Part 5

Another boy, a native of Bouzanquet, in the diocese of Alais, though of a strong constitution, appeared to be knit and stiff in his joints, till he was about four years and a half old. During this time, nothing farther was remarkable respecting him, than an extraordinary appetite, which nothing could satisfy, but an abundance of the common aliments of the inhabitants of the country, consisting of rye bread, chesnuts, bacon, and water. His limbs, however, soon becoming supple and pliable, and his body beginning to expand itself, he grew up in such an extraordinary manner, that at the age of five years he measured four feet three inches. Some months after, he was four feet eleven inches; and at six, five feet, and bulky in proportion. His growth was so rapid, that every month his clothes required to be made longer and wider; yet it was not preceded by any sickness, nor accompanied with any pain. At the age of five years his voice changed, his beard began to appear; and at six, he had as much as a man of thirty; in short, all the unquestionable marks of maturity were visible in him. Though his wit was riper than is commonly observable at the age of five or six, yet its progress was not in proportion to that of his body. His air and manner still retained something childish, though by his bulk and stature he resembled a complete man, which at first sight produced a very singular contrast. His voice was strong and manly, and his great strength rendered him already fit for the labours of the country. At five, he could carry to a great distance, three measures of rye, weighing eighty-four pounds; when turned of six, he could lift up easily to his shoulders, and carry loads of one hundred and fifty pounds weight to a great distance; and these exercises were exhibited by him as often as the curious engaged him thereto by some liberality. Such beginnings made people think that he should soon shoot up into a giant. A mountebank was already soliciting his parents for him, and flattering them with hopes of putting him in a way of making a great fortune. But all these hopes suddenly vanished. His legs became crooked, his body shrunk, his strength diminished, his voice grew sensibly weaker, and he at last sunk into a total imbecility;--thus his rapid maturity was followed by as swift decay.

In the _Paris Memoirs_, there is an account of a girl, who, when four years old, was four feet six inches in height, and had her limbs well proportioned, and her breasts fully expanded, like those of a girl of eighteen. These things are more singular and marvellous in the northern than in the southern climates, where females come sooner to maturity. In some places of the East Indies, they have children at nine years of age. It seems at first view astonishing, that children of such early and prodigious growth do not become giants; but it appears evident, that the whole is only a premature expansion of the parts; and accordingly, such children, instead of becoming giants, always decay and die apparently of old age, long before the natural term of human life.

As it is our intention in this work to keep as close as possible to facts, we shall not, knowingly, deal in fiction or fable. It is from a most respectable source that we have derived the following CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF GIANTS.

