The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1890-11-29
THE PlGMY RACES.
Tho Dwarfs of Mythology and Those Seen
by Stanley In Africa.

by Stanley in Africa.
Not the least interesting of tho dis
coveries made by Mr.. Stanley on hi
latest expedition ia that of the VAN
batti-the dwarf tribe living between
the Upper Aruhwimi and tho Nepoko
1t has long been a well-known fact tina
the Pygmies of Homer, Herodotus ant
Ktesias-those Of whom Pliny speaks a'
dwelling among the marshes where
the Nile rises"-are something more
than mere mythical bein gs, and almost
every exploration of any Importance
undertaken of late years has thrown
fresh light on the existence of primi
tive African race, of whom the Wam
BATH are in all probability one of many
fragments, scattered through central
and southern Africa.
These tribes, usually designated
dwarfs or pygmies, are numerous, bear
ing marked resemblance to each other
and showing a marked difference from
the people among whom they are scat
tered. Their surest and most perma
nent characteristic is their hair, which
is woolly, but instead of being, as in the
negro, evenly distributed over the scalp,
grows in small tufts. This appearance,
according to Prof. Virchow, is not due
to the fact that the hair grows on some
spots and not on others, but to pecu'
liarity in the texture of the hair itself,
which causes it to roll naturally into
closely curled spiral locks, leaving the
intervening pieces of scalp bare.
The name of dwarfs, applied by some
to these people, has been objected to as
implying doformity or arrested growth,
and therefore conveying wrong i'm
preston. Nothing of the kind can be
said of the African Pygmies, who,
though short of stature, are well-shaped
people of perfectly normal formation.
The section of the Pygmy race with
which Europeans have come most in
contact is the Hottentots and Bushmen.
The former call themselves "Khoi.
Khoi," Hottentots being merely q nick.
name given by the early Dutch settlers,
who declared that the natives spoke an
nnintelligible language consisting only
of sounds like hot and tot. That keen
observer, Moffat, as long ago as the first
decade of this century, noticed the dis
tinct and and peculiar characteristics OF
the Hottentots and recognized their
racial identity with the Bushmen.
Surveying the Pygmy race as whole,
we find them (shorn of the mythical and
magical glamour with which distance
and mystery have invested them) not so
very different after all, from other hui
man beings, but still sufficiently inter-
esting. No well-authenticated adult
seems to be much less than four feet
six inches, while DR.. Petermann thinks
that the Pygmies, on the whole, run
about head shorter than the average
negro.
/ can not attempt to deal with the
origin of the Pygmy race, or its rela-
tionship to the Andamese and the We'd
dahs of Ceylon, who are said to have
some characteristics in common with the
Pygmies. But it seems clear that they
were once spread over great part if
not the whole, of the continent; that
they were broken up and partially ex-
terminated by the advent of the
stronger dark races; and that, as race
they arc passing away. 1t is interest
ing to look at an analogous case in
Europe. A race of small STATURE light
frame and comparative low type,
scarcely, if at all, advanced beyond the
hunter stage, occupied the British ISL
nnds and the northwestern part of the
continent They were partly massacred
orenslaved, partly driven into the noun
tains by their Kettle conquerers; and in
the lonely recesses of the hills and
woods-what with their weakness and
their strength, their cunning and their
skill in metals, their music and their
underground dwellings and their
strange. uncanny wisdom-a growth Of
legend and poetry sprang up about
them, till they we're no longer known,
save as elves, gnomes, trolls or good
people," whom one dare not name
Gentleman's Magazine.