Besides, he does not inform us, that these _Nubae_ used to
fight the _Cranes_; and if they do not, and were not _Cubitales_, they
can't be _Homer_'s _Pygmies_, which we are enquiring after. But the Notion
of their being _Men_, had so possessed him, that it put him upon fancying
they must be the _Nubae_; but 'tis plain that those in _Nonnosus_ could not
be a Colony of the _Nubae_; for then the _Nubae_ must have understood their
Language, which the _Text_ saith, none of the Neighbourhood did. And
because the _Nubae_ are _Troglodytes_, that therefore they must be
_Pygmies_, is no Argument at all. For _Troglodytes_ here is used as an
_Adjective_; and there is a sort of _Sparrow_ which is called _Passer
Troglodytes_. Not but that in _Africa_ there was a Nation of _Men_ called
_Troglodytes_, but quite different from our _Pygmies_. How far _Bochartus_
may be in the right, in guessing the Lakes of the _Nile_ (whereabout
_Aristotle_ places the _Pygmies_) to be the Fountains of the River
_Astaborus_, which in his description, and likewise the _Map_, he places
in the Country of the _Avalitae_, near the _Mossylon Emporium_; I shall not
enquire.
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