Chapter 7

_Naviganti à Pharsa Nonoso, & ad extremam usque insularum delato, tale quid occurrit, vel ipso auditu admirandum. Incidit enim in quosdam forma quidem & figura humana, sed brevissimos, & cutem nigros, totúmque pilosos corpus. Sequebantur viros æquales foeminæ, & pueri adhuc breviores. Nudi omnes agunt, pelle tantum brevi adultiores verenda tecti, viri pariter ac foeminæ: agreste nihil, neque efferum quid præ se ferentes. Quin & vox illis humana, sed omnibus, etiam accolis, prorsus ignota lingua, multoque amplius Nonosi sociis. Vivunt marinis ostreis, & piscibus è mari ad insulam projectis. Audaces minime sunt, ut nostris conspectis hominibus, quemadmodum nos visa ingenti fera, metu perculsi fuerint._

'That _Nonnosus_ sailing from _Pharsa_, when he came to the farthermost of the Islands, a thing, very strange to be heard of, happened to him; for he lighted on some (_Animals_) in shape and appearance like _Men_, but little of stature, and of a black colour, and thick covered with hair all over their Bodies. The Women, who were of the same stature, followed the Men: They were all naked, only the Elder of them, both Men and Women, covered their Privy Parts with a small Skin. They seemed not at all fierce or wild; they had a Humane Voice, but their _Dialect_ was altogether unknown to every Body that lived about them; much more to those that were with _Nonnosus_. They liv'd upon Sea Oysters, and Fish that were cast out of the Sea, upon the Island. They had no Courage; for seeing our Men, they were frighted, as we are at the sight of the greatest wild Beast.'

[Greek: _phonaen eichon men anthropinaen_] I render here, _they had a Humane Voice_, not _Speech_: for had they spoke any Language, tho' their _Dialect_ might be somewhat different, yet no doubt but some of the Neighbourhood would have understood something of it, and not have been such utter Strangers to it. Now 'twas observed of the _Orang-Outang_, that it's _Voice_ was like the Humane, and it would make a Noise like a Child, but never was observed to speak, tho' it had the _Organs_ of _Speech_ exactly formed as they are in _Man_; and no Account that ever has been given of this Animal do's pretend that ever it did. I should rather agree to what _Pliny_[A] mentions, _Quibusdam pro Sermone nutus motusque Membrorum est_; and that they had no more a Speech than _Ctesias_ his _Cynocephali_ which could only bark, as the same _Pliny_[B] remarks; where he saith, _In multis autem Montibus Genus Hominum Capitibus Caninis, ferarum pellibus velari, pro voce latratum edere, unguibus armatum venatu & Aucupio vesci, horum supra Centum viginti Millia fuisse prodente se Ctesias scribit._ But in _Photius_ I find, that _Ctesias's Cynocephali_ did speak the _Indian Language_ as well as the _Pygmies_. Those therefore in _Nonnosus_ since they did not speak the _Indian_, I doubt, spoke no _Language_ at all; or at least, no more than other _Brutes_ do.

[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 30. p.m. 741.]

[Footnote B: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 11.]

_Ctesias_ I find is the only Author that ever understood what Language 'twas that the _Pygmies_ spake: For _Herodotus_[A] owns that they use a sort of Tongue like to no other, but screech like _Bats_. He saith, [Greek: Hoi Garamantes outoi tous troglodytas Aithiopas thaereuousi toisi tetrippoisi. Hoi gar Troglodytai aithiopes podas tachistoi anthropon panton eisi, ton hymeis peri logous apopheromenous akouomen. Siteontai de hoi Troglodytai ophis, kai Saurous, kai ta toiauta ton Herpeton. Glossan de oudemiaei allaei paromoiaen nenomikasi, alla tetrygasi kathaper hai nukterides;] i.e. _These_ Garamantes _hunt the_ Troglodyte Æthiopians _in Chariots with four Horses. The_ Troglodyte Æthiopians _are the swiftest of foot of all Men that ever he heard of by any Report. The_ Troglodytes _eat Serpents and Lizards, and such sort of Reptiles. They use a Language like to no other Tongue, but screech like Bats._

[Footnote A: _Herodot. in Melpomene._ pag. 283.]

