TheTYG MI ES of the Ancients. 



this he thinks might give the rife to the Story of the Pygmies. For, faith 

 he («), Ta 3 (SocTJc^fAMla oZtHc, h) [mk^, it^Qctlae. Jtj auyig, it, wovic, [jak^) , 

 "^^X^^ i) ^ f^X^fMii {ouUvUc, iMZ^) Qvlig') rd^i^a, 3 ;^ t8$ TuyjUMtag ^ 

 T r^-mv fMK^ipvtctg iTnvonanv, -Z, dvi'Ti^sL^ra.v. i.e. That their Beajis arefmall^ 

 as their Sheep^ Goats and Oxen^ and their Dogs are fniall , but hairy and 

 fierce : and it may he (faith he) from the fjAK^ipvicc or littlenefs of the Jla- 

 ture ofthefe Animals^ they have invented and impofed on us the Pygmies. 

 And then adds, That no body fit to be believed ever fare them j becaufe he 

 fancied, as a great many others have done, thatthefe Pygmies muft ht re- 

 al Men, and not a fort of Brutes. Now fince the other Brutes in this 

 Country are generally of a lefs fize than in other Parts, why may not 

 this fort of Jpe , the Orang-Outang, or rpild Man, be fo like wife. Ari- 

 ftotle fpeaking of the Pygmies, faith, j^j/^L fjM^v /mv it, cwro), tt, ol TTr-aror 

 That both they and the Horfes there are but fmaJ/. He does not fay their 

 Horfes, for they were never mounted upon Horfes, but only upon Par- 

 tridges, Goats and Rams. And as the Horfes, and other Beafis are natu- 

 rally lefs in Jfiica than in other Parts , fo likewife may the Orang- 

 Outang be. This that I diffefted, which was brought from Angola ( as 

 I have often mentioned) wanted fomething of the juffc ftature of the Pygr 

 wies 5 but it was young, and I am therefore uncertain to what tallnels it 

 might grow, when at full Age : And neither Tulpius, nor Gaffendus, nor 

 any that I have hitherto met with, have adjufted the full ftature of this 

 Animal that is found in thofe Parts from whence ours was brought: 

 But 'tis moft certain, that there are forts of ^/^ej- that are much lefs than 

 the Py^^^/ej- are defcribed to be. And, as other Brw^e/, fo the Ape-h^nd, 

 in different Climates,may be of different Dimenfions 5 and becaufe the o- 

 ther .Srafex here are generally fmall, why may notfAejbe fo likewife, 

 Or if the difference (hould be but little , I fee no great reafon in this 

 cafe, why we (hould be over-nice, or fcrupulous. 



As to our ApePygmies or Orang-Outang fighting the Cranes,t\]\s, I think, 

 may be eafily enough made out, by what I have already obferved ^ for 

 this vpild Man I diffefted was Carnivorous, and it may be Omnivorous, at 

 leaft 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 

 Wantonnefs, it may be, would make them apt enough to rob the Cranes 

 Nefts; and if they did fo, no doubt but the Cranes would make noife 

 enough about it, and endeavour what they could to beat them off, 

 which a Poet might eafily make a Fight : Tho' Homer only makes ufe 

 of it, as a Simile, in comparing the great Shouts of the Trojans to the 

 Noife of the Cranes, and the stlence of the Greeks to that of the Pyg- 

 mies when they are going to Engage, which is natural enough, and ve- 

 ry juft, and contains nothing, but what may eafily be believed 5 the' 



(u) Strah Geograph. lib. 17. p. m. $6$, 



upoa 



