34- A Thiiologkal tf]ay concerning 



Mm 5 for as Gefner remarks (as I have already quoted him ) Sed vete- 

 riim nnlli{s aliter de Vygmah fcnpft^qnam Homuncioties ejfe. And the Mo- 

 derns too, being byafled and mifguided by this Notion, have either 

 wholly denied ibem, or contented themfelves in offering their Conje- 

 ctures what might give the firft rife to the inventing this Fable. And 

 tho' Albert/0, as I find him frequently quoted, thought that the Pjigmks 

 might be only a fort of Jpes, and he is placed in the Head of thofe that 

 efpoufed this Opinion, yet he fpoils all, by his way of reafoning,^ 

 and by making them fpeak^ which was more than he needed to do. 



I cannot fee therefore any thing that will fo fairly folve this doubt, 

 that will reconcile all, that will foealily and plainly make out this Sto- 

 ry, as by making the Orang-Outang to be the Pygmie of the Ancients 5 

 for 'tis the fame Name that Antiquity gave them. For He.-odotus's civ^^i^ 

 ay^.oi, what can they be eUe, than Homwes Sylvejires^ or wild Men .<? 

 as they are now called. And Homers ar^pa 'myoutioi , are no more an 

 Humane Kind, or Men, than Herodotus s av^pa a.ye/01, which he makes to 

 be ,^£Ja, or mid Beafis : And the at'^p^ifMK^l or /wiAai-j; ( as they are 

 often called) were juft the fame. Becaufe this fort o'LJpes had fo great 

 a refemblance to Men,more than other Apes or Monkeys -^ and they going 

 naturally ere6t,and being defigned by Nature to go fo, (as I have (hewn 

 in the Auatoffiy) the Ancients had a very plaufible ground for giving 

 them this denomination of av^p^i or a.v%^oo7m , but commonly they 

 added an Epithet 5 as a^g,/^ , /xoc^p; , -jmy^juthi , /jAX'zvh; , or fome 

 fuch like. Now the Ancient Greek, and Indian Hijiorians , tho' 

 they might know thefe Pygmies to be only Apes like Men, and not 

 to be real Me//, yet being fo extreamly addifted to Mythology, or making 

 Fables, and finding this fo fit a Subjed to engraft upon, and invent Sto- 

 ries about, they have not been wanting in furnilhing us with a great 

 many very Romantick ones on thisoccafion. And the Moderns being 

 impofed upon by them, and mifguided by the Name of av'^pn; or av- 

 Gp'^TTOf, as if thereby muft be always underftood an Humane Kind, or re- 

 al Men, they have altogether miftaken the Truth of the Story, and have 

 either wholly denied it, or rendered it as improbable by their ownCon- 

 jeftures. 



This difficulty therefore of their being called Men, I think, may fair- 

 ly enough be accounted for by what I have faid. But it may be object- 

 ed that the Orang-Outang, or thefe wild or favage Men are not 'myiuuJ'ot, 

 or Trij^itham, that is, but two Foot and a quarter high,becaufe by fome 

 Relations that have been given, it appears they have been obferved to 

 be of a higher ftature, and as tall as ordinary Men. Now tho' this may 

 be allowed as -to thefe wild Men that are bred in other places 5 and pro- 

 bably enough likewife, there are fuch in fome Parts of the Continent of 

 Afiica ^ yet 'tis fufficient to our bufinefs if there are any there, that will 

 come within our Dimenfions :, for our Scene lies in /jr/V^ 5 where Strabo 

 obferves, that generally the Beafts are of a lefs fize than ordinary 3 and 



this 