Now that the _Pygmies_ are _Troglodytes_, or do live in Caves, is plain from _Aristotle_,[A] who saith, [Greek: Troglodytai de' eisi ton bion]. And so _Philostratus_,[B] [Greek: Tous de pygmaious oikein men hypogeious]. And methinks _Le Compte_'s Relation concerning the _wild_ or _savage Man_ in _Borneo_, agrees so well with this, that I shall transcribe it: for he tells us,[C] _That in_ Borneo _this_ wild _or_ savage Man _is indued with extraordinary strength; and not withstanding he walks but upon two Legs, yet he is so swift of foot, that they have much ado to outrun him. People of Quality course him, as we do Stags here: and this sort of hunting is the King's usual divertisement._ And _Gassendus_ in the Life of _Peiresky_, tells us they commonly hunt them too in _Angola_ in _Africa_, as I have already mentioned. So that very likely _Herodotus's Troglodyte Æthiopians_ may be no other than our _Orang-Outang_ or _wild Man_. And the rather, because I fancy their Language is much the same: for an _Ape_ will chatter, and make a noise like a _Bat_, as his _Troglodytes_ did: And they undergo to this day the same Fate of being hunted, as formerly the _Troglodytes_ used to be by the _Garamantes_.

[Footnote A: _Arist. Hist. Animal._, lib. 8. cap. 15. p.m. 913.]

[Footnote B: _Philostrat. in vita Appollon. Tyanæi_, lib. 3. cap. 14. p.m. 152.]

[Footnote C: _Lewis le Compte_ Memoirs and Observations on _China_, p.m. 510.]

Whether those [Greek: andras mikrous metrion elassonas andron] which the _Nasamones_ met with (as _Herodotus_[A] relates) in their Travels to discover _Libya_, were the _Pygmies_; I will not determine: It seems that _Nasamones_ neither understood their Language, nor they that of the _Nasamones_. However, they were so kind to the _Nasamones_ as to be their Guides along the Lakes, and afterwards brought them to a City, [Greek: en taei pantas einai toisi agousi to megethos isous, chroma de melanas], i.e. _in which all were of the same stature with the Guides, and black_. Now since they were all _little black Men_, and their Language could not be understood, I do suspect they may be a Colony of the _Pygmies_: And that they were no farther Guides to the _Nasamones_, than that being frighted at the sight of them, they ran home, and the _Nasamones_ followed them.

[Footnote A: _Herodotus in Euterpe_ seu lib. 2. p.m. 102.]

I do not find therefore any good Authority, unless you will reckon _Ctesias_ as such, that the _Pygmies_ ever used a Language or Speech, any more than other _Brutes_ of the same _Species_ do among themselves, and that we know nothing of, whatever _Democritus_ and _Melampodes_ in _Pliny_,[A] or _Apollonius Tyanæus_ in _Porphyry_[B] might formerly have done. Had the _Pygmies_ ever spoke any _Language_ intelligible by Mankind, this might have furnished our _Historians_ with notable Subjects for their _Novels_; and no doubt but we should have had plenty of them.

[Footnote A: _Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 10. cap. 49.]

[Footnote B: _Porphyrius de Abstinentia_, lib. 3. pag. m. 103.]

But _Albertus Magnus_, who was so lucky as to guess that the _Pygmies_ were a sort of _Apes_; that he should afterwards make these _Apes_ to _speak_, was very unfortunate, and spoiled all; and he do's it, methinks, so very awkwardly, that it is as difficult almost to understand his Language as his _Apes_; if the Reader has a mind to attempt it, he will find it in the Margin.[A]

[Footnote A: _Si qui Homines sunt Silvestres, sicut Pygmeus, non secundum unam rationem nobiscum dicti sunt Homines, sed aliquod habent Hominis in quadam deliberatione & Loquela, &c._ A little after adds, _Voces quædam (sc. Animalia) formant ad diversos conceptus quos habent, sicut Homo & Pygmæus; & quædam non faciunt hoc, sicut multitudo fere tota aliorum Animalium. Adhuc autem eorum quæ ex ratione cogitativa formant voces, quædam sunt succumbentia, quædam autem non succumbentia. Dico autem succumbentia, à conceptu Animæ cadentia & mota ad Naturæ Instinctum, sicut Pygmeus, qui non, sequitur rationem Loquelæ sed Naturæ Instinctum; Homo autem non succumbit sed sequitur rationem._ Albert. Magn. de Animal. lib. 1. cap. 3. p.m. 3.]

