*Ihe Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book L 
tering the Limbs of Animals, cut to Pieces near the Dens 
or Holes of the Pifmires, drew them to feed upon thefe ; 
and while they were thus employed, carried away their 
Golden Stores. Nearcbus alfo has afferted, that he likewife 
faw £he Skins of thefe Ants in the Macedonian Camp *, but 
both Strabo and Arrian feem to give no Credit to thefe 
Relations 1 . 
One might be tempted to imagine, that the original Re- 
porters of thefe Stories miftook the Creature of which they 
Ipoke, and which they ought rather to have ftiled it a Mole 
than an Ant *, I fay we might fufpeft this, if in any later 
Writer there was the leaft Notice taken of this Method of 
coming at Gold ; but as there is not, I muft confefs I look 
upon the whole as a Fable, invented by the Indians , to pre- 
vent Strangers from being too bufy in looking after their 
Gold Mines. Pomponius Mela m reports the FaCt without 
the leaft Mark of Diffidence. ce India, fays he, produces 
« Ants not inferior in Size to the largeft Dogs, which, after 
« the manner of Gryphons, are faid to difcover and watch 
£e over Gold with incredible Sollicitude.’* A Thing in 
itfelf fo incredible, that it is amazing any could fpeak of it 
without Sufpicion. 
That there are, however, vaft Numbers of Ants in this 
Country, and of a large Size, is very certain •, and thefe 
too very mifchievous *, fo that to avoid their Depredations, 
the Inhabitants in fome Places are obliged to have their 
Chefts fixed upon four Feet, and thofe Feet fet in a Veffel 
Full of Water to prevent the Ants from getting into them. 
But then the largeft of thefe Creatures are not faid to be 
above a Finger’s Length, which with refpeft to fuch a Crea- 
ture is a prodigious Bignefs". There are alfo infinite 
Numbers of thefe deftru&ive Animals in Africa , which 
raife Hills of a furprifing Height * but thefe are not faid to 
be above half an Inch in Length °, fo that after all the En- 
quiry poffible, I have not been able to difcover any Fatft 
that could be depended upon capable of giving Light into 
what the Ancients have related upon this Head. It is not 
however amifs to preferve even the rrsoft extravagant of 
their Accounts, becaufe future Travellers, by perufing 
them, may have an Opportunity of making fuch Enquiries 
as may poffibly difcover what gave Rife to thefe Fables ; 
for it would be eafy to fhew from many Inftances, that a 
ftrid Examination of Falfiioods has frequently led to the 
Difcovery of very important Truths. 
25. After the Perufal of this Chapter, the Reader will 
be able to judge for himfelf as to the Capacity of the An- 
cients, with refpeCt to the Defcription of the Indies , and 
be able to decide wherein they deferved Praife, and how far 
they are liable to Cenfure. It will be clear to him, that in 
fome RefpeCts they had the Advantage of us, though not 
in many. As for inftance, in the Knowledge of the Nature, 
Difpofition and Strength of Elephants, which were much 
in ufe both with the Greeks and Romans , after Alexander had 
opened a Paffage to the Indies p. This muft have given 
them many Opportunities of examining carefully into all 
the Qualities of that Creature, which are Opportunities that 
we have not. Ariflotle 1 has written about them with 
great Judgment and Accuracy 5 but as to the Work of 
Milan \ I muft confefs he feems to have ftudied to amufe, 
rather than inform his Readers. 
The Terror of the Roman Arms was fo great, efpecially 
after they had reduced Egypt into the Form of a Province, 
that the Indians were extreamly afraid of them, and there- 
fore made ufe of all the different Methods they could in- 
vent to hinder them from making that Ufe they might have 
done of their Maritime Power. It was with this View that 
they fent Embaffadors to their Emperors, and with them 
Prefents of wild Beafts, and Serpents, that on the one 
hand they might perfuade them of their Submiffion, and 
on the other fright them from undertaking Expeditions into 
a Country, where they were to run fo many Hazards from 
Beafts as well as Men. It was from the fame Principle that 
they filled their Ears with dreadful and falfe Reports. If 
they had Spices, they pretended that they were obtained 
with infinite Difficulty, and by fuch a dangerous Naviga- 
tion, as fcarce any Man in his Senfes would attempt •, if 
they had Gold, it was taken from the Dens of Gryphons, 
and other fierce and terrible Beafts, fo that it appeared in- 
finitely better to obtain this precious Commodity by Traf- 
fick, than to expofe themfelves to the Dangers which the 
poor Indians ran in procuring it j ff their Markets were 
furnifhed with precious Stones, they likewife were col le Aid 
with incredible Hazard ; which kind of Fables joined to the 
Diftance of the Country, and the natural Averfion which 
the Roman Legions had to ferving in Climates different from 
their own,, for many Age had as good Effect in fecuring 
the Indians from their boundlefs Ambition. 
