_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. I may therefore be mistaken in rendering [Greek: akida] a Sword; it may be any other sharp pointed Instrument or Weapon, and upon second Thoughts, shall suppose it a sort of Arrow these cunning _Archers_ use in these Engagements. [Footnote A: _Plinij. Nat. Hist._ lib. 7. cap. 2. p. 13.] [Footnote B: _Strabo Geograph._ lib. 15. p. 489.] [Footnote C: _Vide Photij. Biblioth._]