TheTYG MIES of the Ancients, j 9 



NowStrabo (f), from whom I have collected the Defcri prion of 

 thefe Monftrous forts of Men , and they are mentioned too by Plinj^ 

 Soliffus, Mela, 'Philofiratus, and others 5 and MunHer in his Cofmografhy 

 (g) has given aj%«re of fomeof them^ Straho^ I fay , who v^as an Ene- 

 my to all fuch fabulous Relations, no doubt was prejudiced likewife 

 againft the Pygmies, becaufe thefe Hifiorims had made them a Puny Race 

 of Men , and invented fo many Romances about them. I can no 

 ways therefore blame him for denying, that there were ever any fach 

 Men Pygmies 5 and do readily agree with him, that no Man ever faw 

 them : and am fo far from diflenting from thofe Great Men, who have 

 denied them on this account, that I think they have all the reafon in the 

 World on their fide. And to (hew how ready I am to clofe with them 

 in this Point, I will here examine the contrary Opinion, and what Pvea- 

 fons they give for the fupporting it : For there have been fome Moderns, 

 as well as the Ancients, that have maintained that thefe Pygmies were 

 real Men. And this they pretend to prove, both from Humane Authori- 

 ty znd Divine. 



Now by Men Pygmies we are by no means to underfVand Dwarfs. In 

 all Countries, and in all Ages, there has been now and then obferved 

 fuch Miniture of Mankind, or under-fized Men. Cardan (Ji) tells us he 

 ' faw one carried about in a Parrot's Cage , that was but a Cubit high. 

 Nicephorus ( / ) tells US, that in Theodopus the Emperour's time, there 

 was one in Rgyp that was no bigger than a Partridge 5 yet what was to 

 be admired, he was very Prudent, had a fweet clear Voice , and a ge- 

 nerous Mind 5 and lived Twenty Years. So likewife a Ring of Portu- 

 gal itnt to a Duke of Savoy, \Nh.^x\ he married his Daughter to him,an M- 

 thiopian Divarf but three Palms high ( 4)- And Thevenot ( /) tells us 

 of the Prefent made by the King of the Abyjjins, to the Grand Seignior^ 

 of feveral little black. Slaves out of Nnbia, and the Countries near lEthi- 

 opia, which being made Eunuchs, were to guard the Ladies of the Sera- 

 glio. And a great many fuch like Relations there are. But thefe being 

 only Dwarfs, they muft not be efteemed the Pygmies we are enquiring 

 about, which are reprefented as a Nation, and the whole Race of them 

 to be of the like ftature. Dari tamen integras Pumilionnm Gentes, tarn 

 falfum ef/, cju^m quod falfjfimum, faith Harduin (»i). 



Neither likewife muft it be granted, that tho' in fome Climates there 

 might be Men generally of lefs ftature, than what are to be met with in 

 other Countries, that they are prefently Pygmies. Natttre has not fixed 

 the fame ftandard to the growth o^ Mankind in all Places alike, no mo re 



( f ) Strabo G eograih. Wh.i 5.p.m.489. & lib.2.p.48.(&' alibi (g) Munjler Cofmografb.\\h.6.^.i i 5 r. 

 (h) Cardan de fiMlitate,]ih. 11. p.458. ( i ) Nkephor. Hiftor, Ecclefiajh lib.12. cap. 37. (X)Hap- 

 peimJnRelat.curiofts,N°.S$.ip.6-jj. (I) Thevenot. Voyage de Levant. lih.2,c.62. {m) Jo. 

 Hardmi Kotx. in Plinij Nat. Hiti. lib, 6. cap. 22. p. 688. - 



D than 



