A Philological Essay Concerning The Pygmies Of The Ancients Part 9

[Footnote A: _Isaac Vossius ibid_.]

_Job Ludolphus_[A] in his _Commentary_ on his _aethiopick History_ remarks, That there was never known a Nation all of Dwarfs. _Nani quippe_ (saith _Ludolphus_) _Naturae quodam errore ex aliis justae staturae hominibus generantur. Qualis vero ea Gens sit, ex qua ista Naturae Ludibria tanta copia proveniant, Vossium docere oportelat, quia Pumiliones Pumiles alios non gignunt, sed plerunque steriles sunt, experientia teste; ut plane 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 _Antaeus_, having found _Hercules_ napping in _Libya_, mustered up all their Forces against him. One _Phalanx_ (he tells us) a.s.saulted 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 a.r.s.enal, 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 _Antaeus_ 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 _Antaeus'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 aethiopicam_, 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 Pygmaeos_ (saith [A] _Ludolphus_) _revertamur; fabula de Geranomachia Pygmaeorum seu pugna c.u.m Gruibus etiam aliquid de vero trahere videtur, si pro Gruibus_ Condoras _intelligas, Aves in interiore_ Africa _maximas, ut fidem pene excedat; aiunt enim quod Ales ista vitulum Elephanti in Aerem extollere possit; ut infra docebimus. c.u.m his Pygmaeos pugnare, ne pecora sua rapiant, incredibile non est. Error ex eo natus videtur, quod primus Relator, alio vocabulo dest.i.tutus, Grues pro Condoris nominarit, sicuti_ Plautus _Picos pro Gryphilus_, & Romani _Boves lucas pro Elephantis dixere_.

[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus Comment, in Historiam suam aethiopic_. 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 _Garcila.s.so 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 Thrac.u.m volucres, nubemque sonoram Pygmaeos parvis currit Bellator in armis: Mox impar hosti, raptusque per aera curvis Unguibus a faeva fertur Grue.

[Footnote A: _Job Ludolphus ibid_. pag. 164.]

[Footnote B: _Garcila.s.so 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 _Pygmaeomachia_; 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 hards.h.i.+ps 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 aethiopum veniunt, Nilique fluenta Turmalim Palamedis Aves, celsoeque per altum Aera labentes fugiunt Athlanta nivosum, Pygmaeos imbelle Genus, parvumque saligant, Non perturbato procedunt ordine densae Instructis volucres obscurant aera 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_:

_Pygmaei breve vulgus, iners Plelecula, quando Convenere Grues longis in praelia rostris, Sublato clamore fremunt, dumque agmine magno Hostibus occurrit, tellus tremit Indica, clamant Littora, arenarum nimbis absconditur aer; Omnis & involvit Pulvis solemque, Polumque, Et Genus hoc Hominum natura 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 a.s.signing 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 a.s.sert 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 s.h.i.+p. 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 t.i.tle 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 Pygmaeis_, 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 Caesar 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 _Nubae_ or _n.o.bae_; 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_, subst.i.tutes 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 Pygmaeis scripsit, quam Homunciones esse_. And the Moderns too, being bya.s.sed 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 furnis.h.i.+ng 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.

