Chapter 8

Since the _Pygmies_ therefore are some of the _Brute Beasts_ that naturally breed in these Countries, and they are pleased to let us know as much, I can easily excuse them a Name. [Greek: Andres agrioi], or _Orang-Outang_, is alike to me; and I am better pleased with _Homer_'s [Greek: andres pygmaioi], than if he had called [Greek: pithaekoi]. Had this been the only Instance where they had misapplied the Name of _Man_, methinks I could be so good natur'd, as in some measure to make an Apology for them. But finding them, so extravagantly loose, so wretchedly whimsical, in abusing the Dignity of Mankind, by giving the name of _Man_ to such monstrous Productions of their idle Imaginations, as the _Indian Historians_ have done, I do not wonder that wise Men have suspected all that comes out of their Mint, to be false and counterfeit.

Such are their [Greek: Amykteres] or [Greek: Arrines], that want Noses, and have only two holes above their Mouth; they eat all things, but they must be raw; they are short lived; the upper part of their Mouths is very prominent. The [Greek: Enotokeitai], whose Ears reach down to their Heels, on which they lye and sleep. The [Greek: Astomoi], that have no Mouths, a civil sort of People, that dwell about the Head of the _Ganges_; and live upon smelling to boil'd Meats and the Odours of Fruits and Flowers; they can bear no ill scent, and therefore can't live in a Camp. The [Greek: Monommatoi] or [Greek: Monophthalmoi], that have but one Eye, and that in the middle of their Foreheads: they have Dog's Ears; their Hair stands an end, but smooth on the Breasts. The [Greek: Sternophthalmoi], that have Eyes in their Breasts. The [Greek: Panai sphaenokephaloi] with Heads like Wedges. The [Greek: Makrokephaloi], with great Heads. The [Greek: hyperboreoi], who live a Thousand years. The [Greek: okypodes], so swift that they will out-run a Horse. The [Greek: opiothodaktyloi], that go with their Heels forward, and their Toes backwards. The [Greek: Makroskeleis], The [Greek: Steganopodes], The [Greek: Monoskeleis], who have one Leg, but will jump a great way, and are call'd _Sciapodes_, because when they lye on their Backs, with this _Leg_ they can keep off the Sun from their Bodies.

Now _Strabo_[A] from whom I have collected the Description of these Monstrous sorts of _Men_, and they are mentioned too by _Pliny, Solinus, Mela, Philostratus_, and others; and _Munster_ in his _Cosmography_[B] has given a _figure_ of some of them; _Strabo_, I say, who was an Enemy to all such fabulous Relations, no doubt was prejudiced likewise against the _Pygmies_, because these _Historians_ had made them a Puny Race of _Men_, and invented so many Romances about them. I can no ways therefore blame him for denying, that there were ever any such _Men Pygmies_; and do readily agree with him, that no _Man_ ever saw them: and am so far from dissenting from those Great Men, who have denied them on this account, that I think they have all the reason in the World on their side. And to shew how ready I am to close with them in this Point, I will here examine the contrary Opinion, and what Reasons they give for the supporting it: For there have been some _Moderns_, as well as the _Ancients_, that have maintained that these _Pygmies_ were real _Men_. And this they pretend to prove, both from _Humane Authority_ and _Divine_.

[Footnote A: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 15. p.m. 489. & lib. 2. p. 48. _& alibi_.]

[Footnote B: _Munster Cosmograph._ lib. 6. p. 1151.]

Now by _Men Pygmies_ we are by no means to understand _Dwarfs_. In all Countries, and in all Ages, there has been now and then observed such _Miniture_ of Mankind, or under-sized Men. _Cardan_[A] tells us he saw one carried about in a Parrot's Cage, that was but a Cubit high. _Nicephorus_[B] tells us, that in _Theodosius_ the Emperour's time, there was one in _Ægypt_ that was no bigger than a Partridge; yet what was to be admired, he was very Prudent, had a sweet clear Voice, and a generous Mind; and lived Twenty Years. So likewise a King of _Portugal_ sent to a Duke of _Savoy_, when he married his Daughter to him, an _Æthiopian Dwarf_ but three Palms high.[C] And _Thevenot_[D] tells us of the Present made by the King of the _Abyssins_, to the _Grand Seignior_, of several _little black Slaves_ out of _Nubia_, and the Countries near _Æthiopia_, which being made _Eunuchs_, were to guard the Ladies of the _Seraglio_. And a great many such like Relations there are. But these being only _Dwarfs_, they must not be esteemed the _Pygmies_ we are enquiring about, which are represented as a _Nation_, and the whole Race of them to be of the like stature. _Dari tamen integras Pumilionum Gentes, tam falsum est, quàm quod falsissimum_, saith _Harduin_.[E]

