Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-03-11
AMERICAN DWARFS.
Ruined Cities That Testify of Their Former
Existence.

tilicS nat TESTIFY OF 1ne1r OrIner
Existence.
Stories about diminutive people are
found in many countries, not as of real
beings, but shadows that come and go,
and are called by various names, such
as fairy, fay, elf, pixie, etc. Nowhere
are such little people more talked about
than in some parts of Central America.
notably in British Honduras and Yucca
tan, where people little more than four
feet high are very numerous even at the
present time. Whenever the natives
are questioned about the ancient tenn
pies found in their country, they say,
1.-The pygmies built Them" and al
though no importance is generally at
tached to that answer, it is strange
fact that on the east coast of Yucatan,
as well as on adjacent islands, there are
houses that could not possibly have
high l 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
ceilings of the largest rooms. No one
can dissuade the natives from the idea
that the ghosts of those diminutive peo-
pie roam about at night. They say:
but we do see them; they are not big
ger than child four years old, and they
wear big hats. They throw stones at
us. shake our hammocks, and hammer
on the bench T7here we grind corn"
1t is affirmed that very diminutive
people still dwell among the hills in
Honduras and 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 as
sert, they must very few, and successful
in hiding. Nevertheless, it is credibly
related that one day in the 1925, some
wood-cutters, wandering along the
banks of the Moho river in British Hon.
duras, in search of mahogany trees,
were startled upon reaching a
place called Meditation Fall by
a strange little being that sud-
denly emerged from the bush, stared
wildly at them, then turned to flee. The
men pursued, overlook, and brought
the odd creature to their camp. 1t
was a dark-skinned girl, not quite
three feet tall. and with no other cover
ing than her hair. which fell in thick
black masses to her feet, completely
covering her. She was very wild, but
not stupid, and finding that no harm
was done to her, she talked to the
wood-cutters in the Maya tongue that
they also spoke. that being the language
of the Indians in those parts. As the
her red flannel shirt, which clothed
l.. Iaal ba foot dow or
two she refused to eat, but afterward
seemed eontented. She said her peo-
pie were all the same size as herself,
and that they were then living near
Meditation Fall, where they had
planted a corn-field but that they gen.
orally dwelt three or four miles away in
a 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
guide them TO the spot. Reaching the
place where they first met her, she
led them into the forest, then made
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 90 and announce their coming,
as otherwise her people would run away
and hide on hearing footsteps. Away
size went. and soon not sound was
heard. The men waited patiently, but
their diminutive guide did not return.
Convinced that she had very cunningly
esided them, they went forward, and IN
two minutes found themselves In corn
field. There were embers in two or
three places, and small piles of corn. as
If prepared for transportation. 1he |
ground was much trodden, but no living |