Had _Albertus_ only asserted, that the _Pygmies_ were a sort of _Apes_, his Opinion possibly might have obtained with less difficulty, unless he could have produced some Body that had heard them talk. But _Ulysses Aldrovandus_[A] is so far from believing his _Ape Pygmies_ ever spoke, that he utterly denies, that there were ever any such Creatures in being, as the _Pygmies_, at all; or that they ever fought the _Cranes_. _Cum itaque Pygmæos_ (saith he) _dari negemus, Grues etiam cum iis Bellum gerere, ut fabulantur, negabimus, & tam pertinaciter id negabimus, ut ne jurantibus credemus._

[Footnote A: _Ulys. Aldrovandi Ornitholog._ lib. 20. p.m. 344.]

I find a great many very Learned Men are of this Opinion: And in the first place, _Strabo_[A] is very positive; [Greek: Heorakos men gar oudeis exaegeitai ton pisteos axion andron;] i.e. _No Man worthy of belief did ever see them_. And upon all occasions he declares the same. So _Julius Cæsar Scaliger_[B] makes them to be only a Fiction of the Ancients, _At hæc omnia_ (saith he) _Antiquorum figmenta & meræ Nugæ, si exstarent, reperirentur. At cum universus Orbis nunc nobis cognitus sit, nullibi hæc Naturæ Excrementa reperiri certissimum est._ And _Isaac Casaubon_[C] ridicules such as pretend to justifie them: _Sic nostra ætate_ (saith he) _non desunt, qui eandem de Pygmæis lepidam fabellam renovent; ut qui etiam è Sacris Literis, si Deo placet, fidem illis conentur astruere. Legi etiam Bergei cujusdam Galli Scripta, qui se vidisse diceret. At non ego credulus illi, illi inquam Omnium Bipedum mendacissimo._ I shall add one Authority more, and that is of _Adrian Spigelius,_ who produces a Witness that had examined the very place, where the _Pygmies_ were said to be; yet upon a diligent enquiry, he could neither find them, nor hear any tidings of them.[D] _Spigelius_ therefore tells us, _Hoc loco de Pygmæis dicendum erat, qui [Greek: para pygonos] dicti à statura, quæ ulnam non excedunt. Verùm ego Poetarum fabulas esse crediderim, pro quibus tamen_ Aristoteles _minimè haberi vult, sed veram esse Historiam._ 8. Hist. Animal. 12. _asseverat. Ego quo minùs hoc statuam, tum Authoritate primùm Doctissimi_ Strabonis I. Geograph. _coactus sum, tum potissimùm nunc moveor, quod nostro tempore, quo nulla Mundi pars est, quam Nautarum Industria non perlustrarit, nihil tamen, unquam simile aut visum est, aut auditum. Accedit quod_ Franciscus Alvarez _Lusitanus, qui ea ipsa loca peragravit, circa quæ Aristoteles Pygmæos esse scribit, nullibi tamen tam parvam Gentem à se conspectam tradidit, sed Populum esse Mediocris staturæ, &_ Æthiopes _tradit._

[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 17. p.m. 565.]

[Footnote B: _Jul. Cæs. Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. § 126. p.m. 914.]

[Footnote C: _Isaac Causabon Notæ & Castigat. in_ lib. 1. _Strabonis Geograph._ p.m. 38.]

[Footnote D: _Adrian. Spigelij de Corporis Humani fabrica_, lib. 1. cap. 7. p.m. 15.]

I think my self therefore here obliged to make out, that there were such Creatures as _Pygmies_, before I determine what they were, since the very being of them is called in question, and utterly denied by so great Men, and by others too that might be here produced. Now in the doing this, _Aristotle_'s Assertion of them is so very positive, that I think there needs not a greater or better Proof; and it is so remarkable a one, that I find the very Enemies to this Opinion at a loss, how to shift it off. To lessen it's Authority they have interpolated the _Text_, by foisting into the _Translation_ what is not in the Original; or by not translating at all the most material passage, that makes against them; or by miserably glossing it, to make him speak what he never intended: Such unfair dealings plainly argue, that at any rate they are willing to get rid of a Proof, that otherwise they can neither deny, or answer.

