Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-03
DWARFS OF ARUWIMI,
Stanley's Description of the Pigmies
in the Great Forest Region Of
Central Africa.
These Remarkable Liliputians Have a
Stature Ranging from Thirty-Nine
Up to Fifty-Four Inches.

monkeys with which the forest abounds, is
but step. according to Darwinism. to the
pigmy tribes whom we found inhabiting
the tract of country between Ihurt and
1turi rivers, says Stanley in an address re-
ported in the London Times. They were
known to exist by the father of poets nine
centuries before the beginning of Chris
tian era. You may remember Homer wrote
about the saguinary battle that was re-
ported to have taken place between the
pigmies and the storks In the fifth CEN
fury before Christ Herodotus described the
capture of five young explorers from Mas
samoves while they were examining some
curious trees in the Niger basin, and how
the little men took them to their villages
and showed them about to their fellow
pigmies, much as you would like to show
the pigmies about England. The geogra-
pher Hekataus in the fifth century locat-
ed the pigmies near the equator Of Africa.
under the shadows of the Mountains of
the Moon. and find that from Hipparchus
downward geographic have faithfully
followed the example of Hekataus, and
nearly year ago we found them where
they had been located by tradition, under
the names of Watwa and Wambutti. The
forest which we have been just considering
extends right up to the base line of the
Mountains of the Moon.
Near the place called Avetiko, on the
Ituri river, our hungry men found the first
male and female of the pigmies squatted
in the midst of a wild Eden, peeling
plantalns. You can imagine what a
shock it was to the poor little creatures at
finding themselves suddenly surrounded
by gigantic Soudanese, 6 feet 4 inches in
height. nearly double their own height
and weight, and black as coal. But my
Zanzibaris, Away more tender-hearted
than Soundanese, prevented the dubbed
rife and cutlasses from extinguishing
their lives there and then, and brought
them to me as prizes in the same spirit as
they would have brought big hawk,
moth, or mammoth longicorn for inspec-
ton. AS they stood trembling before me
| named the little man Adam and the
miniature woman Eve-far more appro-
pirate names in the wild Eden on the
lturi than the Vukukuru and Akiokwa
which they gave us. AS looked at them
and thought how these represented the
oldest people on the globe, my admiration
would have gone to greater lengths than
coffing cynics would have expected Poor
Greekish heroes and Jewish patriarchs, how
their glory paled before the ancient ances-
try of these manikins! Had Adam known
how to assume tragic pose, how fifty 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
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 despise time and fate"
But poor little things. they said moth
ing of the kind. They did not know they
were heirs of such proud and unequaled
heritage. On the contrary, their faces
said clearly enough, as they furtively looked
at us: Where have these big people
come from? Will they eat us?" There
were some nervous twitches about the an
gies of the nose and quick upliftings of the
eyelids, and swift searching looks to note
what fate was In store for them. It is not
comfortable feeling which possesses a
victim In the presence of a possible butcher,
and a possible consumer of its flesh. That
misery was evident in the little Adam and
Eve of the African Eden. The height of
the man was feet; that of the woman a
little less. He may have weighed about
IS pounds the color of his body was that
of a half baked brick. and light brown
foil stood out very clearly. So far as natur-
al intelligence was concerned, within his
limited experience, he was certainly supe-
rlOr to any black man In our camp. The
mysteries of woodcraft, for instance, ne
knew better than any of US; he knew what
wild fruits were wholesome, and what
fungi were poisonous. He could have
given us valuable 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 affection
ateIy, none could be so ready to appreciate
affection and kindness
We began to question him by gestures.
do you know where we can get banan-
as?" He catches the cue, he grasps his
leg to show US the size, and mods his head
rapidly, informing is 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 quarters of the compass,
questiopingly. He points to the sunrise in
reply us it far?' He shows hands
length All, good days journey with
out loads, two days with loads! "Do you
know the Ihuru!' He mods his head rap
idly. How far IL it?'' He rests his
right hand sideways on his elbow Joint
"oh, four days journey, as there
much food on the road?" He pats his alb,
domen lovingly with artful smile and
him, from which we may infer that our
paunches will become like PROSTATE pyra-
mids We ask him why Aveliko has so
little food The little man attempts to i'm
itate the sound of gun-shots and cries
"Do-o-o-o, and we are informed quite in
diligently that the devastation is due to
the Manyuema.
suppose we must have passed through
DIS many as one hundred villages inhabited
by the pigmies. Long, however, before
we reached them they were deserted and
utterly cleaned out Our foragers and
scouts may have captured about fifty of
these dwarfs, only one of whom reached
the height of "a inches. They varied from
80 inches to so inches generally They
are so we'll proportioned that at first sight
they might be taken for ordinary man
kind, but when we place by their side a
European, Soudanese, or a Mahdi
they appear exceedingly diminutive. By
the side of dwarfs of mature age a
Zanzibar boy of thirteen would appear
large.
The agricultural settlement in this
region 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 pigmy villages situated
along the paths leading to it. The larger