The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-02-24
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.

Alice D. LIE Plongron writes as follows
in the New York Tribune: Stories about
diminutivc people are found in many
countries, not as real beings, but shadows
that come and go, and are called by
various names, such as fairy, fay, eli,
pixie, etc. Nowhere are such little peo-
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
strange fact that on the East Coast OF
Yucatan, as we'll as on adjacent islands,
there are whole cities, in ruinous condi-
ton, of houses that could not possibly
have served for people more than three
feet high. I 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 nv head nearly touched the cell
ings of the largest rooms. No one can
dissuade natives from the idea that the
ghosts of those diminutive people
roam about at night They say: "But
we do see them; they are no higher than
a 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"
It 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
assert, they must be very few, and sue
cessful in hiding. Nevertheless, it is
credibly 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 strange
little being that suddenly 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
lv covering her. She was 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
dams in those parts. AS the weather
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 afterward 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 had planted cornfeld, but that
they generally 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 60 and see her
people. She manifested delight, and
offered to guide 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 60 and announce their coming, as
otherwise her people would run away
and hide on hearing footsteps. Away
she went, and soon not sound was heard.
The men waited patiently,:but their di-
minutive guide did not return. Con-
vinced that she had very cunningly
eluded 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 pre-
pared for transportation. The ground
was much trodden, but no 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
woodmen 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 diminutive houses,
which any traveller may examine for him
self.