie has a singularly short life; for +though he attains puberty at much the same age as ourselves, the +twenty-second year brings him to middle life, and the fiftieth, if +reached, is a period of extreme senility. Pure in race, ancient in +history, and carefully studied, this race deserves some further attention +here than can be extended to others with which I have to deal. The moral +side of the Mincopies seems to be highly developed; the modesty of the +young girls is most strict; monogamy is the rule, and-- + + "Their list of forbidden degrees + An extensive morality shows," + +since even the marriage of cousins-german is considered highly immoral. +"Men and women," says Man, "are models of constancy." They believe in a +Supreme Deity, respecting whom they say, that "although He resembles fire, +He is invisible; that He was never born, and is immortal; that He created +the world and all animate and inanimate objects, save only the powers of +evil. During the day He knows everything, even the thoughts of the mind; +He is angry when certain sins are committed, and full of pity for the +unfortunate and miserable, whom He sometimes condescends to assist. He +judges souls after death, and pronounces on each a sentence which sends +them to paradise or condemns them to a kind of purgatory. The hope of +escaping the torments of this latter place influences their conduct. +Puluga, this Deity, inhabits a house of stone; when it rains, He descends +upon the earth in search of food; during the dry weather He is asleep." +Besides this Deity, they believe in numerous evil spirits, the chief of +whom is the Demon of the Woods. These spirits have created themselves, and +have existed _ab immemorabili_. The sun, which is a female, and the moon, +her husband, are secondary deities. + +[Footnote A: The quotations from this author are taken from his work _Les +Pygmees_. Paris, J.B. Bailliere et Fils, 1887.] + +[Footnote B: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst_., vii.] + +[Footnote C: _Ibid_., iv.] + +South of the Andaman Islands are the Nicobars, the aborigines of which, +the Shom Pen,[A] now inhabit the mountains, where, like so many of their +brethren, they have been driven by the Malays. They are of small, but not +pigmy stature (five feet two inches), a fact which may be due to crossing. + +[Footnote A: Man, _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, xviii. p. 354.] + +Following the Negritos east amongst the islands, we find in Luzon the +Aetas or Inagtas, a group of which is known in Mindanao as Manamouas. The +Aetas live side by side with the Tagals, who are of Malay origin. They +were called Negritos del Monte by the Spaniards who first colonised these +islands. Their average stature, according to Wallace, ranges from four +feet six inches to four feet eight inches. In New Guinea, the Karons, a +similar race, occupy a chain of mountains parallel to the north coast of +the great north-western peninsula. At Port Moresby, in the same island, +the Koiari appear to represent the most south-easterly group; but my +friend Professor Haddon, who has investigated this district, tells me that +he finds traces of a former existence of Negritos at Torres Straits and in +North Queensland, as shown by the shape of the skulls of the inhabitants +of these regions. + +The Malay Peninsula contains in Perak hill tribes called "savages" by the +Sakays. These tribes have not been seen by Europeans, but are stated to be +pigmy in stature, troglodytic, and still in the Stone Age. Farther south +are the Semangs of Kedah, with an average stature of four feet ten inches, +and the Jakuns of Singapore, rising to five feet. The Annamites admit that +they are not autochthonous, a distinction which they confer upon the Mois, +of whom little is known, but whose existence and pigmy Negrito +characteristics are considered by De Quatrefages as established. + +China no longer, so far as we know, contains any representatives of this +type, but Professor Lacouperie[A] has recently shown that they formerly +existed in that part of Asia. According to the annals of the Bamboo Books, +"In the twenty-ninth year of the Emperor Yao, in spring, the chief of the +Tsiao-Yao, or dark pigmies, came to court and offered as tribute feathers +from the Mot." The Professor continues, "As shown by this entry, we begin +with the semi-historic times as recorded in the 'Annals of the Bamboo +Books,' and the date about 2048 B.C. The so-called feathers were simply +some sort of marine plant or seaweed with which the immigrant Chinese, +still an inland people, were yet unacquainted. The Mot water or river, +says the Shan-hai-king, or canonical book of hills and seas, was situated +in the south-east of the Tai-shan in Shan-tung. This gives a clue to the +localisation of the pigmies, and this localisation agrees with the +positive knowledge we possess of the small area which the Chinese dominion +covered at this time. Thus the Negritos were part of the native population +of China when, in the twenty-third century B.C., the civilised Bak tribes +came into the land." In Japan we have also evidence of their existence. +This country, now inhabited by the Niphonians, or Japanese, as we have +come to call them, was previously the home of the Ainu, a white, hairy +under-sized race, possibly, even probably, emigrants from Europe, and now +gradually dying out in Yezo and the Kurile Islands. Prior to the Ainu was +a Negrito race, whose connection with the former is a matter of much +dispute, whose remains in the shape of pit-dwellings, stone arrow-heads, +pottery, and other implements still exist, and will be found fully +described by Mr. Savage Landor in a recent most interesting work.[B] In +the Shan-hai-king, as Professor Schlegel[C] points out, their country is +spoken of as the Siao-jin-Kouo, or land of little men, in distinction, be +it noted, to the Peh-min-Kouo, or land of white people, identified by him +with the Ainu. These little men are spoken of by the Ainu as +Koro-puk-guru, _i.e._, according to Milne, men occupying excavations, or +pit-dwellers. According to Chamberlain, the name means dwellers under +burdocks, and is associated with the following legend. Before the time of +the Ainu, Yezo was inhabited by a race of dwarfs, said by some to be two +to three feet, by others only one inch in height. When an enemy +approached, they hid themselves under the great leaves of the burdock +(_koro_), for which reason they are called Koro-puk-guru, i.e., the men +under the burdocks. When they were exterminated by the wooden clubs of the +Ainu, they raised their eyes to heaven, and, weeping, cried aloud to the +gods, "Why were we made so small?" It should be said that Professor +Schlegel and Mr. Savage Landor both seem to prefer the former etymology. + +[Footnote A: Babylonian and Oriental Record, vol. v.] + +[Footnote B: Alone with the Hairy Ainu.] + +[Footnote C: _Problemes Geographiques. Les Peuples Etrangers chez les +Historiens Chinois_. Extrait du T'oung-pao, vol. _iv_. No. 4. Leide, E.J. +Brill.] + +Passing to the north-west of the Andamans, we find in India a problem of +considerable difficulty. That there were at one period numerous Negrito +tribes inhabiting that part of Asia is indubitable; that some of them +persist to this day in a state of approximate purity is no less true, but +the influence of crossing has here been most potent. Races of lighter hue +and taller stature have invaded the territory of the Negritos, to a +certain extent intermarried with them, and thus have originated the +various Dravidian tribes. These tribes, therefore, afford us a valuable +clue as to the position occupied in former days by their ancestors, the +Negritos. + +In some of the early Indian legends, De Quatrefages thinks that he finds +traces of these prehistoric connections between the indigenous Negrito +tribes and their invaders. The account of the services rendered to Rama by +Hanuman and his monkey-people may, he thinks, easily be explained by +supposing the latter to be a Negrito tribe. Another tale points to unions +of a closer nature between the alien races. Bhimasena, after having +conquered and slain Hidimba, at first resisted the solicitations of the +sister of this monster, who, having become enamoured of him, presented +herself under the guise of a lovely woman. But at the wish of his elder +brother, Youdhichshira, the king of justice, and with the consent of his +mother, he yielded, and passed some time in the dwelling of this Negrito +or Dravidian Armida. + +It will now be necessary to consider some of these races more or less +crossed with alien blood. + +In the centre of India, amongst the Vindyah Mountains, live the Djangals +or Bandra-Lokhs, the latter name signifying man-monkey, and thus +associating itself with the tale of Rama, above alluded to. Like most of +the Dravidian tribes, they live in great misery, and show every sign of +their condition in their attenuated figures. One of this tribe measured by +Rousselet was five feet in height. It may here be remarked that the +stature of the Dravidian races exceeds that of the purer Negritos, a fact +due, no doubt, to the influence of crossing. Farther south, in the +Nilgherry Hills, and in the neighbourhood of the Todas and Badagas, dwell +the Kurumbas. and Irulas (children of darkness). Both are weak and +dwarfish, the latter especially so. They inhabit, says Walhouse,[A] the +most secluded, densely wooded fastnesses of the mountain slopes. They are +by popular tradition connected with the aboriginal builders of the rude +stone monuments of the district, though, according to the above-mentioned +authority, without any claim to such distinction. They, however, worship +at these cromlechs from time to time, and are associated with them in +another interesting manner. "The Kurumbas of Nulli," says Walhouse, "one +of the wildest Nilgherry declivities, come up annually to worship at one +of the dolmens on the table-land above, in which they say one of their old +gods resides. Though they are regarded with fear and hatred as sorcerers +by the agricultural B[)a]d[)a]gas of the table-land, one of them must, +nevertheless, at sowing-time be called to guide the first plough for two +or three yards, and go through a mystic pantomime of propitiation to the +earth deity, without which the crop would certainly fail. When so +summoned, the Kurumba must pass the night by the dolmens alone, and I have +seen one who had been called from his present dwelling for the morning +ceremony, sitting after dark on the capstone of a dolmen, with heels and +hams drawn together and chin on knees, looking like some huge ghostly fowl +perched on the mysterious stone." Mr. Gomme has drawn attention to this +and other similar customs in the interesting remarks which he makes upon +the influence of conquered non-Aryan races upon their Aryan subduers.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, vii. 21.] + +[Footnote B: Ethnology and Folk-Lore, p. 46; The Village Community, p. +105.] + +Farther south, in Ceylon, the Veddahs live, whom Bailey[A] considers to be +identical with the hill-tribes of the mainland, though, if this be true, +some at least must have undergone a large amount of crossing, judging from +the wavy nature of their hair. The author just quoted says, "The tallest +Veddah I ever saw, a man so towering above his fellows that, till I +measured him, I believed him to be not merely comparatively a tall man, +was only five feet three inches in height. The shortest man I have +measured was four feet one inch. I should say that of males the ordinary +height is from four feet six inches to five feet one inch, and of females +from four feet four inches to four feet eight inches." + +[Footnote A: _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, ii. 278.] + +In the east the Santals inhabit the basin of the Ganges, and in the west +the Jats belong to the Punjab, and especially to the district of the +Indus. The Kols inhabit the delta of the Indus and the neighbourhood of +Gujerat, and stretch almost across Central India into Behar and the +eastern extremities of the Vindhya Mountains. Other Dravidian tribes are +the Oraons, Jouangs, Buihers, and Gounds. All these races have a stature +of about five feet, and, though much crossed, present more or less marked +Negrito characteristics. Passing farther west, the Brahouis of +Beluchistan, a Dravidian race, who regard themselves as the aboriginal +inhabitants, live side by side with the Belutchis. Finally, in this +direction, there seem to have been near Lake Zerrah, in Persia, Negrito +tribes who are probably aboriginal, and may have formed the historic black +guard of the ancient kings of Susiana. + +An examination of the present localisation of these remnants of the +Negrito inhabitants shows how they have been split up, amalgamated with, +or driven to the islands by the conquering invaders. An example of what +has taken place may be found in the case of Borneo, where Negritos still +exist in the centre of the island. The Dyaks chase them like wild beasts, +and shoot down the children, who take refuge in the trees. This will not +seem in the least surprising to those who have studied the history of the +relation between autochthonous races and their invaders. It is the same +story that has been told of the Anglo-Saxon race in its dealings with +aborigines in America, and notably, in our case, in Tasmania. + +Turning from Asia to a continent more closely associated, at least in +popular estimation, with pigmy races, we find in Africa several races of +dwarf men, of great antiquity and surpassing interest. The discoveries of +Stanley, Schweinfurth, Miani, and others have now placed at our disposal +very complete information respecting the pigmies of the central part of +the continent, with whom it will, therefore, be convenient to make a +commencement. These pigmies appear to be divided into two tribes, which, +though similar in stature, and alike distinguished by the characteristic +of attaching themselves to some larger race of natives, yet present +considerable points of difference, so much so as to cause Mr. Stanley to +say that they are as unlike as a Scandinavian is to a Turk. "Scattered," +says the same authority,[A] "among the Balesse, between Ipoto and Mount +Pisgah, and inhabiting the land between the Ngaiyu and Ituri rivers, a +region equal in area to about two-thirds of Scotland, are the Wambutti, +variously called Batwa, Akka, and Bazungu. These people are under-sized +nomads, dwarfs or pigmies, who live in the uncleared virgin forest, and +support themselves on game, which they are very expert in catching. They +vary in height from three feet to four feet six inches. A full-grown adult +may weigh ninety pounds. They plant their village camps three miles around +a tribe of agricultural aborigines, the majority of whom are fine stalwart +people. They use poisoned arrows, with which they kill elephants, and they +capture other kinds of game by the use of traps." + +[Footnote A: In Darkest Africa, vol. ii. p. 92.] + +The two groups are respectively called Batwa and Wambutti. The former +inhabit the northern parts of the above-mentioned district, the latter the +southern. The former have longish heads, long narrow faces, and small +reddish eyes set close together, whilst the latter have round faces and +open foreheads, gazelle-like eyes, set far apart, and rich yellow ivory +complexion. Their bodies are covered with stiffish grey short hair. Two +further quotations from the same source may be given to convey an idea to +those ignorant of the original work, if such there be, of the appearances +of these dwarfs. Speaking of the queen of a tribe of pigmies, Stanley +says,[A] "She was brought in to see me, with three rings of polished iron +around her neck, the ends of which were coiled like a watch-spring. Three +iron rings were suspended to each ear. She is of a light-brown complexion +with broad round face, large eyes, and small but full lips. She had a +quiet modest demeanour, though her dress was but a narrow fork clout of +bark cloth. Her height is about four feet four inches, and her age may be +nineteen or twenty. I notice when her arms are held against the light a +whity-brown fell on them. Her skin has not that silky smoothness of touch +common to the Zanzibaris, but altogether she is a very pleasing little +creature." To this female portrait may be subjoined one of a male aged +probably twenty-one years and four feet in height.[B] "His colour was +coppery, the fell over the body was almost furry, being nearly half an +inch long, and his hands were very delicate. On his head he wore a bonnet +of a priestly form, decorated with a bunch of parrot feathers, and a broad +strip of bark covered his nakedness." + +[Footnote A: In Darkest Africa, vol. i. p. 345.] + +[Footnote B: Ibid., ii. 40.] + +Jephson states[A] that he found continual traces of them from 270 30' E. +long., a few miles above the Equator, up to the edge of the great forest, +five days' march from Lake Albert. He also says that they are a hardy +daring race, always ready for war, and are much feared by their +neighbours. As soon as a party of dwarfs makes its appearance near a +village, the chief hastens to propitiate them by presents of corn and such +vegetables as he possesses. They never exceed four feet one inch in +height, he informs us, and adds a characteristic which has not been +mentioned by Stanley, one, too, which is very remarkable when it is +remembered how scanty is the facial hair of the Negros and Negritos--the +men have often very long beards. The southern parts of the continent are +occupied by the Bushmen, who are vigorous and agile, of a stature ranging +from four feet six inches to four feet nine inches, and sufficiently well +known to permit me to pass over them without further description. The +smallest woman of this race who has been measured was only three feet +three inches in height, and Barrow examined one, who was the mother of +several children, with a stature of three feet eight inches. The Akoas of +the Gaboon district were a race of pigmies who, now apparently extinct, +formerly dwelt on the north of the Nazareth River. A male of this tribe +was photographed and measured by the French Admiral Fleuriot de l'Angle. +His age was about forty and his stature four feet six inches. + +[Footnote A: Emm Pasha, p. 367, et seq.] + +Flower[A] says that "another tribe, the M'Boulous, inhabiting the coast +north of the Gaboon River, have been described by M. Marche as probably +the primitive race of the country. They live in little villages, keeping +entirely to themselves, though surrounded by the larger Negro tribes, +M'Pongos and Bakalais, who are encroaching upon them so closely that their +numbers are rapidly diminishing. In 1860 they were not more than 3000; in +1879 they were much less numerous. They are of an earthy-brown colour, and +rarely exceed five feet three inches in height. Another group living +between the Gaboon and the Congo, in Ashangoland, a male of which measured +four feet six inches, has been described by Du Chaillu." + +In Loango there is a tribe called Babonko, which was described by Battell +in 1625, in the work entitled "Purchas his Pilgrimes," in the following +terms:--"To the north-east of Mani-Kesock are a kind of little people +called Matimbas; which are no bigger than boyes of twelve yeares old, but +very thicke, and live only upon flesh, which they kill in the woods with +their bows and darts. They pay tribute to Mani-Kesock, and bring all their +elephants' teeth and tayles to him. They will not enter into any of the +Maramba's houses, nor will suffer any one to come where they dwell. And if +by chance any Maramba or people of Longo pass where they dwell, they will +forsake that place and go to another. The women carry bows and arrows as +well as the men. And one of these will walk in the woods alone and kill +the Pongos with their poysoned arrows." It is somewhat surprising that +Tyson, who gives in his essay (p. 80) the account of the same people +published at a later date (1686) by Dapper, should have missed his +fellow-countryman's narrative. The existence of this tribe has been +established by a German expedition, one of the members of which, Dr. +Falkenstein, photographed and measured an adult male whose stature was +four feet six inches. + +Krapf[A] states that in the south of Schoa, in a part of Abyssinia as yet +unworked, the Dokos live, who are not taller than four feet. According to +his account, they are of a dark olive colour, with thick prominent lips, +flat noses, small eyes, and long flowing hair. They have no dwellings, +temples, holy trees, chiefs, or weapons, live on roots and fruit, and are +ignorant of fire. Another group was described by Mollieu in 1818 as +inhabiting Tenda-Maie, near the Rio Grande, but very little is known about +them. In a work entitled "The Dwarfs of Mount Atlas," Halliburton[B] has +brought forward a number of statements to prove that a tribe of dwarfs, +named like those of Central Africa, Akkas, of a reddish complexion and +with short woolly hair, live in the district adjoining Soos. These dwarfs +have been alluded to by Harris and Doennenburg,[C] but Mr. Harold Crichton +Browne,[D] who has explored neighbouring districts, is of opinion that +there is no such tribe, and that the accounts of them have been based upon +the examination of sporadic examples of dwarfishness met with in that as +in other parts of the world. + +[Footnote A: _Morgenblatt_, 1853 (quoted by Schaafhausen, _Arch. f. +Anth._, 1866, p. 166).] + +[Footnote B: London, Nutt, 1891.] + +[Footnote C: _Nature_, 1892, ii. 616.] + +[Footnote A: _Nature_, 1892, i. 269.] + +Finally, in Madagascar it is possible that there may be a dwarf race. +Oliver[A] states that "the Vazimbas are supposed to have been the first +occupants of Ankova. They are described by Rochon, under the name of +Kunios, as a nation of dwarfs averaging three feet six inches in stature, +of a lighter colour than the Negroes, with very long arms and woolly hair. +As they were only described by natives of the coast, and have never been +seen, it is natural to suppose that these peculiarities have been +exaggerated; but it is stated that people of diminutive size still exist +on the banks of a certain river to the south-west." There are many tumuli +of rude work and made of rough stones throughout the country, which are +supposed to be their tombs. In idolatrous days, says Mullens,[B] the +Malagasy deified the Vazimba, and their so-called tombs were the most +sacred objects in the country. In this account may be found further +evidence in favour of Mr. Gomme's theory, to which attention has already +been called. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Memoirs_, iii. 1.] + +[Footnote B: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, v. 181.] + +In the great continent of America there does not appear to have ever been, +so far as our present knowledge teaches, any pigmy race. Dr. Brinton, the +distinguished American ethnologist, to whom I applied for information on +this point, has been good enough to write to me that, in his opinion, +there is no evidence of any pigmy race in America. The "little people" of +the "stone graves" in Tennessee, often supposed to be such, were children, +as the bones testify. The German explorer Hassler has alleged the +existence of a pigmy race in Brazil, but testimony is wanting to support +such allegation. There are two tribes of very short but not pigmy stature +in America, the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego and the Utes of Colorado, but +both of these average over five feet. + +Leaving aside for the moment the Lapps, to whom I shall return, there does +not appear to have been at any time a really pigmy race in Europe, so far +as any discoveries which have been made up to the present time show. +Professor Topinard, whose authority upon this point cannot be gainsaid, +informs me that the smallest race known to him in Central Europe is that +of the pre-historic people of the Lozere, who were Neolithic troglodytes, +and are represented probably at the present day by some of the peoples of +South Italy and Sardinia. Their average stature was about five feet two +inches. This closely corresponds with what is known of the stature of the +Platycnemic race of Denbighshire, the Perthi-Chwareu. Busk[A] says of them +that they were of low stature, the mean height, deduced from the lengths +of the long bones, being little more than five feet. As both sexes are +considered together in this description, it is fair to give the male a +stature of about five feet two inches,[B] It also corresponds with the +stature assigned by Pitt-Rivers to a tribe occupying the borders of +Wiltshire and Dorsetshire during the Roman occupation, the average height +of whose males and females was five feet two and a half inches and four +feet ten and three-quarter inches respectively. + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Ethn. Soc._, 1869-70, p. 455.] + +[Footnote B: Since these pages were printed, Prof. Kollmann, of Basle, has +described a group of Neolithic pigmies as having existed at Schaffhausen. +The adult interments consisted of the remains of full-grown European types +and of small-sized people. These two races were found interred side by +side under precisely similar conditions, from which he concludes that they +lived peaceably together, notwithstanding racial difference. Their stature +(about three feet six inches) may be compared with that of the Veddahs in +Ceylon. Prof. Kollmann believes that they were a distinct species of +mankind.] + +Dr. Rahon,[A] who has recently made a careful study of the bones of +pre-historic and proto-historic races, with special reference to their +stature, states that the skeletons attributed to the most ancient and to +the Neolithic races are of a stature below the middle height, the average +being a little over five feet three inches. The peoples who constructed +the Megalithic remains of Roknia and of the Caucasus, were of a stature +similar to our own. The diverse proto-historic populations, Gauls, Franks, +Burgundians, and Merovingians, considered together, present a stature +slightly superior to that of the French of the present day, but not so +much so as the accounts of the historians would have led us to believe. + +[Footnote A: _Recherches sur les Ossements Humaines, Anciens et +Prehistonques. Mem. de la Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris_, Ser, ii. tom. iv. +403.] + +It remains now to deal with two races whose physical characters are of +considerable importance in connection with certain points which will be +dealt with in subsequent pages, I mean the Lapps and the Innuit or Eskimo. + +The Lapps, according to Karonzine,[A] one of their most recent describers, +are divisible into two groups, Scandinavian and Russian, the former being +purer than the latter race. The average male stature