Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-07-18
THE PYGMIES OF AFRICA.
From A Recent Address by stanle.

From A Recent Address by Stanley.1
The longevity of the animal creation
found in the rivers and shades of these
aged woods is something worth CHANGING
at. The elephant and the hppopotamus
and the crocodile may boast of their 400
years of life, the tortoise century, the
buffalo 30 years; the crows, eagles, ibis,
and touracos nearly century; the par
rot, the heron and flamingo 60 years
From the chimpanzees, balloons and mon
keys, with which the forest abounds, is
but step, according to Darwinism, to
the pygmy tribes which we found inhab-
iting the tract of country between the l.
huru and the Iluri rivers. They were
known to exist by the father of poets
nine centuries before the beginning of the
mer wrote about the sanguinary battle
that was reported to have taken place be-
tween the pygmies and the storks. In
the fifth century before Christ, Herodo-
tus described the capture of i've young
explorers from Nassamoves while they
were examining some curious trees in the
Niger basin, and how the little men took
them to their village and showed them
about to their fellow pygmies much as
you would like us to show the pygmfes
about England. The geographer Heka-
taus in the fifth century located the pyg-
mics near the equator of Africa, under
| 10 haH nf no ~; of a.
Moon, and | find that from Hipparchos
downward geographers have faithfully
followed the example of Hekat9us, and
nearly year ago we found where they
had been located by tradition under the
names of Watwa and Wambutti.
The forest which we have Just been
considering extends right up to the base
line of the Mountains of the Moon. We
were just now paying due reverence to
the kings of the forest who were born be-
fore the foundations of the tower on Shi-
mar plain were laid, and because it SEEM
ed to us that in their life they united pre-
historic times to this ociety-iournal-lov-
ing 10Th century. Let us pause and pay
honor to these little people who have out
lived the proud Pharaohs of Egypt, the
chosen people of Palestine. and the en-
perors of Babylon, Nineveh, Persia and
the Macedonian and Roman empires.
They have actually been able to hold
their lands for over 80 centuries. have
lately seen the wear and tear on the pyr-
amids of Egypt, and | can certify that
the old Sphynx presents very battered
appearance indeed, but the pygmies APP
peared to me as bright, as fresh, and as
young as the generation which Homer
sang about. You will therefore under
stand that |, who have always protested
to love humanity in preference to beetles
was as much interested in these small
people as Henry Irving might be in the
personnel of the Lyceum.
Near a place called Avetiko, on the
Ituri river, our hungry men found the
first male and female of the pygmie:
squatted in the midst of wild Eden
peeling plaintain. You can imagine
what shock it was to the poor little crea
lures at finding themselves suddenly sur
rounded by gigantic Soudanese feet 4
inches in height, nearly double their owl
height and weight, and black as coal
But my Zanzibaris, always more tender
hearted than the Soudanese, prevented
the dubbed rifle and cutlasses from eX
tinguishing their lives there and then
and brought them to me as prizes in thu
same spirit as they would have brough
a big hawk moth or mammoth longicorl
for inspection. As they stood trembling
before me | named the little man Adam
and the miniature woman Eve, far NOR,
appropriate names in the wild Eden oil
the Ituri than the Vankukuru and Akio
kwa which they gave us. AS looked Il
them and thought how these represented
the Oldest people on the globe, my admi
ration would have gone to greater length
than soothing cynics would have expect
ed. Poor Greekish heroes and Jewisl
patrarchs, how their glory paled befor
the ancient ancestry of these manikins
Had Adam known how to assume a ira
gic pose, how fifty he might have said
Yea, you may well look on us, for W
are the only people on the face of tn
earth who from primeval time have neve
been removed from their homes. Befor
Iesuf and Mesu were eyer heard of W
lived in these wild shades, from the Nil
fountains to the sea of darkness, and
, like the giants of the forest, we despis
time and fate"
But, poor little things, they said moth
= ing of the kind. They did not know tina
) they were heirs of such proud and vi
: equaled heritage. On the contrary, thei
faces said clearly enough, as they furtivt