The falfe Religion of theRomans, and their great Prone- 
nefs to Superftition, was another invincible Bar to their ar» 
ing at any true Knowledge of the Countries they vifited. 
Their Heads were fo full of Fables, Omens, and Pro- 
digies, that it was very eafy to make them believe that 
the Indies was inhabited by Giants, and that the Ganges , 
and all the other Rivers in it, fwarmed with Monfters. 
We have a ftrong Proof of this in what happened when 
the Learning of Rome was at its greateft Height. It was 
found neceffary to change the Courfe of the River Orontes , 
to facilitate the bringing up their Fleet to Antioch % a 
prodigious Work, that, however, they undertook and 
executed ; which fhews that there was nothing that fo 
enterprizing a People might not have performed, if they 
had not been liable to the Terrors of Superftition. When 
the Waters of the River were turned out of their old 
Channel, they difcovered a Sepulchre of Earth, above 
fixteen Foot long, filled with Bones of an enormous 
Size •, and which, never thelefs, the People of that Coun- 
try perfuaded them were thofe of a Man ; upon which the 
Oracle of Apollo , at Claras in Ionia, was confulted, and 
they were informed, that thefe were the Remains of 
Orontes , a Native of the Indies > which was enough 
to confirm them in the Opinion they had conceived, 
that the Inhabitants of that Country, were much fupe- 
rior in Size to the reft of Mankind s . 
The great Reverence paid by them to Antiquity, was 
another Source of Errors. One would imagine, from 
reading fome of their Writers, that they had fworn 
never to be wifer than thofe who went before them: 
Almoft all the voluminous Work of Pliny, is taken from 
Greek Authors, and thofe not of the belt Credit k Who- 
ever will take the Trouble of comparing the Geography 
of Pompoms Mela , with the Hiftory of Herodotus , will 
plainly perceive , that he has borrowed from him 
the befc Part of what he has written , particularly 
that Paffage relating to the Ants that dig Gold. And 
hence it comes to pals, that when we diligently trace any 
of the incredible Stories we meet with in old Writers up- 
wards, we find the original Author to be Cteflas , Hero- 
dotus, or Megqfthenes , decry’d , and yet copied in all 
Ages. 
But for thofe Things which fell immediately under 
the Eyes and Obfervation of their belt Writers, fuch as 
Ariflotle , Strabo, Diodorus Siculus , Arrian , Plutarch , 
and many others, they are very candidly and fairly re- 
ported ; at leaft, as far as the Lights they had would per- 
mit. We muft not, therefore, either implicitly believe 
whatever they have delivered, for, if we do, we ffiall fall 
into the fame Errors that they did from that very Caufe, 
of trailing to the Ancients •, and, on the other hand, 
we muft not imagine that wherever they differ with the 
Moderns, or are not abfolutely fupported by them, they 
are conftantly in the wrong, and deferve no Credit at all ; 
becaufe, fuch a Notion may, and fuprobably will, betray us . 
into new Miftakes ; becaufe, in fome Things, the An- 
cients had better Opportunities of knowing than we ; and • 
Experience has ihewn us, that, after feveral Things, they 
have told us, have been exploded for Fables, they have, , 
upon further Difcoveries, been acknowledged for Fafts. 
The only true Rule of judging, is, to confider the ; 
Nature of the Thing related, the Character of the Au- ; 
thor who relates it, and how far he is fupported or con- 
tradicted by others *, but, in fuch Cafes as do not afford us - 
an Opportunity of having Recourie to thefe Rules, the belt 
1 Strabo, lib. XV. Arrian, in Indicts, c. 15. m Geograph, lib. iii. cap. 7. n P. V anden Broek V oyage aux hides, p. 39p 
£t on du Cap. de Bonne Efperance, Tom. iii. p. 37. P Diodor. Sicul. Plin. Hi ft . Nat. Appian. ° De Hift. Animal, li . n- 
Animal, lib . viii. * Paufanias, lib . viiL c. 29. * As appears from the Index of Authors quoted in his Natural irMory. 
0 Defcrip- 
1 Hift- '■ 
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