THE PIGMIES. 87 



" cranes j that their huts are made of mud, feathers and egg-shells. 

 " Aristotle says that the Pigmies live in caverns, in other res- 

 " pects he gives the same particulars as other writers." ( l ) 



Pliny is not the only ancient author who has written about 

 Asiatic Pigmies ; they have also been mentioned by Ctesias : 

 " There exists," says he, " in the middle of India, a race of black men 

 u called Pigmies. They speak the same language as the Indians, 

 " and are very small ; the tallest men among them are two cubits 

 " high, the greater number being only one and-a-half. Their hair 

 " is very long and comes down to their knees and even lower. 

 " They have a longer beard than any other men ; when it is full 

 " grown, they do away with their clothes, their hair and beard 

 " being quite sufficient to cover them. They are flat-nosed and 



" ugly They are very skilful in the use of the bow and 



" arrow." ( 2 ) Truth and fable are mingled in this description as 

 in many others less ancient. There is decidedly nothing true 

 in what Ctesias says about the hair and beard of these Pigmies ; 

 but we perhaps find there another example of a mistake caused 

 sometimes by the nature of the garments worn by imperfectly 

 known populations. These prodigious beards and long hair were 

 no doubt mantles and girdles made of long grass. ( 3 ) 



It is evident that the Greek physician has also reduced, in a 

 fabulous proportion, the size of his miniature Indians ; just, in fact, 

 as Pigafetta exaggerated, in a strange manner, the height of the 

 Patagonians. Nobod}^ would doubt the fact that Magellan and 

 his companions were in contact with the men seen by d'Urville, 

 d'Orbigny and Musters, whose true proportions they have 

 given us, and who still continue to be the tallest men on this globe. 



The exaggerations uttered by Ctesias must not prevent us either 

 from acknowledging that the smallest race of India was known in 

 his time aud that it is the one he referred to. 



(1) Pliny, Loc. cit., p. 283b. 



(2) History of India by Ctesias. Extracts of Phot i us, which follow the 

 translation of Herodotus, by Larcber, vol. VI, § XI. 



(3) Even at the present day, in the neighbourhood of Travancore, women 

 wear no other garments. (Traditionary Origin of Grass Aprons ; Journal 

 of the Anthropological Institute, vol. XI, p. 356). With reference to this, I 

 will recall the mistake that has caused the revival of the fable of men with 

 tails applied to the Niams-Niams. 



