Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-19
THE PYGMY RACES.
The Dwarfs Of Mythology and Those
Seen by Stanley.

From the Gentleman's Magazine.
Not the least interesting Of the discoveries
made by Mr.. Stanley on his latest expedition is
that Of the Wambatti-the dwarf tribe living
between the Upper Aruhwimi and the Nepoko.
1t has long been q wel!-knowu fact that the
Pygmies of Homer, Herodotus and Ktesias-
those OF whom Pliny speaks as dwelling among
, the marshes where the Nile rises"-are some
thing more than mere mythical beings and
almost every exploration Of any importance
undertaken of late years has thrown fresh light
on the existence of primitive African race, of
whom the Wsmbatti are in all probability one
Of many fragments, scattered through central
and southern Africa.
These tribes, usually designated dwarfs or
pygmies, are numerous, bearing q marked re-
semblance to each other and showing a marked
difference from the people among whom they
are scattered. Their surest and most perma-
nent characteristic is their hair, which il
woolly, but instead Of being. as in the negro,
evenly distributed over the scalp, grows in
small tufts This appearance. according to
Prof. Virchow, is not due to the fact that the
hair grows on some spots and not on others
but to a peculiarly in the texture of the hair
itself, which causes it to roll naturally into
closely curled spiral locks, leaving the inter-
vening pieces OF scalp bare.
The name Of dwarfs, applied by some to
| these people, has been objected to az implying
deformity or arrested growth, and therefore
conveying wrong impression. Nothing Of thu
kind can be said of the African Pygmies, who,
though Of short stature, are well-shaped people
| of perfectly normal formation.
| The section of the Pygmy race with which
Europeans have come most in contact Is the
| Hottentots and Bushmen. The former call them
selves .Khoi-KhOi," Hottentots being merely q
nickname given by the early Dutch settlers, who
declared that the natives spoke an uninteihgibie
language, consisting only Of sounds like hot and
| tot. That keen observer, Moffat, long ago
as the first decade Of tins century, noticed the
distinct and peculiar characteristics Of the
Hottentots and recognized their racial identity
| Surveying the Pygmy race as a whole, we
| find them (shorn Of the mythical and magical
glamor with which distance and mystery have
invested them) not so very different after all,
from other human beings, but still sufficiently
| interesting. No well-authenticated adult seems
to be much less than 4 feet inches while Dr.
Petermann thinks that the Pygmies, on the
whole, run about head shorter than the aver.
| age negro.
| cannot attempt to deal with the origin OF
| the Pygmy race, or its relationship to the An
damese and the Veddahs Of Ceylon, who are
| said to have some characteristics in common
with the Pygmies. But 1t seems clear tina,
they were once spread over great part. il moi
broken up and partially exterminated by the
advent Of the stronger dark races; and
that, a. . race, they are passing away.
1t il interesting to look at an analogous
case in Europe. A race Of small stature,
light frame and comparatively low type,
scarcely, if at all, advanced beyond the
hunter stage, occupied the British islanda
and the northwastern part of the oonti-
nent. They we're partly msssacred or enslayed,
partly driven into the mountains, by their
Kettle conquerers; and in the lonely recessea
of the hills and woods-what With their
weakness and their strength, their cum
| ming and their skin in metals,
| their music and their under
| ground dwellings and their Strange, IN
canny wisdom growth Of legend snd poetry
sprang up about them, till they we're no longer
known save as elves, gnomes, trolls or good
people," whom one dared not name.