292 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [August, 1912. 
‘* the perfumes of fruits and flowers, having instead of mouths 
‘¢ orifices through which they breathe. They are distressed 
not far from these are the Pygmies.. .”’® Aulus Gellius states in 
covered their body, which was all over hairy, with the soft down 
found upon the leaves of trees, Aulus Gellius, or more probably 
one of his authorities, misunderstanding the allusion to cotton 
trees, went a step further and clothed the Astomi in birds’ 
feathers ! 
It may be remarked that Strabo, in his description of the 
Astomoi, combines a particularity attributed by Pliny to the 
Scyritae, ‘‘ who instead of nostrils had merely orifices.’’ The 
Amuktéres were also a people without nostrils, ‘‘ who devour 
everything, eat raw meat, and are short-lived, and die before 
old age supervenes.”’ ® : 
It is worth noting, too, that Pliny mentions one after the 
other the Scyritae, the Astomi, the Trispithami (i.e., men 3 spans 
long) and the Pygmies. This juxtaposition does not seem to be 
merely fortuitous. Likely, Megasthenes, whom Pliny follows, 
had placed them in the same manner, thus indicating the proxi- 
mity of their habitat. According to Pliny, the Scyritae were a 
nomadic race, with legs contorted like snakes. The Atsomi 
lived near the sources of the Ganges, while the Pygmies and 
Trispithami dwelled beyond the Astomi, in the remotest parts 
of the mountains.* Various features in the description of the 
Pygmies have allowed authors to identify them satisfactorily 


1 ScowaNnBEcK, Fragm. xxx; SrraBo, xv, i, 57; McoCriInpLEe, op. 
cit., p. 76.—Compare with Honorius of Autun (MIeNE, Patrologia Lati- 
oO. : ‘* Sunt alii juxta fontem Gangis fluvil, 
‘** qui solo odore cujusdam pomi vivunt, qui si longius eunt pomum 
‘¢ secum ferunt: moriuntur enim si pravum odorem trahunt.’’ 
2 Cf. Attic Nights, ix, C. 4, in Rev. W. Beloe’s edn., London, 
1795, vol. II, pp. 148-150. 
8 Cf. McCrinpie, Megasthenes, pp. 77, 80. 
¢ Cf. MoCrInp1E, ibid., pp. 80-81. 