_Aristotle_'s Text is this, which I shall give with _Theodorus Gaza's_ Translation: for discoursing of the Migration of Birds, according to the Season of the Year, from one Country to another, he saith:[A]

[Footnote A: _Aristotel. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 12.]

[Greek: Meta men taen phthinoporinaen Isaemerian, ek tou Pontou kaiton psychron pheugonta ton epionta cheimona; meta de taen earinaen, ek ton therinon, eis tous topous tous psychrous, phoboumena ta kaumata; ta men, kai ek ton engus topon poioumena tas metabolas, ta de, kai ek ton eschaton hos eipein, hoion hai geranoi poiousi. Metaballousi gar ek ton Skythikon eis ta helae ta ano taes Aigyptou, othen ho Neilos rhei. Esti de ho topos outos peri on hoi pigmaioi katoikousin; ou gar esti touto mythos, all' esti kata taen alaetheian. Genos mikron men, hosper legetai, kai autoi kai hoi hippoi; Troglodytai d' eisi ton bion.]

_Tam ab Autumnali Æquinoctio ex Ponto, Locisque frigidis fugiunt Hyemem futuram. A Verno autem ex tepida Regione ad frigidam sese conferunt, æstus metu futuri: & alia de locis vicinis discedunt, alia de ultimis, prope dixerim, ut Grues faciunt, quæ ex Scythicis Campis ad Paludes Ægypto superiores, unde Nilus profluit, veniunt, quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis dicuntur. Non enim id fabula est, sed certe, genus tum hominum, tum etiam Equorum pusillum (ut dicitur) est, deguntque in Cavernis, unde Nomen Troglodytæ a subeundis Cavernis accepere._

In English 'tis thus: 'At the _Autumnal Æquinox_ they go out of _Pontus_ and the cold Countreys to avoid the Winter that is coming on. At the _Vernal Æquinox_ they pass from hot Countreys into cold ones, for fear of the ensuing heat; some making their Migrations from nearer places; others from the most remote (as I may say) as the _Cranes_ do: for they come out of _Scythia_ to the Lakes above _Ægypt_, whence the _Nile_ do's flow. This is the place, whereabout the _Pygmies_ dwell: For this is no _Fable_, but a _Truth_. Both they and the Horses, as 'tis said, are a small kind. They are _Troglodytes_, or live in Caves.'

We may here observe how positive the _Philosopher_ is, that there are _Pygmies_; he tells us where they dwell, and that 'tis no Fable, but a Truth. But _Theodorus Gaza_ has been unjust in translating him, by foisting in, _Quo in loco pugnare cum Pygmæis dicuntur_, whereas there is nothing in the Text that warrants it: As likewise, where he expresses the little Stature of the _Pygmies_ and the Horses, there _Gaza_ has rendered it, _Sed certè Genus tum Hominum, tum etiam Equorum pusillum_. _Aristotle_ only saith, [Greek: Genos mikron men hosper legetai, kai autoi, kai hoi hippoi]. He neither makes his _Pygmies Men_, nor saith any thing of their fighting the _Cranes_; tho' here he had a fair occasion, discoursing of the Migration of the _Cranes_ out of _Scythia_ to the _Lakes_ above _Ægypt_, where he tells us the _Pygmies_ are. Cardan[A] therefore must certainly be out in his guess, that _Aristotle_ only asserted the _Pygmies_ out of Complement to his friend _Homer_; for surely then he would not have forgot their fight with the _Cranes_; upon which occasion only _Homer_ mentions them.[B] I should rather think that _Aristotle_, being sensible of the many Fables that had been raised on this occasion, studiously avoided the mentioning this fight, that he might not give countenance to the Extravagant Relations that had been made of it.

[Footnote A: _Cardan de Rerum varietate_, lib. 8. cap. 40. p.m. 153.]

