e. a _Man_ of the _Woods_, or _Wild-men_; and being
brought from _Africa_, that part of the World, where the _Pygmies_ are
said to inhabit; and it's present _Stature_ likewise tallying so well with
that of the _Pygmies_ of the Ancients; these Considerations put me upon
the search, to inform my self farther about them, and to examine, whether
I could meet with any thing that might illustrate their _History_. For I
thought it strange, that if the whole was but a meer Fiction, that so many
succeeding Generations should be so fond of preserving a _Story_, that had
no Foundation at all in Nature; and that the _Ancients_ should trouble
themselves so much about them. If therefore I can make out in this
_Essay_, that there were such _Animals_ as _Pygmies_; and that they were
not a _Race_ of _Men_, but _Apes_; and can discover the _Authors_, who
have forged all, or most of the idle Stories concerning them; and shew how
the Cheat in after Ages has been carried on, by embalming the Bodies of
_Apes_, then exposing them for the _Men_ of the Country, from whence they
brought them: If I can do this, I shall think my time not wholly lost, nor
the trouble altogether useless, that I have had in this Enquiry.
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