excerpts from
Natural History (c. 77 CE)
by Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE)

Book XII.  The Natural History of Trees
Chapter 21. Trees of the Islands of the Persian Sea --The Cotton Tree

In the same gulf, there is the island of Tylos, covered with a forest on the side which looks towards the East, where it is washed also by the sea at high tides.  Each of the trees is in size as large as the fig; the blossoms are of an indescribable sweetness, and the fruit is similar in shape to a lupine, but so rough and prickly, that it is never touched by any animal.

On a more elevated plateau of the same island, we find trees that bear wool, but of a different nature from those of the Seres; as in these trees the leaves produce nothing at all, and, indeed, might very readily be taken for those of the vine, were it not that they are of smaller size.  They bear a kind of gourd, about the size of a quince; which, when arrived at maturity, bursts asunder and discloses a ball of down, from which a costly kind of linen cloth is made.

Book VII.  Man, His Birth, His Organization, and the Invention of the Arts
Chapter 2.  The Wonderful Forms of Different Nations

In the vicinity also of those who dwell in the northern regions, and not far from the spot from which the north wind arises ... the Arimaspi are said to exist ... a nation remarkable for having but one eye, and that placed in the middle of the forehead....

...In India the largest of animals are produced; their dogs, for example, are much bigger than those of any other country....

On many of the mountains again, there is a tribe of men who have the heads of dogs, and clothe themselves with the skins of wild beasts.  Instead of speaking, they bark; and, furnished with claws, they live by hunting and catching birds.  According to the story, as given by Ctesias [Greek physician and historian (fl. 5th c BCE)], the number of these people is more than a hundred and twenty thousand:  and the same author tells us, that there is a certain race in India, of which the females are pregnant once only in the course of their lives, and that the hair of the children becomes white the instant they are born.  He speaks also of another race of men, who are known as Monocoli, who have only one leg, but are able to leap with surprising agility.  The same people are also called Sciapodæ:  because they are in the habit of lying on their backs, during the time of the extreme heat, and protect themselves from the sun by the shade of their feet.  These people, he says, dwell not very far from the Troglodytæ; to the west of whom again there is a tribe who are without necks, and have eyes in their shoulders....

CHAPTER XXII.

...Of Folk of diverse shape and marvellously disfigured....

From that isle, in going by sea toward the south, is another great isle that is clept Dondun.  In that isle be folk of diverse kinds....

The king of this isle is a full great lord and a mighty, and hath under him fifty-four great isles that give tribute to him.  And in everych of these isles is a king crowned; and all be obeissant to that king.  And he hath in those isles many diverse folk.

In one of these isles be folk of great stature, as giants.  And they be hideous for to look upon.  And they have but one eye, and that is in the middle of the front.  And they eat nothing but raw flesh and raw fish.

And in another isle toward the south dwell folk of foul stature and of cursed kind that have no heads.  And their eyen be in their shoulders.

And in another isle be folk that have the face all flat, all plain, without nose and without mouth.  But they have two small holes, all round, instead of their eyes, and their mouth is plat also without lips.

And in another isle be folk of foul fashion and shape that have the lip above the mouth so great, that when they sleep in the sun they cover all the face with that lip....

And in another isle be folk that have great ears and long, that hang down to their knees.

And in another isle be folk that have horses' feet.  And they be strong and mighty, and swift runners; for they take wild beasts with running, and eat them....

Many other diverse folk of diverse natures be there in other isles about, of the which it were too long to tell, and therefore I pass over shortly.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Of the Countries and Isles that be beyond the Land of Cathay; and of the fruits there....

Now shall I say you, suingly, of countries and isles that be beyond the countries that I have spoken of.

Wherefore I say you, in passing by the land of Cathay toward the high Ind and toward Bacharia, men pass by a kingdom that men clepe Caldilhe, that is a full fair country.

And there groweth a manner of fruit, as though it were gourds.  And when they be ripe, men cut them a-two, and men find within a little beast, in flesh, in bone, and blood, as though it were a little lamb without wool.  And men eat both the fruit and the beast.  And that is a great marvel.  Of that fruit I have eaten, although it were wonderful, but that I know well that God is marvellous in his works.  And, natheles, I told them of as great a marvel to them, that is amongst us, and that was of the Bernakes.  For I told them that in our country were trees that bear a fruit that become birds flying, and those that fell in the water live, and they that fall on the earth die anon, and they be right good to man's meat.  And hereof had they as great marvel, that some of them trowed it were an impossible thing to be....

...From that land go men toward the land of Bacharia, where be full evil folk and full cruel.  In that land be trees that bear wool, as though it were of sheep, whereof men make clothes and all things that may be made of wool.

To see how people in the 1490s imagined the "diverse folk" described by Herodotus, Pliny and Mandeville, visit the Nuremberg Chronicle website (created by Morse Library, Beloit College).

• After reading "About this Book," click on "Book Contents"
• Click on "Images"
• Click on "Miscellaneous"; there you'll find a list of images including twenty-one depicting "strange people"

c. 1200 -- born in Swabia

c. 1220 -- began studies at Padua (Italy)

c. 1225 -- returned to Germany to teach theology

1245 -- sent to University of Paris for further study; accompanied by his student, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

1248 -- returned with Aquinas to Cologne

1250 -- helped draw up rules for directing study and setting qualifications for graduation

• what role should natural philosophy
  play in educating theologians?

• what authority should be accorded to the works of Aristotle?