[Footnote B: _Apparet ergo_ (saith _Cardan_) Pygmæorum Historiam esse fabulosam, quod &_ Strabo _sentit & nosira ætas, cum omnia nunc fermè orbis mirabilia innotuerint, declarat. Sed quod tantum Philosophum decepit, fuit Homeri Auctoritas non apud illium levis.]

But I wonder that neither _Casaubon_ nor _Duvall_ in their Editions of _Aristotle_'s Works, should have taken notice of these Mistakes of _Gaza_, and corrected them. And _Gesner_, and _Aldrovandus_, and several other Learned Men, in quoting this place of _Aristotle_, do make use of this faulty Translation, which must necessarily lead them into Mistakes. _Sam. Bochartus_[A] tho' he gives _Aristotle_'s Text in Greek, and adds a new Translation of it, he leaves out indeed the _Cranes_ fighting with the _Pygmies_, yet makes them _Men_, which _Aristotle_ do's not; and by anti-placing, _ut aiunt_, he renders _Aristotle_'s Assertion more dubious; _Neque enim_ (saith he in the Translation) _id est fabula, sed reverâ, ut aiunt, Genus ibi parvum est tam Hominum quàm Equorum. Julius Cæsar Scaliger_ in translating this Text of _Aristotle_, omits both these Interpretations of _Gaza_; but on the other hand is no less to be blamed in not translating at all the most remarkable passage, and where the Philosopher seems to be so much in earnest; as, [Greek: ou gar esti touto mythos, all' esti kata taen alaetheian], this he leaves wholly out, without giving us his reason for it, if he had any: And Scaliger's[B] insinuation in his Comment, _viz. Negat esse fabulam de his (sc. Pygmeis)_ Herodotus, _at Philosophus semper moderatus & prudens etiam addidit_, [Greek: hosper legetai], is not to be allowed. Nor can I assent to Sir _Thomas Brown_'s[C] remark upon this place; _Where indeed_ (saith he) Aristotle _plays the_ Aristotle; _that is, the wary and evading asserter; for tho' with_ non est fabula _he seems at first to confirm it, yet at last he claps in,_ sicut aiunt, _and shakes the belief he placed before upon it. And therefore_ Scaliger (saith he) _hath not translated the first, perhaps supposing it surreptitious, or unworthy so great an Assertor._ But had _Scaliger_ known it to be surreptitious, no doubt but he would have remarked it; and then there had been some Colour for the Gloss. But 'tis unworthy to be believed of _Aristotle_, who was so wary and cautious, that he should in so short a passage, contradict himself: and after he had so positively affirmed the Truth of it, presently doubt it. His [Greek: hosper legetai] therefore must have a Reference to what follows, _Pusillum genus, ut aiunt, ipsi atque etiam Equi_, as _Scaliger_ himself translates it.

[Footnote A: _Bocharti Hierozoic. S. de Animalib. S. Script. part. Posterior_. lib. 1. cap. 11. p.m. 76.]

[Footnote B: _Scaliger. Comment. in Arist. Hist. Animal._ lib. 8. p.m. 914.]

[Footnote C: Sir _Thomas Brown_'s _Pseudodoxia_, or, _Enquiries into Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. cap. 11.]

I do not here find _Aristotle_ asserting or confirming any thing of the fabulous Narrations that had been made about the _Pygmies_. He does not say that they were [Greek: andres], or [Greek: anthropoi mikroi], or [Greek: melanes]; he only calls them [Greek: pygmaioi]. And discoursing of the _Pygmies_ in a place, where he is only treating about _Brutes_, 'tis reasonable to think, that he looked upon them only as such. _This is the place where the_ Pygmies _are; this is no fable,_ saith Aristotle, as 'tis that they are a Dwarfish Race of Men; that they speak the _Indian_ Language; that they are excellent Archers; that they are very Just; and abundance of other Things that are fabulously reported of them; and because he thought them _Fables_, he does not take the least notice of them, but only saith, _This is no Fable, but a Truth, that about the Lakes of_ Nile such _Animals_, as are called _Pygmies_, do live. And, as if he had foreseen, that the abundance of Fables that _Ctesias_ (whom he saith is not to be believed) and the _Indian Historians_ had invented about them, would make the whole Story to appear as a Figment, and render it doubtful, whether there were ever such Creatures as _Pygmies_ in Nature; he more zealously asserts the _Being_ of them, and assures us, That _this is no Fable, but a Truth_.

