130. The fable of the pigmies is as old as Homer (Iliad,
iii. 6). The pigmies of India and Ethiopia were
(trispithami) twenty-seven inches high. Every spring their
cavalry (mounted on rams and goats) marched in battle array
to destroy the cranes eggs, aliter (says Pliny) futuris
gregibus non resisti. Their houses were built of mud,
feathers, and egg-shells. See Pliny (vi. 35, vii. 2) and
Strabo (1. ii. p. 121 [p. 70, ed. Casaub.]).