This difficulty therefore of their being called _Men_, I think, may fairly enough be accounted by what I have said. But it may be objected that the _Orang-Outang_, or these _wild_ or _savage Men_ are not [Greek: pygmaioi], or _Trispithami_, that is, but two Foot and a quarter high, because by some Relations that have been given, it appears they have been observed to be of a higher stature, and as tall as ordinary Men. Now tho' this may be allowed as to these _wild Men_ that are bred in other places; and probably enough like wise, there are such in some Parts of the Continent of _Africa_; yet 'tis sufficient to our business if there are any there, that will come within our Dimensions; for our Scene lies in _Africa_; where _Strabo_ observes, that generally the Beasts are of a less size than ordinary; and this he thinks might give rise to the Story of the _Pygmies_. For, saith he[A] [Greek: Ta de boskaemata autois esti mikra, probata kai aiges, kai kynes mikroi, tracheis de kai machimoi (oikountes mikroi ontes) tacha de kai tous pygmaious apo tes touton mikrophyias epenoaesan, kai aneplasan.] i.e. _That their Beasts are small, as their Sheep, Goats and Oxen, and their Dogs are small, but hairy and fierce: and it may be_ (saith he) _from the [Greek: mikrophyia] or littleness of the stature of these Animals, they have invented and imposed on us the_ Pygmies. And then adds, _That no body fit to be believed ever saw them_; because he fancied, as a great many others have done, that these _Pygmies_ must be _real Men_, and not a sort of _Brutes_. Now since the other _Brutes_ in this Country are generally of a less size than in other Parts, why may not this sort of _Ape_, the _Orang-Outang_, or _wild Man_, be so likewise. _Aristotle_ speaking of the _Pygmies_, saith, [Greek: genos mikron men kai autoi, kai oi hippoi.] _That both they and the Horses there are but small_. He does not say _their_ Horses, for they were never mounted upon _Horses_, but only upon _Partridges, Goats_ and _Rams_. And as the _Horses_, and other _Beasts_ are naturally less in _Africa_ than in other Parts, so likewise may the _Orang-Outang_ be. This that I dissected, which was brought from _Angola_ (as I have often mentioned) wanted something of the just stature of the _Pygmies_; but it was young, and I am therefore uncertain to what tallness it might grow, when at full Age: And neither _Tulpius_, nor _Ga.s.sendus_, nor any that I have hitherto met with, have adjusted the full stature of this _Animal_ that is found in those parts from whence ours was brought: But 'tis most certain, that there are sorts of _Apes_ that are much less than the _Pygmies_ are described to be.

And, as other _Brutes_, so the _Ape-kind_, in different Climates, may be of different Dimensions; and because the other _Brutes_ here are generally small, why may not _they_ be so likewise. Or if the difference should be but little, I see no great reason in this case, why we should be over-nice, or scrupulous.

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

As to our _Ape Pygmies_ or _Orang-Outang_ fighting the _Cranes_, this, I think, may be easily enough made out, by what I have already observed; for this _wild Man_ I dissected was Carnivorous, and it may be Omnivorous, at least as much as _Man_ is; for it would eat any thing that was brought to the Table. And if it was not their Hunger that drove them to it, their Wantonness, it may be, would make them apt enough to rob the _Cranes_ Nests; and if they did so, no doubt but the _Cranes_ would noise enough about it, and endeavour what they could to beat them off, which a Poet might easily make a Fight: Tho' _Homer_ only makes use of it as a _Simile_, in comparing the great Shouts of the _Trojans_ to the Noise of the _Cranes_, and the Silence of the _Greeks_ to that of the _Pygmies_ when they are going to Engage, which is natural enough, and very just, and contains nothing, but what may easily be believed; tho' upon this account he is commonly exposed, and derided, as the Inventor of this Fable; and that there was nothing of Truth in it, but that 'twas wholly a Fiction of his own.

Those _Pygmies_ that _Paulus Jovius_[A] describes, tho' they dwell at a great distance from _Africa_, and he calls them _Men_, yet are so like _Apes_, that I cannot think them any thing else. I will give you his own words: _Ultra Lapones_ (saith he) _in Regione inter Corum & Aquilonem perpetua oppressa Caligine_ Pygmaeos _reperiri, aliqui eximiae fidei testes retulerunt; qui postquam ad summum adoleverint, nostratis Pueri denum annorum Mensuram vix excedunt. Meticulosum genus hominum, & garritu Sermonem exprimens, adeo ut tam Simiae propinqui, quam Statura ac sensibus ab justae Proceritatis homine remoti videantur_. Now there is this Advantage in our _Hypothesis_, it will take in all the _Pygmies_, in any part of the World; or wherever they are to be met with, without supposing, as some have done, that 'twas the _Cranes_ that forced them to quit their Quarters; and upon this account several Authors have described them in different places: For unless we suppose the _Cranes_ so kind to them, as to waft them over, how came we to find them often in Islands? But this is more than can be reasonably expected from so great Enemies.

[Footnote A: _Paul. Jovij de Legatione Muschovitar_. lib. p.m. 489.]

