The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1890-08-20
STANLEY'S PYGMIES.

The North American Review
has this from DIR. Kinmopnt Rny.
Among the many wonderful
things Stanley has to reveal to us,
the pygmies of the Aruwhimie
forest are not the least If we may
judge by the the hushed eagerness
with which eight thousand people
listened to the description he re-
Gently gave hef IRE the geographical
society in the Albert hail. frue,
he tells MS little in his speeches,
out what he tells us is enough to
awaken the keenest curiosity to
know more OF what must be the
most marvellous scene now existing
in the world.
Over IA country about half MS
large rs France, covered with
huge trees-ten thousand million
of them is SANKEY'S own calcula,
zion, and standing so thick that it
ls always twilight below their in
terwoven branches Wandering
in thousands; as they have wan
dered tor ages; are to be found a
race of light-brown men and wo-
men scarcely four feet high. Three
thousand years ago, long before
Herodotus, the father o. history,
was born, they retreated before
larger races, as the Lapps, who
are nearly as diminutive; retreat.
ed before the Norsemen, and in
the course of centuries they have
50 fitted themselves to their sur>
rouudings that the drea,y forest,
where full light never falls, has
become to them their world, their
paradise, limitless aud vast, and it
Is beyond their power to think OF
emerging IRON It's protecting
gloom. They know nothing be
yond it, even OF tradition; have no
lea OF even a moderate expanse
of open country; have never seen
grass growing in quantities, and
have no conception of any land
without dense forest. The only
open spaces they know are the lit
lie patches thai have been cleared
Oy "a larger race for the cultivation
of bananas, which, in that luxuri-
ant climate, reach maturity in
twelve months, and of which these
little people are very fond. This
pigmy race know their rights as
thoroughly as our Indians know
thelrs, and 10y an inherited instinct
marvellous to the white man, track
Their way by day ornisht thrJu yh
the wilderness with Il certainty aud
celebrity which make them, despite
their insignificant stature, a for>
mldable Toe. They appear to sus,
tain lite, like some other savage
tribes, on roots and wind fruit, aud
cal tell exactly what is poisonous
aud what is edible. but their chief
dainty is the banana. and their
desire for this luxury draws them
irresistahly from the depths of
their seclusion to the borders OF
the cultivated spots, where the
larger race have shown their su,
perior skill in growing this coveted
lrulk They are, Stanley tells rs,
IN their own way Intelligent, pos.
sess language, and, as we have
just mentioned, have a minute
knowledge OF their intricacies, and
can, when they please, make Them
selves dangerous, appearing ahd
disappearing as sud denly, aud al
most as silently, as the very snakes
themselves,
We eau we'll believe that they
retarded SANKEY'S advance more
than all the tribes lie met with o,
usual size. These dimlnutive
creatures are distinctly herman in
tlleii ehmities, friendships. virtu )
aud vices, aud withal, posses,
certain force 81 ch racter which
has enebled them to remain an
defeated by the circumstances
around them throughout the his
torIc life ot man; and yet, nntwlth~
standing their human Characters.
tics. they live almost the lie OF
i.ai'oons, - ID will doubtless con,
rinus 20 t,sou,tiI the white man
coNbts their rieh timber land,
which now seems liuitless, and
b gins the work of telling the tor
est which is their home, aud which
ifaniqnity of possession can CON
stitute a title, is aud always has
been theirs.