is five feet, a +figure which corresponds closely with that obtained by Mantegazza and +quoted by Topinard. The extremes obtained by this observer amongst men +were, on the one hand, five feet eight inches, and on the other four feet +four inches. As, however, in a matter of this kind we have to deal with +averages and not with extremes, we must conclude that the Lapps, though a +stunted race, are not pigmies, in the sense in which the word is +scientifically employed. + +[Footnote A: _L'Anthropologie_, ii. 80.] + +The Innuit or Eskimo were called by the original Norse explorers +"Skraelingjar," or dwarfs, a name now converted by the Innuit into +"karalit," which is the nearest approach that they are able to make +phonetically to the former term. They are certainly, on the average, a +people of less than middle stature, yet they can in no sense be described +as Pigmies. Their mean height is five feet three inches. Nansen[A] says of +them, "It is a common error amongst us in Europe to think of the Eskimo as +a diminutive race. Though no doubt smaller than the Scandinavian peoples, +they must be reckoned amongst the middle-sized races, and I even found +amongst those of purest breeding men of nearly six feet in height." + +[Footnote A: _Eskimo Life_, p. 20.] + + + +II. + + +The _raison d'etre_ of Tyson's essay was to explain away the accounts of +the older writers relating to Pigmy races, on the ground that, as no such +races existed, an explanation of some kind was necessary in order to +account for so many and such detailed descriptions as were to be found in +their works. Having now seen not merely that there are such things as +Pigmy races, but that they have a wide distribution throughout the world, +it may be well to consider to which of the existing or extinct races, the +above-mentioned accounts may be supposed to have referred. In this task I +am much aided in several instances by the labours of De Quatrefages, and +as his book is easily accessible, it will be unnecessary for me to repeat +the arguments in favour of his decisions which he has there given. + +Starting with Asia, we have in the first place the statement of Pliny, +that "immediately after the nation of the Prusians, in the mountains where +it is said are pigmies, is found the Indus." These Pigmies may be +identified with the Brahouis, now Dravidian, but still possessing the +habit, attributed to them by Pliny, of changing their dwellings twice a +year, in summer and winter, migrations rendered necessary by the search +for food for their flocks. The same author's allusion to the "Spithamaei +Pygmaei" of the mountains in the neighbourhood of the Ganges may apply to +the Santals or some allied tribe, though Pliny's stature for them of two +feet four inches is exaggeratedly diminutive, and he has confused them +with Homer's Pigmies, who were, as will be seen, a totally different +people. + +Ctesias[A] tells us that "Middle India has black men, who are called +Pygmies, using the same language as the other Indians; they are, however, +very little; that the greatest do not exceed the height of two cubits, and +the most part only of one cubit and a half. But they nourish the longest +hair, hanging down unto the knees, and even below; moreover, they carry a +beard more at length than any other men; but, what is more, after this +promised beard is risen to them, they never after use any clothing, but +send down, truly, the hairs from the back much below the knees, but draw +the beard before down to the feet; afterward, when they have covered the +whole body with hairs, they bind themselves, using those in the place of a +vestment. They are, moreover, apes and deformed. Of these Pygmies, the +king of the Indians has three thousand in his train; for they are very +skilful archers." No doubt the actual stature has been much diminished in +this account, and, as De Quatrefages suggests, the garment of long +floating grasses which they may well have worn, may have been mistaken for +hair; yet, in the description, he believes that he is able to recognise +the ancestors of the Bandra-Lokh of the Vindhya Mountains. Ctesias' other +statement, that "the king of India sends every fifth year fifty thousand +swords, besides abundance of other weapons, to the nation of the +Cynocephali," may refer to the same or some other tribe. + +[Footnote A: The quotation is taken from Ritson, _Fairy Tales_, P. 4.] + +De Quatrefages also thinks that an allusion to the ancestors of the Jats, +who would then have been less altered by crossing than now, may be found +in Herodotus' account of the army of Xerxes when he says, "The Eastern +Ethiopians serve with the Indians. They resemble the other Ethiopians, +from whom they only differ in language and hair. The Eastern Ethiopians +have straight hair, while those of Lybia are more woolly than all other +men." + +Writing of isles in the neighbourhood of Java, Maundeville says,[A] "In +another yle, ther ben litylle folk, as dwerghes; and thei ben to so meche +as the Pygmeyes, and thei han no mouthe, but in stede of hire mouthe, thei +han a lytylle round hole; and whan thei schulle eten or drynken, thei +taken thorghe a pipe or a penne or suche a thing, and sowken it in, for +thei han no tongue, and therefore thei speke not, but thei maken a maner +of hissynge, as a Neddre dothe, and thei maken signes on to another, as +monkes don, be the whiche every of hem undirstondethe the other." + +[Footnote A: Ed. Halliwell, p. 205.] + +Strip this statement of the characteristic Maundevillian touches with +regard to the mouth and tongue, and it may refer to some of the insular +races which exist or existed in the district of which he is treating. + +A much fuller account[A] by the same author relates to Pigmies in the +neighbourhood of a river, stated by a commentator[B] to be the +Yangtze-Kiang, "a gret ryvere, that men clepen Dalay, and that is the +grettest ryvere of fressche water that is in the world. For there, as it +is most narow, it is more than 4 myle of brede. And thanne entren men azen +in to the lond of the great Chane. That ryvere gothe thorge the lond of +Pigmaus, where that the folk ben of litylle stature, that ben but 3 span +long, and thei ben right faire and gentylle, aftre here quantytees, bothe +the men and the women. And thei maryen hem, whan thei ben half zere of age +and getten children. And thei lyven not, but 6 zeer or 7 at the moste. And +he that lyveth 8 zeer, men holden him there righte passynge old. Theise +men ben the beste worcheres of gold, sylver, cotoun, sylk, and of alle +such thinges, of ony other, that be in the world. And thei han often tymes +werre with the briddes of the contree, that thei taken and eten. This +litylle folk nouther labouren in londes ne in vynes. But thei han grete +men amonges hem, of oure stature, that tylen the lond, and labouren +amonges the vynes for hem. And of the men of oure stature, han thei als +grete skorne and wondre, as we wolde have among us of Geauntes, zif thei +weren amonges us. There is a gode cytee, amonges othere, where there is +duellynge gret plentee of the lytylle folk, and is a gret cytee and a +fair, and the men ben grete that duellen amonges hem; but whan thei getten +ony children, thei ben als litylle as the Pygmeyes, and therefore thei ben +alle, for the moste part, alle Pygmeyes, for the nature of the land is +suche. The great Cane let kepe this cytee fulle wel, for it is his. And +alle be it, that the Pygmeyes ben litylle, zit thei ben fulle resonable, +aftre here age and connen bothen wytt and gode and malice now." This +passage, as will be noted, incorporates the Homeric tale of the battles +between the Pigmies and the Cranes, and is adorned with a representation +of such an encounter. Whether Maundeville's dwarfs were the same as the +Siao-Jin of the Shan-hai-King is a question difficult to decide; but, in +any case, both these pigmy races of legend inhabited a part of what is now +the Chinese Empire. The same Pigmies seem to be alluded to in the rubric +of the Catalan map of the world in the National Library of Paris, the date +of which is A.D. 1375. "Here (N.W. of Catayo-Cathay) grow little men who +are but five palms in height, and though they be little, and not fit for +weighty matters, yet they be brave and clever at weaving and keeping +cattle." If such an explanation may be hazarded, we may perhaps go further +and suppose that Paulus Jovius may have been alluding to the +Koro-puk-guru, when, as Pomponius Mela tells us, he taught that there were +Pigmies beyond Japan. In both these cases, however, it is well to remember +that there is a river in Macedon as well as in Monmouth, and that it is +hazardous to come to too definite a belief as to the exact location of the +Pigmies of ancient writers. + +[Footnote A: _Maundeville_, p. 211.] + +[Footnote B: _Quart. Rev._, 172, p. 431.] + +The continent of Africa yielded its share of Pigmies to the same writers. +The most celebrated of all are those alluded to by Aristotle in his +classical passage, "They (the Cranes) come out of Scythia to the Lakes +above Egypt whence the Nile flows. This is the place whereabouts the +Pigmies dwell. For this is no fable but a truth. Both they and the horses, +as 'tis said, are of a small kind. They are Troglodytes and live in +caves." + +Leaving aside the crane part of the tale, which it has been suggested may +really have referred to ostriches, Aristotle's Pigmy race may, from their +situation, be fairly identified with the Akkas described by Stanley and +others. That this race is an exceedingly ancient one is proved by the fact +that Marriette Bey has discovered on a tomb of the ancient Empire of Egypt +a figure of a dwarf with the name Akka inscribed by it. This race is also +supposed to have been that which, alluded to by Homer, has become confused +with other dwarf tribes in different parts of the world. + + "So when inclement winters vex the plain + With piercing frosts or thick-descending rain, + To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly, + With noise and order, through the midway sky; + To Pigmy nations wounds and death they bring, + And all the war descends upon the wing." + +Attention may here be drawn to Tyson's quotation (p. 78) from Vossius as +to the trade driven by the Pigmies in elephants' tusks, since, as we have +seen, this corresponds with what we now know as to the habits of the +Akkas. + +The account which Herodotus gives of the expedition of the Nasamonians is +well known. Five men, chosen by lot from amongst their fellows, crossed +the desert of Lybia, and, having marched several days in deep sand, +perceived trees growing in the midst of the plain. They approached and +commenced to eat the fruit which they bore. Scarcely had they begun to +taste it, when they were surprised by a great number of men of a stature +much inferior to the middle height, who seized them and carried them off. +They were eventually taken to a city, the inhabitants of which were black. +Near this city ran a considerable river whose course was from west to +east, and in which crocodiles were found. In his account of the Akkas, Mr. +Stanley believed that he had discovered the representatives of the Pigmies +mentioned in this history. Speaking of one of these, he says,[A] +"Twenty-six centuries ago his ancestors captured the five young Nasamonian +explorers, and made merry with them at their villages on the banks of the +Niger." It may be correct to say that, at the period alluded to, the dwarf +races of Africa were in more continuous occupancy of the land than is now +the case, but such an identification as that just mentioned gives a false +idea of the position of the Pigmies of Herodotus. De Quatrefages, after a +most careful examination of the question in all its aspects, finds himself +obliged to conclude, either that the Pigmy race seen by the Nasamonians +still exists on the north of the Niger, which has been identified with the +river alluded to by Herodotus, but has not, up to the present, been +discovered; or that it has disappeared from those regions. + +[Footnote A: _Op. supra cit._, ii. 40.] + +Pomponius Mela has also his account of African Pigmies. Beyond the Arabian +Gulf, and at the bottom of an indentation of the Red Sea, he places the +Panchaeans, also called Ophiophagi, on account of the fact that they fed +upon serpents. More within the Arabian bay than the Panchaeans are the +Pigmies, a minute race, which became exterminated in the wars which it was +compelled to wage with the Cranes for the preservation of its fruits. The +region indicated somewhat corresponds with that which is assigned to the +Dokos by their describer. In this district, too, other dwarf races have +been reported. The French writer whom I have so often cited says, "The +tradition of Eastern African Pigmies has never been lost by the Arabs. At +every period the geographers of this nation have placed their River of +Pigmies much more to the south. It is in this region, a little to the +north of the Equator, and towards the 32 deg. of east longitude, that the Rev. +Fr. Leon des Avanchers has found the Wa-Berrikimos or Cincalles, whose +stature is about four feet four inches. The information gathered by M. +D'Abbadie places towards the 6 deg. of north latitude the Mallas or +Maze-Malleas, with a stature of five feet. Everything indicates that there +exist, at the south of the Galla country, different negro tribes of small +stature. It seems difficult to me not to associate them with the Pigmies +of Pomponius Mela. Only they have retreated farther south. Probably this +change had already taken place at the time when the Roman geographer wrote; +it is, therefore, comprehensible that he may have regarded them as having +disappeared." + +Tyson (p. 29) quotes the following passage from Photius:--"That Nonnosus +sailing from Pharsa, when he came to the farthermost of the islands, a +thing very strange to be heard of happened to him; for he lighted on some +(animals) in shape and appearance like men, but little of stature, and of +a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over their bodies. The +women, who were of the same stature, followed the men. They were all +naked, only the elder of them, both men and women, covered their privy +parts with a small skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; they had a +human voice, but their dialect was altogether unknown to everybody that +lived about them, much more to those that were with Nonnosus. They lived +upon sea-oysters and fish that were cast out of the sea upon the island. +They had no courage for seeing our men; they were frighted, as we are at +the sight of the greatest wild beast." It is not easy to identify this +race with any existing tribe of Pigmies, but the hairiness of their +bodies, and above all their method of clothing themselves, leave no doubt +that in this account we have a genuine story of some group of +small-statured blacks. + +From the foregoing account it will be seen that it is possible with more +or less accuracy and certainty to identify most of those races which, +described by the older writers, had been rejected by their successors. +Time has brought their revenge to Aristotle and Pliny by showing that they +were right, where Tyson, and even Buffon, were wrong. + + + +III. + + +The little people of story and legend have a much wider area of +distribution than those of real life, and it is the object of this section +to give some idea of their localities and dwellings. Imperfect as such an +account must necessarily be, it will yet suffice I trust in some measure +to show that, like the England of Arthurian times, all the world is +"fulfilled of faery." + +In dealing with this part of the subject, it would be possible, following +the example of Keightley, to treat the little folk of each country +separately. But a better idea of their nature, and certainly one which for +my purpose will be more satisfactory, can, I think, be obtained by +classifying them according to the nature of their habitations, and +mentioning incidentally such other points concerning them as it may seem +advisable to bring out. + +1. In the first place, then, fairies are found dwelling in mounds of +different kinds, or in the interior of hills. This form of habitation is +so frequently met with in Scotch and Irish accounts of the fairies, that +it will not be necessary for me to burden these pages with instances, +especially since I shall have to allude to them in a further section in +greater detail. Suffice it to say, that many instances of such an +association in the former country will be found in the pages of Mr. +MacRitchie's works, whilst as to the latter, I shall content myself by +quoting Sir William Wilde's statement, that every green "rath" in that +country is consecrated to the "good people." In England there are numerous +instances of a similar kind. Gervase of Tilbury in the thirteenth century +mentions such a spot in Gloucestershire: "There is in the county of +Gloucester a forest abounding in boars, stags, and every species of game +that England produces. In a grovy lawn of this forest there is a little +mount, rising in a point to the height of a man." With this mount he +associates the familiar story of the offering of refreshment to travellers +by its unseen inhabitants. In Warwickshire, the mound upon which +Kenilworth Castle is built was formerly a fairy habitation.[A] Ritson[B] +mentions that the "fairies frequented many parts of the Bishopric of +Durham." There is a hillock or tumulus near Bishopton, and a large hill +near Billingham, both of which used in former time to be "haunted by +fairies." Even Ferry-hill, a well-known stage between Darlington and +Durham, is evidently a corruption of "Fairy-hill." In Yorkshire a similar +story attaches to the sepulchral barrow of Willey How,[C] and in Sussex to +a green mound called the Mount in the parish of Pulborough.[D] The fairies +formerly frequented Bussers Hill in St. Mary's Isle, one of the Scilly +group.[E] The Bryn-yr-Ellyllon,[F] or Fairy-hill, near Mold, may be cited +as a similar instance in Wales, which must again be referred to. + +[Footnote A: _Testimony of Tradition_, p. 142.] + +[Footnote B: _Op. cit._, p. 56.] + +[Footnote C: _Folk Lore_, ii. 115.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Record_, i. 16 and 28.] + +[Footnote E: _Ritson_, p. 62.] + +[Footnote F: Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, p. 433.] + +The pages of Keightley's work contain instances of hill-inhabiting fairies +in Scandinavia, Denmark, the Isle of Rugen, Iceland, Germany, and +Switzerland. It is not only in Europe, however, that this form of +habitation is to be met with; we find it also in America. The Sioux have a +curious superstition respecting a mound near the mouth of the Whitestone +River, which they call the Mountain of Little People or Little Spirits; +they believe that it is the abode of little devils in the human form, of +about eighteen inches high and with remarkably large heads; they are armed +with sharp arrows, in the use of which they are very skilful. These little +spirits are always on the watch to kill those who should have the +hardihood to approach their residence. The tradition is that many have +suffered from their malice, and that, among others, three Maha Indians +fell a sacrifice to them a few years since. This has inspired all the +neighbouring nations, Sioux, Mahas, and Ottoes, with such terror, that no +consideration could tempt them to visit the hill.[A] + +[Footnote A: Lewis and Clarke, _Travels to the Source of the Missouri +River._ Quoted in _Flint Chips_, p. 346. The tale is also given in _Folk +Lore, Oriental and American_ (Gibbings & Co.), p. 45.] + +The mounds or hills inhabited by the fairies are, however, of very diverse +kinds, as we discover when we attempt to analyse their actual nature. In +some cases they are undoubtedly natural elevations. Speaking of the +exploration of the Isle of Unst, Hunt[A] says that the term "Fairy Knowe" +is applied alike to artificial and to natural mounds. "We visited," he +states, "two 'Fairy Knowes' in the side of the hill near the turning of +the road from Reay Wick to Safester, and found that these wonderful relics +were merely natural formations. The workmen were soon convinced of this, +and our digging had the effect of proving to them that the fairies had +nothing to do with at least two of these hillocks." The same may surely be +said of that favourite and important fairy haunt Tomnahurich, near +Inverness, though Mr. MacRitchie seems to think that an investigation, +were such possible, of its interior, might lead to a different +explanation. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Mems._, ii. 294.] + +In other cases, and these are of great importance in coming to a +conclusion as to the origin of fairy tales, the mounds inhabited by the +little people are of a sepulchral nature. This is the case in the instance +of Willey How, which, when explored by Canon Greenwell, was found, in +spite of its size and the enormous care evidently bestowed upon its +construction, to be merely a cenotaph. A grave there was, sunk more than +twelve feet deep in the chalk rock; but no corporeal tenant had ever +occupied it. + +This fact is still more clearly shown in the remarkable case mentioned by +Professor Boyd Dawkins. A barrow called Bryn-yr-Ellyllon (Fairy-hill), +near Mold, was said to be haunted by a ghost clad in golden armour which +had been seen to enter it. The barrow was opened in the year 1832, and was +found to contain the skeleton of a man wearing a golden corselet of +Etruscan workmanship. + +The same may be said respecting that famous fairy-hill in Ireland, the +Brugh of the Boyne, though Mr. MacRitchie seems to regard it as having +been a dwelling-place. Mr. Coffey in a most careful study appears to me to +have finally settled the question.[A] He speaks of the remains as those of +probably the most remarkable of the pre-Christian cemeteries of Ireland. +Of the stone basins, whose nature Mr. MacRitchie regards as doubtful, he +says, "There can be hardly any doubt but that they served the purpose of +some rude form of sarcophagus, or of a receptacle for urns." Mr. Coffey +quotes the account from the Leadhar na huidri respecting cemeteries, in +which Brugh is mentioned as amongst the chief of those existing before the +faith (i.e. before the introduction of Christianity). "The nobles of the +Tuatha de Danann were used to bury at Brugh (i.e. the Dagda with his three +sons; also Lugaidh, and Oe, and Ollam, and Ogma, and Etan the Poetess, and +Corpre, the son of Etan), and Cremthain followed them, because his wife +Nar was of the Tuatha Dea, and it was she solicited him that he should +adopt Brugh as a burial-place for himself and his descendants, and this +was the cause that they did not bury at Cruachan." Mr. Coffey also quotes +O'Hartagain's poem, which seems to bear in Mr. MacRitchie's favour:-- + + "Behold the sidhe before your eyes: + It is manifest to you that it is a king's mansion, + Which was built by the firm Dagda; + It was a wonder, a court, a wonderful hill." + +[Footnote A: _Tumuli at New Grange. Trans. Roy. Irish Academy_, XXX. 1.] + +But certain of the expressions in this are evidently to be taken +figuratively, since Mr. Coffey states, in connection with this and other +quotations, that their importance consists in that they establish the +existence at a very early date of a tradition associating Brugh na Boinne, +the burial-place of the kings of Tara, with the tumuli on the Boyne. The +association of particular monuments with the Dagda and other divinities +and heroes of Irish mythology implies that the actual persons for whom +they were erected had been forgotten, the pagan traditions being probably +broken by the introduction of Christianity. The mythological ancestors of +the heroes and kings interred at Brugh, who probably were even +contemporarily associated with the cemetery, no doubt subsequently +overshadowed in tradition the actual persons interred there. + +Finally, it seems that the fairy hills may have been actual +dwelling-places, fortified or not, of prehistoric peoples. Such were no +doubt some of the Picts' houses so fully dealt with by Mr. MacRitchie, +though Petrie[A] seems to have considered that many of these were +sepulchral in their nature. Such were also the Raths of Ireland and +fortified hills, like the White Cater Thun of Forfarshire. + +[Footnote A: _Anthrop. Mems._, ii. 216.] + +The interior of the mound-dwellings, as described in the stories, is a +point to which allusion should be made. Sometimes the mound contains a +splendid palace, adorned with gold and silver and precious stones, like +the palace of the King of Elfland in the tale of "Childe Rowland." In the +Scandinavian mound-stories we find a curious incident, for they are +described as being capable of being raised upon red pillars, and as being +so raised when the occupants gave a feast to their neighbours. "There are +three hills on the lands of Bubbelgaard in Funen, which are to this day +called the Dance-hills, from the following occurrence. A lad named Hans +was at service in Bubbelgaard, and as he was coming one evening past the +hills, he saw one of them raised on red pillars, and great dancing and +much merriment underneath."[A] This feature is met with in several of the +stories collected by Keightley, and is made use of in Cruikshank's +picture, which forms the frontispiece to that volume. Lastly, in a number +of cases there is not merely a habitation, but a vast country underneath +the mound. An instance of this occurs in the tale of John Dietrich from +the Isle of Ruegen. Under the Nine-hills he found "that there were in that +place the most beautiful walks, in which he might ramble along for miles +in all directions, without ever finding an end of them, so immensely large +was the hill that the little people lived in, and yet outwardly it seemed +but a little hill, with a few bushes and trees growing on it."