_Men Pygmies_, or that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_; he rather makes them
_Apes_. And there is nothing in his _Scholiast Ludovicus Vives_ that tends
this way, he only quotes from other Authors, what might illustrate the
Text he is commenting upon, and no way asserts their being _Men_. I shall
therefore next enquire into _Bochartus_'s Opinion, who would have them to
be the _Nubæ_ or _Nobæ_. _Hos Nubas Troglodyticos_ (saith[A] he) _ad
Avalitem Sinum esse Pygmæos Veterum multa probant._ He gives us five
Reasons to prove this. As, 1. The Authority of _Hesychius_, who saith,
[Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi]. 2. Because _Homer_ places the _Pygmies_ near the
Ocean, where the Nubæ were. 3. _Aristotle_ places them at the lakes of the
_Nile_. Now by the _Nile Bochartus_ tells us, we must understand the
_Astaborus_, which the Ancients thought to be a Branch of the _Nile_, as
he proves from _Pliny, Solinus_ and _Æthicus_. And _Ptolomy_ (he tells us)
places the _Nubæ_ hereabout. 4. Because _Aristotle_ makes the _Pygmies_ to
be _Troglodytes_, and so were the _Nubæ_. 5. He urges that Story of
_Nonnosus_ which I have already mentioned, and thinks that those that
_Nonnosus_ met with, were a Colony of the _Nubæ_; but afterwards adds,
_Quos tamen absit ut putemus Staturâ fuisse Cubitali, prout Poetæ fingunt,
qui omnia in majus augent._ But this methinks spoils them from being
_Pygmies_; several other Nations at this rate may be _Pygmies_ as well as
these _Nubæ_. Besides, he does not inform us, that these _Nubæ_ used to
fight the _Cranes_; and if they do not, and were not _Cubitales_, they
can't be _Homer_'s _Pygmies_, which we are enquiring after. But the Notion
of their being _Men_, had so possessed him, that it put him upon fancying
they must be the _Nubæ_; but 'tis plain that those in _Nonnosus_ could not
be a Colony of the _Nubæ_; for then the _Nubæ_ must have understood their
Language, which the _Text_ saith, none of the Neighbourhood did. And
because the _Nubæ_ are _Troglodytes_, that therefore they must be
_Pygmies_, is no Argument at all. For _Troglodytes_ here is used as an
_Adjective_; and there is a sort of _Sparrow_ which is called _Passer
Troglodytes_. Not but that in _Africa_ there was a Nation of _Men_ called
_Troglodytes_, but quite different from our _Pygmies_. How far _Bochartus_
may be in the right, in guessing the Lakes of the _Nile_ (whereabout
_Aristotle_ places the _Pygmies_) to be the Fountains of the River
_Astaborus_, which in his description, and likewise the _Map_, he places
in the Country of the _Avalitæ_, near the _Mossylon Emporium_; I shall not
enquire. This I am certain of, he misrepresents _Aristotle_ where he tells
us,[B] _Quamvis in ea fabula hoc saltem verum esse asserat Philosophus,
Pusillos Homines in iis locis degere_: for as I have already observed;
_Aristotle_ in that _Text_ saith nothing at all of their being _Men_: the
contrary rather might be thence inferred, that they were _Brutes_. And
_Bochart's_ Translation, as well as _Gaza's_ is faulty here, and by no
means to be allowed, _viz. Ut aiunt, genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum,
quàm Equorum_; which had _Bochartus_ considered he would not have been so
fond it may be of his _Nubæ_. And if the [Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi] in
_Hesychius_ are such _Pygmies_ as _Bochartus_ makes his _Nubæ, Quos tamen
absit ut putemus staturtâ fuisse Cubitali_, it will not do our business at
all; and neither _Homer's_ Authority, nor _Aristotle's_ does him any
Service.
[Footnote A: _Sam. Bochart. Geograph. Sacræ_, Part. 1. lib. 2. cap. 23.
p.m. 142.]
[Footnote B: _Bocharti Hierozoici pars Posterior_, lib. I. cap. II. p.
76.]
But this Fable of _Men Pygmies_ has not only obtained amongst the _Greeks_
and _Indian Historians_: the _Arabians_ likewise tell much such Stories of
them, as the same learned _Bochartus_ informs us. I will give his Latin
Translation of one of them, which he has printed in _Arabick_ also:
_Arabes idem_ (saith[A] _Bochartus_) _referunt ex cujusdam_ Græculi _fide,
qui_ Jacobo Isaaci _filio_, Sigariensi _fertur ita narrasse_. _Navigabam
aliquando in mari_ Zingitano, _& impulit me ventus in quandam Insulam_.
