rioeTYG MIES of the Jnctents. 7 



Hero'j-,f^^« Ctefias and Herodotus and Hellanicus, and fuch like. So ill an 

 Opinion had Strabo of the Indian Hijionans in general, that he cenfures 

 them all as fabulous (rJ^ATmvln; fjAv -mivvv ol Trsg/ -^ 'b^mi y^-\a.v1ic, di 'On 

 70 -sroAt) if.'^'^bAo'j/Oi yiyovctm, ^r^' \^Qq/\!m) '^ A)iV,m^;^(^' to "^ ^i^-n^ Ai- 

 y&t MiyA^divKf 'OrM(nzp(7o?TE ;^Neap;^©^, aj, aMoj OTiBTor i. e. ^Zi^ vpho have 

 wrote of India, for the moU part^ are fabulom , httt in the highell degree 

 Daimachus ^ ^/6e« Megafthenes, Oneficritus, and]>i&3.rchus, and fuch lil^e. 

 And as if it had been their greateft Ambition to excel herein, Strabo ("s) 

 brings in Theapompuf^ as braggingi^OTr it^ fjuu'iiii dv toic, 'Ig'o^aii ip&i scp&tTfoy, 

 M ceg "H^Sbl^u, ;t, Klmcci, it^ 'E?^dvi}c!^, it^di to. '\vh>(^ avJ\^-\ot,v1i^' That 

 he could foi^ in Fables into Hifioryy better than Herodotus and Ctefias and 

 Hellanicus, and all that have wrote <?/ India. The SatyriB therefore had 

 reafon to fay, 



'Et quicquid Gr£cia mendax . 



Audet in Hifloria (t). 



Ariflotle (u), °tis true, tells us, ^OAa; g to. (aav ay pics; dyptoeTi^ e^ -ra 

 'Ama, dv^p&tQTi^ 2) Travla. radv t'^ Eu^avr*?, 'ziroXvfxopsfi^Ta.la, 'j) to g^ T>! A<- 

 QvT^' K) ?\.iyi1cij ^ Tie, ym^iiMo.^ oti a&t ipsp&i 'n AiSyn )(cf.mv' i. e. That ge- 

 nerally the Beajis are wilder in Afia, fironger in Europe, and of greater va- 

 riety of //japes in Africa ; for as the VxQytxh faith , Africa always produces 

 fomething new. Vliny (w) indeed afcribes it to the Heat of the Climate^ 

 Animalium, Hominumque ejfigies monfiriferas, circa extremtates ejus gigni^ 

 minimi mirum, artifici ad forntanda Corpora, eff-giefque aslandas piobilitate 

 tgneh. But Nature never formed a whole Species o£ Monfiers j and 'tis 

 not the heat of the Country, but the warm and fertile Imagination of 

 thefe Hijiorians, that has been more produftive of them, than Jfiica it 

 felf 5 as will farther appear by what I (hall produce out of them, and 

 particularly from the Relation that Ctejias makes of the Pygmies. 



I am the more willing to inftance in Cte/ias, becaufe he tells his Story 

 roundly j he no ways minces it 5 his Invention is ftrong and fruitful 5 

 and that you may not in the leaft miftruft him, he pawns his word, that 

 all that he writes, is certainly true : And fo fuccefsful he has been, how 

 Romantick foever his Stories may appear, that they have been handed 

 down to us by a great many other Authors, and of Note too 5 tha 

 fome at the fame time have look'd upon them as meer Fables. So that 

 for the prefent, till I am better informed, and I am not over curious in 

 it, I (hall make Gf/^, md the other Indian Hijioyians, the Inventors o£ 

 the extravagant Relations we at prefent have of the Pygmes, and not 

 old Honker. He calls them, 'tis true, from fomething of Refemblance 

 of their (hape, avd^pn; : But thefe Hijiorians make them to fpeak the India^^ 

 Language 5 to ufe the fame Laws 5 and to be fo confide rable a Nation^ 



(r) Strabo ibid. lib. 2. p. m. 48, (s) Strabo ibid, lib, i. p. m. 25. (t) fmmL Satyr. X. verf, 

 1 74. (u) Arijiotje Hiji. Animal, lib, 8. cap. 2 8. (w) Flin. Nut. H^. lib. ^. cap. 30. p. m. 741. 



andi 