[B] + +[Footnote A: Quoted by Keightley (p. 9), from Thiele, i. 118.] + +[Footnote B: Keightley, 178.] + +2. The haunts of the fairies may be in caves, and examples of this form of +dwelling-place are to be met with in different parts of the world. The +Scandinavian hill people live in caves or small hills, and the Elves or +dwarfs of La Romagna "dwell in lonely places, far away in the mountains, +deep in them, in caves or among old ruins and rocks," as Mr. Leland,[A] +who gives a tale respecting these little people, tells us. A Lithuanian +tale[B] tells "how the hero, Martin, went into a forest to hunt, +accompanied by a smith and a tailor. Finding an empty hut, they took +possession of it; the tailor remained in it to cook the dinner, and the +others went forth to the chase. When the dinner was almost ready, there +came to the hut a very little old man with a very long beard, who +piteously begged for food. After receiving it, he sprang on the tailor's +neck and beat him almost to death. When the hunters returned, they found +their comrade groaning on his couch, complaining of illness, but saying +nothing about the bearded dwarf. Next day the smith suffered in a similar +way; but when it came to Martin's turn, he proved too many and too strong +for the dwarf, whom he overcame, and whom he fastened by the beard to the +stump of a tree. But the dwarf tore himself loose before the hunters came +back from the forest and escaped into a cavern. Tracing him by the drops +of blood which had fallen from him, the three companions came to the mouth +of the cavern, and Martin was lowered into it by the two others. Within it +he found three princesses, who had been stolen by three dragons. These +dragons he slew, and the princesses and their property he took to the spot +above which his comrades kept watch, who hoisted them out of the cavern, +but left Martin in it to die. As he wandered about disconsolately, he +found the bearded dwarf, whom he slew. And soon afterwards he was conveyed +out of the cavern by a flying serpent, and was able to punish his +treacherous friends, and to recover the princesses, all three of whom he +simultaneously married." + +[Footnote A: _Etrusco Roman Remains_, p. 222.] + +[Footnote B: _Folk Lore Record_, i. 85. Mr. Hartland points out to me that +this tale, being a Marchen, does not afford quite such good evidence of +belief as actually or recently existing as a saga.] + +Amongst the Magyars,[A] also, in some localities caves are pointed out as +the haunts of fairies, such as the caves in the side of the rock named +Budvar, the cave Borza-vara, near the castle of Dame Rapson; another haunt +of the fairies is the cave near Almas, and the cold wind known as the +"Nemere" is said to blow when the fairy in Almas cave feels cold. On one +occasion the plague was raging in this neighbourhood; the people ascribed +it to the cold blast emanating from the cave; so they hung shirts before +the mouth of the cave and the plague ceased. + +[Footnote A: Jones and Kropf, _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, pp. xxxvi. _et +seq_.] + +In a widely distant part of the world, the Battaks-Karo,[A] of the high +ground north of Lake Toba in Sumatra, believe in three classes of +mysterious beings, one of which closely corresponds with the fairies of +Europe. The first group are called Hantous; they are giants and dead +Begous (i.e. definitely dead souls), who inhabit Mount Sampouran together +with the second group. These are called Omangs; they are dwarfs who marry +and reproduce their species, live generally in mountains, and have their +feet placed transversely. They must be propitiated, and those making the +ascent of Mount Sebayak sacrifice a white hen to them, or otherwise the +Omangs would throw stones at them. They carry off men and women, and often +keep them for years. They love to dwell amongst stones, and the Roumah +Omang, which is one of their favourite habitations, is a cavern. The third +group, or Orangs Boumans, resemble ordinary beings, but have the power of +making themselves invisible. They come down from the mountains to buy +supplies, but have not been seen for some time. Westenberg, from whom this +information is quoted, regards the last class as being proscribed Battaks, +who have fled for refuge to the mountains. Passing to another continent, +the Iroquois[B] have several stories about Pigmies, one of whom, by name +Go-ga-ah, lives in a little cave. + +[Footnote A: _L'Anthropologie_, iv. 83.] + +[Footnote B: Smith, _Myths of the Iroquois_. _American Bureau of +Ethnology_, ii. 65.] + +3. The little people may occupy a castle or house, or the hill upon which +such a building is erected, or a cave under it. Without dwelling upon the +Brownies and other similar distinctly household spirits, there are certain +classes which must be mentioned in this connection. The Magyar fairies +live in castles on lofty mountain peaks. They build them themselves, or +inherit them from giants. Kozma enumerates the names of about twenty-three +castles which belonged to fairies, and which still exist. Although they +have disappeared from earth, they continue to live, even in our days, in +caves under their castles, in which caves their treasures lie hidden. The +iron gates of Zeta Castle, which have subsided into the ground and +disappeared from the surface, open once in every seven years. On one +occasion a man went in there, and met two beautiful fairies whom he +addressed thus, "How long will you still linger here, my little sisters?" +and they replied, "As long as the cows will give warm milk." + +Like the interior of some of the mound-dwellings already mentioned, these +fairy caves are splendid habitations. "Their subterranean habitations are +not less splendid and glittering than were their castles of yore on the +mountain peaks. The one at Firtos is a palace resting on solid gold +columns. The palace at Tartod and the gorgeous one of Dame Rapson are +lighted by three diamond balls, as big as human heads, which hang from +golden chains. The treasure which is heaped up in the latter place +consists of immense gold bars, golden lions with carbuncle eyes, a golden +hen with her brood, and golden casks, filled with gold coin. The treasures +of Fairy Helen are kept in a cellar under Kovaszna Castle, the gates of +the cellar being guarded by a magic cock. This bird only goes to sleep +once in seven years, and anybody who could guess the right moment would be +able to scrape no end of diamond crystals from the walls and bring them +out with him. The fairies who guard the treasures of the Poganyvar (Pagan +Castle) in Marosszek even nowadays come on moonlight nights to bathe in +the lake below."[A] In Brittany, "a number of little men, not more than a +foot high, dwell under the castle of Morlaix. They live in holes in the +ground, whither they may often be seen going, and beating on basins. They +possess great treasures, which they sometimes bring out; and if any one +pass by at the time, allow him to take one handful, but no more. Should +any one attempt to fill his pockets, the money vanishes, and he is +instantly assailed by a shower of boxes on the ear from invisible +hands."[B] In the Netherlands, the "Gypnissen," "queer little women," +lived in a castle which had been reared in a single night.[C] The Ainu +have tales of the Poiyaumbe, a name which means literally "little beings +residing on the soil" (Mr. Batchelor says that "little" is probably meant +to express endearment or admiration, but one may be allowed to doubt +this). The Ainu, who is the hero of the story, "comes to a tall mountain +with a beautiful house built on its summit. Descending, for his path had +always been through the air, by the side of the house, and looking through +the chinks of the door, he saw a little man and a little woman sitting +beside the fireplace."[D] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, p. xxxviii.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm, apud Keightley, 441.] + +[Footnote C: _Testimony of Tradition_, p. 86.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Journal_, vi. 195.] + +4. The little people or fairies occupy rude stone monuments or are +connected with their building. In Brittany they are associated with +several of the megalithic remains.[A] "At Carnac, near Quiberon," says M. +De Cambry, "in the department of Morbihan, on the sea-shore, is the Temple +of Carnac, called in Breton 'Ti Goriquet' (House of the Gories), one of +the most remarkable Celtic monuments extant. It is composed of more than +four thousand large stones, standing erect in an arid plain, where neither +tree nor shrub is to be seen, and not even a pebble is to be found in the +soil on which they stand. If the inhabitants are asked concerning this +wonderful monument, they say it is an old camp of Caesar's, an army turned +into stone, or that it is the work of the Crions or Gories. These they +describe as little men between two and three feet high, who carried these +enormous masses on their hands; for, though little, they are stronger than +giants. Every night they dance around the stones, and woe betide the +traveller who approaches within their reach! he is forced to join in the +dance, where he is whirled about till, breathless and exhausted, he falls +down, amidst the peals of laughter of the Crions. All vanish with the +break of day. In the ruins of Tresmalouen dwell the Courils. They are of a +malignant disposition, but great lovers of dancing. At night they sport +around the Druidical monuments. The unfortunate shepherd that approaches +them must dance their rounds with them till cockcrow; and the instances +are not few of persons thus ensnared who have been found next morning dead +with exhaustion and fatigue. Woe also to the ill-fated maiden who draws +near the Couril dance! nine months after, the family counts one member +more. Yet so great is the cunning and power of these dwarfs, that the +young stranger bears no resemblance to them, but they impart to it the +features of some lad of the village." + +[Footnote A: Keightley, 440.] + +In India megalithic remains are also associated with little people. +"Dwarfs hold a distinct place in Hindu mythology; they appear sculptured +on all temples. Siva is accompanied by a body-guard of dwarfs, one of +whom, the three-legged Bhringi, dances nimbly. But coming nearer to +Northern legend, the cromlechs and kistvaens which abound over Southern +India are believed to have been built by a dwarf race, a cubit high, who +could, nevertheless, move and handle the huge stones easily. The villagers +call them Pandayar."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore_, iv. 401.] + +Mr. Meadows Taylor, speaking of cromlechs in India, says, "Wherever I +found them, the same tradition was attached to them, that they were Morie +humu, or Mories' houses; these Mories having been dwarfs who inhabited the +country before the present race of men." Again, speaking of the cromlechs +of Koodilghee, he states, "Tradition says that former Governments caused +dwellings of the description alluded to to be erected for a species of +human beings called 'Mohories,' whose dwarfish stature is said not to have +exceeded a span when standing, and a fist high when in a sitting posture, +who were endowed with strength sufficient to roll off large stones with a +touch of their thumb." There are, he also tells us, similar traditions +attaching to other places, where the dwarfs are sometimes spoken of as +Gujaries.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Jour. Ethnol. Soc_., 1868-69, p. 157.] + +Of stone structures built by fairies or little people for the use of +others, may be mentioned the churches built by dwarfs in Scotland and +Brittany, and described by Mr. MacRitchie, as also the two following +instances, taken from widely distant parts of the globe. In Brittany, the +dolmen of Manne-er Hrock (Montaigne de la Fee), at Locmariaquer, is said +to have been built by a fairy, in order that a mother might stand upon it +and look out for her son's ship.[A] In Fiji the following tale is told +about the Nanga or sacred stone enclosure:--"This is the word of our +fathers concerning the Nanga. Long ago their fathers were ignorant of it; +but one day two strangers were found sitting in the Rara (public square), +and they said they had come up from the sea to give them the Nanga. They +were little men, and very dark-skinned, and one of them had his face and +bust painted red, while the other was painted black. Whether these were +gods or men our fathers did not tell us, but it was they who taught our +people the Nanga. This was in the old times, when our fathers were living +in another land--not in this place, for we are strangers here."[B] It is +worthy of note that the term "Nanga" applies not merely to the enclosure, +but also to the secret society which held its meetings therein.[C] + +[Footnote A: _Flint Chips_, p. 104.] + +[Footnote B: Fison, _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xiv, 14.] + +[Footnote C: Joske, _Internat. Arch. f. Ethnographie_, viii. 254.] + +5. The little people make their dwellings either in the interior of a +stone or amongst stones. I am not here alluding to the stones on the sides +of mountains which are the doorways to fairy dwellings, but to a closer +connection, which will be better understood from some of the following +instances than from any lengthy explanation. The Duergas of the +Scandinavian Eddas had their dwelling-places in stones, as we are told in +the story of Thorston, who "came one day to an open part of the wood, +where he saw a great rock, and out a little way from it a dwarf, who was +horridly ugly."[A] In Ireland, in Innisbofin, co. Galway, Professor Haddon +relates that the men who were quarrying a rock in the neighbourhood of the +harbour refused to work at it any longer, as it was so full of "good +people" as to be hot.[B] In England the Pixy-house of Devon is in a stone, +and a large stone is also connected with the story of the Frensham +caldron, though it is not clear that the fairies lived in the rock +itself.[C] Oseberrow or Osebury (_vulgo_ Rosebury) Rock, in Lulsey, +Worcestershire, was, according to tradition, a favourite haunt of the +fairies.[D] In another part of Worcestershire, on the side of the +Cotswolds, there is, in a little spinney, a large flat stone, much worn on +its under surface, which is called the White Lady's Table. This personage +is supposed to take her meals with the fairies at this rock, but what the +exact relation of the little people to it as a dwelling-place may be, I +have not been able to learn. + +[Footnote A: Keightley, 70.] + +[Footnote B: _Folklore_, iv. 49.] + +[Footnote C: Ritson, 106, quoting Aubrey's _Natural History of Surrey_, +iii. 366.] + +[Footnote D: Allies, _Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire_, +p.443.] + +There is an Iroquois tale of dwarfs, in which the summons to the Pigmies +was given by knocking upon a large stone.[A] The little people of +Melanesia seem also to be associated in some measure with stones. Speaking +of these beings, Mr. Codrington says,[B] "There are certain Vuis having +rather the nature of fairies. The accounts of them are vague, but it is +argued that they had never left the islands before the introduction of +Christianity, and indeed have been seen since. Not long ago there was a +woman living at Mota who was the child of one, and a very few years ago a +female Vui with a child was seen in Saddle Island. Some of these were +called Nopitu, which come invisibly, or possess those with whom they +associate themselves. The possessed are called Nopitu. Such persons would +lift a cocoa-nut to drink, and native shell money would run out instead of +the juice and rattle against their teeth; they would vomit up money, or +scratch and shake themselves on a mat, when money would pour from their +fingers. This was often seen, and believed to be the doing of a Nopitu. In +another manner of manifestation, a Nopitu would make himself known as a +party were sitting round an evening fire. A man would hear a voice in his +thigh, 'Here am I, give me food.' He would roast a little red yam, and +fold it in the corner of his mat. He would soon find it gone, and the +Nopitu would begin a song. Its voice was so small and clear and sweet, +that once heard it never could be forgotten; but it sang the ordinary Mota +songs. Such spirits as these, if seen or found, would disappear beside a +stone; they were smaller than the native people, darker, and with long +straight hair. But they were mostly unseen, or seen only by those to whom +they took a fancy. They were the friendly Trolls or Robin Goodfellows of +the islands; a man would find a fine red yam put for him on the seat +beside the door, or the money which he paid away returned within his +purse. A woman working in her garden heard a voice from the fruit of a +gourd asking for some food, and when she pulled up an arum or dug out a +yam, another still remained; but when she listened to another spirit's +panpipes, the first in his jealousy conveyed away garden and all." Amongst +the Australians also supernatural beings dwell amongst the rocks, and the +Annamites and Arabians know of fairies living amongst the rocks and +hills.[C] + +[Footnote A: Smith, _Myths of Iroquois, ut supra._] + +[Footnote B: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, x. 261.] + +[Footnote C: Hartland, _Science of Fairy Tales_, p. 351.] + + +6. The little people may have their habitation in forests or trees. Such +were the Skovtrolde, or Wood-Trolls of Thorlacius,[A] who made their home +on the earth in great thick woods, and the beings in South Germany who +resemble the dwarfs, and are called Wild, Wood, Timber and Moss People.[B] +"These generally live together in society, but they sometimes appear +singly. They are small in stature, yet somewhat larger than the Elf, being +the size of children of three years, grey and old-looking, hairy and clad +in moss. Their lives are attached, like those of the Hamadryads, to the +trees, and if any one causes by friction the inner bark to loosen, a +Wood-woman dies." In Scandinavia there is also a similarity between +certain of the Elves and Hamadryads. The Elves "not only frequent trees, +but they make an interchange of form with them. In the churchyard of Store +Heddinge, in Zeeland, there are the remains of an oak-wood. These, say the +common people, are the Elle King's soldiers; by day they are trees, by +night valiant soldiers. In the wood of Rugaard, in the same island, is a +tree which by night becomes a whole Elle-people, and goes about all alive. +It has no leaves upon it, yet it would be very unsafe to go to break or +fell it, for the underground people frequently hold their meetings under +its branches. There is, in another place, an elder-tree growing in a +farmyard, which frequently takes a walk in the twilight about the yard, +and peeps in through the window at the children when they are alone. The +linden or lime-tree is the favourite haunt of the Elves and cognate +beings, and it is not safe to be near it after sunset."[C] In England, the +fairies also in some cases frequent the woods, as is their custom in the +Isle of Man, and in Wales, where there was formerly, in the park of Sir +Robert Vaughan, a celebrated old oak-tree, named Crwben-yr-Ellyl, or the +Elf's Hollow Tree. In Formosa[D] there is also a tale of little people +inhabiting a wood. "A young Botan became too ardent in his devotion to a +young lady of the tribe, and was slain by her relatives, while, as a +warning as to the necessity for love's fervour being kept within bounds, +his seven brothers were banished by the chief. The exiles went forth into +the depths of the forest, and in their wanderings after a new land they +crossed a small clearing, in which a little girl, about a span in height, +was seated peeling potatoes. 'Little sister,' they queried, 'how come you +here? where is your home?' 'I am not of homes nor parents,' she replied. +Leaving her, they went still farther into the forest, and had not gone far +when they saw a little man cutting canes, and farther on to the right a +curious-looking house, in front of which sat two diminutive women combing +their hair. Things looked so queer that the travellers hesitated about +approaching nearer, but, eager to find a way out of the forest, they +determined in their extremity to question the strange people. The two +women, when interrogated, turned sharply round, showing eyes of a flashing +red; then looking upward, their eyes became dull and white, and they +immediately ran into the house, the doors and windows of which at once +vanished, the whole taking the form and appearance of an isolated +boulder." Amongst the Maories also we have "te tini ote hakuturi," or "the +multitude of the wood-elves," the little people who put the chips all back +into the tree Rata had felled and stood it up again, because he had not +paid tribute to Tane.[E] + +[Footnote A: Quoted by Keightley, p. 62.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 230.] + +[Footnote C: Keightley, p. 92, quoting from Thiele.] + +[Footnote D: _Folk Lore Journal_, v. 143.] + +[Footnote E: Tregear, _Journ. Anth. Inst._, xix. 121.] + +7. The association of little people with water as a home is a widespread +notion. The Sea-Trows of the Shetlanders inhabit a region of their own at +the bottom of the sea. They here respire a peculiar atmosphere, and live +in habitations constructed of the choicest submarine productions. They +are, however, not always small, but may be of diverse statures, like the +Scandinavian Necks. In Germany the Water-Dwarfs are also known. At +Seewenheiher, in the Black Forest, a little water-man (_Seemaennlein_) used +to come and join the people, work the whole day along with them, and in +the evening go back into the lakes.[A] The size of the Breton Korrigs or +Korrigan, if we may believe Villemarque in his account of this folk, does +not exceed two feet, but their proportions are most exact, and they have +long flowing hair, which they comb out with great care. Their only dress +is a long white veil, which they wind round their body. Seen at night or +in the dusk of the evening, their beauty is great; but in the daylight +their eyes appear red, their hair is white, and their faces wrinkled; +hence they rarely let themselves be seen by day. They are fond of music, +and have fine voices, but are not much given to dancing. Their favourite +haunts are the springs, by which they sit and comb their hair.[B] The +Maories also have their Water-Pigmies, the Ponaturi, who are, according to +Mr. Tregear, elves, little tiny people, mostly dwellers in water, coming +ashore to sleep.[C] "The spirits most commonly met with in African +mythology," says Mr. Macdonald, "are water or river spirits, inhabiting +deep pools where there are strong eddies and under-currents. Whether they +are all even seen now-a-days it is difficult to determine, but they must +at one time have either shown themselves willingly, or been dragged from +their hiding-places by some powerful magician, for they are one and all +described. They are dwarfs, and correspond to the Scottish conception of +kelpies or fairies. They are wicked and malevolent beings, and are never +credited with a good or generous action. Whatever they possess they keep, +and greedily seize upon any one who comes within their reach. 'One of +them, the Incanti, corresponds to the Greek Python, and another, called +Hiti, appears in the form of a small and very ugly man, and is exceedingly +malevolent' (Brownlee). It is certain death to see an Incanti, and no one +but the magicians sees them except in dreams, and in that case the +magicians are consulted, and advise and direct what is to be done."[D] + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 261.] + +[Footnote B: Villemarque, ibid., 431.] + +[Footnote C: Tregear, _ut supra._] + +[Footnote D: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xx. 124.] + +Dr. Nansen, speaking of the Ignerssuit (plural of Ignersuak, which means +"great fire"), says that they are for the most part good spirits, inclined +to help men. The entrance to their dwellings is on the sea-shore. +According to the Eskimo legend, "The first earth which came into existence +had neither seas nor mountains, but was quite smooth. When the One above +was displeased with the people upon it, He destroyed the world. It burst +open, and the people fell down into the rifts and became Ignerssuit and +the water poured over everything."[A] The spirits here alluded to appear +to be the same as those described by Mr. Boas as Uissuit in his monograph +on the Central Eskimo. He describes them as "a strange people that live in +the sea. They are dwarfs, and are frequently seen between Iglulik and +Netchillik, where the Anganidjen live, an Innuit tribe whose women are in +the habit of tracing rings around their eyes. There are men and women +among the Uissuit, and they live in deep water, never coming to the +surface. When the Innuit wish to see them, they go in their boats to a +place where they cannot see the bottom, and try to catch them with hooks +which they slowly move up and down. As soon as they get a bite they draw +in the line. The Uissuit are thus drawn up; but no sooner do they approach +the surface than they dive down headlong again, only their legs having +emerged from the water. The Innuit have never succeeded in getting one out +of the water."[A] + +[Footnote A: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 259.] + +[Footnote A: _American Bureau of Ethnology_, vi. 612.] + +8. Amongst habitations not coming under any of the above categories may be +mentioned the moors and open places affected by the Cornish fairies, and +lastly the curious residences of the Kirkonwaki or Church-folk of the +Finns. "It is an article of faith with the Finns that there dwell under +the altar in every church little misshapen beings which they call +Kirkonwaki, i.e., Church-folk. When the wives of these little people have +a difficult labour, they are relieved if a Christian woman visits them and +lays her hand upon them. Such service is always rewarded by a gift of gold +and silver."[A] These folk evidently correspond to the Kirkgrims of +Scandinavian countries, and the traditions respecting both are probably +referable to the practice of foundation sacrifices. + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, p. 488.] + + + +IV. + + +The subject of Pigmy races and fairy tales cannot be considered to have +been in any sense fully treated without some consideration of a theory +which, put forward by various writers and in connection with the legends +of diverse countries, has recently been formulated by Mr. MacRitchie in a +number of most interesting and suggestive books and papers. An early +statement of this theory is to be found in a paper by Mr. J.F. Campbell, +in which he stated, "It is somewhat remarkable that traditions still +survive in the Highlands of Scotland which seem to be derived from the +habits of Scotch tribes like the Lapps in our day. Stories are told in +Sutherlandshire about a 'witch' who milked deer; a 'ghost' once became +acquainted with a forester, and at his suggestion packed all her +plenishing on a herd of deer, when forced to flit by another and a bigger +'ghost;' the green mounds in which 'fairies' are supposed to dwell closely +resemble the outside of Lapp huts. The fairies themselves are not +represented as airy creatures in gauze wings and spangles, but they appear +in tradition as small cunning people, eating and drinking, living close at +hand in their green mound, stealing children and cattle, milk and food, +from their bigger neighbours. They are uncanny, but so are the Lapps. My +own opinion is that these Scotch traditions relate to the tribes who made +kitchen-middens and lake-dwellings in Scotland, and that they were allied +to Lapps."