Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-31

est, we desplse time and fate"
j; But, poor little things, they said moth
ing of the kind. They did not know they
were heirs of such proud and unequalec
heritage. On the contrary, their faces said
clearly enough. as they furtively looked al
one and the other of US, Where have
these big people come from? VIII they
eat Us ?" There were some nervous twitches
about the angles of the nose and quick up
fittings of the eyelids, and swift, searching
looks to note what fate was in store for
them. 1t is not comfortable feeling
which possesses victim in the presence of
a possible butcher, and possible consumer
of its flesh. That misery was evident in
the little Adam and Eve of the African
Eden The hight of the man was four
feet, that of the woman little less He
may have weighed about eighty five pounds;
the color of the body was that Of half
baked brick, and light brown fell stood
out very clearly So far as natural intel
ligence was concerned, within his limited
experience, he was certainly superior to
any black man in our camp. The mystic
ries of woodcraft, for instance, he knew bet
ter than any of US; he knew what wild
fruits were wholesome and what fungi We're
poisonous. He could have given US valu-
able lessons how to find our way through
the forest. ! saw also that he could adapt
himself to circumstances. If the pot was
to end him, very little shrinking only
would betray his fear of pain; if he were
to be treated afiectionately, none could be
so ready to appreciate affection and kind
ness.
We began to question him by gestures.
DO you know where we can get bananas?p
de catches the cue, he grasps his leg TO
show US the size and nodsh head rapidly,
informing us that he knows where to find
bananas of the size of his leg. One sees that
! he can exaggerate as well as Mark Twain.
| Laughter We point to the four guar
| tiers OF the compass, questioningly. He
points to the sunrise in reply. Is it far?"
| he shows hands length. All, a good
days journey without loads, two days with
loads ".Do you know the Ihura?n He
mods his head rapidly How far is it ?"
He rests his right hand sideways on the
elbow joint. "Oh, four days Journey"
as there much food on the road ?" He
pats his abdomen lovingly with an artful
smile and brings his two hands to a
point in front of him, from which we
may infer that our paunches will become
like PROSTATE pyramids. We ask him whv
Aveliko has so little food The little man
attempts 10 initiate the sound of gunshots
and cries, " Do-o-o-o," and we are informed
quite intelligently that the devastation is
due to the Manyuema
| suppose we must have passed through
as many as one hundred villages inhabited
by the pygmies. Long, however, before
we reached them they were deserted and
utterly cleaned out. Oar foragers and
scouts may have captured about fifty of
| these dwarfs, only one of whom reached
the hight of fifty-four inches. They varied
from thirty-nine to fifty inches generally.
| They are so well proportional that at first
sight they might be taken for ordinary
mankind, but when we place by their side
European, Soudanese or Madi, they
appear exceedingly diminutive. By the
side of dwarfs of mature age a Zanzibar
boy of thirteen would appear large.
The agricultural settlements in this re-
gion are to be found every nine or ten
miles apart, and near each settlement, at
an hours march distance, will be found
from four to eight pygmy villages situated
along the paths leading to it. The larger
aborigines are very industrious, and form
a clearing of from 400 to 1000 acres.
Amid the PROSTATE forest they plant their
banana and plantain bulbs. In twelve
months the PROSTATE trees are almost hid
| den by the luxuriant fronds and abundant
fruit, of unrivaled quality, size and flavor
1t would be easy to prove that in the forest
an acre Of banana plants produce twenty
FIVE times more food than an acre in wheat
produces in England. The pygmies APP
pear to be aware that banana plantation
is exhaustible, and to think that they
have as much right to the produce as the
aboriginal owners. Therefore they cling
to these plantations, and make the larger
natives pay dearly for the honor of their
acquaintance. In another manner they
| perform valuable service to them by warn
ing them Of the advance of strangers. and
assisting them 10 defend their settlements;
they also trap game and BIRDS and supply
the larger natives with peltry, feathers and
meat. 1t appeared to me that the pygmies
we're regarded somewhat as parasites
whose departure would be more welcome
1 than their vicinity. When honey and
game, meat, peltry and feathers get low or
scarce in the neighborhood, the pygmies
| pack their household goods on their wom-
EMS backs and depart elsewhere to attach
themselves to some other plantations. A
forest village consists of from twenty to
one hundred families of pygmies, and prob
/! ably in the area between the Ihuri and
Ituri rivers there are as many as 1000
families living this nomadic and free life
in the perpetual twilight of the great and
outrageous forest of Equatorial Africa.
Having, within the brief time permissi
BILE, considered the forest and its inhabi-
tants, let US take up the subject of the pas
toral land and its tribes.
THE PASTORAL LAND AND ITS TRIBES.
In Equatorial Africa the pasture land
adapted for cattle generally begins at an
altitude of 8, 200 feet above the sea, but the
best and most nourishing grasses are found
above 1000 feet. The forest ends COM
| pletely at $500 feet, and the land soon af-
forwards varies from 1000 to 5000 feet,
and extends in parallel belt with the Al
bert lake, and between the Lakes Vic.
toria and Tanganyika down to Ukawendi,
and from Abyssinia and east of the Vic
toria down to the Ruff. In the intra-
lake region are the nations of Ankori,
Uganda, Unyoro, Karagwe, Mpororo,
1hangiro, Uhaiya, Uzongora, Uzinja,
Ruanda Urundi, Uhha and Unyamwezi.
On the grassy plateau parallel with Lake
Albert, We found quite mixed race
called the Bavira, Balegga and Wahuma.
The latter named differ as much in their
physiognomy, cusotms and characteristics
from the other two as an octoroon differs
from a negro. The Wahuma are very
numerous in Unyoro and Uganda, through
out the intra-lake region. especially in
Ankori. Their sole occupation is keep
ing cattle. As you proceed further south
and reach Unyamwezi, the Wahuma be-
come known as Watusi. In Unyoro they
are known as Wanna and Wachwezi ;
among the Bavira and Balegga they are
called Wawitu, but all the Wahuma,
Wachwezi, Wawitu and Watusi speak the
same language; therefore we class them