130 
PLINY'S KATURAL HISTORY. 
[Book YIl. 
count of Megasthenes, dwelling upon a mountain called 'Nulo, 
there is a race of men who have their feet turned backwards/^ 
with eight toes on each foot.^^ 
On many of the mountains again, there is a tribe of men 
who have the heads of dogs/^ and clothe themselves with 
the skins of wild beasts. Instead of speaking, they bark; and, 
furnished with claws, they live by hunting and catching birds. 
According to the story, as given by Ctesias, the number of these 
people is more than a hundred and twenty thousand : and the 
same author tells us, that there is a certain race in India, of 
which the females are pregnant once only in the course of their 
lives, and that the hair of the children becomes white the in- 
stant they are bom. He speaks also of another race of men, 
who are known as Monocoli,''^ who have only one leg, but are 
able to leap with surprising agility.''^ The same people are 
also called Sciapodae,"^^ because they are in the habit of lying 
on their backs, during the time of the extreme heat, and protect 
themselves from the sun by the shade of their feet. These 
people, he says, dwell not very far from the Troglodytae f * to 
the west of whom again there is a tribe who are without 
necks, and have eyes in their shoulders.''^ 
by the Fakirs, a peculiar class of devotees, and are regarded either in the 
hght of reUgious ceremonies, or of modes of performing penance. — B. 
68 Henderson states, in his " Biblical Eesearches," that there is a race 
of people found in the Caucasus, and known as the Ingusch, and that it is 
their belief that a race of dsemons exists, which assume the appearance of 
armed men, and have the feet inverted. 
69 Cuvier remarks, that these wonderful tales are generally related of the 
inhabitants of mountainous districts, as being less known and less acces- 
sible to travellers. — B. 
'^^ This account probably originated in a species of monkey, with a pro- 
jecting muzzle, called, from this circumstance, cynocephalus," or the 
" Dog's head." This account of the cynocephali is repeated by Aulus 
Gellius, B. ix. c. 4. — B. The cynocephalus is generally considered to be 
the baboon. 
"^^ So called, ano rov fiovov kcjXov, " from having but one leg." It is 
not improbable that these stories were first told of these nations from the 
resemblance of their names to the Greek words having these significations. 
'2 We have no method of explaining the origin of this story. It is to 
be regretted, that Pliny should have adopted so many ridiculous fables, on 
the doubtful authority of Ctesias. — B. 
73 From ^KtaTTovgy making a shadow with his foot." — B. 
74 Qy u dwellers in caves." 
'5 It has been conjectured, that this account may have originated in the 
dwarfish stature and short necks of the northern tribes, according to the 