[A] Such in essence is Mr. MacRitchie's theory, which has been +so admirably summarised by Mr. Jacobs in the first of that series of +fairy-tale books which has added a new joy to life, that I shall do myself +the pleasure of quoting his statement in this place. He says: "Briefly +put, Mr. MacRitchie's view is that the elves, trolls, and fairies +represented in popular tradition are really the mound-dwellers, whose +remains have been discovered in some abundance in the form of green +hillocks, which have been artificially raised over a long and low passage +leading to a central chamber open to the sky. Mr. MacRitchie shows that in +several instances traditions about trolls or 'good people' have attached +themselves to mounds which long afterwards, on investigation, turned out +to be evidently the former residence of men of smaller build than the +mortals of to-day. He goes on further to identify these with the Picts-- +fairies are called 'Pechs' in Scotland--and other early races, but with +these ethnological equations we need not much concern ourselves. It is +otherwise with the mound traditions and their relation, if not to fairy +tales in general, to tales about fairies, trolls, elves, &c. These are +very few in number, and generally bear the character of anecdotes. The +fairies, &c., steal a child; they help a wanderer to a drink and then +disappear into a green hill; they help cottagers with their work at night, +but disappear if their presence is noticed; human midwives are asked to +help fairy mothers; fairy maidens marry ordinary men, or girls marry and +live with fairy husbands. All such things may have happened and bear no +such _a priori_ marks of impossibility as speaking animals, flying through +the air, and similar incidents of the folk-tale pure and simple. If, as +archaeologists tell us, there was once a race of men in Northern Europe +very short and hairy, that dwelt in underground chambers artificially +concealed by green hillocks, it does not seem unlikely that odd survivors +of the race should have lived on after they had been conquered and nearly +exterminated by Aryan invaders, and should occasionally have performed +something like the pranks told of fairies and trolls."[B] In the same +place, and also in another article,[C] the writer just quoted has applied +this theory to the explanation of the story of "Childe Rowland." + +[Footnote A: _Journ. Ethnol. Soc._, 1869-70, p. 325.] + +[Footnote B: _English Fairy Tales_, p. 241.] + +[Footnote C: _Folk Lore_, ii. 126.] + +Mr. MacRitchie has, in another paper,[A] collected a number of instances +of the use of the word _Sith_ in connection with hillocks and tumuli, +which are the resort of the fairies. Here also he discusses the possible +connection of that word with that of _Tshud_, the title of the vanished +supernatural inhabitants of the land amongst the Finns and other "Altaic" +Turanian tribes of Russia, as in other places he has endeavoured to trace +a connection between the Finns and the Feinne. Into these etymological +questions I have no intention to enter, since I am not qualified to do so, +nor is it necessary, as they have been fully dealt with by Mr. Nutt, whose +opinion on this point is worthy of all attention.[B] But it may be +permitted to me to inquire how far Mr. MacRitchie's views tally with the +facts mentioned in the foregoing section. I shall therefore allude to a +few points which appear to me to show that the origin of the belief in +fairies cannot be settled in so simple a manner as has been suggested, but +is a question of much greater complexity--one in which, as Mr. Tylor +says, more than one mythic element combines to make up the whole. + +[Footnote A: _Journ. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ireland_, iii. 367.] + +[Footnote A: _Folk and Hero Tales from Argyleshire_, p. 420.] + +(1.) In the first place, then, it seems clear, so far as our present +knowledge teaches us, that there never was a really Pigmy race inhabiting +the northern parts of Scotland. + +The scanty evidence which we have on this point, so far as it goes, proves +the truth of this assertion. Mr. Carter Blake found in the Muckle Heog of +the Island of Unst, one of the Shetlands, together with stone vessels, +human interments of persons of considerable stature and of great muscular +strength. Speaking of the Keiss skeletons, Professor Huxley says that the +males are, the one somewhat above, and the other probably about the +average stature; while the females are short, none exceeding five feet two +inches or three inches in height.[A] And Dr. Garson, treating of the +osteology of the ancient inhabitants of the Orkneys, says that the female +skeleton which he examined was about five feet two inches in height, i.e., +about the mean height of the existing races of England.[B] There is no +evidence that Lapps and Eskimo ever visited these parts of the world; and +if they did, as we have seen, their stature, though stunted, cannot fairly +be described as pigmy. Even if we grant that the stature of the early +races did not average more than five feet two inches, which, by the way, +was the height of the great Napoleon, it is more than doubtful whether it +fell so far short of that of succeeding races as to cause us to imagine +that it gave rise to tales about a race of dwarfs. + +[Footnote A: Laing, _Prehistoric Remains of Caithness_, p. 101.] + +[Footnote B: _Journ. Anthrop. Inst._, xiii. 60.] + +(2.) The mounds with which the tales of little people are associated have +not, in many cases, been habitations, but were natural or sepulchral in +their nature. It may, of course, be argued that the story having once +arisen in connection with one kind of mound, may, by a process easy to +understand, have been transferred to other hillocks similar in appearance, +though diverse in nature. It is difficult to see, however, how this could +have occurred in Yorkshire and other parts of England, where it is not +argued that the stunted inhabitants of the North ever penetrated. It is +still more difficult to explain how similar legends can have originated in +America in connection with mounds, since there never were Pigmy races in +that continent. + +(3.) The rude and simple arrangements of the interior of these mound +dwellings might have, in the process of time, become altered into the +gorgeous halls, decked with gold and silver and precious stones, as we +find them in the stories; they might even, though this is much more +difficult to understand, have become possessed of the capacity for being +raised upon red pillars. But there is one pitch to which, I think, they +could never have attained, and that is the importance which they assume +when they become the external covering of a large and extensive tract of +underground country. Here we are brought face to face with a totally +different explanation, to which I shall recur in due course. + +(4.) The little people are not by any means associated entirely with +mounds, as the foregoing section is largely intended to show. Their +habitations may be in or amongst stones, in caves, under the water, in +trees, or amongst the glades of a forest; they may dwell on mountains, on +moors, or even under the altars of churches. We may freely grant that some +of these habitations fall into line with Mr. MacRitchie's theory, but they +are not all susceptible of such an explanation. + +(5.) The association of giants and dwarfs in certain places, even the +confusion of the two races, seems somewhat difficult of explanation by +this theory. In Ireland the distinction between the two classes is sharper +than in other places, since, as Sir William Wilde pointed out, whilst +every green rath in that island is consecrated to the fairies or "good +people," the remains attributed to the giants are of a different character +and probably of a later date. In some places, however, a mound similar to +those often connected with fairies is associated with a giant, as is the +case at Sessay parish, near Thirsk,[A] and at Fyfield in Wiltshire. The +chambered tumulus at Luckington is spoken of as the Giant's Caves, and +that at Nempnet in Somersetshire as the Fairy's Toot. In Denmark, tumuli +seem to be described indifferently as Zettestuer (Giants' Chambers) or +Troldestuer (Fairies' Chambers).[B] In "Beowulf" a chambered tumulus is +described, in the recesses of which were treasures watched over for three +hundred years by a dragon. This barrow was of stone, and the work of +giants. + +Seah on enta geweorc, Looked on the giant's work, +hu etha stan-bogan, how the stone arches, +stapulinn-faeste, on pillars fast, +ece eoreth-reced the eternal earth-house +innan healde. held within. + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore_, i. 130.] + +[Footnote B: _Flint Chips_, p. 412.] + +The mounds have sometimes been made by giants and afterwards inhabited by +dwarfs, as in the case of the Nine-hills, already alluded to. In others, +they are at the same time inhabited by giants, dwarfs, and others, as in +the story of the Dwarf's Banquet,[A] and still more markedly in the +Wunderberg. "The celebrated Wunderberg, or Underberg, on the great moor +near Salzburg, is the chief haunt of the Wild-women. The Wunderberg is +said to be quite hollow, and supplied with stately palaces, churches, +monasteries, gardens, and springs of gold and silver. Its inhabitants, +beside the Wild-women, are little men, who have charge of the treasures it +contains, and who at midnight repair to Salzburg to perform their +devotions in the cathedral; giants, who used to come to the church of +Groedich and exhort the people to lead a godly and pious life; and the +great Emperor Charles V., with golden crown and sceptre, attended by +knights and lords. His grey beard has twice encompassed the table at which +he sits, and when it has the third time grown round it, the end of the +world and the appearance of the Antichrist will take place."[B] + +[Footnote A: Grimm ap. Keightley, 130.] + +[Footnote B: Grimm ap. Keightley, 234.] + +In the folk-tales of the Magyars we meet with a still more remarkable +confusion between these two classes of beings. Some of the castles +described in these stories are inhabited by giants, others by fairies. +Again, the giants marry; their wives are fairies, so are their daughters. +They had no male issue, as their race was doomed to extermination. They +fall in love, and are fond of courting. Near Bikkfalva, in Haromszek, the +people still point out the "Lover's Bench" on a rock where the amorous +giant of Csigavar used to meet his sweetheart, the "fairy of +Veczeltetoe."[A] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Tales of the Magyars_, p. xxix.] + +(6.) Tales of little people are to be found in countries where there never +were any Pigmy races. Not to deal with other, and perhaps more debatable +districts, we find an excellent example of this in North America. Besides +the instances mentioned in the foregoing section, the following may be +mentioned. Mr. Leland, speaking of the Un-a-games-suk, or Indian spirits +of the rocks and streams, says that these beings enter far more largely, +deeply, and socially into the life and faith of the Indians than elves or +fairies ever did into those of the Aryan race.[A] In his Algonquin Legends +the same author also alludes to small people. + +[Footnote A: _Memoirs_, i. 34.] + +Dr. Brinton tells me that the Micmacs have tales of similar Pigmies, whom +they call Wig[)u]l[)a]d[)u]mooch, who tie people with cords during their +sleep, &c. Mr. L.L. Frost, of Susanville, Lassen County, California, tells +us how, when he requested an Indian to gather and bring in all the +arrow-points he could find, the Indian declared them to be "no good," that +they had been made by the lizards. Whereupon Mr. Frost drew from him the +following lizard-story. "There was a time when the lizards were little +men, and the arrow-points which are now found were shot by them at the +grizzly bear. The bears could talk then, and would eat the little men +whenever they could catch them. The arrows of the little men were so small +that they would not kill the bears when shot into them, and only served to +enrage them." The Indian could not tell how the little men became +transformed into lizards.[A] Again, the Shoshones of California dread +their infants being changed by Ninumbees or dwarfs.[B] + +[Footnote A: _Folk Lore Journal_, vii. 24.] + +[Footnote B: Hartland, _ut supra_, p. 351.] + +Finally, every one has read about the Pukwudjies, "the envious little +people, the fairies, the pigmies," in the pages of Longfellow's +"Hiawatha."[A] It ought to be mentioned that Mr. Leland states that the +red-capped, scanty-shirted elf of the Algonquins was obtained from the +Norsemen; but if, as he says, the idea of little people has sunk so deeply +into the Indian mind, it cannot in any large measure have been derived +from this source.[B] + +[Footnote A: xviii.] + +[Footnote B: _Etrusco Roman Remains_, p. 162.] + +(7.) The stunted races whom Mr. MacRitchie considers to have formed the +subjects of the fairy legend have themselves tales of little people. This +is true especially of the Eskimo, as will have been already noticed, a +fact to which my attention was called by Mr. Hartland. + +For the reasons just enumerated, I am unable to accept Mr. MacRitchie's +theory as a complete explanation of the fairy question, but I am far from +desirous of under-estimating the value and significance of his work. Mr. +Tylor, as I have already mentioned, states, in a sentence which may yet +serve as a motto for a work on the whole question of the origin of the +fairy myth, that "various different facts have given rise to stories of +giants and dwarfs, more than one mythic element perhaps combining to form +a single legend--a result perplexing in the extreme to the mythological +interpreter."[A] And I think it may be granted that Mr. MacRitchie has +gone far to show that one of these mythic elements, one strand in the +twisted cord of fairy mythology, is the half-forgotten memory of skulking +aborigines, or, as Mr. Nutt well puts it, the "distorted recollections of +alien and inimical races." But it is not the only one. It is far from +being my intention to endeavour to deal exhaustively with the difficult +question of the origin of fairy tales. Knowledge and the space permissible +in an introduction such as this would alike fail me in such a task. It +may, however, be permissible to mention a few points which seem to impress +themselves upon one in making a study of the stories with which I have +been dealing. In the first place, one can scarcely fail to notice how much +in common there is between the tales of the little people and the accounts +of that underground world, which, with so many races, is the habitation of +the souls of the departed. Dr. Callaway has already drawn attention to +this point in connection with the ancestor-worship of the Amazulu.[B] He +says, "It may be worth while to note the curious coincidence of thought +among the Amazulu regarding the Amatongo or Abapansi, and that of the +Scotch and Irish regarding the fairies or 'good people.' For instance, the +'good people' of the Irish have assigned to them, in many respects the +same motives and actions as the Amatongo. They call the living to join +them, that is, by death; they cause disease which common doctors cannot +understand nor cure; they have their feelings, interests, partialities, +and antipathies, and contend with each other about the living. The common +people call them their friends or people, which is equivalent to the term +_abakubo_ given to the Amatongo. They reveal themselves in the form of the +dead, and it appears to be supposed that the dead become 'good people,' as +the dead among the Amazulu become Amatongo; and in funeral processions of +the 'good people' which some have professed to see, are recognised the +forms of those who have just died, as Umkatshana saw his relatives amongst +the Abapansi. The power of holding communion with the 'good people' is +consequent on an illness, just as the power to divine amongst the natives +of this country. So also in the Highland tales, a boy who had been carried +away by the fairies, on his return to his own home speaks of them as 'our +folks,' which is equivalent to _abakwetu_, applied to the Amatongo, and +among the Highlands they are called the 'good people' and 'the folk.' They +are also said to 'live underground,' and are therefore Abapansi or +subterranean. They are also, like the Abapansi, called ancestors. Thus the +Red Book of Clanranald is said not to have been dug up, but to have been +found on the moss; it seemed as if the ancestors sent it." There are other +points which make in the same direction. The soul is supposed by various +races to be a little man, an idea which at once links the manes of the +departed with Pigmy people. Thus Dr. Nansen tells us that amongst the +Eskimo a man has many souls. The largest dwell in the larynx and in the +left side, and are tiny men about the size of a sparrow. The other souls +dwell in other parts of the body, and are the size of a finger-joint.[C] +And the Macusi Indians[D] believe that although the body will decay, "the +man in our eyes" will not die, but wander about; an idea which is met with +even in Europe, and which perhaps gives us a clue to the conception of +smallness in size of the shades of the dead. Again, the belief that the +soul lives near the resting-place of its body is widespread, and at least +comparable with, if not equivalent to, the idea that the little people of +Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, and India live in the sepulchral mounds or +cromlechs of those countries. Closely connected with this is the idea of +the underground world, peopled by the souls of the departed like the +Abapansi, the widespread nature of which idea is shown by Dr. Tylor. "To +take one example, in which the more limited idea seems to have preceded +the more extensive, the Finns,[E] who feared the ghost of the departed as +unkind, harmful beings, fancied them dwelling with their bodies in the +grave, or else, with what Castren thinks a later philosophy, assigned them +their dwelling in the subterranean Tuonela. Tuonela was like this upper +earth; the sun shone there, there was no lack of land and water, wood and +field, tilth and meadow; there were bears and wolves, snakes and pike, but +all things were of a hurtful, dismal kind; the woods dark and swarming +with wild beasts, the water black, the cornfields bearing seed of snake's +teeth; and there stern, pitiless old Tuoni, and his grim wife and son, +with the hooked fingers with iron points, kept watch and ward over the +dead lest they should escape." + +[Footnote A: _Primitive Culture_, i. 388.] + +[Footnote B: _Religious System of the Amazulu_, p. 226.] + +[Footnote C: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 227.] + +[Footnote D: Tylor, _ut supra_, i. 431.] + +[Footnote E: Tylor, _ut supra_, ii. 80.] + +It is impossible not to see a connection between such conceptions as these +and the underground habitations of the little people entered by the green +mound which covered the bones of the dead. But the underground world was +not only associated with the shades of the departed; it was in many parts +of the world the place whence races had their origin, and here also we +meet in at least one instance known to me with the conception of a little +folk. A very widespread legend in Europe, and especially in Scandinavia, +according to Dr. Nansen, tells how the underground or invisible people +came into existence. "The Lord one day paid a visit to Eve as she was busy +washing her children. All those who were not yet washed she hurriedly hid +in cellars and corners and under big vessels, and presented the others to +the Visitor. The Lord asked if these were all, and she answered 'Yes;' +whereupon He replied, 'Then those which are _dulde_ (hidden) shall remain +_hulde_ (concealed, invisible). And from them the huldre-folk are +sprung."[A] There is also the widespread story of an origin underground, +as amongst the Wasabe, a sub-gens of the Omahas, who believe that their +ancestors were made under the earth and subsequently came to the +surface.[B] There is a similar story amongst the Z[=u]nis of Western New +Mexico. In journeying to their present place of habitation, they passed +through four worlds, all in the interior of this, the passage way from +darkness to light being through a large reed. From the inner world they +were led by the two little war-gods, Ah-ai-[=u]-ta and M[=a]-[=a]-s[=e]-we, +twin brothers, sons of the Sun, who were sent by the Sun to bring this +people to his presence.[C] From these stories it would appear that the +underground world, whether looked upon as the habitation of the dead or +the place of origination of nations, is connected with the conception of +little races and people. That it is thus responsible for some portion of +the conception of fairies seems to me to be more than probable. + +[Footnote A: Nansen, _ut supra_, p. 262.] + +[Footnote B: Dorset, _Omaha Sociology. American Bureau of Ethnology_, iii. +211.] + +[Footnote C: Stevenson, _Religious Life of Zuni Child. American Bureau of +Ethnology_, v. 539.] + +It is hardly necessary to allude to those spirits which animistic ideas +have attached amongst other objects and places, to trees and wells. They +are fully dealt with in Dr. Tylor's pages, and must not be forgotten in +connection with the present question. + +To sum up, then, it appears as if the idea, so widely diffused, of little, +invisible, or only sometimes visible, people, is of the most complex +nature. From the darkness which shrouds it, however, it is possible to +discern some rays of light. That the souls of the departed, and the +underground world which they inhabit, are largely responsible for it, is, +I hope, rendered probable by the facts which I have brought forward. That +animistic ideas have played an important part in the evolution of the idea +of fairy peoples, is not open to doubt. That to these conceptions were +superadded many features really derived from the actions of aboriginal +races hiding before the destroying might of their invaders, and this not +merely in these islands, but in many parts of the world, has been, I +think, demonstrated by the labours of the gentleman whose theory I have so +often alluded to. But the point upon which it is desired to lay stress is +that the features derived from aboriginal races are only one amongst many +sources. Possibly they play an important part, but scarcely, I think, one +so important as Mr. MacRitchie would have us believe. + + + + +A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY + +Concerning the PYGMIES, THE CYNOCEPHALI, THE SATYRS and SPHINGES OF THE +ANCIENTS, + +Wherein it will appear that they were all either APES or MONKEYS; and not +MEN, as formerly pretended. + +By Edward Tyson M.D. + + + + +A Philological Essay Concerning the PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS. + + +Having had the Opportunity of Dissecting this remarkable Creature, which +not only in the _outward shape_ of the Body, but likewise in the structure +of many of the Inward Parts, so nearly resembles a Man, as plainly appears +by the _Anatomy_ I have here given of it, it suggested the Thought to me, +whether this sort of _Animal_, might not give the Foundation to the +Stories of the _Pygmies_ and afford an occasion not only to the _Poets_, +but _Historians_ too, of inventing the many Fables and wonderful and merry +Relations, that are transmitted down to us concerning them? I must +confess, I could never before entertain any other Opinion about them, but +that the whole was a _Fiction_: and as the first Account we have of them, +was from a _Poet_, so that they were only a Creature of the Brain, +produced by a warm and wanton Imagination, and that they never had any +Existence or Habitation elsewhere. + +In this Opinion I was the more confirmed, because the most diligent +Enquiries of late into all the Parts of the inhabited World, could never +discover any such _Puny_ diminutive _Race_ of _Mankind_. That they should +be totally destroyed by the _Cranes_, their Enemies, and not a Straggler +here and there left remaining, was a Fate, that even those _Animals_ that +are constantly preyed upon by others, never undergo. Nothing therefore +appeared to me more Fabulous and Romantick, than their _History_, and the +Relations about them, that _Antiquity_ has delivered to us. And not only +_Strabo_ of old, but our greatest Men of Learning of late, have wholly +exploded them, as a mere _figment_; invented only to amuse, and divert the +Reader with the Comical Narration of their Atchievements, believing that +there were never any such Creatures in Nature. + +This opinion had so fully obtained with me, that I never thought it worth +the Enquiry, how they came to invent such Extravagant Stories: Nor should +I now, but upon the Occasion of Dissecting this _Animal_: For observing +that 'tis call'd even to this day in the _Indian_ or _Malabar_ Language, +_Orang-Outang_, i.e. a _Man_ of the _Woods_, or _Wild-men_; and being +brought from _Africa_, that part of the World, where the _Pygmies_ are +said to inhabit; and it's present _Stature_ likewise tallying so well with +that of the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients; these Considerations put me upon +the search, to inform my self farther about them, and to examine, whether +I could meet with any thing that might illustrate their _History_. For I +thought it strange, that if the whole was but a meer Fiction, that so many +succeeding Generations should be so fond of preserving a _Story_, that had +no Foundation at all in Nature; and that the _Ancients_ should trouble +themselves so much about them. If therefore I can make out in this +_Essay_, that there were such _Animals_ as _Pygmies_; and that they were +not a _Race_ of _Men_, but _Apes_; and can discover the _Authors_, who +have forged all, or most of the idle Stories concerning them; and shew how +the Cheat in after Ages has been carried on, by embalming the Bodies of +_Apes_, then exposing them for the _Men_ of the Country, from whence they +brought them: If I can do this, I shall think my time not wholly lost, nor +the trouble altogether useless, that I have had in this Enquiry. + +My Design is not to justifie all the Relations that have been given of +this _Animal_, even by Authors of reputed Credit; but, as far as I can, to +distinguish Truth from Fable; and herein, if what I assert amounts to a +Probability, 'tis all I pretend to. I shall accordingly endeavour to make +it appear, that not only the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients, but also the +_Cynocephali_, and _Satyrs_ and _Sphinges_ were only _Apes_ or _Monkeys_, +not _Men_, as they have been represented. But the Story of the _Pygmies_ +being the greatest Imposture, I shall chiefly concern my self about them, +and shall be more concise on the others, since they will not need so +strict an Examination. + +We will begin with the Poet _Homer_, who is generally owned as the first +Inventor of the Fable of the _Pygmies_, if it be a Fable, and not a true +Story, as I believe will appear in the Account I shall give of them. Now +_Homer_ only mentions them in a _Simile_, wherein he compares the Shouts +that the _Trojans_ made, when they were going to joyn Battle with the +_Graecians_, to the great Noise of the _Cranes_, going to fight the +_Pygmies_: he saith,[A] + +[Greek: Ai t' epei oun cheimona phygon, kai athesphaton ombron +Klangae tai ge petontai ep' okeanoio rhoaon +'Andrasi pygmaioisi phonon kai kaera pherousai.] i.e. + +_Quae simul ac fugere Imbres, Hyememque Nivalem +Cum magno Oceani clangore ferantur ad undas +Pygmaeis pugnamque Viris, caedesque ferentes._ + +[Footnote A: _Homer. Iliad_. lib. 3. ver. 4.] + +Or as _Helius Eobanus Hessus_ paraphrases the whole.