[Footnote A: _Cardan de subtilitate_, lib. 11. p. 458.]

[Footnote B: _Nicephor. Histor. Ecclesiiast._ lib. 12. cap. 37.]

[Footnote C: _Happelius in Relat. curiosis_, No. 85. p. 677.]

[Footnote D: _Thevenot. Voyage de Levant._ lib. 2. c. 68.]

[Footnote E: _Jo. Harduini Notæ in Plinij Nat. Hist._ lib. 6. cap. 22. p. 688.]

Neither likewise must it be granted, that tho' in some _Climates_ there might be _Men_ generally of less stature, than what are to be met with in other Countries, that they are presently _Pygmies_. _Nature_ has not fixed the same standard to the growth of _Mankind_ in all Places alike, no more than to _Brutes_ or _Plants_. The Dimensions of them all, according to the _Climate_, may differ. If we consult the Original, _viz. Homer_ that first mentioned the _Pygmies_, there are only these two _Characteristics_ he gives of them. That they are [Greek: Pygmaioi] _seu Cubitales_; and that the _Cranes_ did use to fight them. 'Tis true, as a _Poet_, he calls them [Greek: andres], which I have accounted for before. Now if there cannot be found such _Men_ as are _Cubitales_, that the _Cranes_ might probably fight with, notwithstanding all the Romances of the _Indian Historians_, I cannot think these _Pygmies_ to be _Men_, but they must be some other _Animals_, or the whole must be a Fiction.

Having premised this, we will now enquire into their Assertion that maintain the _Pygmies_ to be a Race of _Men_. Now because there have been _Giants_ formerly, that have so much exceeded the usual Stature of _Man_, that there must be likewise _Pygmies_ as defective in the other extream from this Standard, I think is no conclusive Argument, tho' made use of by some. Old _Caspar Bartholine_[A] tells us, that because _J. Cassanius_ and others had wrote _de Gygantibus_, since no Body else had undertaken it, he would give us a Book _de Pygmæis_; and since he makes it his design to prove the Existence of _Pygmies_, and that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_, I must confess I expected great Matters from him.

[Footnote A: _Caspar. Bartholin. Opusculum de Pygmæis._]

