Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-05-08
A RACE OF PYauIEs.

i Dr. stuhlmann's Investigations in
Equatorial Africa
Among the results Of recent African ex-
| plorations none have more romantic in
terest than the remarkable verIfcations of
ancient stories which have for many years
until now been regarded as fictitious and
NEUROLOGICAL. In the time Of Hero6otus
legends abounded concerning the sources
of the Nile. That region was peopled
with all sorts of extraordinary beings, in
cluding q race of pygmy men. 1t has
been customary to rtgard ihese last as In
the same category with the phoenix and
other fabulous monsters. Mr.. Stanley's
remarkable explorations during his march
to the relief of Emin Pasha, however, not
only revealed for the irst time the sources
of the Nile and the Mountains of the
Moon, bat proved the sciuAl existence,
even az the present day, of exactly such
miniature race as was described by the
ancient Greeks. And now DR.. Stuhl-
mann, who was Emin PAshA's companion
In the latter's explorations about Victoria
lake, has actually brought to Europe and
Is exhibiting in Berlin living specimens
of that race.
These African pygmies are of the ne
gro type, although presenting some vari-
ations from the form Of ii most familiar
to the western world. Their sIxe is that
of ordinary children Of about ten years
of sge. 1t is seldom that any Of pure
blood are found more than four ard a
half feet tall, and the fact that their
huts are only four feet three inches high
Indicates their average stature. They are
remarkably agile in sll their movements.
and their senses of srnsil, sight and hear
ing are developed TO an extraordinarily
acute degree. There facts. added to their
indomitAble courage. make them formida-
BILE hghteTs. whether against men or
beasts. Their weapons are chic fay bows
and arrow, the tips Of the latter often be-
ing poisoned. They traverss the dense
equstorial forests IN troop. of from,
score 10 q Thousand, ard are greatly dread
ed by all the surrounding tribes.
During cur second stay w..h Chief Ma
sambiri, sonth of Albert lake" ssys Dr.,
StuhlmAnn, "'he Mauierrs made a slsve
raid in the forest, aud brought back with
them two pygmies, q man and q woman,
bound hand and foot They were from
the forest northwest of the Kiska noun
tsins. We bought them, and eucceeded
about month later in acquiring another
woman from the Maniema. They soon bs-
came az coniding as their natural shyness
permitted, and went with US to the East
African coast. The man was about TWEEN
ty-fve years old, little over four feet six
inches in Insight, and so shy that IL was
hardly ptssibly to get him 10 answer ques-
tons. De could never look us In the
face, his eyes always wandering resilessly
about BE afterwards Learned come Kisu-
aheli, laughed occasionally with our people
when he Thought himself unobs,rTed, bat
never threw off his tscItnrn demeanor
Owing to a severe illness which pros;rsted
me at that time, was unable to pay at
tention to him, so hsremAined unnoticed,
seized him. Unfortunately he died of il.
j sent his skeleton TO Professor virchov,
who has expressed the intention to subject
Il to snthropolosicAl investigation.
Taking the growth and development of |
these little people into scoount, It would |
not be corrtc, to call them dEarfs, since |
this term Is connected with the idea of |
mslformstion- The height of the men va
ries from four feet two irches TO four feet |
nine and half inches, but those who are |
above four feet six inches are probably not |
of pure decent. The upper part of the |
body is the portion most fully developed:
the l.gs are thin-thOss of the women,
however, rather less 80 than those of the |
walking the toes are not turned outward,
but inward, or at best held straight. The
gait Ia wavy and cautions, but not feeble.
The arms are we'll formed; the hands re-
msrkably small. with elegant, rounded,
whitish nails. In the whole formation of
their bones is seen a similarity with those
of our children. The head is roundish,
although strong lateral projections of the
forehead and of the parietaI bone cause 1t
to look square. The forehead 10 high and
vertical. the eyebrows often strongly de-
veloped. The nose Ia of tie broad, fat,
negro type, and consequently the inner
angles of the eyes are very widely sspsra-
ted from each other. The eyes are large
and dark brown. The formation of the
upper lip, which stretches forward con-
yexiy, is very characteristic. The lips are
not very thick, and the peculiarity noticed
by Emin is clearly perceptible-viz, that
their mucous membrane Is rose-colorsd,
while in the negroes 1t Is very dark col
ored. The hair Is weolly, and as soon as
IL grows more than an inch and half long
1t forms itself into little bunches. The
roots of the hair do not appesr In groups,
like the bristles of q brush, as Is the case
with many negroes, but are pretty equally |
over the skin of the head The |
color of the hsir lie a brilliant black, often |
with a shades of brown in 1t. The beard |
grows chiefly on the upper lip; on the chin |
1t Is quite feeble. The color of the skin |
varies from a dark chocolate brown TO q |
yellowish brown. Many wrinkles are seeu,
whieh-seem, however. to be 8 consequence |
of insufficient nourishment or Of old age.
TIE women seem to BE-. a. a rule, a few
centimetres smaller than the men
"The clothing of the nen consists only
of a narrow snip of bsst or inner hsrk
from a species of hg-tree- 1 never saw
among them the smallest trace of orns.
mental dress or tsttooing. Their only or
nanents srs small holes in the upper LID,
into which thin grass-stalks are stuck.
Occasionally the septum of the nose Is also
bored through, az well as one of the eaY-
laps, through which they then thrust small