_In cujus Oppidum cum devenissem, reperi Incolas Cubitalis esse staturæ, &
plerosque Coclites. Quorum multitudo in me congregata me deduxit ad Regem
suum. Fussit is, ut Captivus detinerer; & inquandam Caveæ speciem
conjectus sum; eos autem aliquando ad bellum instrui cum viderem, dixerunt
Hostem imminere, & fore ut propediem ingrueret. Nec multò post Gruum
exercitus in eos insurrexit. Atque ideo erant Coclites, quod eorum oculos
hæ confodissent. Atque Ego, virgâ assumptâ, in eas impetum feci, & illæ
avolârunt atque aufugerunt; ob quod facinus in honore fui apud illos_.
This Author, it seems, represents them under the same Misfortune with the
_Poet_, who first mentioned them, as being blind, by having their Eyes
peck'd out by their cruel Enemies. Such an Accident possibly might happen
now and then, in these bloody Engagements, tho' I wonder the _Indian
Historians_ have not taken notice of it. However the _Pygmies_ shewed
themselves grateful to their Deliverer, in heaping _Honours_ on him. One
would guess, for their own sakes, they could not do less than make him
their _Generalissimo_; but our Author is modest in not declaring what they
were.
[Footnote A: _Bochartus ibid_. p.m. 77.]
Isaac Vossius seems to unsettle all, and endeavours utterly to ruine the
whole Story: for he tells us, If you travel all over _Africa_, you shall
not meet with either a _Crane_ or _Pygmie_: _Se mirari_ (saith[A] _Isaac
Vossius_) Aristotelem, _quod tam seriò affirmet non esse fabellam, quæ de
Pygmæis & Bello, quod cum Gruibus gerant, narrantur. Si quis totam
pervadat_ Africam, _nullas vel Grues vel Pygmæos inveniet_. Now one would
wonder more at _Vossius_, that he should assert this of _Aristotle_, which
he never said. And since _Vossius_ is so mistaken in what he relates of
_Aristotle_; where he might so easily have been in the right, 'tis not
improbable, but he may be out in the rest too: For who has travelled all
_Africa_ over, that could inform him? And why should he be so peremptory
in the Negative, when he had so positive an Affirmation of _Aristotle_ to
the contrary? or if he would not believe _Aristotle's_ Authority, methinks
he should _Aristophanes's_, who tells us,[B] [Greek: Speirein hotau men
Geranos kroizon es taen libyaen metachorae]. _'Tis time to sow when the
noisy Cranes take their flight into_ Libya. Which Observation is likewise
made by _Hesiod, Theognis, Aratus_, and others. And _Maximus Tyrius_ (as I
find him quoted in _Bochartus_) saith, [Greek: Hai geravoi ex Aigyptou ora
therous aphistamenai, ouk anechomenai to thalpos teinasai pterygas hosper
istia, pherontai dia tou aeros euthy ton Skython gaes]. i.e. _Grues per
æstatem ex_ Ægypto _abscedentes, quia Calorem pati non possunt, alis
velorum instar expansis, per aerem ad_ Scythicam _plagam rectà feruntur_.
Which fully confirms that Migration of the _Cranes_ that _Aristotle_
mentions.
[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius de Nili aliorumque stuminum Origine_, Cap.
18.]
[Footnote B: _Aristophanes in Nubibus_.]
But _Vossius_ I find, tho' he will not allow the _Cranes_, yet upon second
Thoughts did admit of _Pygmies_ here: For this Story of the _Pygmies_ and
the _Cranes_ having made so much _noise_, he thinks there may be something
of truth in it; and then gives us his Conjecture, how that the _Pygmies_
may be those _Dwarfs_, that are to be met with beyond the Fountains of the
_Nile_; but that they do not fight _Cranes_ but _Elephants_, and kill a
great many of them, and drive a considerable Traffick for their teeth with
the _Jagi_, who sell them to those of _Congo_ and the _Portuguese_. I will
give you _Vossius's_ own words; _Attamen_ (saith[A] he) _ut solent fabellæ
non de nihilo fingi & aliquod plerunque continent veri, id ipsum quoque
que hìc factum esse existimo. Certum quippe est ultra_ Nili _fontes multos
reperiri_ Nanos, _qui tamen non cum Gruibus, sed cum Elephantis perpetuum
gerant bellum. Præcipuum quippe Eboris commercium in regno magni_ Macoki
_per istos transigitur Homunciones; habitant in Sylvis, & mira dexteritate
Elephantos sagittis conficiunt. Carnibus vescuntur, Dentes verô_ Jagis
_divendunt, illi autem_ Congentibus & Lusitanis.