M. Le Cat, in a memoir read before the Academy of Sciences at Rouen, gives the following account of giants that are said to have existed in different ages. Profane historians have given seven feet of height to Hercules, their first hero; and in our days we have seen men eight feet high. The giant, who was shown in Rouen, in 1735, measured eight feet some inches. The emperor Maximin was of that size. Shenkins and Platerus, physicians of the last century, saw several of that stature; and Goropius saw a girl who was ten feet high. The body of Orestes, according to the Greeks, was eleven feet and a half; the giant Galbara, brought from Arabia to Rome, under Claudius Cæsar, was near ten feet; and the bones of Secondilla and Pusio, keepers of the gardens of Sallust, were but six inches shorter. Funnam, a Scotsman, who lived in the time of Eugene II. king of Scotland, measured eleven feet and a half; and Jacob Le Maire, in his voyage to the Straits of Magellan, reports, that on the 17th of December, 1615, they found at Port Desire, several graves covered with stones; and having the curiosity to remove the stones, they discovered human skeletons of ten and eleven feet long. The Chevalier Scory, in his voyage to the Peak of Teneriffe, says, that they found, in one of the sepulchral caverns of that mountain, the head of a gaunche, which had eighty teeth, and that the body was not less than fifteen feet long. The giant Ferragus, slain by Orlando, nephew of Charlemagne, was eighteen feet high. Rioland, a celebrated anatomist, who wrote in 1614, says, that some years before, there was to be seen, in the suburbs of St. Germain, the tomb of the great giant Isoret, who was twenty feet high. In Rouen, in 1509, in digging in the ditches near the Dominicans, they found a stone tomb, containing a skeleton whose skull held a bushel of corn, and whose shin bone reached up to the girdle of the tallest man there, being about four feet long; and, consequently, the body must have been seventeen or eighteen feet high. Upon the tomb was a plate of copper, whereon was engraved, "In this tomb lies the noble and puissant lord, the Chevalier Ricon De Vallemont, and his bones." Platerus, a famous physician, declares, that he saw at Lucerne, the true human body of a subject which must have been at least nineteen feet high. Valence, in Dauphiné, boasts of possessing the bones of the giant Bucart, tyrant of the Vivarias, who was slain with an arrow by the Count De Cabillon, his vassal. The Dominicans had a part of the shin bone, with the articulation of his knee, and his figure painted in fresco, with an inscription, showing "that this giant was twenty-two feet and a half high, and that his bones were found in 1705, near the banks of the Morderi, a little river at the foot of the mountain of Crusal, upon which (tradition says) the giant dwelt." M. Le Cat adds, that skeletons have been discovered of giants, of a still more incredible height, viz. of Theutobochus, king of the Teutones, found on the 11th of January, 1613, twenty-five feet and a half high; of a giant near Mazarino, in Sicily, in 1516, thirty feet; of another, in 1548, near Palermo, thirty feet; of another, in 1550, of thirty-three feet; of two found near Athens, thirty-three and thirty-six feet; and of one at Tuto, in Bohemia, in 1758, whose leg bones alone measured twenty-six feet! But whether these accounts are credited or not, we are certain that the stature of the human body is by no means fixed. We are ourselves a kind of giants, in comparison of the Laplanders; nor are these the most diminutive people to be found upon the earth.

The Abbé La Chappe, in his journey into Siberia, to observe the last transit of Venus, passed through a village inhabited by people called Wotiacks, who were not above four feet high. The accounts of the Patagonians likewise, which cannot be entirely discredited, render it very probable, that somewhere in South America there is a race of people very considerably exceeding the common size of mankind; and consequently that we cannot altogether discredit the relations of giants, handed down to us by ancient authors, though what degree of credit we ought to give them, is not easy to be determined.

No less true than remarkable is the following CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF DWARFS.

Jeffery Hudson, the famous English dwarf, was born at Oakham in Rutlandshire, in 1619; and about the age of seven or eight, being then but eighteen inches high, was retained in the service of the Duke of Buckingham, who resided at Burleigh on the Hill. Soon after the marriage of Charles I. the king and queen being entertained at Burleigh, little Jeffrey was served up to table in a cold pie, and presented by the duchess to the queen, who kept him as her dwarf. From seven years till thirty, he never grew taller; but after thirty he shot up to three feet nine inches, and there fixed. Jeffery became a considerable part of the entertainment of the court. Sir William Davenant wrote a poem called _Jeffreidos_, on a battle between him and a turkey cock; and in 1638 was published a very small book, called the _New Year's Gift_, presented at court by the Lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus, (commonly called _Little Jeffery_,) her majesty's servant, written by Microphilus, with a little print of Jeffery prefixed. Before this period, Jeffery was employed on a negociation of great importance: he was sent to France to fetch a midwife for the queen; and on his return with this gentlewoman, and her majesty's dancing-master, and many rich presents to the queen from her mother Mary de Medicis, he was taken by the Dunkirkers. Jeffery, thus made of consequence, grew to think himself really so. He had borne with little temper the teazing of the courtiers and domestics, and had many squabbles with the king's gigantic porter. At last, being provoked by Mr. Crofts, a young gentleman of family, a challenge ensued: and Mr. Crofts coming to the rendezvous armed only with a squirt, the little creature was so enraged, that a real duel ensued; and the appointment being on horseback, with pistols, to put them more on a level, Jeffery, at the first fire, shot his antagonist dead. This happened in France, whither he had attended his mistress during the troubles. He was again taken prisoner by a Turkish rover, and sold into Barbary. He probably did not remain long in slavery, for, at the beginning of the civil war, he was made a captain in the royal army; and in 1644, attended the queen to France, where he remained till the Restoration. At last, upon suspicion of his being privy to the Popish plot, he was taken up in 1682, and confined in the Gate-house of Westminster, where he ended his life in the sixty-third year of his age.