But I do not find he has informed us of any thing more of them, than what _Jo. Talentonius_, a Professor formerly at _Parma_, had told us before in his _Variarum & Reconditarum Rerum Thesaurus_,[A] from whom he has borrowed most of this _Tract_. He has made it a little more formal indeed, by dividing it into _Chapters_; of which I will give you the _Titles_; and as I see occasion, some Remarks thereon: They will not be many, because I have prevented my self already. The _first Chapter_ is, _De Homuncionibus & Pumilionilus seu Nanis à Pygmæis distinctis_. The _second Chapter, De Pygmæi nominibus & Etymologia_. The _third Chapter, Duplex esse Pygmæorum Genus; & primum Genus aliquando dari_. He means _Dwarfs_, that are no _Pygmies_ at all. The _fourth Chapter_ is, _Alterum Genus, nempe Gentem Pygmæorum esse, aut saltem aliquando fuisse Autoritatibus Humanis, fide tamen dignorum asseritur_. 'Tis as I find it printed; and no doubt an Error in the printing. The Authorities he gives, are, _Homer, Ctesias, Aristotle, Philostratus, Pliny, Juvenal, Oppian, Baptista Mantuan_, St. _Austin_ and his _Scholiast. Ludovic. Vives, Jo. Laurentius Anania, Joh. Cassanius, Joh. Talentonius, Gellius, Pomp. Mela_, and _Olaus Magnus_. I have taken notice of most of them already, as I shall of St. _Austin_ and _Ludovicus Vives_ by and by. _Jo. Laurentius Anania_[B] ex Mercatorum relatione tradit (saith _Bartholine_) eos _(sc. Pygmæos) in Septentrionali Thraciæ Parte reperiri, (quæ Scythiæ est proxima) atque ibi cum Gruibus pugnare_. And _Joh. Cassanius_[C] (as he is here quoted) saith, _De Pygmæis fabulosa quidem esse omnia, quæ de iis narrari solent, aliquando existimavi. Verùm cum videam non unum vel alterum, sed complures Classicos & probatos Autores de his Homunculis multa in eandem fere Sententiam tradidisse; eò adducor ut Pygmæos fuisse inficiari non ausim._ He next brings in _Jo. Talentonius_, to whom he is so much beholden, and quotes his Opinion, which is full and home, _Constare arbitror_ (saith _Talentonius_)[D] _debere concedi, Pygmæos non solùm olim fuisse, sed nunc etiam esse, & homines esse, nec parvitatem illis impedimenta esse quo minùs sint & homines sint._ But were there such _Men Pygmies_ now in being, no doubt but we must have heard of them; some or other of our Saylors, in their Voyages, would have lighted on them. Tho' _Aristotle_ is here quoted, yet he does not make them _Men_; So neither does _Anania_: And I must own, tho' _Talentonius_ be of this Opinion, yet he takes notice of the faulty Translation of this Text of _Aristotle_ by _Gaza_: and tho' the parvity or lowness of Stature, be no Impediment, because we have frequently seen such _Dwarf-Men_, yet we did never see a _Nation_ of them: For then there would be no need of that _Talmudical_ Precept which _Job. Ludolphus_[E] mentions, _Nanus ne ducat Nanam, ne fortè oriatur ex iis Digitalis_ (in _Bechor_. fol. 45).

[Footnote A: _Jo. Talentionij. Variar. & Recondit. Rerum. Thesaurus._ lib. 3. cap. 21.]

[Footnote B: _Joh. Laurent. Anania prope finem tractatus primi suæ Geograph._]

[Footnote C: _Joh. Cassanius libello de Gygantibus_, p. 73.]

[Footnote D: _Jo. Talentonius Variar. & recondit. Rerum Thesaurus_, lib. 3. cap. 21. p.m. 515.]

[Footnote E: _Job Ludolphi Comment. in Historiam Æthiopic._ p.m. 71.]

I had almost forgotten _Olaus Magnus_, whom _Bartholine_ mentions in the close of this Chapter, but lays no great stress upon his Authority, because he tells us, he is fabulous in a great many other Relations, and he writes but by hear-say, that the _Greenlanders_ fight the _Cranes_; _Tandem_ (saith _Bartholine_) _neque ideo Pygmæi sunt, si fortè sagittis & hastis, sicut alij homines, Grues conficiunt & occidunt._ This I think is great Partiality: For _Ctesias_, an Author whom upon all turns _Bartholine_ makes use of as an Evidence, is very positive, that the _Pygmies_ were excellent _Archers_: so that he himself owns, that their being such, illustrates very much that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_, on which he spends good part of the next _Chapter_, whose Title is, _Pygmæorum Gens ex Ezekiele, atque rationibus probabilibus adstruitur_; which we will consider by and by. And tho' _Olaus Magnus_ may write some things by hear-say, yet he cannot be so fabulous as _Ctesias_, who (as _Lucian_ tells us) writes what he neither saw himself, or heard from any Body else. Not that I think _Olaus Magnus_ his _Greenlanders_ were real _Pygmies_, no more than _Ctesias_ his _Pygmies_ were real _Men_; tho' he vouches very notably for them. And if all that have copied this Fable from _Ctesias_, must be look'd upon as the same Evidence with himself; the number of the _Testimonies_ produced need not much concern us, since they must all stand or fall with him.