[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius ibid_.]
_Job Ludolphus_[A] in his _Commentary_ on his _Æthiopick History_ remarks,
That there was never known a Nation all of Dwarfs. _Nani quippe_ (saith
_Ludolphus_) _Naturæ quodam errore ex aliis justæ staturæ hominibus
generantur. Qualis verô ea Gens sit, ex qua ista Naturæ Ludibria tantâ
copiâ proveniant, Vossium docere oportelat, quia Pumiliones Pumiles alios
non gignunt, sed plerunque steriles sunt, experientia teste; ut planè non
opus habuerunt Doctores Talmudici Nanorum matrimonia prohibere, ne
Digitales ex iis nascerentur. Ludolphus_ it may be is a little too strict
with _Vossius_ for calling them _Nani_; he may only mean a sort of Men in
that Country of less Stature than ordinary. And _Dapper_ in his History of
_Africa_, from whom _Vossius_ takes this Account, describes such in the
Kingdom of _Mokoko_, he calls _Mimos_, and tells us that they kill
_Elephants_. But I see no reason why _Vossius_ should take these Men for
the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients, or think that they gave any occasion or
ground for the inventing this Fable, is there was no other reason, this
was sufficient, because they were able to kill the _Elephants_. The
_Pygmies_ were scarce a Match for the _Cranes_; and for them to have
encountered an _Elephant_, were as vain an Attempt, as the _Pygmies_ were
guilty of in _Philostratus_[B] 'who to revenge the Death of _Antæus_,
having found _Hercules_ napping in _Libya_, mustered up all their Forces
against him. One _Phalanx_ (he tells us) assaulted his left hand; but
against his right hand, that being the stronger, two _Phalanges_ were
appointed. The Archers and Slingers besieged his feet, admiring the
hugeness of his Thighs: But against his Head, as the Arsenal, they raised
Batteries, the King himself taking his Post there. They set fire to his
Hair, put Reaping-hooks in his Eyes; and that he might not breath, clapp'd
Doors to his Mouth and Nostrils; but all the Execution that they could do,
was only to awake him, which when done, deriding their folly, he gather'd
them all up in his Lion's Skin, and carried them (_Philostratus_ thinks)
to _Euristhenes_.' This _Antæus_ was as remarkable for his height, as the
_Pygmies_ were for their lowness of Stature: For _Plutarch_[C] tells us,
that _Q. Sterorius_ not being willing to trust Common Fame, when he came
to _Tingis_ (now _Tangier_) he caused _Antæus's_ Sepulchre to be opened,
and found his Corps full threescore Cubits long. But _Sterorius_ knew well
enough how to impose upon the Credulity of the People, as is evident from
the Story of his _white Hind_, which _Plutarch_ likewise relates.
[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus in Comment, in Historiam Æthiopicam_, p.m.
71.]
[Footnote B: _Philostratus. Icon_. lib. 2. p.m. 817.]
[Footnote C: _Plutarch. in vita Q. Sertorij_.]
But to return to our _Pygmies_; tho' most of the great and learned Men
would seem to decry this Story as a Fiction and mere Fable, yet there is
something of Truth, they think, must have given the first rise to it, and
that it was not wholly the product of Phancy, but had some real
foundation, tho' disguised, according to the different Imagination and
_Genius_ of the _Relator_: 'Tis this that has incited them to give their
several Conjectures about it. _Job Ludolphus_ finding what has been
offered at in Relation to the _Pygmies_, not to satisfie, he thinks he can
better account for this Story, by leaving out the _Cranes_, and placing in
their stead, another sort of Bird he calls the _Condor_. I will give you
his own words: _Sed ad Pygmæos_ (saith [A] _Ludolphus_) _revertamur;
fabula de Geranomachia Pygmæorum seu pugna cum Gruibus etiam aliquid de
vero trahere videtur, si pro Gruibus_ Condoras _intelligas, Aves in
interiore_ Africa _maximas, ut fidem penè excedat; aiunt enim quod Ales
ista vitulum Elephanti in Aerem extollere possit; ut infra docebimus. Cum
his Pygmæos pugnare, ne pecora sua rapiant, incredibile non est. Error ex
eo natus videtur, quod primus Relator, alio vocabulo destitutus, Grues pro
Condoris nominârit, sicuti_ Plautus _Picos pro Gryphilus_, & Romani _Boves
lucas pro Elephantis dixere_.