In the memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, a relation is given by the Count de Tressau, of a dwarf, called _Bebe_, kept by Stanislaus III. king of Poland; who died in 1764, aged twenty-three, when he measured only thirty-three inches. At his birth, he measured only between eight and nine inches. Diminutive as were his dimensions, his reasoning faculties were not less scanty; appearing indeed not to have been superior to those of a well-taught pointer: but, that the size and strength of the intellectual powers are not affected by the diminutiveness or tenuity of the corporeal organs, is evident from a still more striking instance of littleness, given us by the same nobleman, in the person of Monsieur Borulawski, a Polish gentleman, whom he saw at Luneville, whence he visited Paris, and who, at the age of twenty-two, measured only twenty-eight inches. This miniature of a man, considering him only as to his bodily dimensions, appears a _giant_ with _regard_ to his mental powers and attainments. He is described by the count as possessing all the graces of wit, united with a sound judgment and an excellent memory; so that we may with justice say of M. Borulawski, in the words of Seneca, and nearly in the order in which he has used them, "_Posse ingenium, fortissimum ac beatissimum, sub quolibet corpusculo latere_." Epist. 66. Count Borulawski was the son of a Polish nobleman attached to the fortunes of King Stanislaus, who lost his property in consequence of that attachment, and who had six children; three dwarfs, and three well grown. What is singular enough, they were born alternately, a big one and a little one, though both parents were of the common size. The little count's youngest sister was much less than him, but died at the age of twenty-three. The count continued to grow till he was about thirty, when he had attained the height of three feet two inches: he lived to see his fifty-first year. He never experienced any sickness, but lived in a polite and affluent manner, under the patronage of a lady, a friend of the family, till love, at the age of forty-one, intruded into his little peaceful bosom, and involved him in matrimony, care, and perplexity. The lady he chose was of his own country, but of French extraction, and the middle size. They had three children, all girls, and none of them likely to be dwarfs. To provide for a family now became an object big with difficulty, requiring all the exertion of his powers (which could promise but little) and his talents, of which music alone afforded any view of profit. He played extremely well upon the guitar; and by having concerts in several of the principal cities in Germany, he raised temporary supplies. At Vienna he was persuaded to turn his thoughts to England, where, it was believed, the public curiosity might in a little time benefit him sufficiently to enable him to live independent in so cheap a country as Poland. He was furnished by very respectable friends with recommendations to several of the most distinguished characters in this kingdom, as the Duchess of Devonshire, Rutland, &c. whose kind patronage he was not backward to acknowledge. He was advised to let himself be seen as a curiosity, and the price of admission was fixed at a guinea. The number of his visitors, of course, was not very great. After a pretty long stay in London, he went to Bath and Bristol; visited Dublin, and some other parts of Ireland; whence he returned by way of Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, to London. He also visited Edinburgh, and some other towns in Scotland. In every place he acquired a number of friends. In reality, the ease and politeness of his manners and address pleased no less than the diminutive yet elegant proportions of his figure, astonished those who visited him. His person was pleasing and graceful, and his look manly and noble. He spoke French fluently, and English tolerably. He was remarkably lively and cheerful, though fitted for the most serious and rational conversation. Such was this wonderful little man--an object of curiosity really worthy the attention of the philosopher, the man of taste, and the anatomist. His life has been published, written by himself.

