But they nourish the longest
hair, hanging down unto the knees, and even below; moreover, they carry a
beard more at length than any other men; but, what is more, after this
promised beard is risen to them, they never after use any clothing, but
send down, truly, the hairs from the back much below the knees, but draw
the beard before down to the feet; afterward, when they have covered the
whole body with hairs, they bind themselves, using those in the place of a
vestment. They are, moreover, apes and deformed. Of these Pygmies, the
king of the Indians has three thousand in his train; for they are very
skilful archers." No doubt the actual stature has been much diminished in
this account, and, as De Quatrefages suggests, the garment of long
floating grasses which they may well have worn, may have been mistaken for
hair; yet, in the description, he believes that he is able to recognise
the ancestors of the Bandra-Lokh of the Vindhya Mountains. Ctesias' other
statement, that "the king of India sends every fifth year fifty thousand
swords, besides abundance of other weapons, to the nation of the
Cynocephali," may refer to the same or some other tribe.
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