xt, the diversity, or rather contrariety of
Expositions and Interpretations, distracting more than confirming the
Truth of the Story._

But why _Aldrovandus_ or _Caspar Bartholine_ should bring in St. _Austin_
as a Favourer of this Opinion of _Men Pygmies_, I see no Reason. To me he
seems to assert quite the contrary: For proposing this Question, _An ex
propagine_ Adam _vel filiorum_ Noe, _quaedam genera Hominum Monstrosa
prodierunt?_ He mentions a great many monstrous Nations of _Men_, as they
are described by the _Indian Historians_, and amongst the rest, the
_Pygmies_, the _Sciopodes_, &c. And adds, _Quid dicam de_ Cynocephalis,
_quorum Canina Capita atque ipse Latratus magis Bestias quam Homines
confitentur? Sed omnia Genera Hominum, quae dicuntur esse, esse credere,
non est necesse._ And afterwards so fully expresses himself in favour of
the _Hypothesis_ I am here maintaining, that I think it a great
Confirmation of it. _Nam & Simias_ (saith he) _& Cercopithecos, &
Sphingas, si nesciremus non Homines esse, sed Bestias, possent isti
Historici de sua Curiositate gloriantes velut Gentes Aliquas Hominum nobis
impunita vanitate mentiri._ At last he concludes and determines the
Question thus, _Aut illa, quae talia de quibusdam Gentibus scripta sunt,
omnino nulla sunt, aut si sunt, Homines non sunt, aut ex_ Adam _sunt si
Homines sunt._

There is nothing therefore in St. _Austin_ that justifies the being of
_Men Pygmies_, or that the _Pygmies_ were _Men_; he rather makes them
_Apes_. And there is nothing in his _Scholiast Ludovicus Vives_ that tends
this way, he only quotes from other Authors, what might illustrate the
Text he is commenting upon, and no way asserts their being _Men_. I shall
therefore next enquire into _Bochartus_'s Opinion, who would have them to
be the _Nubae_ or _Nobae_. _Hos Nubas Troglodyticos_ (saith[A] he) _ad
Avalitem Sinum esse Pygmaeos Veterum multa probant._ He gives us five
Reasons to prove this. As, 1. The Authority of _Hesychius_, who saith,
[Greek: Noboi Pygmaioi]. 2. Because _Homer_ places the _Pygmies_ near the
Ocean, where the Nubae were. 3. _Aristotle_ places them at the lakes of the
_Nile_. Now by the _Nile Bochartus_ tells us, we must understand the
_Astaborus_, which the Ancients thought to be a Branch of the _Nile_, as
he proves from _Pliny, Solinus_ and _AEthicus_. And _Ptolomy_ (he tells us)
places the _Nubae_ hereabout. 4. Because _Aristotle_ makes the _Pygmies_ to
be _Troglodyte