Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-03-06
A RACE OF DWARFS.
PIGMY PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN
CENTRAL AMERICA.
Ruined Cities that Testify of their
Observation-Disclosures Still to be
Found A Diminutive
Girls Capture.

GIFTS capture.
Alice D. lie Plongron writes as follows
in the New York Tribune: Stories about
diminutive people are found in many
that come and go, and are called by
various names, such as fairy, fay, elf,
pixie, etc. Nowhere are such little pco-
pie more talked about than in some parts
of Central America, notably in British
Honduras and Yucatan, where people
little more than four feet high are very
numerous even at the present time.
Whenever the natives are questioned
about the ancient temples found in their
country. they say "The pygmies built
them" and although no Importance is
generally attached to that answer, it is a
strange fact that on the East Coast of
Yucatan, as well as on adj acent islands,
there are whole cities, in ruinous condi-
ton, of houses that could not possibly
have served for people more than three
feet high. | have measured many of
those houses, which are strongly
constructed of hewn stone, and found
the doorways not more than three
feet high, and eighteen inches wide,
while my head nearly touched the cell
ings of the largest rooms. No one can
dissuadc natives from the idea that the
ghosts of those diminutivc people
roam about at night. They say, but
we do see them; they are no higher than
child four years old, and they wear big
hats. They throw stones at us, shake
our hammocks, and hammer on the bench
where we grind corn
1t is affirmed that very diminutive
people still dwell among the hills in
Honduras AMI Guatemala, but no one
seems able to put his fingers upon them,
which would lead to the belief that if
there are any still living, as so many
assert, they must b. very few, and sue
ccssful in hiding. Nevertheless, it is
crcdibly related that one day, in the
year 1925, some woodcutters, wandering
along the banks of the Moho river in
British Honduras, in search of mahogany
trees, was startled upon reaching a
place called Meditation Fall, by a strange
little being that suddealy emerged from
the bush. stared wildly at them, then
turned to flee. The men pursued, over
took, and brought the odd creature to
their camp. 1t was a dark skinned girl,
not quite three feet tall, and with no
other covering than her hair which fell
in thick black masses to her feet, complete
| ly covering her She wa; very wild, but
not stupid, and finding that no harm was
done to her, she talked to the wood-cut-
tiers in the Maya tongue that they also
spoke, that being the language of the In
RI NnrfS hn -nnt In pr
was cool, one of the men gave her red
flannel shirt, which clothed her from
head to foot For day or two she re-
fuSed to eat, but aftcrward seemed con-
tented. She said her people were all the
same size as herself, and that they were
then living near Meditation Fall, where
they hal planted corntield, but that
they generally dwelt three or four miles
away in deep valley After she had
been in the camp about ten days, some
of the men proposed to go and see her
people She manifested delight, and
offered to guile them to the spot. Reach
ing the place where they first met her,
she led them into the forest, then made a
sign for them to stop and be silent. A
hub-bub of voices, as Of many people
talking, reached their ears, and
the girl whispered to them that she
would go and announce their coming, as
otherwise her people would run away
and hide on hearing footsteps. Away
she went, and soon not a sound was heard.
The men waited patiently, but their di-
minutivc guide did not return. Con-
WINGED that she had very cunnngly
eluded them, they went forward, and in
two minutes found themselves in a corn
field. There were embers in two or three
places, and small piles of corn, as if pre-
pared for transportation. The ground
was much trodden, but n living creature
was in sight They searched in vain, and
remained some time in the field hoping
that the owners would return for the corn,
but they never saw the girl again, nor
any of her people. One of those very
woodmcn gave me this account, and sim
liar stories have been told by others; but
all such stories might be doubted were it
not for the cities of diminutivc houses,
which any travcl,rmly cyamilc for him
self