I shall conclude by observing to you, that this having been the Common Error of the Age, in believing the _Pygmies_ to be a sort of _little Men_, and it having been handed down from so great Antiquity, what might contribute farther to the confirming of this Mistake, might be, the Imposture of the Navigators, who failing to Parts where these _Apes_ are, they have embalmed their Bodies, and brought them home, and then made the People believe that they were the _Men_ of those Countries from whence they came. This _M.P. Venetus_ a.s.sures us to have been done; and 'tis not unlikely: For, saith he,[A] _Abundat quoque Regio ipsa_ (sc. Basman in Java majori) _diversis Simiis magnis & parvis, hominibus simillimis, hos capiunt Venatores & totos depilant, nisi quod, in barba & in loco secreto Pilos relinquunt, & occisos speciebus Aromaticis condiunt, & postea desiccant, venduntque Negociatoribus, qui per diversas...o...b..s Partes Corpora illa deferentes, homines persuadent Tales Homunciones in Maris Insulis reperiri. Joh. Jonston_[B] relates the same thing, but without quoting the Author; and as he is very apt to do, commits a great mistake, in telling us, _pro Homunculis marinis venditant_.

[Footnote A: _M. Pauli Veneti de Regionibus Oriental_. lib. 3. cap. 15. p.

m. 390.]

[Footnote B: _Jo. Jonston. Hist. Nat. de Quadruped_. p.m. 139.]

I shall only add, That the Servile Offices that these Creatures are observed to perform, might formerly, as it does to this very day, impose upon Mankind to believe, that they were of the same _Species_ with themselves; but that only out of Sullenness or cunning, they think they will not _speak_, for fear of being made Slaves. _Philostratus_[A] tells us, That the _Indians_ make use of the _Apes_ in gathering the Pepper; and for this Reason they do defend and preserve them from the _Lions_, who are very greedy of preying upon them: And altho' he calls them _Apes_, yet he speaks of them as _Men_, and as if they were the Husbandmen of the _Pepper Trees_, [Greek: kai ta dendra oi piperides, on georgoi pithekoi]. And he calls them the People of _Apes_; [Greek: ou legetai pithekon oikein demos en mychois tou orous]. _Dapper_[B] tells us, _That the Indians take the_ Baris _when young, and make them so tame, that they will do almost the work of a Slave; for they commonly go erect as Men do. They will beat Rice in a Mortar, carry Water in a Pitcher_, &c. And Ga.s.sendus[C] in the Life of _Pieresky_, tells us, us, _That they will play upon a Pipe or Cittern, or the like Musick, they will sweep the House, turn the Spit, beat in a Mortar, and do other Offices in a Family_. And _Acosta_, as I find him quoted by _Garcila.s.so de la Vega_[D] tells us of a _Monkey_ he saw at the Governour's House at _Cartagena_, 'whom they fent often to the Tavern for Wine, with Money in one hand, and a Bottle in the other; and that when he came to the Tavern, he would not deliver his Money, until he had received his Wine. If the Boys met with him by the way, or made a houting or noise after him, he would set down his Bottle, and throw Stones at them; and having cleared the way he would take up his Bottle, and hasten home, And tho' he loved Wine excessively, yet he would not dare to touch it, unless his Master gave him License.' A great many Instances of this Nature might be given that are very surprising. And in another place he tells us, That the Natives think that they can speak, but will not, for fear of being made to work. And _Bontius_[E] mentions that the _Javans_ had the same Opinion concerning the _Orang-Outang_, _Loqui vero eos, easque Javani aiunt, sed non velle, ne ad labores cogerentur_.

[Footnote A: _Philostratus in vita Apollonij Tyanaei_, lib. 3. cap. I. p.

m. 110, & 111.]

[Footnote B: _Dapper Description de l'Afrique_, p.m. 249.]

[Footnote C: _Ga.s.sendus in vita Pierskij_, lib. 5. p.m. 169.]

[Footnote D: _Garcila.s.so de la Vega Royal Commentaries of Peru_, lib. 8.

cap. 18. p. 1333.]

[Footnote E: _Jac. Bontij Hist. Nat. & Med_. lib. 5. cap. 32. p.m. 85.]

[NOTE.--A few obvious errors in the quotations have been corrected, but for the most part they stand as in Tyson, who must, therefore, be held responsible for any inaccuracies which may exist.]