The following account of a singular nation of dwarfs, is taken from the Monthly Review for 1792, being Vol. 7, of the new series. The subject is a review of "A Voyage to Madagascar; by the Abbé Rochon." They are called THE KIMOS.

The Kimos are a nation of pigmies, said to inhabit the mountains in the interior part of the island of Madagascar, of whom tradition has long encouraged the belief:--but Flacourt, in the last century, treated the stories then in circulation with great contempt. The Abbé Rochon, however, has revived them; and has not only given them the sanction of his own belief, but that of _M. Commerson_, and of _M. de Modave_, the late Governor of Fort Dauphin. As their opinions are of weight, and as the subject is curious, we shall present our readers with an epitome of the memoirs which these gentlemen drew up concerning the _Kimos_, and which our author has inserted entire in the body of his work.

"Lovers of the marvellous, (says _M. Commerson_,) who would be sorry to have the pretended size of the Patagonian giants reduced to six feet, will perhaps be made some amends by a race of pigmies, who are wonderful in the contrary extreme. I mean those half men, who inhabit the interior part of the great island of Madagascar, and form a distinct nation, called, in the language of the country, _Kimos_. These little men are of a paler colour than the rest of the natives, who are in general black. Their arms are so long, that when stretched out, they reach to the knees, without stooping. The women have scarcely breasts sufficient to mark their sex, except at the time of lying-in; and even then they are obliged to have recourse to cow's milk, to feed their children.

"The intellectual faculties of this diminutive race are equal to those of the other inhabitants of the island, who are by no means deficient in understanding, though extremely indolent. Indeed, the Kimos are said to be much more active and warlike, so that their courage being in a duplicate ratio of their size, they have never suffered themselves to be oppressed and subdued by their neighbours, who have often attempted it. It is astonishing, that all we know of this nation is from the neighbouring people; and that neither the governors of the Isle of France, of Bourbon, nor the commanders of our forts on the coast of Madagascar, have ever endeavoured to penetrate into this country. It has indeed been lately attempted, but without success.

"I shall however attest, as an eye-witness, that in a voyage which I made in 1770 to Fort Dauphin, _M. de Modave_, the last governor, gratified my curiosity, by shewing me, among his slaves, a female of the Kimos tribe, about thirty years of age, and three feet seven inches high. She was of a much paler colour than any other natives of Madagascar that I had seen, was well-made, and did not appear misshapen, nor stinted in her growth, as accidental dwarfs usually are. Her arms were indeed too long, in proportion to her height, and her hair was short and woolly: but her countenance was good, and rather resembled that of an European than an African. She had a natural habitual smile on her face, was good-humoured, and seemed, by her behaviour, to possess a good understanding. No appearance of breasts was observable, except nipples: but this single instance is not sufficient to establish an exception so contrary to the general law of nature. A little before our departure from Madagascar, the desire of recovering her liberty, joined to the fear of being carried into France, stimulated this little slave to run away into the woods.

"On the whole, I conclude, in firmly believing the existence of this diminutive race of human beings, who have a character and manners peculiar to themselves. The Laplanders seem to be the medium between men of the common size and these dwarfs. Both inhabit the coldest countries and the highest mountains upon the earth. These of Madagascar, on which the _Kimos_ reside, are sixteen or seventeen hundred toises, or fathoms, above the level of the sea. The plants and vegetables which grow on these heights, are naturally dwarfs."