[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus Comment, in Historiam suam Æthiopic_. p. 73.]
'Tis true, if what _Juvenal_ only in ridicule mentions, was to be admitted
as a thing really done, that the _Cranes_ could fly away with a _Pygmie_,
as our _Kites_ can with a Chicken, there might be some pretence for
_Ludovicus's Condor_ or _Cunctor_: For he mentions afterwards[A] out of
_P. Joh. dos Santos_ the _Portuguese_, that 'twas observed that one of
these _Condors_ once flew away with an Ape, Chain, Clog and all, about ten
or twelve pounds weight, which he carried to a neighbouring Wood, and
there devoured him. And _Garcilasso de la Vega_[B] relates that they will
seize and fly away with a Child ten or twelve years old. But _Juvenal_[C]
only mentions this in ridicule and merriment, where he saith,
Adsubitas Thracum volucres, nubemque sonoram
Pygmæos parvis currit Bellator in armis:
Mox impar hosti, raptusque per aera curvis
Unguibus à fævâ fertur Grue.
[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus ibid_. pag. 164.]
[Footnote B: _Garcilasso de la Vega Royal Comment_, of Peru.]
[Footnote C: _Juvenal Satyr_. 13 _vers_. 167.]
Besides, were the _Condors_ to be taken for the _Cranes_, it would utterly
spoil the _Pygmæomachia_; for where the Match is so very unequal, 'tis
impossible for the Pygmies to make the least shew of a fight. _Ludolphus_
puts as great hardships on them, to fight these _Condors_, as _Vossius_
did, in making them fight _Elephants_, but not with equal Success; for
_Vossius_'s _Pygmies_ made great Slaughters of the Elephants; but
_Ludolphus_ his _Cranes_ sweep away the _Pygmies_, as easily as an _Owl_
would a _Mouse_, and eat them up into the bargain; now I never heard the
_Cranes_ were so cruel and barbarous to their Enemies, tho' there are some
Nations in the World that are reported to do so.
Moreover, these _Condor_'s I find are very rare to be met with; and when
they are, they often appear single or but a few. Now _Homer_'s, and the
_Cranes_ of the Ancients, are always represented in Flocks. Thus
_Oppian_[A] as I find him translated into Latin Verse:
_Et velut Æthiopum veniunt, Nilique fluenta
Turmalim Palamedis Aves, celsoeque per altum
Aera labentes fugiunt Athlanta nivosum,
Pygmæos imbelle Genus, parvumque saligant,
Non perturbato procedunt ordine densæ
Instructis volucres obscurant aëra Turmis._
To imagine these _Grues_ a single Gigantick Bird, would much lessen the
Beauty of _Homer's Simile_, and would not have served his turn; and there
are none who have borrowed Homer's fancy, but have thought so. I will only
farther instance in _Baptista Mantuan_:
_Pygmæi breve vulgus, iners Plelecula, quando
Convenere Grues longis in prælia rostris,
Sublato clamore fremunt, dumque agmine magno
Hostibus occurrit, tellus tremit Indica, clamant
Littora, arenarum nimbis absconditur aër;
Omnis & involvit Pulvis solemque, Polumque,
Et Genus hoc Hominum naturâ imbelle, quietum,
Mite, facit Mavors pugnax, immane Cruentum._
[Footnote: A _Oppian lib. I. de Piscibus_.]