The _probable Reasons_ that _Bartholine_ gives in the _fifth Chapter_, are taken from other _Animals_, as Sheep, Oxen, Horses, Dogs, the _Indian Formica_ and Plants: For observing in the same _Species_ some excessive large, and others extreamly little, he infers, _Quæ certè cum in Animalibus & Vegetabilibus fiant; cur in Humana specie non sit probabile, haud video: imprimis cum detur magnitudinis excessus Gigantæus; cur non etiam dabitur Defectus? Quia ergo dantur Gigantes, dabuntur & Pygmæi. Quam consequentiam ut firmam, admittit Cardanus,[A] licet de Pygmæis hoc tantùm concedat, qui pro miraculo, non pro Gente._ Now Cardan, tho' he allows this Consequence, yet in the same place he gives several Reasons why the _Pygmies_ could not be _Men_, and looks upon the whole Story as fabulous. _Bartholine_ concludes this _Chapter_ thus: _Ulteriùs ut Probabilitatem fulciamus, addendum Sceleton Pygmæi, quod_ Dresdæ _vidimus inter alia plurima, servatum in Arce sereniss._ Electoris Saxoniæ, _altitudine infra Cubitum, Ossium soliditate, proportioneque tum Capitis, tum aliorum; ut Embrionem, aut Artificiale quid Nemo rerum peritus suspicari possit. Addita insuper est Inscriptio_ Veri Pygmæi. I hereupon looked into Dr. _Brown_'s Travels into those Parts, who has given us a large Catalogue of the Curiosities, the _Elector_ of _Saxony_ had at _Dresden_, but did not find amongst them this _Sceleton_; which, by the largeness of the Head, I suspect to be the _Sceleton_ of an _Orang-Outang_, or our _wild Man_. But had he given us either a figure of it, or a more particular Description, it had been a far greater Satisfaction.

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

The Title of _Bartholine_'s _sixth Chapter_ is, _Pygmæos esse aut fuisse ex variis eorum adjunctis, accidentibus_, &c. _ab Authoribus descriptis ostenditur_. As first, their _Magnitude_: which he mentions from _Ctesias, Pliny, Gellius_, and _Juvenal_; and tho' they do not all agree exactly, 'tis nothing. _Autorum hic dissensus nullus est_ (saith _Bartholine_) _etenim sicut in nostris hominibus, ita indubiè in Pygmæis non omnes ejusdem magnitudinis._ 2. The _Place_ and _Country_: As _Ctesias_ (he saith) places them in the middle of _India_; _Aristotle_ and _Pliny_ at the Lakes above _Ægypt_; _Homer_'s _Scholiast_ in the middle of _Ægypt_; _Pliny_ at another time saith they are at the Head of the _Ganges_, and sometimes at _Gerania_, which is in _Thracia_, which being near _Scythia_, confirms (he saith) _Anania's Relation_. _Mela_ places them at the _Arabian Gulf_; and _Paulus Jovius docet Pygmæos ultra Japonem esse_; and adds, _has Autorum dissensiones facile fuerit conciliare; nec mirum diversas relationes à_, Plinio _auditas._ For (saith he) as the _Tartars_ often change their Seats, since they do not live in Houses, but in Tents, so 'tis no wonder that the _Pygmies_ often change theirs, since instead of Houses, they live in Caves or Huts, built of Mud, Feathers, and Egg-shells. And this mutation of their Habitations he thinks is very plain from _Pliny_, where speaking of _Gerania_, he saith, _Pygmæorum Gens_ fuisse _(non jam esse) proditur, creduntque à Gruibus fugatos._ Which passage (saith _Bartholine_) had _Adrian Spigelius_ considered, he would not so soon have left _Aristotle's_ Opinion, because _Franc. Alvares_ the _Portuguese_ did not find them in the place where _Aristotle_ left them; for the _Cranes_, it may be, had driven them thence. His third Article is, their _Habitation_, which _Aristotle_ saith is in _Caves_; hence they are _Troglodytes_. _Pliny_ tells us they build Huts with Mud, Feathers, and Egg-shells. But what _Bartholine_ adds, _Eò quod Terræ Cavernas inhabitent, non injuriâ dicti sunt olim Pygmæi, Terræ filii_, is wholly new to me, and I have not met with it in any Author before: tho' he gives us here several other significations of the word _Terræ filij_ from a great many Authors, which I will not trouble you at present with. 4. The _Form_, being flat nosed and ugly, as _Ctesias_. 5. Their _Speech_, which was the same as the _Indians_, as _Ctesias_; and for this I find he has no other Author. 6. Their _Hair_; where he quotes _Ctesias_ again, that they make use of it for _Clothes_. 7. Their _Vertues and Arts_; as that they use the same Laws as the _Indians_, are very just, excellent Archers, and that the King of _India_ has Three thousand of them in his Guards. All from _Ctesias_. 8. Their _Animals_, as in _Ctesias_; and here are mentioned their Sheep, Oxen, Asses, Mules, and Horses. 9. Their various _Actions_; as what _Ctesias_ relates of their killing Hares and Foxes with Crows, Eagles, &c. and fighting the _Cranes_, as _Homer, Pliny, Juvenal_.