[A] + +_Postquam sub Ducibus digesta per agmina stabant +Quaeque fuis, Equitum turmae, Peditumque Cohortes, +Obvia torquentes Danais vestigia Troes +Ibant, sublato Campum clamore replentes: +Non secus ac cuneata Gruum sublime volantum +Agmina, dum fugiunt Imbres, ac frigora Brumae, +Per Coelum matutino clangore feruntur, +Oceanumque petunt, mortem exitiumque cruentum +Irrita Pigmaeis moturis arma ferentes._ + +[Footnote A: _Homeri Ilias Latino Carmine reddita ab Helio Eobano Hesso_.] + +By [Greek: andrasi pygmaioisi] therefore, which is the Passage upon which +they have grounded all their fabulous Relations of the _Pygmies_, why may +not _Homer_ mean only _Pygmies_ or _Apes_ like _Men_. Such an Expression +is very allowable in a _Poet_, and is elegant and significant, especially +since there is so good a Foundation in Nature for him to use it, as we +have already seen, in the _Anatomy of the Orang-Outang_. Nor is a _Poet_ +tied to that strictness of Expression, as an _Historian_ or _Philosopher_; +he has the liberty of pleasing the Reader's Phancy, by Pictures and +Representations of his own. If there be a becoming likeness, 'tis all that +he is accountable for. I might therefore here make the same _Apology_ for +him, as _Strabo_[A] do's on another account for his _Geography_, [Greek: +ou gar kat' agnoian ton topikon legetai, all' haedonaes kai terpseos +charin]. That he said it, not thro' Ignorance, but to please and delight: +Or, as in another place he expresses himself,[B] [Greek: ou gar kat' +agnoian taes istorias hypolaepteon genesthai touto, alla tragodias +charin]. _Homer_ did not make this slip thro' Ignorance of the true +_History_, but for the Beauty of his _Poem_. So that tho' he calls them +_Men Pygmies_, yet he may mean no more by it, than that they were like +_Men_. As to his Purpose, 'twill serve altogether as well, whether this +bloody Battle be fought between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmaean Men_, or the +_Cranes_ and _Apes_, which from their Stature he calls _Pygmies_, and from +their shape _Men_; provided that when the _Cranes_ go to engage, they make +a mighty terrible noise, and clang enough to fright these little _Wights_ +their mortal Enemies. To have called them only _Apes_, had been flat and +low, and lessened the grandieur of the Battle. But this _Periphrasis_ of +them, [Greek: andres pygmaioi], raises the Reader's Phancy, and surprises +him, and is more becoming the Language of an Heroic Poem. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 1. p.m. 25.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo_ ibid. p.m. 30.] + +But how came the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_ to fall out? What may be the Cause +of this Mortal Feud, and constant War between them? For _Brutes_, like +_Men_, don't war upon one another, to raise and encrease their Glory, or +to enlarge their Empire. Unless I can acquit my self herein, and assign +some probable Cause hereof, I may incur the same Censure as _Strabo_[A] +passed on several of the _Indian Historians_, [Greek: enekainisan de kai +taen 'Omaerikaen ton Pygmaion geranomachin trispithameis eipontes], for +reviewing the _Homerical_ Fight of the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, which he +looks upon only as a fiction of the Poet. But this had been very +unbecoming _Homer_ to take a _Simile_ (which is designed for illustration) +from what had no Foundation in Nature. His _Betrachomyomachia_, 'tis true, +was a meer Invention, and never otherwise esteemed: But his _Geranomachia_ +hath all the likelyhood of a true Story. And therefore I shall enquire now +what may be the just Occasion of this Quarrel. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 2. p.m. 48.] + +_Athenaeus_[A] out of _Philochorus_, and so likewise _AElian_[B], tell us a +Story, That in the Nation of the _Pygmies_ the Male-line failing, one +_Gerana_ was the Queen; a Woman of an admired Beauty, and whom the +Citizens worshipped as a Goddess; but she became so vain and proud, as to +prefer her own, before the Beauty of all the other Goddesses, at which +they grew enraged; and to punish her for her Insolence, Athenaeus tells us +that it was _Diana_, but _AElian_ saith 'twas _Juno_ that transformed her +into a _Crane_, and made her an Enemy to the _Pygmies_ that worshipped her +before. But since they are not agreed which Goddess 'twas, I shall let +this pass. + +[Footnote A: _Athenaei Deipnosoph_. lib. 9 p.m. 393.] + +[Footnote B: _AElian. Hist. Animal_. lib. 15. cap. 29.] + +_Pomponius Mela_ will have it, and I think some others, that these cruel +Engagements use to happen, upon the _Cranes_ coming to devour the _Corn_ +the _Pygmies_ had sowed; and that at last they became so victorious, as +not only to destroy their Corn, but them also: For he tells us,[A] _Fuere +interius Pygmaei, minutum genus, & quod pro satis frugibus contra Grues +dimicando, defecit._ This may seem a reasonable Cause of a Quarrel; but it +not being certain that the _Pygmies_ used to sow _Corn_, I will not insist +on this neither. + +[Footnote A: _Pomp. Mela de situ Orbis_, lib. 3. cap. 8.] + +Now what seems most likely to me, is the account that _Pliny_ out of +_Megasthenes_, and _Strabo_ from _Onesicritus_ give us; and, provided I be +not obliged to believe or justifie _all_ that they say, I could rest +satisfied in great part of their Relation: For _Pliny_[B] tells us, _Veris +tempore universo agmine ad mare descendere, & Ova, Pullosque earum Alitum +consumere_: That in the Spring-time the whole drove of the _Pygmies_ go +down to the Sea side, to devour the _Cranes_ Eggs and their young Ones. So +likewise _Onesicritus_,[B] [Greek: Pros de tous trispithamous polemon +einai tais Geranois (hon kai Homaeron daeloun) kai tois Perdixin, ous +chaenomegetheis einai; toutous d' eklegein auton ta oa, kai phtheirein; +ekei gar ootokein tas Geranous; dioper maedamou maed' oa euriskesthai +Geranon, maet' oun neottia;] i.e. _That there is a fight between the_ +Pygmies _and the_ Cranes (_as_ Homer _relates_) _and the_ Partridges +_which are as big as_ Geese; _for these_ Pygmies _gather up their Eggs, +and destroy them; the_ Cranes _laying their Eggs there; and neither their +Eggs, nor their Nests, being to be found any where else_. 'Tis plain +therefore from them, that the Quarrel is not out of any _Antipathy_ the +_Pygmies_ have to the _Cranes_, but out of love to their own Bellies. But +the _Cranes_ finding their Nests to be robb'd, and their young Ones prey'd +on by these Invaders, no wonder that they should so sharply engage them; +and the least they could do, was to fight to the utmost so mortal an +Enemy. Hence, no doubt, many a bloody Battle happens, with various success +to the Combatants; sometimes with great slaughter of the _long-necked +Squadron_; sometimes with great effusion of _Pygmaean_ blood. And this may +well enough, in a _Poet's_ phancy, be magnified, and represented as a +dreadful War; and no doubt of it, were one a _Spectator_ of it, 'twould be +diverting enough. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij. Hist. Nat._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 13.] + +[Footnote B: _Strab. Geograph_. lib. 15. pag. 489.] + + -----_Si videas hoc + Gentibus in nostris, risu quatiere: sed illic, + Quanquam eadem assidue spectantur Praelia, ridet + Nemo, ubi tota cohors pede non est altior uno_.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Juvenal. Satyr_. 13 vers. 170.] + +This Account therefore of these Campaigns renewed every year on this +Provocation between the _Cranes_ and the _Pygmies_, contains nothing but +what a cautious Man may believe; and _Homer's Simile_ in likening the +great shouts of the _Trojans_ to the Noise of the _Cranes_, and the +Silence of the _Greeks_ to that of the _Pygmies_, is very admirable and +delightful. For _Aristotle_[B] tells us, That the _Cranes_, to avoid the +hardships of the Winter, take a Flight out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ +about the _Nile_, where the _Pygmies_ live, and where 'tis very likely the +_Cranes_ may lay their Eggs and breed, before they return. But these rude +_Pygmies_ making too bold with them, what could the _Cranes_ do less for +preserving their Off-spring than fight them; or at least by their mighty +Noise, make a shew as if they would. This is but what we may observe in +all other Birds. And thus far I think our _Geranomachia_ or _Pygmaeomachia_ +looks like a true Story; and there is nothing in _Homer_ about it, but +what is credible. He only expresses himself, as a _Poet_ should do; and if +Readers will mistake his meaning, 'tis not his fault. + +[Footnote B: _Aristotle. Hist. Animal_. lib. 8. cap. 15. Edit. Scalig.] + +'Tis not therefore the _Poet_ that is to be blamed, tho' they would father +it all on him; but the fabulous _Historians_ in after Ages, who have so +odly drest up this Story by their fantastical Inventions, that there is no +knowing the truth, till one hath pull'd off those Masks and Visages, +wherewith they have disguised it. For tho' I can believe _Homer_, that +there is a fight between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, yet I think I am no +ways obliged to imagine, that when the _Pygmies_ go to these Campaigns to +fight the _Cranes_, that they ride upon _Partridges_, as _Athenaeas_ from +_Basilis_ an _Indian Historian_ tells us; for, saith he,[A] [Greek: +Basilis de en toi deuteroi ton Indikon, oi mikroi, phaesin, andres oi tais +Geranois diapolemountes Perdixin ochaemati chrontai;]. For presently +afterwards he tells us from _Menecles_, that the _Pygmies_ not only fight +the _Cranes_, but the _Partridges_ too, [Greek: Meneklaes de en protae +taes synagogaes oi pygmaioi, phaesi, tois perdixi, kai tais Geranois +polemousi]. This I could more readily agree to, because _Onesicritus_, as +I have quoted him already confirms it; and gives us the same reason for +this as for fighting the _Cranes_, because they rob their Nests. But +whether these _Partridges_ are as big as _Geese_, I leave as a _Quaere_. + +[Footnote A: _Athenaei Deipnesoph_. lib. p. 9. m. 390.] + +_Megasthenes_ methinks in _Pliny_ mounts the _Pygmies_ for this expedition +much better, for he sets them not on a _Pegasus_ or _Partridges_, but on +_Rams_ and _Goats_: _Fama est_ (saith _Pliny[A]) insedentes Arietum +Caprarumque dorsis, armatis sagittis, veris tempore universo agmine ad +mare descendere_. And _Onesicritus_ in Strabo tells us, That a _Crane_ has +been often observed to fly from those parts with a brass Sword fixt in +him, [Greek: pleistakis d' ekpiptein geranon chalkaen echousan akida apo +ton ekeithen plaegmaton.][B] But whether the _Pygmies_ do wear Swords, may +be doubted. 'Tis true, _Ctesias_ tells us,[C] That the _King_ of _India_ +every fifth year sends fifty Thousand Swords, besides abundance of other +Weapons, to the Nation of the _Cynocephali_, (a fort of _Monkeys_, as I +shall shew) that live in those Countreys, but higher up in the Mountains: +But he makes no mention of any such Presents to the poor _Pygmies_; tho' +he assures us, that no less than three Thousand of these _Pygmies_ are the +_Kings_ constant Guards: But withal tells us, that they are excellent +_Archers_, and so perhaps by dispatching their Enemies at a distance, they +may have no need of such Weapons to lye dangling by their sides. I may +therefore be mistaken in rendering [Greek: akida] a Sword; it may be any +other sharp pointed Instrument or Weapon, and upon second Thoughts, shall +suppose it a sort of Arrow these cunning _Archers_ use in these +Engagements. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p. 13.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 15. p. 489.] + +[Footnote C: _Vide Photij. Biblioth._] + +These, and a hundred such ridiculous _Fables_, have the _Historians_ +invented of the _Pygmies_, that I can't but be of _Strabo_'s mind,[A] +[Greek: Rhadion d' an tis Haesiodio, kai Homaeroi pisteuseien +haeroologousi, kai tois tragikois poiaetais, hae Ktaesiai te kai +Haerodotoi, kai Hellanikoi, kai allois toioutois;] i.e. _That one may +sooner believe_ Hesiod, _and_ Homer, _and the_ Tragick Poets _speaking of +their_ Hero's, _than_ Ctesias _and_ Herodotus _and_ Hellanicus _and such +like_. So ill an Opinion had _Strabo_ of the _Indian Historians_ in +general, that he censures them _all_ as fabulous;[B] [Greek: Hapantes men +toinun hoi peri taes Indikaes grapsantes hos epi to poly pseudologoi +gegonasi kath' hyperbolaen de Daeimachos; ta de deutera legei +Megasthenaes, Onaesikritos te kai Nearchos, kai alloi toioutoi;] i.e. _All +who have wrote of_ India _for the most part, are fabulous, but in the +highest degree_ Daimachus; _then_ Megasthenes, Onesicritus, _and_ +Nearchus, _and such like_. And as if it had been their greatest Ambition +to excel herein, _Strabo_[C] brings in _Theopompus_, as bragging, [Greek: +Hoti kai mythous en tais Historiais erei kreitton, ae hos Haerodotos, kai +Ktaesias, kai Hellanikos, kai hoi ta Hindika syngrapsantes;] _That he +could foist in Fables into History, better than_ Herodotus _and_ Ctesias +_and_ Hellanicus, _and all that have wrote of_ India. The _Satyrist_ +therefore had reason to say, + + -----_Et quicquid Graecia mendax + Audet in Historia._[D] + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 11. p.m. 350.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 2. p.m. 48.] + +[Footnote C: _Strabo ibid._ lib. 1 p.m. 29.] + +[Footnote D: _Juvenal._ _Satyr._ X. _vers._ 174.] + +_Aristotle_,[A] 'tis true, tells us, [Greek: Holos de ta men agria +agriotera en tae Asia, andreiotera de panta ta en taei Europaei, +polymorphotata de ta en taei libyaei; kai legetai de tis paroimia, hoti +aei pherei ti libyae kainon;] i.e. _That generally the Beasts are wilder +in_ Asia, _stronger in_ Europe, _and of greater variety of shapes in_ +Africa; _for as the_ Proverb _saith_, Africa _always produces something +new_. _Pliny_[B] indeed ascribes it to the Heat of the _Climate, +Animalium, Hominumque effigies monstriferas, circa extremitates ejus +gigni, minime mirum, artifici ad formanda Corpora, effigiesque caelandas +mobilitate ignea_. But _Nature_ never formed a whole _Species_ of +_Monsters_; and 'tis not the _heat_ of the Country, but the warm and +fertile Imagination of these _Historians_, that has been more productive +of them, than _Africa_ it self; as will farther appear by what I shall +produce out of them, and particularly from the Relation that _Ctesias_ +makes of the _Pygmies_. + +[Footnote A: _Aristotle Hist. Animal_, lib. 8. cap. 28.] + +[Footnote B: _Plin. Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.] + +I am the more willing to instance in _Ctesias_, because he tells his Story +roundly; he no ways minces it; his Invention is strong and fruitful; and +that you may not in the least mistrust him, he pawns his word, that all +that he writes, is certainly true: And so successful he has been, how +Romantick soever his Stories may appear, that they have been handed down +to us by a great many other Authors, and of Note too; tho' some at the +same time have looked upon them as mere Fables. So that for the present, +till I am better informed, and I am not over curious in it, I shall make +_Ctesias_, and the other _Indian Historians_, the _Inventors_ of the +extravagant Relations we at present have of the _Pygmies_, and not old +_Homer_. He calls them, 'tis true, from something of Resemblance of their +shape, [Greek: andres]: But these _Historians_ make them to speak the +_Indian Language_; to use the same _Laws_; and to be so considerable a +Nation, and so valiant, as that the _King_ of _India_ makes choice of them +for his _Corps de Guards_; which utterly spoils _Homer's Simile_, in +making them so little, as only to fight _Cranes_. + +_Ctesias_'s Account therefore of the _Pygmies_ (as I find it in +_Photius_'s _Bibliotheca_,[A] and at the latter end of some Editions of +_Herodotus_) is this: + +[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec. Cod._ 72. p.m. 145.] + +[Greek: Hoti en mesae tae Indikae anthropoi eisi melanes, kai kalountai +pygmaioi, tois allois homoglossoi Indois. mikroi de eisi lian; hoi +makrotatoi auton paecheon duo, hoi de pleistoi, henos haemiseos paecheos, +komaen de echousi makrotataen, mechri kai hepi ta gonata, kai eti +katoteron, kai pogona megiston panton anthropon; epeidan oun ton pogona +mega physosin, ouketi amphiennyntai ouden emation: alla tas trichas, tas +men ek taes kephalaes, opisthen kathientai poly kato ton gonaton; tas de +ek tou po gonos, emprosthen mechri podon elkomenas. Hepeita +peripykasamenoi tas trichas peri apan to soma, zonnyntai, chromenoi autais +anti himatiou, aidoion de mega echousin, hoste psauein ton sphyron auton, +kai pachy. autoite simoi te kai aischroi. ta de probata auton, hos andres. +kai hai boes kai hoi onoi, schedon hoson krioi? kai hoi hippoi auton kai +hoi aemionoi, kai ta alla panta zoa, ouden maezo krion; hepontai de toi +basilei ton Indon, touton ton pygmaion andres trischilioi. sphodra gar +eisi toxotai; dikaiotatoi de eisi kai nomoisi chrontai osper kai hoi +Indoi. Dagoous te kai alopekas thaereuousin, ou tois kysin, alla koraxi +kai iktisi kai koronais kai aetois.] + +_Narrat praeter ista, in media India homines reperiri nigros, qui Pygmaei +appellentur. Eadem hos, qua Inda reliqui, lingua uti, sed valde esse +parvos, ut maximi duorum cubitorum, & plerique unius duntaxat cubiti cum +dimidio altitudinem non excedant. Comam alere longissimam, ad ipsa usque +genua demissam, atque etiam infra, cum barba longiore, quam, apud ullos +hominum. Quae quidem ubi illis promissior esse caeperit, nulla deinceps +veste uti: sed capillos multo infra genua a tergo demissos, barbamque +praeter pectus ad pedes usque defluentem, per totum corpus in orbem +constipare & cingere, atque ita pilos ipsis suos vestimenti loco esse. +Veretrum illis esse crassum ac longum, quod ad ipsos quoque pedum +malleolos pertingat. Pygmeos hosce simis esse naribus, & deformes. Ipsorum +item oves agnorem nostrotum instar esse; boves & asinos, arietum fere +magnitudine, equos item multosque & caetera jumenta omnia nihilo esse +nostris arietibus majora. Tria horum Pygmaeorum millia Indorum regem in suo +comitatu habere, quod sagittarij sint peritissimi. Summos esse justitiae +cultores iisdemque quibus Indi reliqui, legibus parere. Venari quoque +lepores vulpesque, non canibus, sed corvis, milvis, cornicibus, aquilis +adhibitis._ + +In the middle of _India_ (saith _Ctesias_) there are black Men, they are +call'd _Pygmies_, using the same Language, as the other _Indians_; they +are very little, the tallest of them being but two Cubits, and most of +them but a Cubit and a half high. They have very long hair, reaching down +to their Knees and lower; and a Beard larger than any Man's. After their +Beards are grown long, they wear no Cloaths, but the Hair of their Head +falls behind a great deal below their Hams; and that of their Beards +before comes down to their Feet: then laying their Hair thick all about +their Body, they afterwards gird themselves, making use of their Hair for +Cloaths. They have a _Penis_ so long, that it reaches to the Ancle, and +the thickness is proportionable. They are flat nosed and ill favoured. +Their Sheep are like Lambs; and their Oxen and Asses scarce as big as Rams; +and their Horses and Mules, and all their other Cattle not bigger. Three +thousand Men of these _Pygmies_ do attend the _King_ of _India_. They are +good _Archers_; they are very just, and use the same _Laws_ as the +_Indians_ do. They kill Hares and Foxes, not with Dogs, but with Ravens, +Kites, Crows, and Eagles.' + +Well, if they are so good Sports-men, as to kill Hares and Foxes with +Ravens, Kites, Crows and Eagles, I can't see how I can bring off _Homer_, +for making them fight the _Cranes_ themselves. Why did they not fly their +_Eagles_ against them? these would make greater Slaughter and Execution, +without hazarding themselves. The only excuse I have is, that _Homer_'s +_Pygmies_ were real _Apes_ like _Men_; but those of _Ctesias_ were neither +_Men_ nor _Pygmies_; only a Creature begot in his own Brain, and to be +found no where else. + +_Ctesias_ was Physician to _Artaxerxes Mnemon_ as _Diodorus Siculus_[A] +and _Strabo_[B] inform us. He was contemporary with _Xenophon_, a little +later than _Herodotus_; and _Helvicus_ in his _Chronology_ places him +three hundred eighty three years before _Christ_: He is an ancient Author, +'tis true, and it may be upon that score valued by some. We are beholden +to him, not only for his Improvements on the Story of the _Pygmies_, but +for his Remarks likewise on several other parts of _Natural History_; +which for the most part are all of the same stamp, very wonderful and +incredible; as his _Mantichora_, his _Gryphins_, the _horrible Indian +Worm_, a Fountain of _Liquid Gold_, a Fountain of _Honey_, a Fountain +whose Water will make a Man confess all that ever he did, a Root he calls +[Greek: paraebon], that will attract Lambs and Birds, as the Loadstone +does filings of Steel; and a great many other Wonders he tells us: all of +which are copied from him by _AElian, Pliny, Solinus, Mela, Philostratus_, +and others. And _Photius_ concludes _Ctesias_'s Account of _India_ with +this passage; [Greek: Tauta graphon kai mythologon Ktaesias. legei t' +alaethestata graphein; epagon hos ta men autos idon graphei, ta de par +auton mathon ton eidoton. polla de touton kai alla thaumasiotera +paralipein, dia to mae doxai tois mae tauta theasamenois apista +syngraphein;] i.e. _These things_ (saith he) Ctesias _writes and feigns, +but he himself says all he has wrote is very true. Adding, that some +things which he describes, he had seen himself; and the others he had +learn'd from those that had seen them: That he had omitted a great many +other things more wonderful, because he would not seem to those that have +not seen them, to write incredibilities_. But notwithstanding all this, +_Lucian_[C] will not believe a word he saith; for he tells us that +_Ctesias_ has wrote of _India_, [Greek: A maete autos eide, maete allou +eipontos aekousen], _What he neither saw himself, nor ever heard from any +Body else._ And _Aristotle_ tells us plainly, he is not fit to be believed: +[Greek: En de taei Indikaei hos phaesi Ktaesias, ouk on axiopistos.][D] +And the same opinion _A. Gellius_[E] seems to have of him, as he had +likewise of several other old _Greek Historians_ which happened to fall +into his hands at _Brundusium_, in his return from _Greece_ into _Italy_; +he gives this Character of them and their performance: _Erant autem isti +omnes libri Graeci, miraculorum fabularumque pleni: res inauditae, +incredulae, Scriptores veteres non parvae authoritatis_, Aristeas +Proconnesius, & Isagonus, & Nicaeensis, & Ctesias, & Onesicritus, & +Polystephanus, & Hegesias. Not that I think all that _Ctesias_ has wrote +is fabulous; For tho' I cannot believe his _speaking Pygmies_, yet what he +writes of the _Bird_ he calls [Greek: Bittakos], that it would speak +_Greek_ and the _Indian Language_, no doubt is very true; and as _H. +Stephens_[F] observes in his Apology for _Ctesias_, such a Relation would +seem very surprising to one, that had never seen nor heard of a _Parrot_. + +[Footnote A: _Diodor. Siculi Bibliothec_. lib. 2. p.m. 118.] + +[Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 14. p. 451.] + +[Footnote C: _Lucian_ lib 1. _verae Histor_. p.m. 373.] + +[Footnote D: _Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 28.] + +[Footnote E: _A. Gellij. Noctes. Attic._ lib. 9. cap. 4.] + +[Footnote F: _Henr. Stephani de Ctesia Historico antiquissimo disquisitio, +ad finem Herodoti._] + +But this Story of _Ctesias_'s _speaking Pygmies_, seems to be confirm'd by +the Account that _Nonnosus_, the Emperour _Justinian_'s Ambassador into +_AEthiopia_, gives of his Travels. I will transcribe the Passage, as I find +it in _Photius_,[A] and 'tis as follows: + +[Footnote A: _Photij. Bibliothec._ cod. 3. p.m. 7.] + +[Greek: Hoti apo taes pharsan pleonti toi Nonnosoi, epi taen eschataen ton +naeson kataentaekoti toion de ti synebae, thauma kai akousai. enetuche gar +tisi morphaen men kai idean echousin anthropinaen, brachytatois de to +megethos, kai melasi taen chroan. hypo de trichon dedasysmenois dia pantos +tou somatos. heiponto de tois andrasi kai gynaikes paraplaesiai kai +paidaria eti brachytera, ton par autois andron. gymnoi de aesan hapantes; +plaen dermati tini mikroi taen aido periekalypron, hoi probebaekotes +homoios andres te kai gynaikes. agrion de ouden eped eiknynto oude +anaemeron; alla kai phonaen eichon men anthropinaen, agnoston de pantapasi +taen dialekton tois te perioikois hapasi, kai polloi pleon tois peri taen +Nonnoson, diezon de ek thalattion ostreion, kai ichthyon, ton apo taes +thalassaes eis taen naeson aporrhiptomenon; tharsos de eichon ouden. alla +kai horontes tous kath' haemas anthropous hypeptaesan, hosper haemeis ta +meiso ton thaerion.] + +_Naviganti a Pharsa Nonoso, & ad extremam usque insularum delato, tale +quid occurrit, vel ipso auditu admirandum. Incidit enim in quosdam forma +quidem & figura humana, sed brevissimos, & cutem nigros, totumque pilosos +corpus. Sequebantur viros aequales foeminae, & pueri adhuc breviores. Nudi +omnes agunt, pelle tantum brevi adultiores verenda tecti, viri pariter ac +foeminae: agreste nihil, neque efferum quid prae se ferentes. Quin & vox +illis humana, sed omnibus, etiam accolis, prorsus ignota lingua, multoque +amplius Nonosi sociis. Vivunt marinis ostreis, & piscibus e mari ad +insulam projectis. Audaces minime sunt, ut nostris conspectis hominibus, +quemadmodum nos visa ingenti fera, metu perculsi fuerint._ + +'That _Nonnosus_ sailing from _Pharsa_, when he came to the farthermost of +the Islands, a thing, very strange to be heard of, happened to him; for he +lighted on some (_Animals_) in shape and appearance like _Men_, but little +of stature, and of a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over +their Bodies. The Women, who were of the same stature, followed the Men: +They were all naked, only the Elder of them, both Men and Women, covered +their Privy Parts with a small Skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; +they had a Humane Voice, but their _Dialect_ was altogether unknown to +every Body that lived about them; much more to those that were with +_Nonnosus_. They liv'd upon Sea Oysters, and Fish that were cast out of +the Sea, upon the Island. They had no Courage; for seeing our Men, they +were frighted, as we are at the sight of the greatest wild Beast.' + +[Greek: _phonaen eichon men anthropinaen_] I render here, _they had a +Humane Voice_, not _Speech_: for had they spoke any Language, tho' their +_Dialect_ might be somewhat different, yet no doubt but some of the +Neighbourhood would have understood something of it, and not have been +such utter Strangers to it. Now 'twas observed of the _Orang-Outang_, that +it's _Voice_ was like the Humane, and it would make a Noise like a Child, +but never was observed to speak, tho' it had the _Organs_ of _Speech_ +exactly formed as they are in _Man_; and no Account that ever has been +given of this Animal do's pretend that ever it did. I should rather agree +to what _Pliny_[A] mentions, _Quibusdam pro Sermone nutus motusque +Membrorum est_; and that they had no more a Speech than _Ctesias_ his +_Cynocephali_ which could only bark, as the same _Pliny_[B] remarks; where +he saith, _In multis autem Montibus Genus Hominum Capitibus Caninis, +ferarum pellibus velari, pro voce latratum edere, unguibus armatum venatu +& Aucupio vesci, horum supra Centum viginti Millia fuisse prodente se +Ctesias scribit._ But in _Photius_ I find, that _Ctesias's Cynocephali_ +did speak the _Indian Language_ as well as the _Pygmies_. Those therefore +in _Nonnosus_ since they did not speak the _Indian_, I doubt, spoke no +_Language_ at all; or at least, no more than other _Brutes_ do. