St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-05-18


never saw among them the small
est trace of ornamental dress or
tattooing. Their only ornaments
are small holes in the upper lip, into
which thin grass-stalks are stuck.
Occas onally the septum OF the nose
is also bored through, as well as one
OF the ear-laps, through which they
then thrust small wooden pegs.
The teeth are very seldom filed The
dress OF the women is, if possible,
even simpler than that of the men.
1t consists Of a cord round the oins
on which fresh leaves are hung;
these are fetched every morning from
the woods. The men generally
shave away their hair, except mar
row strip above the right ear. They
are very dirty, and have an aversion
to water; while the negroes are very
cleanly-more so, indeed, than the
average European. When they sleep
they draw up their knees, and lay
one hand under the head. They
keep up their fires continually; they
seem unable to obtain fire by rub
bling sticks together, and, therefore,
when they change their quarters
they take with them torch, which
they carefully keep glowing. Their
weapon is small bow with string
of rattan. Their arrows are carried
in sack of raw leather, which they
hang over one shoulder. They are
usually made of wood only but
some have heads of iron, which
they obtain by barter from the
neighboring peoples. Their poison
ed arrows are deeply notched below
the head, and often have barbs, so
that an attempt to draw out an ar
row causes it to break off in the
wound. Instead of feathers, they
use portion of leaf at the hinder
end OF the arrow. The poison en-
ployed is Of a vegetable nature, and
is greatly feared by the natives. If
it remains some time in the wound
it causes death, and even if it is
quickly removed it is usually follow
ed by strong purulent discharge,
which causes tetanus. With proper
treatment, however, this poison is
by no means dangerous.
From their exclusive use of wood
in making their weapons, we may
suppose the pyg'nes to be still in
their most primitive age of wood.
They have no domestic animals, ex-
cept dogs. These are small, ofthe col
or of yellow leather, sharp-nosed, with
upright triangular ears. They aid
in finding the game. Whether the
pygmies are cannibals or not is at
present an open question. They
would seem, however, to be exempt
from this practice, for at the Ituri
we heard of their killing several peo-
pie and throwing their bodies into
the river. Our three pygmies seem
to know absolutely nothing about
cannibaism. Their language differs
entirely from that of the neighbor-
ing peoples; it has not yet been pos
sible to form vocabulary for them
since, in replying to questions, they
usually employ the language OF
their neighbors. Our two female
pygmies have learned the Suahel
: tongue, and it is only when they
think themselves quite unobservec
that they talk and sing together il
their mother tongue. The negroes
maintai that they twittered like
birds, but the tribes best acquainted
with them know that they speak the
language of their neighbors. Oul
three, at least, have been brought W
to speak the Wambuga language
No one has succeeded as yet even il
fixing the words which represent the
} numbers in their native language
probably they are, like the Bushmen
: unable to count more than two, al
the numbers above two being called
many They call themselves Eve
or Baewe; by their neighbors they
: are called Wambuti, Au, Ango, Was
5 jumbo, Aka, etc. The name Aka
is said to occur on an ancient Egyp
: tian monument. u New York Trib
une.