The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-16
EARTHMEN FROM AFRICA.
Some Extraordinary Specimens of Humanity
on Exhibition at the Museum.

Last night a private exhibition was given of
the Earthmen. so-called, at the Dime Museum,
to representatives of the press and few other
specially invited guest. The Earthmen are
dwarfs-the pygmies of classic lore-and are ma
tives of south Africa, living in the great Kala-
hara desert in about the eighteenth parallel Of
latitude. Mr.. W. A. Healey, young English
man, and the agent who penetrated the desert
and secured them, is with the pyg,nies, ahd gave
Journal reporter some interesting accounts of
his trip which were not included in his public
lecture, and also some information as to the
methods of obtaining the savages of the I'M
known countries.
II presume said Mr. Healy shat you know
that Mr.. Farini, manager of the London Aqua
rum, has almost monopoly in this business.
Well, of course, the directors of the Jardin des
Plantes, Paris, and the Berlin Menagerie send
out agents. but Mr. Farini is a Yankee"-the
narrator smiled.
When any exploring expedition is starting
out, Mr.. Farini offers a large rev lrd for the
photographs Of any peculiar type of people, or
any new or unknown additions to the fauna.
This is an nducement to explorers, and by this
means his own agents can immediately be sent
out and the curiosities secured. The news of the
pygmes being in the Kalahara desert was
brought to the colonies by a diamond miner"
The Belgian expedition, now in the Congo
country, lately sent photographs Of tribe OF
negroes who have horns in their cheeks-of
course artificial, and placed in when young-but
which gives them peculiarly fierce expression.
l don't know whether Mr.. Farini will send out
an expedition to some of them or not
The museum business has grown to such an eX-
tent in the country anu te. Farini having made
ARRANGEMENTS to play his attractions In this
country, through Colonel Filkins, it may be
probable that he will be unusually active THIS
is the way all such people are gotten.
With regard to my trip to the kalahara desert
l left Capetown and proceeded to Natal There
the commissioners of the colony tried to DIS
suade me from entering the desert; but finding
me determined, gave, as guide. friendly Bush
man chief, who knew the whereabouts Of the
homes of the dwarfs
After purchasing my outfit and making prepa-
rations the chief was solemnly bound, under eX-
treme penalties, by the commissioner, to protect
me, British subject We were about FIVE
months in reaching our destination, and about
four months in returning L secured twelve OF
the dwarfS but before reaching Kafirland six
of them took French leave, but NEON Qui. the
chief, kept to his solemn promise, and reached
the colonies in safety"
But did not the Colonial government require
some surety as to their safe keepingF
"Yes; by interpreter the contract which COW
ers three years, was made known to them and
they consented to come. We first exhibited
them at the Aquarium at London, and then they
We're brought to this country"
The pygmies are decided curiosites They
included N'Co-N'Qui, the captain or chief, aged
thirty five years. feet inches high; N'Arbecy,
his wife, a half inch taller, and forty years old:
Min MON, the chiefs favorte dancer,
twenty-four years old, feet inch high; MO-,
nineteen years old. feet II inches; NJey, a
young girl of twelve and Mark, the chiefs
son, baby of SIX which stiu nurses and smokes
cigarettes The color of the earthmen is yell
low brown they are all we'll formed: their noses
are fat cartilaginous, and their hair is woolly.
and grows in tufts.
Mr.. Healy then, after brief description of
the pygmies. removed the wicker covers on the
platform, which is covered with trophies intend
ed to represent ant-hills. in which these nomadic
the entertainment, showing their pecularitles
and manners Inside the miniature house five
little people were seen, who proceeded quickly
through the programme The way in which
they stalk the leopard crawling on the sands
with bow and poisoned arrows, and the
manner of decoying the ostrich by means
of dummy carried over the body,
were shown. Min N'Fom gave one of
the peculiar dances which had made him court
premier His music peculiar noise, made
as if by hard breathing, and the time was ex
cellent The chief told the story of the trip
with nervous pantomime, and which was so easy
of translation that the efforts of the clown
Grimaldi pale. The war dance was then per-
formed, after which the audience were invited
to examine them. The pygmies' heads are not
abnormal, and the pereeptive faculties are full
and their actions indicate intelligence and strong
mmetic powers The vocabulary of the Ian
guage seems limited, and consists of few unin-
telligihle Nueks.
Are these the Bushmen that Spoke and Liv-
ingstone treat of, and who, Livingstone says, had
no idea of outlineg asked the reporter of Mr.
Healy.
mo. The Bushmen of the desert, while
dwarfish, are black. The opinion of ethnolo-
gists is. and the crude legends of this people say,
that once they We're large tribe and are the
same people that Herodotns met In the Libyan
desert, and which the frescoes of Pompeii de-
lineate. In regard to the paintings of the Bush
men. l discovered during the trip cave in
which were drawings of what l thought was the
unicorn, but which afterward solved to mean
the eemsbok two. horned antelope. The
unicorn is not found in that latitude and the
profile deceived me-"