Having now considered and examined the various Opinions of these learned
Men concerning this _Pygmaeomachia_; and represented the Reasons they give
for maintaining their Conjectures; I shall beg leave to subjoyn my own:
and if what at present I offer, may seem more probable, or account for
this Story with more likelyhood, than what hath hitherto been advanced, I
shall not think my time altogether misspent: But if this will not do, I
shall never trouble my head more about them, nor think my self any ways
concerned to write on this Argument again. And I had not done it now, but
upon the occasion of Dissecting this _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, which
being a Native of _Africa_, and brought from _Angola_, tho' first taken
higher up in the Country, as I was informed by the Relation given me; and
observing so great a Resemblance, both in the outward shape, and, what
surprized me more, in the Structure likewise of the inward Parts, to a
_Man_; this Thought was easily suggested to me, That very probably this
_Animal_, or some other such of the same _Species_, might give the first
rise and occasion to the Stories of the _Pygmies_. What has been the
[Greek: proton pheudos], and rendered this Story so difficult to be
believed, I find hath been the Opinion that has generally obtained, that
these _Pygmies_ were really a Race of _little Men_. And tho' they are only
_Brutes_, yet being at first call'd _wild Men_, no doubt from the
Resemblance they bear to _Men_; there have not been wanting those
especially amongst the Ancients, who have invented a hundred ridiculous
Stories concerning them; and have attributed those things to them, were
they to be believed in what they say, that necessarily conclude them real
_Men_.
To sum up therefore what I have already discoursed, I think I have proved,
that the _Pygmies_ were not an _Humane Species_ or _Men_. And tho'
_Homer_, who first mentioned them, calls them [Greek: andres pygmaioi],
yet we need not understand by this Expression any thing more than _Apes_:
And tho' his _Geranomachia_ hath been look'd upon by most only as a
Poetical Fiction; yet by assigning what might be the true Cause of this
Quarrel between the _Cranes_ and _Pygmies_, and by divesting it of the
many fabulous Relations that the _Indian Historians_, and others, have
loaded it with, I have endeavoured to render it a true, at least a
probable Story. I have instanced in _Ctesias_ and the _Indian Historians_,
as the Authors and Inventors of the many Fables we have had concerning
them: Particularly, I have Examined those Relations, where Speech or
Language is attributed to them; and shewn, that there is no reason to
believe that they ever spake any Language at all. But these _Indian
Historians_ having related so many extravagant Romances of the _Pygmies_,
as to render their whole History suspected, nay to be utterly denied, that
there were ever any such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in _Nature_, both by
_Strabo_ of old, and most of our learned men of late, I have endeavoured
to assert the Truth of their _being_, from a _Text_ in _Aristotle_; which
being so positive in affirming their Existence, creates a difficulty, that
can no ways be got over by such as are of the contrary Opinion. This
_Text_ I have vindicated from the false Interpretations and Glosses of
several Great Men, who had their Minds so prepossessed and prejudiced with
the Notion of _Men Pygmies_, that they often would quote it, and misapply
it, tho' it contain'd nothing that any ways favoured their Opinion; but
the contrary rather, that they were _Brutes_, and not _Men_.
And that the _Pygmies_ were really _Brutes_, I think I have plainly proved
out of _Herodotus_ and _Philostratus_, who reckon them amongst the _wild
Beasts_ that breed in those Countries: For tho' by _Herodotus_ they are
call'd [Greek: andres agrioi], and _Philostratus_ calls them [Greek:
anthropous melanas], yet both make them [Greek: theria] or _wild Beasts_.
And I might here add what _Pausanias_[A] relates from _Euphemus Car_, who
by contrary Winds was driven upon some Islands, where he tells us, [Greek:
en de tautais oikein andras agrious], but when he comes to describe them,
tells us that they had no Speech; that they had Tails on their Rumps; and
were very lascivious toward the Women in the Ship. But of these more, when
we come to discourse of _Satyrs_.
[Footnote A: _Pausanias in Atticis_, p.m. 21.]
And we may the less wonder to find that they call _Brutes Men_, since
'twas common for these _Historians_ to give the Title of _Men_, not only
to _Brutes_, but they were grown so wanton in their Inventions, as to
describe several Nations of _Monstrous Men_, that had never any Being, but
in their own Imagination, as I have instanced in several. I therefore
excuse _Strabo_, for denying the _Pygmies_, since he could not but be
convinced, they could not be such _Men_, as these _Historians_ have
described them. And the better to judge of the Reasons that some of the
Moderns have given to prove the Being of _Men Pygmies_, I have laid down
as _Postulata's_, that hereby we must not understand _Dwarfs_, nor yet a
Nation of _Men_, tho' somewhat of a lesser size and stature than ordinary;
but we must observe those two Characteristicks that _Homer_ gives of them,
that they are _Cubitales_ and fight _Cranes_.
