172 VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR- 



" was tranfmitted to me, which contained 

 ** fome particulars concerning a fmgular 

 *• people, called in the language of Mada- 

 " gafcar the Kimos, who inhabit the mid* 

 ** die of the ifland, about the twefity-fecond 

 " degree of latitude, I had heard mention 

 ** of them feveral times before, but in fo 

 ** confufed a manner that I fcarcely paid 

 ** any attention to a fa<f!l which deferves to 

 " be cleared up, and which relates to a na- 

 " tion of dwarfs, who live in fociety, go- 

 *^ verned by a chief, and protected by civil 

 " laws. 



I had found in the relation of Flacourt 

 " a paOage refpe£ting this nation ; but it 

 " made no impreffion on my mind, becaufe 

 " Flacourt rejeds the hiftory of thefe pigmy 

 people as a fable, invented by the players 

 " on the herrmUy a kind of buffoons, or ra- 

 ** ther import ors, who fpend their time in 

 ** reciting abfurd tales and romances. 



** Flacourt 



i 



