The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-06-30
Neither Gorillas nor Humans.
A Japanese Tribe of Hairy People, Who
Possess Tails.

Can it be supposed that when Dean
| Swift libeled humanity by degrading it
! below the level Of the brutcs i'm his
dreadful fiction of the Gahoos, he ever
Imagined that there existed aught that
Appropriated toward the odious pict-
urc2 Yet such is the case. There are,
undoubtedly, races whose attributes do,
in various degrees, suggest, if they do
not realize, che misanthropic fables of
! the men beasts OF Houyhums Land.
/ The Maintains, of Africa, who live be
tween the Gulf Of Benin and Abyssinia,
are said to have tails, a statement CON
| frmed by DIR. Hubsh, of Constantinoplo,
in 1851. The hairy people mention
| cd of old by Hanno seem TO have a real
existence, apart from the gorilla, judy
! ing from Miss Birds account Of the Al
nos of Japan, a strange, savage, and
! little-knOwn race, supposed to be the
| aborlgnes e. that country, but now on
| lY to be found in the Island of Eezo
| They are. she saws, of most ferocious
aspect, owing to the profusion Of their
| thick, soft black hair and boards, and
to the singular fact that their bodies are
commonly covered with vigorous
growth Of black hair or fur, upward Of
an inch in length, and incrusted with
dirt, for the Amos never wash. Then
food Is a .'stew Of abomiraLie things,
and thick sorE made of puttv-like
clay, which is boiled with the pulp Of
wild lily. They believe themselves H.
be descended from dogs, but other char
acteristics Of this strange people are not
unamable. Reyoad thes instances, and
presenting far more striking resem-
hlanoe 10 the Yahoo type, there are the
Neddas or Weddahs of Ceylon, their
duplicates in Borneo and New Guines.
and kindred varieties discovered ia the
Philippine Islands. Terra del Enego,
and South America. Onl% none ofthesc
, are 50 hateful ~ the creatures Of Swifts
Invention 1t needed that fierce indigna-
ton against his kind which he has re-
corded IN bis epitaph, TO depict them.
The Neddas and similar races IN the
islands Of the Asiatic archipelago are
described az the aborigines Of their re-
spective countries, who have shruk into
the Jungle and forest to escape from civ
ilization. and have lived there for up
wards Of :, 900 years. They construct
no habitations, but lodge in caves or
trees or overhanging rocks. They are
stunted in size, seldom exceeding four
feet eight inches in statue, and but
feebIy built, except a. regards their
arms, which the constant Use of the bow
renders very muscular, notwithstand-
ing their short. ape-like thumbs With
this weapon they kill animals for food
jevouring, besides, snakes, reptiles,
Wild honey, ants, eggs, and carrIOn Of
all kinds. They lack both memory and
foresight, cannot count or discriminate
between colors, are filthy in their hab-
its, and in everything save rudimenta
~ language OF uncouth cultural sounds,
and some dim vestiges Of religion and
social order, are a beasts Of the field.
Saddest perhaps Of all, they never
laugh When they die they believe
thew become devils Yet this henighted
and Outcast race, 20 low la organization,
ha bits and charaeter "a scarcely TO be
disting uished from the monkeys Of the
iungles among whom they live, practice
bv instinct virtues which arc not 700
common IN civilization they never lie,
steal nor oganei. some Of these unfort-
innate creatures have been halftamed
- ftAi Nttt+fbtt-r anu SGT TO out NNIT
work, like Iahoos Of the Houyhnms
When the Prince Of Wales visited the
island IN 1876, certain of the Jungle
Neddas were actually caught IN shares
and traps to be exhibited 10 him; and
one Il lie number female-positive-
~ died of fright in being secured 1t
was not a humane tranaction, but the
Neddas are regarded merely as animals.
Finally, it may be remarked, in connec-
tion with Swift's curious anticipation, I
that he placed Houyhnms Land near
the great island continent Of Australia. +
1t appears in The map of the first edi- /
ton If ttGulliver" as due south Of.
Nuyst's Land, in about 80 degrees east
latitude, and 125 degrees east longitude. f
Now, Ceylon is but 80 degrees west of
this locality. though above, as New
Guinea is just below, the equator The
Yahoos could not have been better ac-
All The Year Round.