lib. p. 9. m. 390.]
_Megasthenes_ methinks in _Pliny_ mounts the _Pygmies_ for this expedition
much better, for he sets them not on a _Pegasus_ or _Partridges_, but on
_Rams_ and _Goats_: _Fama est_ (saith _Pliny[A]) insedentes Arietum
Caprarumque dorsis, armatis sagittis, veris tempore universo agmine ad
mare descendere_. And _Onesicritus_ in Strabo tells us, That a _Crane_ has
been often observed to fly from those parts with a brass Sword fixt in
him, [Greek: pleistakis d' ekpiptein geranon chalkaen echousan akida apo
ton ekeithen plaegmaton.][B] But whether the _Pygmies_ do wear Swords, may
be doubted. 'Tis true, _Ctesias_ tells us,[C] That the _King_ of _India_
every fifth year sends fifty Thousand Swords, besides abundance of other
Weapons, to the Nation of the _Cynocephali_, (a fort of _Monkeys_, as I
shall shew) that live in those Countreys, but higher up in the Mountains:
But he makes no mention of any such Presents to the poor _Pygmies_; tho'
he assures us, that no less than three Thousand of these _Pygmies_ are the
_Kings_ constant Guards: But withal tells us, that they are excellent
_Archers_, and so perhaps by dispatching their Enemies at a distance, they
may have no need of such Weapons to lye dangling by their sides.
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