_M. de Modave_ says,--"When I arrived at Fort Dauphin, in 1768, I had a memoir put into my hands, which was ill drawn up, giving an account of a pigmy race of people, called _Kimos_, who inhabit the middle region of Madagascar, in latitude 22°. I tried to verify the fact, by preparing for an expedition into the country which is said to be thus inhabited: but by the infidelity and cowardice of the guides, my scheme failed. Yet I had such indisputable information of this extraordinary fact, that I have not the least doubt of the existence of such a nation. The common size of the men is three feet five inches. They wear long round beards. The women are some inches shorter than the men, who are thick and stout. Their colour is less black and swarthy than that of the natives; their hair is short and cottony. They forge iron and steel, of which they make their lances and darts; the only weapons that they use. The situation of their country is about sixty leagues to the north-west of Fort Dauphin. I procured a female of this nation, but she was said to be much taller than usual among the _Kimos_, for she was three feet seven inches in height. She was very thin, and had no more appearance of breasts than the leanest man."

To these relations, the _Abbé Rochon_ says, he might add that of an officer who had procured a _Kimos_ man, and would have brought him to Europe, but M. de Surville, who commanded the vessel in which he was to embark, refused to grant his permission.

Respectable historians have presented us with the following curious account of the ABDERITES, or INHABITANTS OF ABDERA.

It is reported, that in the reign of Cassander, king of Macedon, they were so pestered with frogs and rats, that they were obliged to desert their city for some time: and Lucian tells us, that in the reign of Lysimachus, they were for some months afflicted with a fever of a most extraordinary nature, whose crisis was always on the seventh day, and then it left them; but it so distracted their imaginations, that they fancied themselves players. After this, they were ever repeating verses from some tragedy, and particularly out of the Andromeda of Euripides, as if they had been upon the stage; so that many of these pale, meagre actors, were pouring forth tragic exclamations in every street. This delirium continued till the winter following; which was a very cold one, and therefore fitter to remove it. Lucian, who has described this disease, endeavours to account for it in this way:--Archelaus, an excellent player, acted the Andromeda of Euripides before the Abderites, in the height of a very hot summer. Several had a fever at their coming out of the theatre, and as their imaginations were full of the tragedy, the delirium, which the fever raised, perpetually represented Andromeda, Perseus, Medusa, &c. and the several dramatic incidents, and called up the ideas of those objects, and the pleasure of the representation, so strongly, that they could not forbear imitating Archelaus' action and declamation: and from these the fever spread to others by infection.

A most respectable writer (Madame De Genlis) has given us the following curious account of a COUNTRY, THE INHABITANTS OF WHICH RESIDE IN TREES.

A young Spanish adventurer, of the name of Vasco Nugnez, whom a handsome figure, united to a natural wit and courage, advanced to the highest eminence of glory and fortune; pursuing his researches over the Darien, a region abounding in lakes and marshes, arrived in a country where the houses were of a very singular contrivance, being built in the largest trees, the branches of which enveloped the sides, and formed the roof. They contained chambers and closets of a tolerable construction. Each family was separately lodged. Every house had two ladders, one of which reached from the foot to the middle of the tree, and the other from thence to the entrance of the highest chamber: they were composed of cane, and so light as to be easily lifted up, which was done every night, and formed a security from the attacks of tigers and other wild beasts, with which this province abounds. The chief of the country was in his palace, that is to say--his tree, when the Castilians came among them. On seeing the strangers, he hastened to draw up his ladders, while the Spaniards called to him aloud to descend without fear. He replied, that being unconscious of having offended any one, and having no concern with strangers, he begged he might be suffered to remain undisturbed in his habitation. On this they threatened to cut down or set fire to his tree, and at length obliged him to descend with his two sons. To their inquiries, 'if he had any gold,' he replied, that he had none there, because it was of no use to him; but, if they would suffer him to go, he would fetch them some from a neighbouring mountain. The Castilians the more readily believed the promise, as he consented to leave with them his wife and children. But after having waited some days for his return, they discovered that this pretence was only a stratagem to withdraw himself from their hands; that their hostages likewise, during the night, had found an opportunity of escaping by means of their ladders, and that the inhabitants of every neighbouring tree had, in the same manner, fled.