CURIOUS CREATURES. 17 



(Ceylon) life is prolonged to an extreme length, while 

 at the same time, the body is exempt from weakness. 

 Among the Calingae, a nation also of India, the women 

 conceive at five years of age, and do not live beyond 

 their eighth year. In other places again, there are men 

 born with long hairy tails, and of remarkable swiftness 

 of foot ; while there are others that have ears so large 

 as to cover the whole body. 



Crates of Pergamus states, that the Troglodytae, who 

 dwell beyond Ethiopia, are able to outrun the horse ; and 

 that a tribe of the ^Ethiopians, who are known as the 

 Syrbotse, exceed eight cubits in height (twelve feet), 

 There is a tribe of ^Ethiopian Nomades dwelling on the 

 banks of the river Astragus, towards the north, and 

 about twenty days' journey from the ocean. These 

 people are called Menismini ; they live on the milk of 

 the animal which we call cynocephalus (baboon), and 

 rear large flocks of these creatures, taking care to kill 

 the males, except such as they may preserve for the 

 purposes of breeding. In the deserts of Africa, men 

 are frequently seen to all appearance, and then vanish 

 in an instant." 1 



It may be said that these descriptions of men are 

 only the belief about the time of the Christian era, when 

 Pliny lived but it was the faith of centuries, and we 

 find, 1 200 years after Pliny died, Sir John Mandeville 

 confirming his statements, and, as before stated, these 

 wondrous creatures were given in illustrations, both 

 in the Mappa Mundi, and in early printed books. 

 Mandeville writes : " Many divers countreys & kingdoms 

 are in Inde, and it is called Inde, of a river that runneth 

 through it, which is called Inde also, and there are 



1 Mirage. 