The _seventh Chapter_ in _Bartholine_ has a promising Title, _An Pygmæi sint homines_, and I expected here something more to our purpose; but I find he rather endeavours to answer the Reasons of those that would make them _Apes_, than to lay down any of his own to prove them _Men_. And _Albertus Magnus's_ Opinion he thinks absurd, that makes them part Men part Beasts; they must be either one or the other, not a _Medium_ between both; and to make out this, he gives us a large Quotation out of _Cardan_. But _Cardan_[A] in the same place argues that they are not Men. As to _Suessanus_[B] his Argument, that they want _Reason_, this he will not Grant; but if they use it less or more imperfectly than others (which yet, he saith, is not certain) by the same parity of Reason _Children_, the _Boeotians_, _Cumani_ and _Naturals_ may not be reckoned _Men_; and he thinks, what he has mentioned in the preceding _Chapter_ out of _Ctesias_, &c. shews that they have no small use of Reason. As to _Suessanus_'s next Argument, that they want Religion, Justice, &c. this, he saith, is not confirmed by any grave Writer; and if it was, yet it would not prove that they are not _Men_. For this defect (he saith) might hence happen, because they are forced to live in _Caves_ for fear of the _Cranes_; and others besides them, are herein faulty. For this Opinion, that the _Pygmies_ were _Apes_ and not _Men_, he quotes likewise _Benedictus Varchius_,[C] and _Joh. Tinnulus_,[D] and _Paulus Jovius_,[E] and several others of the Moderns, he tells us, are of the same mind. _Imprimis Geographici quos non puduit in Mappis Geographicis loco Pygmæorum simias cum Gruibus pugnantes ridiculè dipinxisse._

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

[Footnote B: _Suessanus Comment. in Arist. de Histor. Animal._ lib. 8. cap. 12.]

[Footnote C: _Benedict. Varchius de Monstris. lingua vernacula._]

[Footnote D: _Joh. Tinnulus in Glotto-Chrysio._]

[Footnote E: _Paulus Jovius lib. de Muscovit. Legalione._]

The Title of _Bartholine's eighth_ and last _Chapter_ is, _Argumenta eorum qui Pygmæorum Historiam fabulosam censent, recitantur & refutantur._ Where he tells us, the only Person amongst the Ancients that thought the Story of the _Pygmies_ to be fabulous was _Strabo_; but amongst the Moderns there are several, as _Cardan, Budæus, Aldrovandus, Fullerus_ and others. The first Objection (he saith) is that of _Spigelius_ and others; that since the whole World is now discovered, how happens it, that these _Pygmies_ are not to be met with? He has seven Answers to this Objection; how satisfactory they are, the Reader may judge, if he pleases, by perusing them amongst the Quotations.[A] _Cardan_'s second Objection (he saith) is, that they live but eight years, whence several Inconveniences would happen, as _Cardan_ shews; he answers that no good Author asserts this; and if there was, yet what _Cardan_ urges would not follow; and instances out of _Artemidorus_ in _Pliny_,[B] as a _Parallel_ in the _Calingæ_ a Nation in _India, where the Women conceive when five years old, and do not live above eight._ _Gesner_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, saith, _Vitæ autem longitudo anni arciter octo ut_ Albertus _refert._ _Cardan_ perhaps had his Authority from _Albertus_, or it may be both took it from this passage in _Pliny_, which I think would better agree to _Apes_ than _Men_. But _Artemidorus_ being an _Indian Historian_, and in the same place telling other Romances, the less Credit is to be given to him. The third Objection, he saith, is of _Cornelius à Lapide_, who denies the _Pygmies_, because _Homer_ was the first Author of them. The fourth Objection he saith is, because Authors differ about the Place where they should be: This, he tells us, he has answered already in the fifth Chapter. The _fifth_ and last Objection he mentions is, that but few have seen them. He answers, there are a great many Wonders in Sacred and Profane History that we have not seen, yet must not deny. And he instances in three; As the _Formicæ Indicæ_, which are as big as great Dogs: The _Cornu Plantabile_ in the Island _Goa_, which when cut off from the Beast, and flung upon the Ground, will take root like a _Cabbage_: and the _Scotland Geese_ that grow upon Trees, for which he quotes a great many Authors, and so concludes.

