86 THE PIGMIES. 



of Gondokoro. "Cows and sheep," says he, ( x ) "are of lilliputian 

 size." It may be that, at the time of the Egyptian domination, the 

 horse reached those regions, and if so it must have undergone there 

 the degeneracy noticed by the English traveller with reference to 

 the other domestic animals. 



Thus, Aristotle is very positive ; what he says is partly accurate 

 and at any rate reasonable. With Pliny we fall back into uncer- 

 tainty, exaggerations and fables. He places the Pigmies, sometimes 

 in Thrace, not far from the coast of the Euxine, ( 2 ) and at other 

 times in Asia Minor, in the interior of Caria. ( 3 ) Twice he points 

 to India as being the native land of these little creatures, {*) and 

 elsewhere again, in speaking of the African races who live on the 

 extreme boundary of Ethiopia, he says : " some authors have also 

 " stated that the Pigmy nation exists in the marshes where the 

 " Nile takes its rise." ( 5 ) Pliny, moreover, reproduces, without any 

 reservation, all the stories about their battles with the cranes. It 

 is these latter which, according to the Barbarians, expelled the Pig- 

 mies from Thrace; ( 6 ) thanks to the annual migration of these 

 birds, the dwarfs have the advantage of a truce every year. ( 7 ) 

 Lastly, in a rather long passage, he sums up the different reports 

 in the following terms : " In India, beyond the mountains ( those 

 " situated at the vernal equinox) people speak of Trispithames 

 " and Pigmies who do not stand higher than three spithames (27 

 " inches). Protected as they are by their mountains from the 

 " north wind, they enjoy a fine climate and a perpetual spring. 

 " Homer relates, on his part, that the cranes rage war against 

 "them. It is also reported that, riding rams and goats, and 

 " armed with arrows, they all go down together in the spring to the 

 " shores of sea and thwe eat the eggs and young ones of these 

 " birds ; that this expedition lasts for three months ; that otherwise 

 " they would be unable to resist the increasing multitude of the 



O) Discovery of the Albert N'yanza, etc. 



(2) His to ire Naturelle — Translation of Littre, vol. I, p. 191c/. 



(») Loc. bit., p. 227b. 



( 4 ) Loc. cit., p 250b and 283b. 



(a) Pliny, p. 271a. 



(«) Loc. cit., p. 191a, 



(7) Loc. cit.. p. 411a. 



