Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-05-06
Africa. The Khedive, who gave me these

Africa. The Khedive, who gave me these
particulars, seemed much interested in the
people, and probably intends to use them, it
they survive, as medium Of future inter-
course with their tribe.
The soldiers brought the pigmies forward
for our inspection. They came, half will
lingly, half with an air of defiance, or OF pro-
test against the superior strength which sur
rounded them. A tall Dinka. from the White
Nile, blacker than charcoal, who accom-
panied them, was one of Miani's men. He
spoke a little Arabic, and | was thus able to
get little additional information through
him. He assured me that the pigmies were
called Mann; that their country was jour
new of year and half from Khartoum
(probably the time occupied by trading ex-
petition in going thither and returning, and
that the place from which they came had the
name of Takkatkat. The taller of the two
pigmies, Tubbul by name, was 20 years old;
the younger, Karal, only 10 or II.
The little fellows looked at me with bright,
questioning, steady eyes, while | examined
and measured them. Tubbul was 46 inches
in hight the legs being % inches, and the
body with the head "a, which is somewhat
better proportion than Is usual IN savage
tribes. Head and arms were quite symmet-
rical, but the spine curved in remarkably
from the shoulders to the hip-Joint, throwing
out the abdomen, which was already much
distended, probably from their diet OF beans
and bananas. Yet the head was erect, the
shoulders on the line of gravity, and there
was no stoop in the posture of the body, as
in the South African bushmen. Tubbul
measured 20 inches around the breast and %
around the abdomen; his hands and teetw were
coarsely formed, bat not large, only the knee
;oip toinr disnrnpnrtin ate1V thick and
clumsy. The facial angle was fully up 10
the average; there was good development
of BRAIN fine intelligent eyes, and nose so
tlattened that, in looking down the forehead
from above, one saw only the lips projecting
beyond it. The nostrls were astonishiEgy
wide and square; the complexion was that OF
dark mulatto.
The boy Karal was 43 inches high, with the
same general proportions. Both had woolly
hair, cut short in front, but covering the
crown with circular cap Of crisp little rolls.
Tubbul's age showed itself, on nearer exam
ination, in his hands, feet, and joints, as well
as his face. He had no beard bnt was evil
deuty of virie years. lifted him from the
ground. and should not estimate his weight
at more than G5 pounds. The soldiers stated
that neither of the two had learned more than
a few words of Arabic, but that they talked
q great deal to each other in their own Ian
guage. However, when ordered to speak,
Tubbu turned and walked away. A soldier
seized and drew him back, whereupon he
stood still and sullen in his former place. At
a recent meeting of the Egyptian Institute it
was stated that the language of these pig
mics has no resemblance to that of any other
in Central Africa.
The country of Mann, or Takkatikat, or
whatever may be its correct name, is reported
to be an equatorial table-and covered with
low, dense thckets, in which the pigmies
hide. The Khedive told me that they are
quite warlike, and by no means despicabe
foes to their larger negro neighbors, since
they are active as apes and difficult to find
among their native jungles. DR.. Schwein-
furth supposes them to be the pigmies men
toned by Herodotus. The Darwinians will
hardly find an intermediate race between man
and monkey, in them. Their curious
physical peculiarities, especially the curva-
ture of the spine, the wide mouth with fiat
but distinctly marked lips and the squareness
and breadth of the nostris are not of sim
ian character. In fact, they look less like
the chmpanzee than several of the tall and
athletic negro tribes.
When l was on the White Nile, in 1852,
the Nyam- Nyams were spoken of by the
people as frishtful race of cannibals, with
tails. No one had ever seen them; the very
name was q terror to the natives of Soudan
and an obstacle to the traveller. Now their
country has been reached and partially ex-
plored, and specimens Of the race have VEN
tured even as far as khartoum. The pigmies
prove to be far more interesting than they,
from an chronological point of view, and we
shall certainly soon learn more of them. l
am not aware that any account of the race
has yet been published in E4rope or Amer
lea.