Having premised this, I have taken into consideration _Caspar Bartholine
Senior_ his _Opusculum_ _de Pygmæis_, and _Jo. Talentonius_'s Dissertation
about them: and upon examination do find, that neither the Humane
Authorities, nor Divine that they alledge, do any ways prove, as they
pretend, the Being of _Men Pygmies_. St. _Austin_, who is likewise quoted
on their side, is so far from favouring this Opinion, that he doubts
whether any such Creatures exist, and if they do, concludes them to be
_Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and censures those _Indian Historians_ for imposing
such Beasts upon us, as distinct Races of _Men_. _Julius Cæsar Scaliger_,
and _Isaac Casaubon_, and _Adrian Spigelius_ utterly deny the Being of
_Pygmies_, and look upon them as a Figment only of the Ancients, because
such little Men as they describe them to be, are no where to be met with
in all the World. The Learned _Bochartus_ tho' he esteems the
_Geranomachia_ to be a Fable, and slights it, yet thinks that what might
give the occasion to the Story of the _Pygmies_, might be the _Nubæ_ or
_Nobæ_; as _Isaac Vossius_ conjectures that it was those _Dwarfs_ beyond
the Fountains of the _Nile_, that _Dapper_ calls the _Mimos_, and tells
us, they kill _Elephants_ for to make a Traffick with their Teeth. But
_Job Ludolphus_ alters the Scene, and instead of _Cranes_, substitutes his
_Condors_, who do not fight the _Pygmies_, but fly away with them, and
then devour them.
Now all these Conjectures do no ways account for _Homer's Pygmies_ and
_Cranes_, they are too much forced and strain'd. Truth is always easie and
plain. In our present Case therefore I think the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild
Man_, may exactly supply the place of the _Pygmies_, and without any
violence or injury to the Story, sufficiently account for the whole
History of the _Pygmies_, but what is most apparently fabulous; for what
has been the greatest difficulty to be solved or satisfied, was their
being _Men_; for as _Gesner_ remarks (as I have already quoted him) _Sed
veterum nullus aliter de Pygmæis scripsit, quàm Homunciones esse_. And the
Moderns too, being byassed and misguided by this Notion, have either
wholly denied them, or contented themselves in offering their Conjectures
what might give the first rise to the inventing this Fable. And tho'
_Albertus_, as I find him frequently quoted, thought that the _Pygmies_
might be only a sort of _Apes_, and he is placed in the Head of those that
espoused this Opinion, yet he spoils all, by his way of reasoning, and by
making them speak; which was more than he needed to do.
I cannot see therefore any thing that will so fairly solve this doubt,
that will reconcile all, that will so easily and plainly make out this
Story, as by making the _Orang-Outang_ to be the _Pygmie_ of the Ancients;
for 'tis the same Name that Antiquity gave them. For _Herodotus_'s [Greek:
andres agrioi], what can they be else, than _Homines Sylvestres_, or _wild
Men_? as they are now called. And _Homer_'s [Greek: andres pygmaioi], are
no more an Humane Kind, or Men, then _Herodotus_'s [Greek: andres agrioi],
which he makes to be [Greek: theria], or _wild Beasts_: And the [Greek:
andres mikroi] or [Greek: melanes] (as they are often called) were just
the same. Because this sort of _Apes_ had so great a resemblance to Men,
more than other _Apes_ or _Monkeys_; and they going naturally erect, and
being designed by Nature to go so, (as I have shewn in the _Anatomy_) the
Ancients had a very plausible ground for giving them this denomination of
[Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], but commonly they added an Epithet;
as [Greek: agrioi, mikroi, pygmaioi, melanes], or some such like. Now the
Ancient _Greek_ and _Indian Historians_, tho' they might know these
_Pygmies_ to be only _Apes_ like _Men_, and not to be real _Men_, yet
being so extremely addicted to _Mythology_, or making Fables, and finding
this so fit a Subject to engraft upon, and invent Stories about, they have
not been wanting in furnishing us with a great many very Romantick ones on
this occasion. And the Moderns being imposed upon by them, and misguided
by the Name of [Greek: andres] or [Greek: anthropoi], as if thereby must
be always understood an _Humane Kind_, or _real Men_, they have altogether
mistaken the Truth of the Story, and have either wholly denied it, or
rendered it as improbable by their own Conjectures.