The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-01
IN THE HEART OF AFRICA.
Pigmy Camps r Generally Found
at %Crossways, Some Miles
from Settlements.
The Huts are Four Feet High,
Ten by Four on the
Ground.
Severe Lesson Of Recklcssness In tho Pres.
ence of Warriors Armed With
Poisoned Arrows.

Pigmy villages, situated under the imper-
vious foliage of the largest clump of trees
to be found near the locality where they
propose canning, struck us ms being COM
Portable. snug. and neat, writes Henry NJ.
Stanley iii January Scribner's. I have seen
ninety-two huts in one of these villages.
arranged in n circle of about fifty yards in
diameter. The pigmy camps are generally
found at the crossways, where two or more
paths intersect, and are from two to three
miles distant from agricultural settlements.
Our anxieties always lessened on meeting
them. for the more paths we found. the
more we were assured of food, ana the roads
improved.
Sometimes these forest villages were
planted midway between parallel lines of
settlements. A short walk from our camp
through the woods, north or sonth, would
take US to plantations large enough to sup
ply a regiment with food. One time we
came to a group of dwarf villages whence
a broad path six feet wide communicated
with another group three miles distant.
This road was a revelation. 1t informed us
that the tribe was more than usually pow
erful; that it was well established; that the
chief possessed power, and was permitted
to exercise it. Outside Of the great king
dom of Uganda we had not seen in Africa
a cut road longer than half "a mile.
The huts IN every pigmy camp were OF a
toftoise-back figure. The doorways were
not more than three feet high, and were
placed at Che ends, one being for daily use,
and the ether, which fronted the bush, for
escaps. Those for constant convenience
looked out on the circular common and
pointed to the center, where stood the tribal
chiefs hut. as though the duty of every
h~,,aaIotI xpun tn watch O1yor 4ha cp faSr ~
him who ruled the community. We rarely
found a hut higher than four feet six inches.
In length they varied from seven to ten
feet. while the width would be from four
and a half feet to seven. In what appeared
to be old established camps we found rough
cots constructed, which were raised n few
inches above the ground, after the style of
our own forest couches. Several layers of
phrynium leaves make a luxurious bed.
When we first encountered the tribes who
fought with poisoned arrows, we were not
prepared to be greatly impressed with the
danger, but we received a severe lesson in
August, 1887, during a fight with the Avis
ibba savages Young fellows, inspired by
the example of Lieut.. Stairs. X. f., rushed
with brave nomicidal Intentions to tho
front, and the tiny arrows sailed in showers
past them; but some of them found their
intended billets and were arrested culver
ing in arms and shoulders. With con-
temptuous smiles the young men drew
them out and flung them away, and some
continued answering the savages with rifle
shots, while others sought the surgeon,
bearing with them the arrows with which
they had been wounded. When the days
fight was over, of course we had more
leisure to m the missiles, and our
anxiety WAS great when we observed that
they had been freshly smeared with ii
brown, gummy-like substance which emit.
ted q subtle, acrid odor, with a suspicion Of
asafetida in it. The arrows seemed to have
been plunged into a pot containing a goody
quantity Of resinons substance, and twirleu
around in it and we'll soaked, and then
lifted up in a bunch and covered over with
a banana or a piece of phrynium leaf.
Quivers full of arrows showed us that the
weapons were considered by their owners
to be dangerous, for those so smeared were
tied together, head downward. and apart
from the others.
Yet the wounds made by these slender
arrows were mere punctures, such as might
have been made by finely pointed butchers
skewers, and being exceedingly ignorant of
the effect, we contented ourselves with sy-
ringing them with warm water and dress
ing them with bandages. In some in
stances affectionate men sucked their COM
rades' wounds, to make sure that nothing
of the substance should be left to ~irritate
them. In no instance was this method Of
any avail. All who were wounded either
died after terrible sufferings from tetanus,
or developed such dreadful gangrenous tu-
mors as to incapacitate them from duty for
long periods, or wreck their constitutions
SO completely by blood poisoning that
their lives became a burden to Them
From .'The Pigmies of the Great African
Forest" by Henry M. Stanley, in January
Scribner.