3^ A Thilologkai Ejjay concerning 



upon this account he is commonly expofed, and derided, as the Inventor 

 of this Fable 5 and that there was nothing of Truth in it, but that 'twas 

 wholly a Fiftion of his own. 



Iho^tVygrnksih^tPaulusJovim (w) defcribes, tho' they dwell at a 

 great diftance from Africa, and he calls them Men, yet are fo like Apes, 

 that I cannot think them any thing elle. I will give you his own 

 words : Vltra Lapones ( faith he ) in Regione inter Corum & Aquilo- 

 nem perpetuh opprejfa Caligine Pygma!OS reperiri, aliqui eximis fidei tejies 

 retttlerunt ; qtii poflquam ad fiwiffium adoleverint, nofiratis Pueri demtm 

 annomm Menfuram vix excedmt. Meticulofum genus hominum, & gar- 

 rituSermonem exprimens, adco ut tarn Simia propinqni , quam datura, ac 

 fettfihus abjuflx Proceritatis homine remoti videantur. Now there is this 

 Advantage in our HypotheJiT^ it will take in all the Pygmies, in any part 

 of the World, or wherever they are to be met with, without fuppo- 

 ftng, as fome have done, that 'twas the Cranes that forced them to quit 

 their Quarters^ and upon this account feveral Authors have de- 

 fcribed them in different places : For unlefs we fuppofe the Cranes fo 

 kind to them, as to waft them over, how came we to find them of- 

 ten in Iflands ? But this is more than can be reafonably expefted from fo 

 great Enemies. 



I fhall conclude by obferving to you, that this having been the Com- 

 mon Error of the Age, in believing the Pygmies to be a fort of littk 

 Men , and it having been handed down from fo great Antiquity, what 

 might contribute farther to the confirming this Miftake , might be, the 

 Impofture of the Navigators, who failing to thefe Parts where thefe 

 Apes are, they have embalmed their Bodies, and brought them home,and 

 then made the People believe that they were the Men of thofe Countries 

 from whence they came. This M. P. Venetus affures us to have been 

 done ; and 'tis not unlikely : For,faith he (f ), Aktndat quoque Regio ipfa 

 Cy^'.Bafman in Javamajori) diverfis Simifs magnis ^ parvis, hominihus 

 fmillimis, hos capiunt Venaiores ©" totos depilant, niji quod in barha ^ in 

 loco fecreto Pilos relinqnunt , &■ occifos jpeciehus Aromaticjs condiunt , ^ 

 pojiea dejiccant, venduntque Negociatorihm , qui per diverfas Orbis Partes 

 Corpora ilia deferentes, homines perfuadent Tales Homunciones in Mark In- 

 fulk reperiri. Joh. Jonjion ( x ) relates the fame thing , but without 

 quoting the Author^ and as he is very apt to do, commits a great miftake, 

 in telling us, pro Homunculk marink vendttant. 



I (hall only add, That the Servile Offices that thefe Creatures are ob- 

 ferved to perform, might formerly, as it does to this very day, impofe 

 upon Mankind to believe, that they were of the fame Species with them- 



f w ) Paul. Jovi] de Legcttme Mufchowtar. lib.p. m.4851. (f) M.PauU Venet'i de Kegmibuf Orkmah 

 lib, 3. cap. 1 5. p. m. 390. ( x ) Jo. Jonfion. Hifl- Nat.de Qitadru^ed. p. m. 1 39. 



felves J 