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.] + +[Footnote B: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 11.] + +_Ctesias_ I find is the only Author that ever understood what Language +'twas that the _Pygmies_ spake: For _Herodotus_[A] owns that they use a +sort of Tongue like to no other, but screech like _Bats_. He saith, [Greek: +Hoi Garamantes outoi tous troglodytas Aithiopas thaereuousi toisi +tetrippoisi. Hoi gar Troglodytai aithiopes podas tachistoi anthropon +panton eisi, ton hymeis peri logous apopheromenous akouomen. Siteontai de +hoi Troglodytai ophis, kai Saurous, kai ta toiauta ton Herpeton. Glossan +de oudemiaei allaei paromoiaen nenomikasi, alla tetrygasi kathaper hai +nukterides;] i.e. _These_ Garamantes _hunt the_ Troglodyte AEthiopians _in +Chariots with four Horses. The_ Troglodyte AEthiopians _are the swiftest of +foot of all Men that ever he heard of by any Report. The_ Troglodytes _eat +Serpents and Lizards, and such sort of Reptiles. They use a Language like +to no other Tongue, but screech like Bats._ + +[Footnote A: _Herodot. in Melpomene._ pag. 283.] + +Now that the _Pygmies_ are _Troglodytes_, or do live in Caves, is plain +from _Aristotle_,[A] who saith, [Greek: Troglodytai de' eisi ton bion]. +And so _Philostratus_,[B] [Greek: Tous de pygmaious oikein men +hypogeious]. And methinks _Le Compte_'s Relation concerning the _wild_ or +_savage Man_ in _Borneo_, agrees so well with this, that I shall +transcribe it: for he tells us,[C] _That in_ Borneo _this_ wild _or_ +savage Man _is indued with extraordinary strength; and not withstanding he +walks but upon two Legs, yet he is so swift of foot, that they have much +ado to outrun him. People of Quality course him, as we do Stags here: and +this sort of hunting is the King's usual divertisement._ And _Gassendus_ +in the Life of _Peiresky_, tells us they commonly hunt them too in +_Angola_ in _Africa_, as I have already mentioned. So that very likely +_Herodotus's Troglodyte AEthiopians_ may be no other than our +_Orang-Outang_ or _wild Man_. And the rather, because I fancy their +Language is much the same: for an _Ape_ will chatter, and make a noise +like a _Bat_, as his _Troglodytes_ did: And they undergo to this day the +same Fate of being hunted, as formerly the _Troglodytes_ used to be by the +_Garamantes_. + +[Footnote A: _Arist. Hist. Animal._, lib. 8. cap. 15. p.m. 913.] + +[Footnote B: _Philostrat. in vita Appollon. Tyanaei_, lib. 3. cap. 14. p.m. +152.] + +[Footnote C: _Lewis le Compte_ Memoirs and Observations on _China_, p.m. +510.] + +Whether those [Greek: andras mikrous metrion elassonas andron] which the +_Nasamones_ met with (as _Herodotus_[A] relates) in their Travels to +discover _Libya_, were the _Pygmies_; I will not determine: It seems that +_Nasamones_ neither understood their Language, nor they that of the +_Nasamones_. However, they were so kind to the _Nasamones_ as to be their +Guides along the Lakes, and afterwards brought them to a City, [Greek: en +taei pantas einai toisi agousi to megethos isous, chroma de melanas], i.e. +_in which all were of the same stature with the Guides, and black_. Now +since they were all _little black Men_, and their Language could not be +understood, I do suspect they may be a Colony of the _Pygmies_: And that +they were no farther Guides to the _Nasamones_, than that being frighted +at the sight of them, they ran home, and the _Nasamones_ followed them. + +[Footnote A: _Herodotus in Euterpe_ seu lib. 2. p.m. 102.] + +I do not find therefore any good Authority, unless you will reckon +_Ctesias_ as such, that the _Pygmies_ ever used a Language or Speech, any +more than other _Brutes_ of the same _Species_ do among themselves, and +that we know nothing of, whatever _Democritus_ and _Melampodes_ in +_Pliny_,[A] or _Apollonius Tyanaeus_ in _Porphyry_[B] might formerly have +done. Had the _Pygmies_ ever spoke any _Language_ intelligible by Mankind, +this might have furnished our _Historians_ with notable Subjects for their +_Novels_; and no doubt but we should have had plenty of them. + +[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 10. cap. 49.] + +[Footnote B: _Porphyrius de Abstinentia_, lib. 3. pag. m. 103.] + +But _Albertus Magnus_, who was so lucky as to guess that the _Pygmies_ +were a sort of _Apes_; that he should afterwards make these _Apes_ to +_speak_, was very unfortunate, and spoiled all; and he do's it, methinks, +so very awkwardly, that it is as difficult almost to understand his +Language as his _Apes_; if the Reader has a mind to attempt it, he will +find it in the Margin.[A] + +[Footnote A: _Si qui Homines sunt Silvestres, sicut Pygmeus, non secundum +unam rationem nobiscum dicti sunt Homines, sed aliquod habent Hominis in +quadam deliberatione & Loquela, &c._ A little after adds, _Voces quaedam +(sc. Animalia) formant ad diversos conceptus quos habent, sicut Homo & +Pygmaeus; & quaedam non faciunt hoc, sicut multitudo fere tota aliorum +Animalium. Adhuc autem eorum quae ex ratione cogitativa formant voces, +quaedam sunt succumbentia, quaedam autem non succumbentia. Dico autem +succumbentia, a conceptu Animae cadentia & mota ad Naturae Instinctum, sicut +Pygmeus, qui non, sequitur rationem Loquelae sed Naturae Instinctum; Homo +autem non succumbit sed sequitur rationem._ Albert. Magn. de Animal. lib. +1. cap. 3. p.m. 3.] + +Had _Albertus_ only asserted, that the _Pygmies_ were a sort of _Apes_, +his Opinion possibly might have obtained with less difficulty, unless he +could have produced some Body that had heard them talk. But _Ulysses +Aldrovandus_[A] is so far from believing his _Ape Pygmies_ ever spoke, +that he utterly denies, that there were ever any such Creatures in being, +as the _Pygmies_, at all; or that they ever fought the _Cranes_. _Cum +itaque Pygmaeos_ (saith he) _dari negemus, Grues etiam cum iis Bellum +gerere, ut fabulantur, negabimus, & tam pertinaciter id negabimus, ut ne +jurantibus credemus._ + +[Footnote A: _Ulys. Aldrovandi Ornitholog._ lib. 20. p.m. 344.] + +I find a great many very Learned Men are of this Opinion: And in the first +place, _Strabo_[A] is very positive; [Greek: Heorakos men gar oudeis +exaegeitai ton pisteos axion andron;] i.e. _No Man worthy of belief did +ever see them_. And upon all occasions he declares the same. So _Julius +Caesar Scaliger_[B] makes them to be only a Fiction of the Ancients, _At +haec omnia_ (saith he) _Antiquorum figmenta & merae Nugae, si exstarent, +reperirentur. At cum universus Orbis nunc nobis cognitus sit, nullibi haec +Naturae Excrementa reperiri certissimum est._ And _Isaac Casaubon_[C] +ridicules such as pretend to justifie them: _Sic nostra aetate_ (saith he) +_non desunt, qui eandem de Pygmaeis lepidam fabellam renovent; ut qui etiam +e Sacris Literis, si Deo placet, fidem illis conentur astruere. Legi etiam +Bergei cujusdam Galli Scripta, qui se vidisse diceret. At non ego credulus +illi, illi inquam Omnium Bipedum mendacissimo._ I shall add one Authority +more, and that is of _Adrian Spigelius,_ who produces a Witness that had +examined the very place, where the _Pygmies_ were said to be; yet upon a +diligent enquiry, he could neither find them, nor hear any tidings of +them.[D] _Spigelius_ therefore tells us, _Hoc loco de Pygmaeis dicendum +erat, qui [Greek: para pygonos] dicti a statura, quae ulnam non excedunt. +Verum ego Poetarum fabulas esse crediderim, pro quibus tamen_ Aristoteles +_minime haberi vult, sed veram esse Historiam._ 8. Hist. Animal. 12. +_asseverat. Ego quo minus hoc statuam, tum Authoritate primum Doctissimi_ +Strabonis I. Geograph. _coactus sum, tum potissimum nunc moveor, quod +nostro tempore, quo nulla Mundi pars est, quam Nautarum Industria non +perlustrarit, nihil tamen, unquam simile aut visum est, aut auditum. +Accedit quod_ Franciscus Alvarez _Lusitanus, qui ea ipsa loca peragravit, +circa quae Aristoteles Pygmaeos esse scribit, nullibi tamen tam parvam +Gentem a se conspectam tradidit, sed Populum esse Mediocris staturae, &_ +AEthiopes _tradit._ + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 17. p.m. 565.] + +[Footnote B: _Jul. Caes. Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. +8. sec. 126. p.m. 914.] + +[Footnote C: _Isaac Causabon Notae & Castigat. in_ lib. 1. _Strabonis +Geograph._ p.m. 38.] + +[Footnote D: _Adrian. Spigelij de Corporis Humani fabrica_, lib. 1. cap. +7. p.m. 15.] + +I think my self therefore here obliged to make out, that there were such +Creatures as _Pygmies_, before I determine what they were, since the very +being of them is called in question, and utterly denied by so great Men, +and by others too that might be here produced. Now in the doing this, +_Aristotle_'s Assertion of them is so very positive, that I think there +needs not a greater or better Proof; and it is so remarkable a one, that I +find the very Enemies to this Opinion at a loss, how to shift it off. To +lessen it's Authority they have interpolated the _Text_, by foisting into +the _Translation_ what is not in the Original; or by not translating at +all the most material passage, that makes against them; or by miserably +glossing it, to make him speak what he never intended: Such unfair +dealings plainly argue, that at any rate they are willing to get rid of a +Proof, that otherwise they can neither deny, or answer. + +_Aristotle_'s Text is this, which I shall give with _Theodorus Gaza's_ +Translation: for discoursing of the Migration of Birds, according to the +Season of the Year, from one Country to another, he saith:[A] + +[Footnote A: _Aristotel. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 12.] + +[Greek: Meta men taen phthinoporinaen Isaemerian, ek tou Pontou kaiton +psychron pheugonta ton epionta cheimona; meta de taen earinaen, ek ton +therinon, eis tous topous tous psychrous, phoboumena ta kaumata; ta men, +kai ek ton engus topon poioumena tas metabolas, ta de, kai ek ton eschaton +hos eipein, hoion hai geranoi poiousi. Metaballousi gar ek ton Skythikon +eis ta helae ta ano taes Aigyptou, othen ho Neilos rhei. Esti de ho topos +outos peri on hoi pigmaioi katoikousin; ou gar esti touto mythos, all' +esti kata taen alaetheian. Genos mikron men, hosper legetai, kai autoi kai +hoi hippoi; Troglodytai d' eisi ton bion.] + +_Tam ab Autumnali AEquinoctio ex Ponto, Locisque frigidis fugiunt Hyemem +futuram. A Verno autem ex tepida Regione ad frigidam sese conferunt, aestus +metu futuri: & alia de locis vicinis discedunt, alia de ultimis, prope +dixerim, ut Grues faciunt, quae ex Scythicis Campis ad Paludes AEgypto +superiores, unde Nilus profluit, veniunt, quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmaeis +dicuntur. Non enim id fabula est, sed certe, genus tum hominum, tum etiam +Equorum pusillum (ut dicitur) est, deguntque in Cavernis, unde Nomen +Troglodytae a subeundis Cavernis accepere._ + +In English 'tis thus: 'At the _Autumnal AEquinox_ they go out of _Pontus_ +and the cold Countreys to avoid the Winter that is coming on. At the +_Vernal AEquinox_ they pass from hot Countreys into cold ones, for fear of +the ensuing heat; some making their Migrations from nearer places; others +from the most remote (as I may say) as the _Cranes_ do: for they come out +of _Scythia_ to the Lakes above _AEgypt_, whence the _Nile_ do's flow. This +is the place, whereabout the _Pygmies_ dwell: For this is no _Fable_, but +a _Truth_. Both they and the Horses, as 'tis said, are a small kind. They +are _Troglodytes_, or live in Caves.' + +We may here observe how positive the _Philosopher_ is, that there are +_Pygmies_; he tells us where they dwell, and that 'tis no Fable, but a +Truth. But _Theodorus Gaza_ has been unjust in translating him, by +foisting in, _Quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmaeis dicuntur_, whereas there is +nothing in the Text that warrants it: As likewise, where he expresses the +little Stature of the _Pygmies_ and the Horses, there _Gaza_ has rendered +it, _Sed certe Genus tum Hominum, tum etiam Equorum pusillum_. _Aristotle_ +only saith, [Greek: Genos mikron men hosper legetai, kai autoi, kai hoi +hippoi]. He neither makes his _Pygmies Men_, nor saith any thing of their +fighting the _Cranes_; tho' here he had a fair occasion, discoursing of +the Migration of the _Cranes_ out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ above +_AEgypt_, where he tells us the _Pygmies_ are. Cardan[A] therefore must +certainly be out in his guess, that _Aristotle_ only asserted the +_Pygmies_ out of Complement to his friend _Homer_; for surely then he +would not have forgot their fight with the _Cranes_; upon which occasion +only _Homer_ mentions them.[B] I should rather think that _Aristotle_, +being sensible of the many Fables that had been raised on this occasion, +studiously avoided the mentioning this fight, that he might not give +countenance to the Extravagant Relations that had been made of it. + +[Footnote A: _Cardan de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40. p.m. 153.] + +[Footnote B: _Apparet ergo_ (saith _Cardan_) Pygmaeorum Historiam esse +fabulosam, quod &_ Strabo _sentit & nosira aetas, cum omnia nunc ferme +orbis mirabilia innotuerint, declarat. Sed quod tantum Philosophum +decepit, fuit Homeri Auctoritas non apud illium levis.] + +But I wonder that neither _Casaubon_ nor _Duvall_ in their Editions of +_Aristotle_'s Works, should have taken notice of these Mistakes of _Gaza_, +and corrected them. And _Gesner_, and _Aldrovandus_, and several other +Learned Men, in quoting this place of _Aristotle_, do make use of this +faulty Translation, which must necessarily lead them into Mistakes. _Sam. +Bochartus_[A] tho' he gives _Aristotle_'s Text in Greek, and adds a new +Translation of it, he leaves out indeed the _Cranes_ fighting with the +_Pygmies_, yet makes them _Men_, which _Aristotle_ do's not; and by +anti-placing, _ut aiunt_, he renders _Aristotle_'s Assertion more dubious; +_Neque enim_ (saith he in the Translation) _id est fabula, sed revera, ut +aiunt, Genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum quam Equorum. Julius Caesar +Scaliger_ in translating this Text of _Aristotle_, omits both these +Interpretations of _Gaza_; but on the other hand is no less to be blamed +in not translating at all the most remarkable passage, and where the +Philosopher seems to be so much in earnest; as, [Greek: ou gar esti touto +mythos, all' esti kata taen alaetheian], this he leaves wholly out, +without giving us his reason for it, if he had any: And Scaliger's[B] +insinuation in his Comment, _viz. Negat esse fabulam de his (sc. Pygmeis)_ +Herodotus, _at Philosophus semper moderatus & prudens etiam addidit_, +[Greek: hosper legetai], is not to be allowed. Nor can I assent to Sir +_Thomas Brown_'s[C] remark upon this place; _Where indeed_ (saith he) +Aristotle _plays the_ Aristotle; _that is, the wary and evading asserter; +for tho' with_ non est fabula _he seems at first to confirm it, yet at +last he claps in,_ sicut aiunt, _and shakes the belief he placed before +upon it. And therefore_ Scaliger (saith he) _hath not translated the +first, perhaps supposing it surreptitious, or unworthy so great an +Assertor._ But had _Scaliger_ known it to be surreptitious, no doubt but +he would have remarked it; and then there had been some Colour for the +Gloss. But 'tis unworthy to be believed of _Aristotle_, who was so wary +and cautious, that he should in so short a passage, contradict himself: +and after he had so positively affirmed the Truth of it, presently doubt +it. His [Greek: hosper legetai] therefore must have a Reference to what +follows, _Pusillum genus, ut aiunt, ipsi atque etiam Equi_, as _Scaliger_ +himself translates it. + +[Footnote A: _Bocharti Hierozoic. S. de Animalib. S. Script. part. +Posterior_. lib. 1. cap. 11. p.m. 76.] + +[Footnote B: _Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. p.m. +914.] + +[Footnote C: Sir _Thomas Brown_'s _Pseudodoxia_, or, _Enquiries into +Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. cap. 11.] + +I do not here find _Aristotle_ asserting or confirming any thing of the +fabulous Narrations that had been made about the _Pygmies_. He does not +say that they were [Greek: andres], or [Greek: anthropoi mikroi], or +[Greek: melanes]; he only calls them [Greek: pygmaioi]. And discoursing of +the _Pygmies_ in a place, where he is only treating about _Brutes_, 'tis +reasonable to think, that he looked upon them only as such. _This is the +place where the_ Pygmies _are; this is no fable,_ saith Aristotle, as 'tis +that they are a Dwarfish Race of Men; that they speak the _Indian_ +Language; that they are excellent Archers; that they are very Just; and +abundance of other Things that are fabulously reported of them; and +because he thought them _Fables_, he does not take the least notice of +them, but only saith, _This is no Fable, but a Truth, that about the Lakes +of_ Nile such _Animals_, as are called _Pygmies_, do live. And, as if he +had foreseen, that the abundance of Fables that _Ctesias_ (whom he saith +is not to be believed) and the _Indian Historians_ had invented about +them, would make the whole Story to appear as a Figment, and render it +doubtful, whether there were ever such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in Nature; +he more zealously asserts the _Being_ of them, and assures us, That _this +is no Fable, but a Truth_. + +I shall therefore now enquire what sort of Creatures these _Pygmies_ were; +and hope so to manage the Matter, as in a great measure, to abate the +Passion these Great Men have had against them: for, no doubt, what has +incensed them the most, was, the fabulous _Historians_ making them a part +of _Mankind_, and then inventing a hundred ridiculous Stories about them, +which they would impose upon the World as real Truths. If therefore they +have Satisfaction given them in these two Points, I do not see, but that +the Business may be accommodated very fairly; and that they may be allowed +to be _Pygmies_, tho' we do not make them _Men_. + +For I am not of _Gesner_'s mind, _Sed veterum nullus_ (saith he[A]) +_aliter de Pygmaeis scripsit, quam Homunciones esse_. Had they been a Race +of _Men_, no doubt but _Aristotle_ would have informed himself farther +about them. Such a Curiosity could not but have excited his Inquisitive +_Genius_, to a stricter Enquiry and Examination; and we might easily have +expected from him a larger Account of them. But finding them, it may be, a +sort of _Apes_, he only tells us, that in such a place these _Pygmies_ +live. + +[Footnote A: _Gesner. Histor. Quadruped._ p.m. 885.] + +Herodotus[A] plainly makes them _Brutes_: For reckoning up the _Animals_ +of _Libya_, he tells us, [Greek: Kai gar hoi ophies hoi hypermegathees, +kai hoi leontes kata toutous eisi, kai hoi elephantes te kai arktoi, kai +aspides te kai onoi hoi ta kerata echontes; kai hoi kynokephaloi +(akephaloi) hoi en toisi staethesi tous ophthalmous echontes (hos dae +legetai ge hypo libyon) kai agrioi andres, kai gynaikes agriai kai alla +plaethei polla thaeria akatapseusta;] i.e. _That there are here prodigious +large Serpents, and Lions, and Elephants, and Bears, and Asps, and Asses +that have horns, and Cynocephali,_ (in the Margin 'tis _Acephali_) _that +have Eyes in their Breast, (as is reported by the Libyans) and wild Men, +and wild Women, and a great many other wild Beasts that are not fabulous._ +Tis evident therefore that _Herodotus_ his [Greek: agrioi andres, kai +gynaikes agriai] are only [Greek: thaeria] or wild Beasts: and tho' they +are called [Greek: andres], they are no more _Men_ than our +_Orang-Outang_, or _Homo_ _Sylvestris_, or _wild Man_, which has exactly +the same Name, and I must confess I can't but think is the same Animal: +and that the same Name has been continued down to us, from his Time, and +it may be from _Homer's_. + +[Footnote A: _Herodot. Melpomene seu_ lib. 4. p.m. 285.] + +So _Philostratus_ speaking of _AEthiopia_ and _AEgypt_, tells us,[A] [Greek: +Boskousi de kai thaeria hoia ouch heterothi; kai anthropous melanas, ho +mae allai aepeiroi. Pygmaion te en autais ethnae kai hylaktounton allo +allaei.] i.e. _Here are bred wild Beasts that are not in other places; and +black Men, which no other Country affords: and amongst them is the Nation +of the Pygmies, and the_ BARKERS, that is, the _Cynocephali._ For tho' +_Philostratus_ is pleased here only to call them _Barkers_, and to reckon +them, as he does the _Black Men_ and the _Pygmies_ amongst the _wild +Beasts_ of those Countreys; yet _Ctesias_, from whom _Philostratus_ has +borrowed a great deal of his _Natural History_, stiles them _Men_, and +makes them speak, and to perform most notable Feats in Merchandising. But +not being in a merry Humour it may be now, before he was aware, he speaks +Truth: For _Caelius Rhodiginus's_[B] Character of him is, _Philostratus +omnium qui unquam Historiam conscripserunt, mendacissimus._ + +[Footnote A: _Philostratus in vita Apollon. Tyanaei_, lib. 6. cap. 1. p.m. +258.] + +[Footnote B: _Caelij 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 _AEgypt_ 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 _AEthiopian 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 _AEthiopia_, 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, quam quod +falsissimum_, saith _Harduin_.[E] + +[Footnote A: _Cardan de subtilitate_, lib. 11. p. 458.] + +[Footnote B: _Nicephor. Histor. Ecclesiiast._ lib. 12. cap. 37.] + +[Footnote C: _Happelius in Relat. curiosis_, No. 85. p. 677.] + +[Footnote D: _Thevenot. Voyage de Levant._ lib. 2. c. 68.] + +[Footnote E: _Jo. Harduini Notae in Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 22. p. +688.] + +Neither likewise must it be granted, that tho' in some _Climates_ there +might be _Men_ generally of less stature, than what are to be met with in +other Countries, that they are presently _Pygmies_. _Nature_ has not fixed +the same standard to the growth of _Mankind_ in all Places alike, no more +than to _Brutes_ or _Plants_. The Dimensions of them all, according to the +_Climate_, may differ. If we consult the Original, _viz. Homer_ that first +mentioned the _Pygmies_, there are only these two _Characteristics_ he +gives of them. That they are [Greek: Pygmaioi] _seu Cubitales_; and that +the _Cranes_ did use to fight them. 'Tis true, as a _Poet_, he calls them +[Greek: andres], which I have accounted for before. Now if there cannot be +found such _Men_ as are _Cubitales_, that the _Cranes_ might probably +fight with, notwithstanding all the Romances of the _Indian Historians_, I +cannot think these _Pygmies_ to be _Men_, but they must be some other +_Animals_, or the whole must be a Fiction. + +Having premised this, we will now enquire into their Assertion that +maintain the _Pygmies_ to be a Race of _Men_. Now because there have been +_Giants_ formerly, that have so much exceeded the usual Stature of _Man_, +that there must be likewise _Pygmies_ as defective in the other extream +from this Standard, I think is no conclusive Argument, tho' made use of by +some. Old _Caspar Bartholine_[A] tells us, that because _J. Cassanius_ and +others had wrote _de Gygantibus_, since no Body else had undertaken it, he +would give us a Book _de Pygmaeis_; and since he makes it his design to +prove the Existence of _Pygmies_, and that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_, I +must confess I expected great Matters from him. + +[Footnote A: _Caspar. Bartholin. Opusculum de Pygmaeis._] + +But I do not find he has informed us of any thing more of them, than what +_Jo. Talentonius_, a Professor formerly at _Parma_, had told us before in +his _Variarum & Reconditarum Rerum Thesaurus_,[A] from whom he has +borrowed most of this _Tract_. He has made it a little more formal indeed, +by dividing it into _Chapters_; of which I will give you the _Titles_; and +as I see occasion, some Remarks thereon: They will not be many, because I +have prevented my self already. The _first Chapter_ is, _De Homuncionibus +& Pumilionilus seu Nanis a Pygmaeis distinctis_. The _second Chapter, De +Pygmaei nominibus & Etymologia_. The _third Chapter, Duplex esse Pygmaeorum +Genus; & primum Genus aliquando dari_. He means _Dwarfs_, that are no +_Pygmies_ at all. The _fourth Chapter_ is, _Alterum Genus, nempe Gentem +Pygmaeorum esse, aut saltem aliquando fuisse Autoritatibus Humanis, fide +tamen dignorum asseritur_. 