[Footnote A: _Respondeo._ 1. _Contrarium testari Mercatorum Relationem apud_ Ananiam _supra Cap. 4._ 2. _Et licet non inventi essent vivi à quolibet, pari jure Monocerota & alia negare liceret._ 3. _Qui maria pernavigant, vix oras paucas maritimas lustrant, adeo non terras omnes à mari dissitas._ 4. _Neque in Oris illos habitare maritimis ex Capite quinto manifestum est._ 5. _Quis testatum se omnem adhibuisse diligentiam in inquirendo eos ut inveniret._ 6. _Ita in terra habitant, ut in Antris vitam tolerare dicantur._ 7. _Si vel maximè omni ab omnibus diligentia quæsiti fuissent, nec inventi; fieri potest, ut instar Gigantum jam desierint nec sint ampliùs_.]

[Footnote B: _Plinij Hist. Nat._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p.m. 14.]

Now how far _Bartholine_ in his Treatise has made out that the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients were real _Men_, either from the Authorities he has quoted, or his Reasonings upon them, I submit to the Reader. I shall proceed now (as I promised) to consider the Proof they pretend from _Holy Writ_: For _Bartholine_ and others insist upon that _Text_ in _Ezekiel_ (_Cap. 27. Vers. 11_) where the _Vulgar_ Translation has it thus; _Filij Arvad cum Exercitu tuo supra Muros tuos per circuitum, & Pygmæi in Turribus tuis fuerunt; Scuta sua suspenderunt supra Muros tuos per circuitum._ Now _Talentonius_ and _Bartholine_ think that what _Ctesias_ relates of the _Pygmies_, as their being good _Archers_, very well illustrates this Text of _Ezekiel_: I shall here transcribe what Sir _Thomas Brown_[A] remarks upon it; and if any one requires further Satisfaction, they may consult _Job Ludolphus's Comment_ on his _Æthiopic History_.[B]

[Footnote A: Sir _Thomas Brown's Enquiries into Vulgar Errors_, lib. 4. cap. 11. p. 242.]

[Footnote B: _Comment. in Hist. Æthiopic._ p. 73.]

The _second Testimony_ (saith Sir _Thomas Brown_) _is deduced from Holy Scripture; thus rendered in the Vulgar Translation_, Sed & Pygmæi qui erant in turribus tuis, pharetras suas suspenderunt in muris tuis per gyrum: _from whence notwithstanding we cannot infer this Assertion, for first the Translators accord not, and the Hebrew word_ Gammadim _is very variously rendered. Though_ Aquila, Vatablus _and_ Lyra _will have it_ Pygmæi, _yet in the_ Septuagint, _it is no more than Watchman; and so in the_ Arabick _and_ High-Dutch. _In the_ Chalde, Cappadocians, _in_ Symmachus, Medes, _and in the_ French, _those of_ Gamed. Theodotian _of old, and_ Tremillius _of late, have retained the Textuary word; and so have the_ Italian, Low Dutch, _and_ English _Translators, that is, the Men of_ Arvad _were upon thy Walls round about, and the_ Gammadims _were in thy Towers._