I shall therefore now enquire what sort of Creatures these _Pygmies_ were; and hope so to manage the Matter, as in a great measure, to abate the Passion these Great Men have had against them: for, no doubt, what has incensed them the most, was, the fabulous _Historians_ making them a part of _Mankind_, and then inventing a hundred ridiculous Stories about them, which they would impose upon the World as real Truths. If therefore they have Satisfaction given them in these two Points, I do not see, but that the Business may be accommodated very fairly; and that they may be allowed to be _Pygmies_, tho' we do not make them _Men_.

For I am not of _Gesner_'s mind, _Sed veterum nullus_ (saith he[A]) _aliter de Pygmæis scripsit, quàm Homunciones esse_. Had they been a Race of _Men_, no doubt but _Aristotle_ would have informed himself farther about them. Such a Curiosity could not but have excited his Inquisitive _Genius_, to a stricter Enquiry and Examination; and we might easily have expected from him a larger Account of them. But finding them, it may be, a sort of _Apes_, he only tells us, that in such a place these _Pygmies_ live.

[Footnote A: _Gesner. Histor. Quadruped._ p.m. 885.]

Herodotus[A] plainly makes them _Brutes_: For reckoning up the _Animals_ of _Libya_, he tells us, [Greek: Kai gar hoi ophies hoi hypermegathees, kai hoi leontes kata toutous eisi, kai hoi elephantes te kai arktoi, kai aspides te kai onoi hoi ta kerata echontes; kai hoi kynokephaloi (akephaloi) hoi en toisi staethesi tous ophthalmous echontes (hos dae legetai ge hypo libyon) kai agrioi andres, kai gynaikes agriai kai alla plaethei polla thaeria akatapseusta;] i.e. _That there are here prodigious large Serpents, and Lions, and Elephants, and Bears, and Asps, and Asses that have horns, and Cynocephali,_ (in the Margin 'tis _Acephali_) _that have Eyes in their Breast, (as is reported by the Libyans) and wild Men, and wild Women, and a great many other wild Beasts that are not fabulous._ Tis evident therefore that _Herodotus_ his [Greek: agrioi andres, kai gynaikes agriai] are only [Greek: thaeria] or wild Beasts: and tho' they are called [Greek: andres], they are no more _Men_ than our _Orang-Outang_, or _Homo_ _Sylvestris_, or _wild Man_, which has exactly the same Name, and I must confess I can't but think is the same Animal: and that the same Name has been continued down to us, from his Time, and it may be from _Homer's_.

[Footnote A: _Herodot. Melpomene seu_ lib. 4. p.m. 285.]

So _Philostratus_ speaking of _Æthiopia_ and _Ægypt_, tells us,[A] [Greek: Boskousi de kai thaeria hoia ouch heterothi; kai anthropous melanas, ho mae allai aepeiroi. Pygmaion te en autais ethnae kai hylaktounton allo allaei.] i.e. _Here are bred wild Beasts that are not in other places; and black Men, which no other Country affords: and amongst them is the Nation of the Pygmies, and the_ BARKERS, that is, the _Cynocephali._ For tho' _Philostratus_ is pleased here only to call them _Barkers_, and to reckon them, as he does the _Black Men_ and the _Pygmies_ amongst the _wild Beasts_ of those Countreys; yet _Ctesias_, from whom _Philostratus_ has borrowed a great deal of his _Natural History_, stiles them _Men_, and makes them speak, and to perform most notable Feats in Merchandising. But not being in a merry Humour it may be now, before he was aware, he speaks Truth: For _Cælius Rhodiginus's_[B] Character of him is, _Philostratus omnium qui unquam Historiam conscripserunt, mendacissimus._

[Footnote A: _Philostratus in vita Apollon. Tyanæi_, lib. 6. cap. 1. p.m. 258.]

[Footnote B: _Cælij Rhodigini Lection. Antiq._ lib. 17. cap. 13.]