Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-06-03
Pygmies Ia Africa.

The longevity Of the animal ere
alton found in the rivers and
shades OF these aged woods is
something worth gianeing at. The
elephant and the hippopotamus and
the crocodile may boast Of their
four hundred years Of life, the tor
toise a century, the buffalo fifty
years; the crows, eagles, ibis, and
touracos, nearly century; the
parrot, the heron, and fiamingo
sixty years From the ehjmpaDzees,
UabOons, and monkeys, with which
the forest abounds, Is but a step,
according to Dsrwinism, to the
pygmy tribes whom We found in
habiting the tract Of country be-
tween the Ihuru and Itury rivers.
They We're known to exist by the
Father Of poets nine centuries be-
fore tho beginning Of the Christ
ian era. You may remember Homer
wrote about the sanguinary battle |
that was reported to have taken
place between the pygmies and the
stOrks. In the fifth century before
Christ, HerOdOtus described the cap
ture Of five young explorers from |
NasssmOves while they were exam
lining some curious trees in the Nj
ger basin, and how the little men
took them to their villages and
showed them about to their fellow
pygmies much as you would like us
TO show the pygmies about England.
The geographeT Hekaieus in the
fifth century located the pygmies |
near the equator Of Africa, under
the shadows OF the MOUNTAINS Of
the Moon, and I find that from Hip
parchus downward geOgrahers have
faithfully followed the example OF
Hekateus, and nearly a year ago
we found them where they had
located by tradition under the names
Of Wanda and Wambutti. The for
est which We have just been eonsid-
edng extends right up TO the base
line OF the Mountains Of the Moon.
We were just now paying due
Difference to the kings Of the forest |
who Were born before the founda-
tons Of the tower on Shinar plain |
were laid, and because il seemed to |
US that in their life they united pre-
historic times TO this society journal |
loving nineteenth century. Let us
pause little and pay honor 10 those |
little people who have outliyed the |
proud Pharaohs OF EgyDt, the
chosen people Of Palestine, and the
emperors OF Babylon, Nineveh, Per-
sia, and the Macedonian and Roman |
empires. They have actually been
able TO hold their lands for over fifty |
centuries. have lately seen the |
wear and tear on the Pyramids Of |
Egypt, and can certify that the old |
Sphinx presents very battered ap-
pearanee indeed, but the pygmies
appear TO me as bright, rs fresh, and |
as young as the generation which
Homer sang about. You will
therefore understand that 1, who
have always prOfessed to love /
humanity in preference to beetles,
Was rs much interested in these
small creatures as Henry Irving.
might be in the personnel Of
the Lyceum. Near a place called
Avehko, ON the Ituri River, our
hungry men found the first
male and female of the pygmies
squatted in the midst Of n wild Eden
peeling plantain. You can imagine
what n shock II was to the moor
little creatures ut finding themselves
suddenly surrounded by gigantic
Souuanese feet I inches in height.
nearly double their own height and
weight, and black as coal. But INV
Zanzibaris, always more tender
hearted than Soudanese, prevented
the dubbed rife and cutlasses from
exlinguishing their lives there and
then, and brought them to me as
prizes in the same spirit as they
would have brought a big hawk |
moth or mammoth longieorn for in |
spection. As they stood trembling
ly before me / named the little man |
Adam and the little woman Eve,
far more appropriate nsmes IN the |
wild Eden on the Itui than the
VukukHru and Akiokwa which they
gave US. AS looked at them and |
thought how these represented the
Oldest people on the globe, my adj !
miration would have gone to |
greater lengths than scufline |
cynics would have expected. |
Poor Greekish heroes and |
Jewish patriarchs, how their glory |
paled before the ancient ancestry Of |
these manikins, Had Adam known |
how to assume a tragic pose, how
fitly he might have said, "Yea, you
may well look On US, for We are the |
only people living on the face Of the
earth who from primaval 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 forest, we |
despise time and fate" But, poor |
little things, they said nothing Of
the kind. They did not know they
were heirs Of such proud and un-
equal heritage. On the contrary,
their faces said clearly enough, as |
they furtively looked at one and the
other OF us, 'sWhere have these big
people come from? VIII they eat |
us?'' There were some nervous
witches about theangles Of the nose
and quick upliftinge OF the eyelids,
and swim, searching looks to ,uote
what fate was In store for them q
Is not a comfortable feeling which
Possesses q victim In the presence
Of a possible butcher, and a possible
consumer Of its flesh. That misery