Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-30
THE ARUWlMl DWARFS.
stanIey's Description OF ths figmies HI
the Great Forest Region
nOnden Timesl


E-o,n thc chjmpanZees. babboous. and
monkeys with which the forest sbOund5. Is
but step. according to Darwinism, to the
nirnv tribes whom we found inhabltng
he tract OF country between the lhuru
and Ituri rivers They were known TO *
~ Inv the father of poets nine centuries
before the beginning of the Christian
era. You may remember Homer wrote
about the sanguinary battle that was re-
Dorted TO have taRen place between the
njgmies and the storks. In the NTH CEN
tuTy before Christ Herodo'us described
Tho captrro of five Young explorers from
Esssamoyes while they were examining
some curious trees in the Niger Basin, and
how the little men took them to their VII
iaces and showed them about TO their
fellow-pigmies much as YOU would
ike US to show the pigmies about
Rneland. The rcorrapher Hekateus IN
the Eth century located the plgmles
near the Equator of africa, under the
shadows of the Mountains of the Moon,
and | find that from Hipparchus down
ward ceographers have faithfully followed
the example OF Hckateus, and nearly
wear AGO We found them where they had
been located by tradition under the names
Of Watwa and W2mbutti. TIE forest
which we have been Just considering cK-
tends right up 70 the base line OF the
Mountains Of the Moon.
Mar q clacs called Avctiko. on the Iturl
river. our hungry men found the first N aie
aud female Of the pigmies squatted III tho
midst of a wild Eden pooling pl2ntsins.
You can imagine Whist shock II was to ts'
poor little creatures At finding themselves
Suddenly surrounded by gigantic Son
daneso. six fee four inches IN height, near
" double their own height and weight,
and black as coal. But my Hanzl barls,
aIygavs more tender-hearted than SCUBA
nNse' prevented the dubbed riho and cut
lasses from extinguishlng their lives there
and then, and brought teen 10 iGe as
prizes in the same spirit % they would
have brought Dig hawk. moth, or NAM
moth lopgicorn for Inspection. AS tAey
stood trembliugly before me named the
little man Adam and the miniature woman
Eve. tar more appropriate names IN the
wild Eden on the Ituri than the Nukukuru
and Akiolwa which they gave Us. As |
looked at them and thought how these re-
presented the oldest people on the
globe. nv admiration would have gone 70
Greater lengths than scOAing cynlcs would
have expected. Poor Greekish heroes and
Jewish patriarehs, how their glory paled
hafore the ancient ancestry of these man,
kinsi Had Adam known how to assume a
tragic pose how fitly he might have said /:
"Yea. Won NAV well look on US, for we are
the ONLY people living on the face Of the
earth who from primeval time have never
been removed from their homes. Before
Yusuf and Mesu were ever heard OF we
lived in these wild shades, from the Nile
Fountains to the Sea Of Darkness. and,
like the giants of the forests, We desplse
time and fate"
But, poor little things, they said nothing
of the kind. They did not know they were
heirs of such proud and unequalled herr
tage. On the contrary, their faces said
clearly enough. as they furtively looked at
one and the other of us. Where have
these big people come from? VIII they
eat us ?" There were soMe nervous witches
about the angles of the nose and quick up
fittings OF the eyelids, and swift-sesrch-
inC looks to note what fats was in store
for them. II is not comfortable feeling
which possesses victim IN the presence
of a possible butcher and a possible con
sumer of its flesh. That misery was evil
dent in the little Adam and Eve OF the
African Eden. The height Of the man was
four feet, that OF the woman little less.
He may have weighed about eighty-lve
pousds; the color OF tho body was that of
& half baked brick. and lsht-brown fell
| stood out very clearly. SO lar as natural
intelligence was concerned within his
limited experience he was certain
~ superior 10 Any HAul III
our camp. The mysteries of woodcraft,
for instance, he knew better than any OF
US he knew what wild fruits were whole
some and what fungi were poisonous. He
could have given Us valuable Lessons how
to isd our way through the forest. saw
also that ne could adapt himself TO circun-
stances. II the pot wss to end him, a very
little shrinking only would betray his fear
of pain; II he were TO be treated affection
ately none could be so ready to appreciate
affection and kindness.
We began to question HIM by gestures.
do you know where, We car get ba-
nanasi" He catches the cue, no grasps
head rapidly, informing US that he knows
whore TO End bananas Of the size of his
leg. One sees that he can exaggerate as
well as Mark Twain. fLanshter.l We
point to the four quarters of the compass,
ouestioningly. He points to the sunrise in
reply. SIS IL far?" He shows q hands
length All. . good days journey