Starting with Asia, we have in the first place the statement of Pliny,
that "immediately after the nation of the Prusians, in the mountains where
it is said are pigmies, is found the Indus." These Pigmies may be
identified with the Brahouis, now Dravidian, but still possessing the
habit, attributed to them by Pliny, of changing their dwellings twice a
year, in summer and winter, migrations rendered necessary by the search
for food for their flocks. The same author's allusion to the "Spithamaei
Pygmaei" of the mountains in the neighbourhood of the Ganges may apply to
the Santals or some allied tribe, though Pliny's stature for them of two
feet four inches is exaggeratedly diminutive, and he has confused them
with Homer's Pigmies, who were, as will be seen, a totally different
people.
Ctesias[A] tells us that "Middle India has black men, who are called
Pygmies, using the same language as the other Indians; they are, however,
very little; that the greatest do not exceed the height of two cubits, and
the most part only of one cubit and a half.
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