[Footnote A: _Op. supra cit._, ii. 40.]
Pomponius Mela has also his account of African Pigmies. Beyond the Arabian
Gulf, and at the bottom of an indentation of the Red Sea, he places the
Panchaeans, also called Ophiophagi, on account of the fact that they fed
upon serpents. More within the Arabian bay than the Panchaeans are the
Pigmies, a minute race, which became exterminated in the wars which it was
compelled to wage with the Cranes for the preservation of its fruits. The
region indicated somewhat corresponds with that which is assigned to the
Dokos by their describer. In this district, too, other dwarf races have
been reported. The French writer whom I have so often cited says, "The
tradition of Eastern African Pigmies has never been lost by the Arabs. At
every period the geographers of this nation have placed their River of
Pigmies much more to the south. It is in this region, a little to the
north of the Equator, and towards the 32 deg. of east longitude, that the Rev.
Fr. Leon des Avanchers has found the Wa-Berrikimos or Cincalles, whose
stature is about four feet four inches.
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