Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/94

 75 These people collect and destroy the eggs of the cranes, for it is in their country the cranes lay their eggs^ and thus ihe eggs and the young cranes are not to be found anywhere else. Frequently a crane escapes having the brazen point of a weapon in Us hody, &oni wounds re- ceived in that country. ' Equally absurd is the account given of the E n 6t o k o i t a i,;( for dwarf. They were thougM to fight with vnltures and eagles. As they were of Mongolian origin, the Indians represented them with the distinctiye features of that race, but with their repnlsiveness exaggerated. Hence Megas- thenSs spoke of tiie Amukteres, men without noses, who had merely breathing-holes above the month. The Kirfitae are no doubt identical with the Scyrites (V. L. Syrictes) of Plinius and the Kirrhadai of the Perwlus Ma/ris ErythrcBt. X The Endtokoitai are caUed in Sanskrit JToma^prdva- romds, and are frequently referred to in the great epio poems — e.g. MahAhh. II. 1170, 1875. The opinion was universally prevalent among the Indians that barbarous tribes had large ears : thus not only are the KarnaprAva- rcumds mentioned, but also Ka/rmkAst LamhakamdLS,Mahd' kamds H.e. long or large eared)*, IJsMrakcvrnAs (i.e. camel- eared), OshtFiafccwTtAs {i.e. having the ears close to the Ups), FdmkamAs {i.e. having hands for ears). Schwanb. GQ. origin of many of the so-called fables. The ants are not as big as foxes, but they are very extraordinary excavators. The stories of men pallia^ up trees, and usmg them as clubs, are common enough m the MahdibMrataj especially in the legends of the exploits of Bhima. Men do not have ears hanging down to their feet, but both men and women will occasionally elongate their ears after a very extraordinary fashion by thrusting articles through the lobe. «... If there was one story more than another which excited the wrath of Strabo, it was that of a people whose ears hung down to their feet. Yet the story IS still current in Hindust&n. BAbu Johari D&s says : — ' An old woman once told me that her husband, a sepoy in the British army, had seen a people who slept on one ear, and covered themselves with the other.' {Domestic Mori' nersand Customs of the Hindus, BanAras, 1860.V* The story may be referred to the Himalayas. Fitch, who travelled Digitized by Google
 * ' It is easy,** says Wheeler {Hist. Ind. vol. HI. p. 179),
 * for any one conversant with India to point out the