'Tis as I find it printed; and no doubt an +Error in the printing. The Authorities he gives, are, _Homer, Ctesias, +Aristotle, Philostratus, Pliny, Juvenal, Oppian, Baptista Mantuan_, St. +_Austin_ and his _Scholiast. Ludovic. Vives, Jo. Laurentius Anania, Joh. +Cassanius, Joh. Talentonius, Gellius, Pomp. Mela_, and _Olaus Magnus_. I +have taken notice of most of them already, as I shall of St. _Austin_ and +_Ludovicus Vives_ by and by. _Jo. Laurentius Anania_[B] ex Mercatorum +relatione tradit (saith _Bartholine_) eos _(sc. Pygmaeos) in +Septentrionali Thraciae Parte reperiri, (quae Scythiae est proxima) atque ibi +cum Gruibus pugnare_. And _Joh. Cassanius_[C] (as he is here quoted) +saith, _De Pygmaeis fabulosa quidem esse omnia, quae de iis narrari solent, +aliquando existimavi. Verum cum videam non unum vel alterum, sed complures +Classicos & probatos Autores de his Homunculis multa in eandem fere +Sententiam tradidisse; eo adducor ut Pygmaeos fuisse inficiari non ausim._ +He next brings in _Jo. Talentonius_, to whom he is so much beholden, and +quotes his Opinion, which is full and home, _Constare arbitror_ (saith +_Talentonius_)[D] _debere concedi, Pygmaeos non solum olim fuisse, sed nunc +etiam esse, & homines esse, nec parvitatem illis impedimenta esse quo +minus sint & homines sint._ But were there such _Men Pygmies_ now in +being, no doubt but we must have heard of them; some or other of our +Saylors, in their Voyages, would have lighted on them. Tho' _Aristotle_ is +here quoted, yet he does not make them _Men_; So neither does _Anania_: +And I must own, tho' _Talentonius_ be of this Opinion, yet he takes notice +of the faulty Translation of this Text of _Aristotle_ by _Gaza_: and tho' +the parvity or lowness of Stature, be no Impediment, because we have +frequently seen such _Dwarf-Men_, yet we did never see a _Nation_ of them: +For then there would be no need of that _Talmudical_ Precept which _Job. +Ludolphus_[E] mentions, _Nanus ne ducat Nanam, ne forte oriatur ex iis +Digitalis_ (in _Bechor_. fol. 45). + +[Footnote A: _Jo. Talentionij. Variar. & Recondit. Rerum. Thesaurus._ lib. +3. cap. 21.] + +[Footnote B: _Joh. Laurent. Anania prope finem tractatus primi suae +Geograph._] + +[Footnote C: _Joh. Cassanius libello de Gygantibus_, p. 73.] + +[Footnote D: _Jo. Talentonius Variar. & recondit. Rerum Thesaurus_, lib. 3. +cap. 21. p.m. 515.] + +[Footnote E: _Job Ludolphi Comment. in Historiam AEthiopic._ p.m. 71.] + +I had almost forgotten _Olaus Magnus_, whom _Bartholine_ mentions in the +close of this Chapter, but lays no great stress upon his Authority, +because he tells us, he is fabulous in a great many other Relations, and +he writes but by hear-say, that the _Greenlanders_ fight the _Cranes_; +_Tandem_ (saith _Bartholine_) _neque ideo Pygmaei sunt, si forte sagittis & +hastis, sicut alij homines, Grues conficiunt & occidunt._ This I think is +great Partiality: For _Ctesias_, an Author whom upon all turns +_Bartholine_ makes use of as an Evidence, is very positive, that the +_Pygmies_ were excellent _Archers_: so that he himself owns, that their +being such, illustrates very much that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_, on which he +spends good part of the next _Chapter_, whose Title is, _Pygmaeorum Gens ex +Ezekiele, atque rationibus probabilibus adstruitur_; which we will +consider by and by. And tho' _Olaus Magnus_ may write some things by +hear-say, yet he cannot be so fabulous as _Ctesias_, who (as _Lucian_ +tells us) writes what he neither saw himself, or heard from any Body else. +Not that I think _Olaus Magnus_ his _Greenlanders_ were real _Pygmies_, no +more than _Ctesias_ his _Pygmies_ were real _Men_; tho' he vouches very +notably for them. And if all that have copied this Fable from _Ctesias_, +must be look'd upon as the same Evidence with himself; the number of the +_Testimonies_ produced need not much concern us, since they must all stand +or fall with him. + +The _probable Reasons_ that _Bartholine_ gives in the _fifth Chapter_, are +taken from other _Animals_, as Sheep, Oxen, Horses, Dogs, the _Indian +Formica_ and Plants: For observing in the same _Species_ some excessive +large, and others extreamly little, he infers, _Quae certe cum in +Animalibus & Vegetabilibus fiant; cur in Humana specie non sit probabile, +haud video: imprimis cum detur magnitudinis excessus Gigantaeus; cur non +etiam dabitur Defectus? Quia ergo dantur Gigantes, dabuntur & Pygmaei. Quam +consequentiam ut firmam, admittit Cardanus,[A] licet de Pygmaeis hoc tantum +concedat, qui pro miraculo, non pro Gente._ Now Cardan, tho' he allows +this Consequence, yet in the same place he gives several Reasons why the +_Pygmies_ could not be _Men_, and looks upon the whole Story as fabulous. +_Bartholine_ concludes this _Chapter_ thus: _Ulterius ut Probabilitatem +fulciamus, addendum Sceleton Pygmaei, quod_ Dresdae _vidimus inter alia +plurima, servatum in Arce sereniss._ Electoris Saxoniae, _altitudine infra +Cubitum, Ossium soliditate, proportioneque tum Capitis, tum aliorum; ut +Embrionem, aut Artificiale quid Nemo rerum peritus suspicari possit. +Addita insuper est Inscriptio_ Veri Pygmaei. I hereupon looked into Dr. +_Brown_'s Travels into those Parts, who has given us a large Catalogue of +the Curiosities, the _Elector_ of _Saxony_ had at _Dresden_, but did not +find amongst them this _Sceleton_; which, by the largeness of the Head, I +suspect to be the _Sceleton_ of an _Orang-Outang_, or our _wild Man_. But +had he given us either a figure of it, or a more particular Description, +it had been a far greater Satisfaction. + +[Footnote A: _Cardan. de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40.] + +The Title of _Bartholine_'s _sixth Chapter_ is, _Pygmaeos esse aut fuisse +ex variis eorum adjunctis, accidentibus_, &c. _ab Authoribus descriptis +ostenditur_. As first, their _Magnitude_: which he mentions from _Ctesias, +Pliny, Gellius_, and _Juvenal_; and tho' they do not all agree exactly, +'tis nothing. _Autorum hic dissensus nullus est_ (saith _Bartholine_) +_etenim sicut in nostris hominibus, ita indubie in Pygmaeis non omnes +ejusdem magnitudinis._ 2. The _Place_ and _Country_: As _Ctesias_ (he +saith) places them in the middle of _India_; _Aristotle_ and _Pliny_ at +the Lakes above _AEgypt_; _Homer_'s _Scholiast_ in the middle of _AEgypt_; +_Pliny_ at another time saith they are at the Head of the _Ganges_, and +sometimes at _Gerania_, which is in _Thracia_, which being near _Scythia_, +confirms (he saith) _Anania's Relation_. _Mela_ places them at the +_Arabian Gulf_; and _Paulus Jovius docet Pygmaeos ultra Japonem esse_; and +adds, _has Autorum dissensiones facile fuerit conciliare; nec mirum +diversas relationes a_, Plinio _auditas._ For (saith he) as the _Tartars_ +often change their Seats, since they do not live in Houses, but in Tents, +so 'tis no wonder that the _Pygmies_ often change theirs, since instead of +Houses, they live in Caves or Huts, built of Mud, Feathers, and +Egg-shells. And this mutation of their Habitations he thinks is very plain +from _Pliny_, where speaking of _Gerania_, he saith, _Pygmaeorum Gens_ +fuisse _(non jam esse) proditur, creduntque a Gruibus fugatos._ Which +passage (saith _Bartholine_) had _Adrian Spigelius_ considered, he would +not so soon have left _Aristotle's_ Opinion, because _Franc. Alvares_ the +_Portuguese_ did not find them in the place where _Aristotle_ left them; +for the _Cranes_, it may be, had driven them thence. His third Article is, +their _Habitation_, which _Aristotle_ saith is in _Caves_; hence they are +_Troglodytes_. _Pliny_ tells us they build Huts with Mud, Feathers, and +Egg-shells. But what _Bartholine_ adds, _Eo quod Terrae Cavernas +inhabitent, non injuria dicti sunt olim Pygmaei, Terrae filii_, is wholly +new to me, and I have not met with it in any Author before: tho' he gives +us here several other significations of the word _Terrae filij_ from a +great many Authors, which I will not trouble you at present with. 4. The +_Form_, being flat nosed and ugly, as _Ctesias_. 5. Their _Speech_, which +was the same as the _Indians_, as _Ctesias_; and for this I find he has no +other Author. 6. Their _Hair_; where he quotes _Ctesias_ again, that they +make use of it for _Clothes_. 7. Their _Vertues and Arts_; as that they +use the same Laws as the _Indians_, are very just, excellent Archers, and +that the King of _India_ has Three thousand of them in his Guards. All +from _Ctesias_. 8. Their _Animals_, as in _Ctesias_; and here are +mentioned their Sheep, Oxen, Asses, Mules, and Horses. 9. Their various +_Actions_; as what _Ctesias_ relates of their killing Hares and Foxes with +Crows, Eagles, &c. and fighting the _Cranes_, as _Homer, Pliny, Juvenal_. + +The _seventh Chapter_ in _Bartholine_ has a promising Title, _An Pygmaei +sint homines_, and I expected here something more to our purpose; but I +find he rather endeavours to answer the Reasons of those that would make +them _Apes_, than to lay down any of his own to prove them _Men_. And +_Albertus Magnus's_ Opinion he thinks absurd, that makes them part Men +part Beasts; they must be either one or the other, not a _Medium_ between +both; and to make out this, he gives us a large Quotation out of _Cardan_. +But _Cardan_[A] in the same place argues that they are not Men. As to +_Suessanus_[B] his Argument, that they want _Reason_, this he will not +Grant; but if they use it less or more imperfectly than others (which yet, +he saith, is not certain) by the same parity of Reason _Children_, the +_Boeotians_, _Cumani_ and _Naturals_ may not be reckoned _Men_; and he +thinks, what he has mentioned in the preceding _Chapter_ out of _Ctesias_, +&c. shews that they have no small use of Reason. As to _Suessanus_'s +next Argument, that they want Religion, Justice, &c. this, he saith, is +not confirmed by any grave Writer; and if it was, yet it would not prove +that they are not _Men_. For this defect (he saith) might hence happen, +because they are forced to live in _Caves_ for fear of the _Cranes_; and +others besides them, are herein faulty. For this Opinion, that the +_Pygmies_ were _Apes_ and not _Men_, he quotes likewise _Benedictus +Varchius_,[C] and _Joh. Tinnulus_,[D] and _Paulus Jovius_,[E] and several +others of the Moderns, he tells us, are of the same mind. _Imprimis +Geographici quos non puduit in Mappis Geographicis loco Pygmaeorum simias +cum Gruibus pugnantes ridicule dipinxisse._ + +[Footnote A: _Cardan. de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40.] + +[Footnote B: _Suessanus Comment. in Arist. de Histor. Animal._ lib. 8. +cap. 12.] + +[Footnote C: _Benedict. Varchius de Monstris. lingua vernacula._] + +[Footnote D: _Joh. Tinnulus in Glotto-Chrysio._] + +[Footnote E: _Paulus Jovius lib. de Muscovit. Legalione._] + +The Title of _Bartholine's eighth_ and last _Chapter_ is, _Argumenta eorum +qui Pygmaeorum Historiam fabulosam censent, recitantur & refutantur._ Where +he tells us, the only Person amongst the Ancients that thought the Story +of the _Pygmies_ to be fabulous was _Strabo_; but amongst the Moderns +there are several, as _Cardan, Budaeus, Aldrovandus, Fullerus_ and others. +The first Objection (he saith) is that of _Spigelius_ and others; that +since the whole World is now discovered, how happens it, that these +_Pygmies_ are not to be met with? He has seven Answers to this Objection; +how satisfactory they are, the Reader may judge, if he pleases, by +perusing them amongst the Quotations.[A] _Cardan_'s second Objection (he +saith) is, that they live but eight years, whence several Inconveniences +would happen, as _Cardan_ shews; he answers that no good Author asserts +this; and if there was, yet what _Cardan_ urges would not follow; and +instances out of _Artemidorus_ in _Pliny_,[B] as a _Parallel_ in the +_Calingae_ a Nation in _India, where the Women conceive when five years +old, and do not live above eight._ _Gesner_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, +saith, _Vitae autem longitudo anni arciter octo ut_ Albertus _refert._ +_Cardan_ perhaps had his Authority from _Albertus_, or it may be both took +it from this passage in _Pliny_, which I think would better agree to +_Apes_ than _Men_. But _Artemidorus_ being an _Indian Historian_, and in +the same place telling other Romances, the less Credit is to be given to +him. The third Objection, he saith, is of _Cornelius a Lapide_, who denies +the _Pygmies_, because _Homer_ was the first Author of them. The fourth +Objection he saith is, because Authors differ about the Place where they +should be: This, he tells us, he has answered already in the fifth +Chapter. The _fifth_ and last Objection he mentions is, that but few have +seen them. He answers, there are a great many Wonders in Sacred and +Profane History that we have not seen, yet must not deny. And he instances +in three; As the _Formicae Indicae_, which are as big as great Dogs: The +_Cornu Plantabile_ in the Island _Goa_, which when cut off from the Beast, +and flung upon the Ground, will take root like a _Cabbage_: and the +_Scotland Geese_ that grow upon Trees, for which he quotes a great many +Authors, and so concludes. + +[Footnote A: _Respondeo._ 1. _Contrarium testari Mercatorum Relationem +apud_ Ananiam _supra Cap. 4._ 2. _Et licet non inventi essent vivi a +quolibet, pari jure Monocerota & alia negare liceret._ 3. _Qui maria +pernavigant, vix oras paucas maritimas lustrant, adeo non terras omnes a +mari dissitas._ 4. _Neque in Oris illos habitare maritimis ex Capite +quinto manifestum est._ 5. _Quis testatum se omnem adhibuisse diligentiam +in inquirendo eos ut inveniret._ 6. _Ita in terra habitant, ut in Antris +vitam tolerare dicantur._ 7. _Si vel maxime omni ab omnibus diligentia +quaesiti fuissent, nec inventi; fieri potest, ut instar Gigantum jam +desierint nec sint amplius_.] + +[Footnote B: _Plinij Hist. Nat._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 14.] + +Now how far _Bartholine_ in his Treatise has made out that the _Pygmies_ +of the Ancients were real _Men_, either from the Authorities he has +quoted, or his Reasonings upon them, I submit to the Reader. I shall +proceed now (as I promised) to consider the Proof they pretend from _Holy +Writ_: For _Bartholine_ and others insist upon that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_ +(_Cap. 27. Vers. 11_) where the _Vulgar_ Translation has it thus; _Filij +Arvad cum Exercitu tuo supra Muros tuos per circuitum, & Pygmaei in +Turribus tuis fuerunt; Scuta sua suspenderunt supra Muros tuos per +circuitum._ Now _Talentonius_ and _Bartholine_ think that what _Ctesias_ +relates of the _Pygmies_, as their being good _Archers_, very well +illustrates this Text of _Ezekiel_: I shall here transcribe what Sir +_Thomas Brown_[A] remarks upon it; and if any one requires further +Satisfaction, they may consult _Job Ludolphus's Comment_ on his _AEthiopic +History_.[B] + +[Footnote A: Sir _Thomas Brown's Enquiries into Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. +cap. 11. p. 242.] + +[Footnote B: _Comment. in Hist. AEthiopic._ p. 73.] + +The _second Testimony_ (saith Sir _Thomas Brown_) _is deduced from Holy +Scripture; thus rendered in the Vulgar Translation_, Sed & Pygmaei qui +erant in turribus tuis, pharetras suas suspenderunt in muris tuis per +gyrum: _from whence notwithstanding we cannot infer this Assertion, for +first the Translators accord not, and the Hebrew word_ Gammadim _is very +variously rendered. Though_ Aquila, Vatablus _and_ Lyra _will have it_ +Pygmaei, _yet in the_ Septuagint, _it is no more than Watchman; and so in +the_ Arabick _and_ High-Dutch. _In the_ Chalde, Cappadocians, _in_ +Symmachus, Medes, _and in the_ French, _those of_ Gamed. Theodotian _of +old, and_ Tremillius _of late, have retained the Textuary word; and so +have the_ Italian, Low Dutch, _and_ English _Translators, that is, the Men +of_ Arvad _were upon thy Walls round about, and the_ Gammadims _were in +thy Towers._ + +_Nor do Men only dissent in the Translation of the word, but in the +Exposition of the Sense and Meaning thereof; for some by_ Gammadims +_understand a People of_ Syria, _so called from the City of_ Gamala; _some +hereby understand the_ Cappadocians, _many the_ Medes: _and hereof_ +Forerius _hath a singular Exposition, conceiving the Watchmen of_ Tyre, +_might well be called_ Pygmies, _the Towers of that City being so high, +that unto Men below, they appeared in a Cubital Stature. Others expound it +quite contrary to common Acception, that is not Men of the least, but of +the largest size; so doth_ Cornelius _construe_ Pygmaei, _or_ Viri +Cubitales, _that is, not Men of a Cubit high, but of the largest Stature, +whose height like that of Giants, is rather to be taken by the Cubit than +the Foot; in which phrase we read the measure of_ Goliah, _whose height is +said to be six Cubits and span. Of affinity hereto is also the Exposition +of_ Jerom; _not taking_ Pygmies _for Dwarfs, but stout and valiant +Champions; not taking the sense of [Greek: pygmae], which signifies the +Cubit measure, but that which expresseth Pugils; that is, Men fit for +Combat and the Exercise of the Fist. Thus there can be no satisfying +illation from this Text, the diversity, or rather contrariety of +Expositions and Interpretations, distracting more than confirming the +Truth of the Story._ + +But why _Aldrovandus_ or _Caspar Bartholine_ should bring in St. _Austin_ +as a Favourer of this Opinion of _Men Pygmies_, I see no Reason. To me he +seems to assert quite the contrary: For proposing this Question, _An ex +propagine_ Adam _vel filiorum_ Noe, _quaedam genera Hominum Monstrosa +prodierunt?_ He mentions a great many monstrous Nations of _Men_, as they +are described by the _Indian Historians_, and amongst the rest, the +_Pygmies_, the _Sciopodes_, &c. And adds, _Quid dicam de_ Cynocephalis, +_quorum Canina Capita atque ipse Latratus magis Bestias quam Homines +confitentur? Sed omnia Genera Hominum, quae dicuntur esse, esse credere, +non est necesse._ And afterwards so fully expresses himself in favour of +the _Hypothesis_ I am here maintaining, that I think it a great +Confirmation of it. _Nam & Simias_ (saith he) _& Cercopithecos, & +Sphingas, si nesciremus non Homines esse, sed Bestias, possent isti +Historici de sua Curiositate gloriantes velut Gentes Aliquas Hominum nobis +impunita vanitate mentiri._ At last he concludes and determines the +Question thus, _Aut illa, quae talia de quibusdam Gentibus scripta sunt, +omnino nulla sunt, aut si sunt, Homines non sunt, aut ex_ Adam _sunt si +Homines sunt._ + +There is nothing therefore in St. _Austin_ that justifies the being of +_Men Pygmies_, or that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_; he rather makes them +_Apes_. And there is nothing in his _Scholiast Ludovicus Vives_ that tends +this way, he only quotes from other Authors, what might illustrate the +Text he is commenting upon, and no way asserts their being _Men_. I shall +therefore next enquire into _Bochartus_'s Opinion, who would have them to +be the _Nubae_ or _Nobae_. _Hos Nubas Troglodyticos_ (saith[A] he) _ad +Avalitem Sinum esse Pygmaeos Veterum multa probant._ He gives us five +Reasons to prove this. As, 1. The Authority of _Hesychius_, who saith, +[Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi]. 2. Because _Homer_ places the _Pygmies_ near the +Ocean, where the Nubae were. 3. _Aristotle_ places them at the lakes of the +_Nile_. Now by the _Nile Bochartus_ tells us, we must understand the +_Astaborus_, which the Ancients thought to be a Branch of the _Nile_, as +he proves from _Pliny, Solinus_ and _AEthicus_. And _Ptolomy_ (he tells us) +places the _Nubae_ hereabout. 4. Because _Aristotle_ makes the _Pygmies_ to +be _Troglodytes_, and so were the _Nubae_. 5. He urges that Story of +_Nonnosus_ which I have already mentioned, and thinks that those that +_Nonnosus_ met with, were a Colony of the _Nubae_; but afterwards adds, +_Quos tamen absit ut putemus Statura fuisse Cubitali, prout Poetae fingunt, +qui omnia in majus augent._ But this methinks spoils them from being +_Pygmies_; several other Nations at this rate may be _Pygmies_ as well as +these _Nubae_. Besides, he does not inform us, that these _Nubae_ used to +fight the _Cranes_; and if they do not, and were not _Cubitales_, they +can't be _Homer_'s _Pygmies_, which we are enquiring after. But the Notion +of their being _Men_, had so possessed him, that it put him upon fancying +they must be the _Nubae_; but 'tis plain that those in _Nonnosus_ could not +be a Colony of the _Nubae_; for then the _Nubae_ must have understood their +Language, which the _Text_ saith, none of the Neighbourhood did. And +because the _Nubae_ are _Troglodytes_, that therefore they must be +_Pygmies_, is no Argument at all. For _Troglodytes_ here is used as an +_Adjective_; and there is a sort of _Sparrow_ which is called _Passer +Troglodytes_. Not but that in _Africa_ there was a Nation of _Men_ called +_Troglodytes_, but quite different from our _Pygmies_. How far _Bochartus_ +may be in the right, in guessing the Lakes of the _Nile_ (whereabout +_Aristotle_ places the _Pygmies_) to be the Fountains of the River +_Astaborus_, which in his description, and likewise the _Map_, he places +in the Country of the _Avalitae_, near the _Mossylon Emporium_; I shall not +enquire. This I am certain of, he misrepresents _Aristotle_ where he tells +us,[B] _Quamvis in ea fabula hoc saltem verum esse asserat Philosophus, +Pusillos Homines in iis locis degere_: for as I have already observed; +_Aristotle_ in that _Text_ saith nothing at all of their being _Men_: the +contrary rather might be thence inferred, that they were _Brutes_. And +_Bochart's_ Translation, as well as _Gaza's_ is faulty here, and by no +means to be allowed, _viz. Ut aiunt, genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum, +quam Equorum_; which had _Bochartus_ considered he would not have been so +fond it may be of his _Nubae_. And if the [Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi] in +_Hesychius_ are such _Pygmies_ as _Bochartus_ makes his _Nubae, Quos tamen +absit ut putemus staturta fuisse Cubitali_, it will not do our business at +all; and neither _Homer's_ Authority, nor _Aristotle's_ does him any +Service. + +[Footnote A: _Sam. Bochart. Geograph. Sacrae_, Part. 1. lib. 2. cap. 23. +p.m. 142.] + +[Footnote B: _Bocharti Hierozoici pars Posterior_, lib. I. cap. II. p. +76.] + +But this Fable of _Men Pygmies_ has not only obtained amongst the _Greeks_ +and _Indian Historians_: the _Arabians_ likewise tell much such Stories of +them, as the same learned _Bochartus_ informs us. I will give his Latin +Translation of one of them, which he has printed in _Arabick_ also: +_Arabes idem_ (saith[A] _Bochartus_) _referunt ex cujusdam_ Graeculi _fide, +qui_ Jacobo Isaaci _filio_, Sigariensi _fertur ita narrasse_. _Navigabam +aliquando in mari_ Zingitano, _& impulit me ventus in quandam Insulam_. +_In cujus Oppidum cum devenissem, reperi Incolas Cubitalis esse staturae, & +plerosque Coclites. Quorum multitudo in me congregata me deduxit ad Regem +suum. Fussit is, ut Captivus detinerer; & inquandam Caveae speciem +conjectus sum; eos autem aliquando ad bellum instrui cum viderem, dixerunt +Hostem imminere, & fore ut propediem ingrueret. Nec multo post Gruum +exercitus in eos insurrexit. Atque ideo erant Coclites, quod eorum oculos +hae confodissent. Atque Ego, virga assumpta, in eas impetum feci, & illae +avolarunt atque aufugerunt; ob quod facinus in honore fui apud illos_. +This Author, it seems, represents them under the same Misfortune with the +_Poet_, who first mentioned them, as being blind, by having their Eyes +peck'd out by their cruel Enemies. Such an Accident possibly might happen +now and then, in these bloody Engagements, tho' I wonder the _Indian +Historians_ have not taken notice of it. However the _Pygmies_ shewed +themselves grateful to their Deliverer, in heaping _Honours_ on him. One +would guess, for their own sakes, they could not do less than make him +their _Generalissimo_; but our Author is modest in not declaring what they +were. + +[Footnote A: _Bochartus ibid_. p.m. 77.] + +Isaac Vossius seems to unsettle all, and endeavours utterly to ruine the +whole Story: for he tells us, If you travel all over _Africa_, you shall +not meet with either a _Crane_ or _Pygmie_: _Se mirari_ (saith[A] _Isaac +Vossius_) Aristotelem, _quod tam serio affirmet non esse fabellam, quae de +Pygmaeis & Bello, quod cum Gruibus gerant, narrantur. Si quis totam +pervadat_ Africam, _nullas vel Grues vel Pygmaeos inveniet_. Now one would +wonder more at _Vossius_, that he should assert this of _Aristotle_, which +he never said. And since _Vossius_ is so mistaken in what he relates of +_Aristotle_; where he might so easily have been in the right, 'tis not +improbable, but he may be out in the rest too: For who has travelled all +_Africa_ over, that could inform him? And why should he be so peremptory +in the Negative, when he had so positive an Affirmation of _Aristotle_ to +the contrary? or if he would not believe _Aristotle's_ Authority, methinks +he should _Aristophanes's_, who tells us,[B] [Greek: Speirein hotau men +Geranos kroizon es taen libyaen metachorae]. _'Tis time to sow when the +noisy Cranes take their flight into_ Libya. Which Observation is likewise +made by _Hesiod, Theognis, Aratus_, and others. And _Maximus Tyrius_ (as I +find him quoted in _Bochartus_) saith, [Greek: Hai geravoi ex Aigyptou ora +therous aphistamenai, ouk anechomenai to thalpos teinasai pterygas hosper +istia, pherontai dia tou aeros euthy ton Skython gaes]. i.e. _Grues per +aestatem ex_ AEgypto _abscedentes, quia Calorem pati non possunt, alis +velorum instar expansis, per aerem ad_ Scythicam _plagam recta feruntur_. +Which fully confirms that Migration of the _Cranes_ that _Aristotle_ +mentions. + +[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius de Nili aliorumque stuminum Origine_, Cap. +18.] + +[Footnote B: _Aristophanes in Nubibus_.] + +But _Vossius_ I find, tho' he will not allow the _Cranes_, yet upon second +Thoughts did admit of _Pygmies_ here: For this Story of the _Pygmies_ and +the _Cranes_ having made so much _noise_, he thinks there may be something +of truth in it; and then gives us his Conjecture, how that the _Pygmies_ +may be those _Dwarfs_, that are to be met with beyond the Fountains of the +_Nile_; but that they do not fight _Cranes_ but _Elephants_, and kill a +great many of them, and drive a considerable Traffick for their teeth with +the _Jagi_, who sell them to those of _Congo_ and the _Portuguese_. I will +give you _Vossius's_ own words; _Attamen_ (saith[A] he) _ut solent fabellae +non de nihilo fingi & aliquod plerunque continent veri, id ipsum quoque +que hic factum esse existimo. Certum quippe est ultra_ Nili _fontes multos +reperiri_ Nanos, _qui tamen non cum Gruibus, sed cum Elephantis perpetuum +gerant bellum. Praecipuum quippe Eboris commercium in regno magni_ Macoki +_per istos transigitur Homunciones; habitant in Sylvis, & mira dexteritate +Elephantos sagittis conficiunt. Carnibus vescuntur, Dentes vero_ Jagis +_divendunt, illi autem_ Congentibus & Lusitanis. + +[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius ibid_.] + +_Job Ludolphus_[A] in his _Commentary_ on his _AEthiopick History_ remarks, +That there was never known a Nation all of Dwarfs. _Nani quippe_ (saith +_Ludolphus_) _Naturae quodam errore ex aliis justae staturae hominibus +generantur. Qualis vero ea Gens sit, ex qua ista Naturae Ludibria tanta +copia proveniant, Vossium docere oportelat, quia Pumiliones Pumiles alios +non gignunt, sed plerunque steriles sunt, experientia teste; ut plane non +opus habuerunt Doctores Talmudici Nanorum matrimonia prohibere, ne +Digitales ex iis nascerentur. Ludolphus_ it may be is a little too strict +with _Vossius_ for calling them _Nani_; he may only mean a sort of Men in +that Country of less Stature than ordinary. And _Dapper_ in his History of +_Africa_, from whom _Vossius_ takes this Account, describes such in the +Kingdom of _Mokoko_, he calls _Mimos_, and tells us that they kill +_Elephants_. But I see no reason why _Vossius_ should take these Men for +the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients, or think that they gave any occasion or +ground for the inventing this Fable, is there was no other reason, this +was sufficient, because they were able to kill the _Elephants_. The +_Pygmies_ were scarce a Match for the _Cranes_; and for them to have +encountered an _Elephant_, were as vain an Attempt, as the _Pygmies_ were +guilty of in _Philostratus_[B] 'who to revenge the Death of _Antaeus_, +having found _Hercules_ napping in _Libya_, mustered up all their Forces +against him. One _Phalanx_ (he tells us) assaulted his left hand; but +against his right hand, that being the stronger, two _Phalanges_ were +appointed. The Archers and Slingers besieged his feet, admiring the +hugeness of his Thighs: But against his Head, as the Arsenal, they raised +Batteries, the King himself taking his Post there. They set fire to his +Hair, put Reaping-hooks in his Eyes; and that he might not breath, clapp'd +Doors to his Mouth and Nostrils; but all the Execution that they could do, +was only to awake him, which when done, deriding their folly, he gather'd +them all up in his Lion's Skin, and carried them (_Philostratus_ thinks) +to _Euristhenes_.' This _Antaeus_ was as remarkable for his height, as the +_Pygmies_ were for their lowness of Stature: For _Plutarch_[C] tells us, +that _Q. Sterorius_ not being willing to trust Common Fame, when he came +to _Tingis_ (now _Tangier_) he caused _Antaeus's_ Sepulchre to be opened, +and found his Corps full threescore Cubits long. But _Sterorius_ knew well +enough how to impose upon the Credulity of the People, as is evident from +the Story of his _white Hind_, which _Plutarch_ likewise relates. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus in Comment, in Historiam AEthiopicam_, p.m. +71.] + +[Footnote B: _Philostratus. Icon_. lib. 2. p.m. 817.] + +[Footnote C: _Plutarch. in vita Q. Sertorij_.] + +But to return to our _Pygmies_; tho' most of the great and learned Men +would seem to decry this Story as a Fiction and mere Fable, yet there is +something of Truth, they think, must have given the first rise to it, and +that it was not wholly the product of Phancy, but had some real +foundation, tho' disguised, according to the different Imagination and +_Genius_ of the _Relator_: 'Tis this that has incited them to give their +several Conjectures about it. _Job Ludolphus_ finding what has been +offered at in Relation to the _Pygmies_, not to satisfie, he thinks he can +better account for this Story, by leaving out the _Cranes_, and placing in +their stead, another sort of Bird he calls the _Condor_. I will give you +his own words: _Sed ad Pygmaeos_ (saith [A] _Ludolphus_) _revertamur; +fabula de Geranomachia Pygmaeorum seu pugna cum Gruibus etiam aliquid de +vero trahere videtur, si pro Gruibus_ Condoras _intelligas, Aves in +interiore_ Africa _maximas, ut fidem pene excedat; aiunt enim quod Ales +ista vitulum Elephanti in Aerem extollere possit; ut infra docebimus. Cum +his Pygmaeos pugnare, ne pecora sua rapiant, incredibile non est. Error ex +eo natus videtur, quod primus Relator, alio vocabulo destitutus, Grues pro +Condoris nominarit, sicuti_ Plautus _Picos pro Gryphilus_, & Romani _Boves +lucas pro Elephantis dixere_. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus Comment, in Historiam suam AEthiopic_. p. 73.] + +'Tis true, if what _Juvenal_ only in ridicule mentions, was to be admitted +as a thing really done, that the _Cranes_ could fly away with a _Pygmie_, +as our _Kites_ can with a Chicken, there might be some pretence for +_Ludovicus's Condor_ or _Cunctor_: For he mentions afterwards[A] out of +_P. Joh. dos Santos_ the _Portuguese_, that 'twas observed that one of +these _Condors_ once flew away with an Ape, Chain, Clog and all, about ten +or twelve pounds weight, which he carried to a neighbouring Wood, and +there devoured him. And _Garcilasso de la Vega_[B] relates that they will +seize and fly away with a Child ten or twelve years old. But _Juvenal_[C] +only mentions this in ridicule and merriment, where he saith, + + Adsubitas Thracum volucres, nubemque sonoram + Pygmaeos parvis currit Bellator in armis: + Mox impar hosti, raptusque per aera curvis + Unguibus a faeva fertur Grue. + +[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus ibid_. pag. 164.] + +[Footnote B: _Garcilasso de la Vega Royal Comment_, of Peru.] + +[Footnote C: _Juvenal Satyr_. 13 _vers_. 167.] + +Besides, were the _Condors_ to be taken for the _Cranes_, it would utterly +spoil the _Pygmaeomachia_; for where the Match is so very unequal, 'tis +impossible for the Pygmies to make the least shew of a fight. _Ludolphus_ +puts as great hardships on them, to fight these _Condors_, as _Vossius_ +did, in making them fight _Elephants_, but not with equal Success; for +_Vossius_'s _Pygmies_ made great Slaughters of the Elephants; but +_Ludolphus_ his _Cranes_ sweep away the _Pygmies_, as easily as an _Owl_ +would a _Mouse_, and eat them up into the bargain; now I never heard the +_Cranes_ were so cruel and barbarous to their Enemies, tho' there are some +Nations in the World that are reported to do so. + +Moreover, these _Condor_'s I find are very rare to be met with; and when +they are, they often appear single or but a few. Now _Homer_'s, and the +_Cranes_ of the Ancients, are always represented in Flocks. Thus +_Oppian_[A] as I find him translated into Latin Verse: + + _Et velut AEthiopum veniunt, Nilique fluenta + Turmalim Palamedis Aves, celsoeque per altum + Aera labentes fugiunt Athlanta nivosum, + Pygmaeos imbelle Genus, parvumque saligant, + Non perturbato procedunt ordine densae + Instructis volucres obscurant aera Turmis._ + +To imagine these _Grues_ a single Gigantick Bird, would much lessen the +Beauty of _Homer's Simile_, and would not have served his turn; and there +are none who have borrowed Homer's fancy, but have thought so. I will only +farther instance in _Baptista Mantuan_: + + _Pygmaei breve vulgus, iners Plelecula, quando + Convenere Grues longis in praelia rostris, + Sublato clamore fremunt, dumque agmine magno + Hostibus occurrit, tellus tremit Indica, clamant + Littora, arenarum nimbis absconditur aer; + Omnis & involvit Pulvis solemque, Polumque, + Et Genus hoc Hominum natura imbelle, quietum, + Mite, facit Mavors pugnax, immane Cruentum._ + +[Footnote: A _Oppian lib. I. de Piscibus_.] + +Having now considered and examined the various Opinions of these learned +Men concerning this _Pygmaeomachia_; and represented the Reasons they give +for maintaining their Conjectures; I shall beg leave to subjoyn my own: +and if what at present I offer, may seem more probable, or account for +this Story with more likelyhood, than what hath hitherto been advanced, I +shall not think my time altogether misspent: But if this will not do, I +shall never trouble my head more about them, nor think my self any ways +concerned to write on this Argument again. And I had not done it now, but +upon the occasion of Dissecting this _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, which +being a Native of _Africa_, and brought from _Angola_, tho' first taken +higher up in the Country, as I was informed by the Relation given me; and +observing so great a Resemblance, both in the outward shape, and, what +surprized me more, in the Structure likewise of the inward Parts, to a +_Man_; this Thought was easily suggested to me, That very probably this +_Animal_, or some other such of the same _Species_, might give the first +rise and occasion to the Stories of the _Pygmies_. What has been the +[Greek: proton pheudos], and rendered this Story so difficult to be +believed, I find hath been the Opinion that has generally obtained, that +these _Pygmies_ were really a Race of _little Men_. And tho' they are only +_Brutes_, yet being at first call'd _wild Men_, no doubt from the +Resemblance they bear to _Men_; there have not been wanting those +especially amongst the Ancients, who have invented a hundred ridiculous +Stories concerning them; and have attributed those things to them, were +they to be believed in what they say, that necessarily conclude them real +_Men_. + +To sum up therefore what I have already discoursed, I think I have proved, +that the _Pygmies_ were not an _Humane Species_ or _Men_. And tho' +_Homer_, who first mentioned them, calls them [Greek: andres pygmaioi], +yet we need not understand by this Expression any thing more than _Apes_: +And tho' his _Geranomachia_ hath been look'd upon by most only as a +Poetical Fiction; yet by assigning what might be the true Cause of this +Quarrel between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, and by divesting it of the +many fabulous Relations that the _Indian Historians_, and others, have +loaded it with, I have endeavoured to render it a true, at least a +probable Story. I have instanced in _Ctesias_ and the _Indian Historians_, +as the Authors and Inventors of the many Fables we have had concerning +them: Particularly, I have Examined those Relations, where Speech or +Language is attributed to them; and shewn, that there is no reason to +believe that they ever spake any Language at all. But these _Indian +Historians_ having related so many extravagant Romances of the _Pygmies_, +as to render their whole History suspected, nay to be utterly denied, that +there were ever any such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in _Nature_, both by +_Strabo_ of old, and most of our learned men of late, I have endeavoured +to assert the Truth of their _being_, from a _Text_ in _Aristotle_; which +being so positive in affirming their Existence, creates a difficulty, that +can no ways be got over by such as are of the contrary Opinion. This +_Text_ I have vindicated from the false Interpretations and Glosses of +several Great Men, who had their Minds so prepossessed and prejudiced with +the Notion of _Men Pygmies_, that they often would quote it, and misapply +it, tho' it contain'd nothing that any ways favoured their Opinion; but +the contrary rather, that they were _Brutes_, and not _Men_. + +And that the _Pygmies_ were really _Brutes_, I think I have plainly proved +out of _Herodotus_ and _Philostratus_, who reckon them amongst the _wild +Beasts_ that breed in those Countries: For tho' by _Herodotus_ they are +call'd [Greek: andres agrioi], and _Philostratus_ calls them [Greek: +anthropous melanas], yet both make them [Greek: theria] or _wild Beasts_. +And I might here add what _Pausanias_[A] relates from _Euphemus Car_, who +by contrary Winds was driven upon some Islands, where he tells us, [Greek: +en de tautais oikein andras agrious], but when he comes to describe them, +tells us that they had no Speech; that they had Tails on their Rumps; and +were very lascivious toward the Women in the Ship. But of these more, when +we come to discourse of _Satyrs_. + +[Footnote A: _Pausanias in Atticis_, p.m. 21.] + +And we may the less wonder to find that they call _Brutes Men_, since +'twas common for these _Historians_ to give the Title of _Men_, not only +to _Brutes_, but they were grown so wanton in their Inventions, as to +describe several Nations of _Monstrous Men_, that had never any Being, but +in their own Imagination, as I have instanced in several. I therefore +excuse _Strabo_, for denying the _Pygmies_, since he could not but be +convinced, they could not be such _Men_, as these _Historians_ have +described them. And the better to judge of the Reasons that some of the +Moderns have given to prove the Being of _Men Pygmies_, I have laid down +as _Postulata's_, that hereby we must not understand _Dwarfs_, nor yet a +Nation of _Men_, tho' somewhat of a lesser size and stature than ordinary; +but we must observe those two Characteristicks that _Homer_ gives of them, +that they are _Cubitales_ and fight _Cranes_. + +Having premised this, I have taken into consideration _Caspar Bartholine +Senior_ his _Opusculum_ _de Pygmaeis_, and _Jo. Talentonius_'s Dissertation +about them: and upon examination do find, that neither the Humane +Authorities, nor Divine that they alledge, do any ways prove, as they +pretend, the Being of _Men Pygmies_. St. _Austin_, who is likewise quoted +on their side, is so far from favouring this Opinion, that he doubts +whether any such Creatures exist, and if they do, concludes them to be +_Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and censures those _Indian Historians_ for imposing +such Beasts upon us, as distinct Races of _Men_. _Julius Caesar Scaliger_, +and _Isaac Casaubon_, and _Adrian Spigelius_ utterly deny the Being of +_Pygmies_, and look upon them as a Figment only of the Ancients, because +such little Men as they describe them to be, are no where to be met with +in all the World. The Learned _Bochartus_ tho' he esteems the +_Geranomachia_ to be a Fable, and slights it, yet thinks that what might +give the occasion to the Story of the _Pygmies_, might be the _Nubae_ or +_Nobae_; as _Isaac Vossius_ conjectures that it was those _Dwarfs_ beyond +the Fountains of the _Nile_, that _Dapper_ calls the _Mimos_, and tells +us, they kill _Elephants_ for to make a Traffick with their Teeth. But +_Job Ludolphus_ alters the Scene, and instead of _Cranes_, substitutes his +_Condors_, who do not fight the _Pygmies_, but fly away with them, and +then devour them. + +Now all these Conjectures do no ways account for _Homer's Pygmies_ and +_Cranes_, they are too much forced and strain'd. Truth is always easie and +plain. In our present Case therefore I think the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild +Man_, may exactly supply the place of the _Pygmies_, and without any +violence or injury to the Story, sufficiently account for the whole +History of the _Pygmies_, but what is most apparently fabulous; for what +has been the greatest difficulty to be solved or satisfied, was their +being _Men_; for as _Gesner_ remarks (as I have already quoted him) _Sed +veterum nullus aliter de Pygmaeis scripsit, quam Homunciones esse_. And the +Moderns too, being byassed and misguided by this Notion, have either +wholly denied them, or contented themselves in offering their Conjectures +what might give the first rise to the inventing this Fable. And tho' +_Albertus_, as I find him frequently quoted, thought that the _Pygmies_ +might be only a sort of _Apes_, and he is placed in the Head of those that +espoused this Opinion, yet he spoils all, by his way of reasoning, and by +making them speak; which was more than he needed to do. + +I cannot see therefore any thing that will so fairly solve this doubt, +that will reconcile all, that will so easily and plainly make out this +Story, as by making the _Orang-Outang_ to be the _Pygmie_ of the Ancients; +for 'tis the same Name that Antiquity gave them. For _Herodotus_'s [Greek: +andres agrioi], what can they be else, than _Homines Sylvestres_, or _wild +Men_? as they are now called. And _Homer_'s [Greek: andres pygmaioi], are +no more an Humane Kind, or Men, then _Herodotus_'s [Greek: andres agrioi], +which he makes to be [Greek: theria], or _wild Beasts_: And the [Greek: +andres mikroi] or [Greek: melanes] (as they are often called) were just +the same. Because this sort of _Apes_ had so great a resemblance to Men, +more than other _Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and they going naturally erect, and +being designed by Nature to go so, (as I have shewn in the _Anatomy_) the +Ancients had a very plausible ground for giving them this denomination of +[Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], but commonly they added an Epithet; +as [Greek: agrioi, mikroi, pygmaioi, melanes], or some such like. Now the +Ancient _Greek_ and _Indian Historians_, tho' they might know these +_Pygmies_ to be only _Apes_ like _Men_, and not to be real _Men_, yet +being so extremely addicted to _Mythology_, or making Fables, and finding +this so fit a Subject to engraft upon, and invent Stories about, they have +not been wanting in furnishing us with a great many very Romantick ones on +this occasion. And the Moderns being imposed upon by them, and misguided +by the Name of [Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], as if thereby must +be always understood an _Humane Kind_, or _real Men_, they have altogether +mistaken the Truth of the Story, and have either wholly denied it, or +rendered it as improbable by their own Conjectures. + +This difficulty therefore of their being called _Men_, I think, may fairly +enough be accounted by what I have said. But it may be objected that the +_Orang-Outang_, or these _wild_ or _savage Men_ are not [Greek: pygmaioi], +or _Trispithami_, that is, but two Foot and a quarter high, because by +some Relations that have been given, it appears they have been observed to +be of a higher stature, and as tall as ordinary Men. Now tho' this may be +allowed as to these _wild Men_ that are bred in other places; and probably +enough like wise, there are such in some Parts of the Continent of +_Africa_; yet 'tis sufficient to our business if there are any there, that +will come within our Dimensions; for our Scene lies in _Africa_; where +_Strabo_ observes, that generally the Beasts are of a less size than +ordinary; and this he thinks might give rise to the Story of the +_Pygmies_. For, saith he[A] [Greek: Ta de boskaemata autois esti mikra, +probata kai aiges, kai kynes mikroi, tracheis de kai machimoi (oikountes +mikroi ontes) tacha de kai tous pygmaious apo tes touton mikrophyias +epenoaesan, kai aneplasan.] i.e. _That their Beasts are small, as their +Sheep, Goats and Oxen, and their Dogs are small, but hairy and fierce: and +it may be_ (saith he) _from the [Greek: mikrophyia] or littleness of the +stature of these Animals, they have invented and imposed on us the_ +Pygmies. And then adds, _That no body fit to be believed ever saw them_; +because he fancied, as a great many others have done, that these _Pygmies_ +must be _real Men_, and not a sort of _Brutes_. Now since the other +_Brutes_ in this Country are generally of a less size than in other Parts, +why may not this sort of _Ape_, the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, be so +likewise. _Aristotle_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, saith, [Greek: genos +mikron men kai autoi, kai oi hippoi.] _That both they and the Horses there +are but small_. He does not say _their_ Horses, for they were never +mounted upon _Horses_, but only upon _Partridges, Goats_ and _Rams_. And +as the _Horses_, and other _Beasts_ are naturally less in _Africa_ than in +other Parts, so likewise may the _Orang-Outang_ be. This that I dissected, +which was brought from _Angola_ (as I have often mentioned) wanted +something of the just stature of the _Pygmies_; but it was young, and I am +therefore uncertain to what tallness it might grow, when at full Age: And +neither _Tulpius_, nor _Gassendus_, nor any that I have hitherto met with, +have adjusted the full stature of this _Animal_ that is found in those +parts from whence ours was brought: But 'tis most certain, that there are +sorts of _Apes_ that are much less than the _Pygmies_ are described to be. +And, as other _Brutes_, so the _Ape-kind_, in different Climates, may be +of different Dimensions; and because the other _Brutes_ here are generally +small, why may not _they_ be so likewise. Or if the difference should be +but little, I see no great reason in this case, why we should be +over-nice, or scrupulous. + +[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph_. lib. 17. p.m. 565.] + +As to our _Ape Pygmies_ or _Orang-Outang_ fighting the _Cranes_, this, I +think, may be easily enough made out, by what I have already observed; for +this _wild Man_ I dissected was Carnivorous, and it may be Omnivorous, at +least as much as _Man_ is; for it would eat any thing that was brought to +the Table. And if it was not their Hunger that drove them to it, their +Wantonness, it may be, would make them apt enough to rob the _Cranes_ +Nests; and if they did so, no doubt but the _Cranes_ would noise enough +about it, and endeavour what they could to beat them off, which a Poet +might easily make a Fight: Tho' _Homer_ only makes use of it as a +_Simile_, in comparing the great Shouts of the _Trojans_ to the Noise of +the _Cranes_, and the Silence of the _Greeks_ to that of the _Pygmies_ +when they are going to Engage, which is natural enough, and very just, and +contains nothing, but what may easily be believed; tho' upon this account +he is commonly exposed, and derided, as the Inventor of this Fable; and +that there was nothing of Truth in it, but that 'twas wholly a Fiction of +his own. + +Those _Pygmies_ that _Paulus Jovius_[A] describes, tho' they dwell at a +great distance from _Africa_, and he calls them _Men_, yet are so like +_Apes_, that I cannot think them any thing else. I will give you his own +words: _Ultra Lapones_ (saith he) _in Regione inter Corum & Aquilonem +perpetua oppressa Caligine_ Pygmaeos _reperiri, aliqui eximiae fidei testes +retulerunt; qui postquam ad summum adoleverint, nostratis Pueri denum +annorum Mensuram vix excedunt. Meticulosum genus hominum, & garritu +Sermonem exprimens, adeo ut tam Simiae propinqui, quam Statura ac sensibus +ab justae Proceritatis homine remoti videantur_. Now there is this +Advantage in our _Hypothesis_, it will take in all the _Pygmies_, in any +part of the World; or wherever they are to be met with, without supposing, +as some have done, that 'twas the _Cranes_ that forced them to quit their +Quarters; and upon this account several Authors have described them in +different places: For unless we suppose the _Cranes_ so kind to them, as +to waft them over, how came we to find them often in Islands? But this is +more than can be reasonably expected from so great Enemies. + +[Footnote A: _Paul. Jovij de Legatione Muschovitar_. lib. p.m. 489.] + +I shall conclude by observing to you, that this having been the Common +Error of the Age, in believing the _Pygmies_ to be a sort of _little Men_, +and it having been handed down from so great Antiquity, what might +contribute farther to the confirming of this Mistake, might be, the +Imposture of the Navigators, who failing to Parts where these _Apes_ are, +they have embalmed their Bodies, and brought them home, and then made the +People believe that they were the _Men_ of those Countries from whence +they came. This _M.P. Venetus_ assures us to have been done; and 'tis not +unlikely: For, saith he,[A] _Abundat quoque Regio ipsa_ (sc. Basman in +Java majori) _diversis Simiis magnis & parvis, hominibus simillimis, hos +capiunt Venatores & totos depilant, nisi quod, in barba & in loco secreto +Pilos relinquunt, & occisos speciebus Aromaticis condiunt, & postea +desiccant, venduntque Negociatoribus, qui per diversas Orbis Partes +Corpora illa deferentes, homines persuadent Tales Homunciones in Maris +Insulis reperiri. Joh. Jonston_[B] relates the same thing, but without +quoting the Author; and as he is very apt to do, commits a great mistake, +in telling us, _pro Homunculis marinis venditant_. + +[Footnote A: _M. Pauli Veneti de Regionibus Oriental_. lib. 3. cap. 15. p. +m. 390.] + +[Footnote B: _Jo. Jonston. Hist. Nat. de Quadruped_. p.m. 139.] + +I shall only add, That the Servile Offices that these Creatures are +observed to perform, might formerly, as it does to this very day, impose +upon Mankind to believe, that they were of the same _Species_ with +themselves; but that only out of Sullenness or cunning, they think they +will not _speak_, for fear of being made Slaves. _Philostratus_[A] tells +us, That the _Indians_ make use of the _Apes_ in gathering the Pepper; and +for this Reason they do defend and preserve them from the _Lions_, who are +very greedy of preying upon them: And altho' he calls them _Apes_, yet he +speaks of them as _Men_, and as if they were the Husbandmen of the _Pepper +Trees_, [Greek: kai ta dendra oi piperides, on georgoi pithekoi]. And he +calls them the People of _Apes_; [Greek: ou legetai pithekon oikein demos +en mychois tou orous]. _Dapper_[B] tells us, _That the Indians take the_ +Baris _when young, and make them so tame, that they will do almost the +work of a Slave; for they commonly go erect as Men do. They will beat Rice +in a Mortar, carry Water in a Pitcher_, &c. And Gassendus[C] in the Life +of _Pieresky_, tells us, us, _That they will play upon a Pipe or Cittern, +or the like Musick, they will sweep the House, turn the Spit, beat in a +Mortar, and do other Offices in a Family_. And _Acosta_, as I find him +quoted by _Garcilasso de la Vega_[D] tells us of a _Monkey_ he saw at the +Governour's House at _Cartagena_, 'whom they fent often to the Tavern for +Wine, with Money in one hand, and a Bottle in the other; and that when he +came to the Tavern, he would not deliver his Money, until he had received +his Wine. If the Boys met with him by the way, or made a houting or noise +after him, he would set down his Bottle, and throw Stones at them; and +having cleared the way he would take up his Bottle, and hasten home, And +tho' he loved Wine excessively, yet he would not dare to touch it, unless +his Master gave him License.' A great many Instances of this Nature might +be given that are very surprising. And in another place he tells us, That +the Natives think that they can speak, but will not, for fear of being +made to work. And _Bontius_[E] mentions that the _Javans_ had the same +Opinion concerning the _Orang-Outang_, _Loqui vero eos, easque Javani +aiunt, sed non velle, ne ad labores cogerentur_. + +[Footnote A: _Philostratus in vita Apollonij Tyanaei_, lib. 3. cap. I. p. +m. 110, & 111.] + +[Footnote B: _Dapper Description de l'Afrique_, p.m. 249.] + +[Footnote C: _Gassendus in vita Pierskij_, lib. 5. p.m. 169.] + +[Footnote D: _Garcilasso de la Vega Royal Commentaries of Peru_, lib. 8. +cap. 18. p. 1333.] + +[Footnote E: _Jac. Bontij Hist. Nat. & Med_. lib. 5. cap. 32. p.m. 85.] + + * * * * * + +[NOTE.--A few obvious errors in the quotations have been corrected, but +for the most part they stand as in Tyson, who must, therefore, be held +responsible for any inaccuracies which may exist.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PHILOLOGICAL ESSAY CONCERNING THE +PYGMIES OF THE ANCIENTS*** + + +******* This file should be named 12850.txt or 12850.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/8/5/12850 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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