El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-02-19
DWARF LIFE IN AFRICA.
The Natives are Noted Trappers and
Hunters.

Hunters.
Most of these people are smaller
tina, their Bakoko aud Mabeya neigh
bors, out not all, as the dwarf women
are sometimes married. into these
tribes. They deserve the name dwarf
more from the similarity of their habits
to the true dwsrfs further inland.
They live q wandering, Indian-like
life, hunting. They have nets 12O feet
long and or 4 feet high, q 1umber OF
watch they stretch across the bush,
aud the men, women and ohildran
drive the game into these nets. They
are experts in trapping, too. They DO
not stay in one place enough TO
plant, SO they trade their game to their
agricultural neigh bors for vegetable
food. These Mabeya head men have
certain kind of ownership over them,
ometimes furnishing them with pow
der, and guns, and nets and Q very lit
tie cloth for their game during the
time they are in that community.
must depend upon the wild plants,
nuts, honey, which they know 20 we'll
how to fnd. They often have . feast
and more often famine.
Their sheds are from Is TO 50 feet
long, the leaf roof touching tho ground
on one side and being about At feet
high on tbt other side. Where there
are large trees the roofs are made Of
the bark of q tree or feet II dia-
meter, wbich1often does not have time
to crack and leak before the dwarfs
want to move. Under these eheds arc
the pole beds, supported by forked
sticks or inches f. ON the ground
There Is q space left for . fire between
every two beds. If Shey have any
boxes or small tin trunks, they keep
them hid in the bush; there 10 nothing
to be seen unless they pot, or bowl,
or basket net or guu, or q native Ak;
and no one man is rich enough TO pos
sess all of these. Thy can move oil theil
may be living here today and twenty
miles away tomorrow. Three moves
do not equal one fire with them.
For amusement q man goes through
violent forms of exercise, trying to
move as many of the muscles OF hi
body at one time as possible, the spec
tators clspping their hands and callinR
beating on ct; cks aud their drums dur
ing the performance. They seem T.
believe in one supreme being who Il
good and kind, but, Of course have NJ
definite knowledge Of him. They fesl
the spirits of the departed, and are sa.t
to move at once from a place wher'
one of their number died. They fea
and try to appeaee many evil spirits
one OF which takes q dreadful form fOl
his punishment. Among the Mabeya
near here / know of but one blind man
yet it is the rule to find one blind MAJ
10 commun ty of from fifteen to dft,
dwarfs, and sometimes as many 40 three
blind ones, made blind some night b.
the agent of this evil spirit as punish
nent for some offiense.
Il Miss MacClean, q lady OF Glasgow
has given the funds for the work TO
til ese people. It is the purpose to ed
tablish station about ninety mile
from the beach, doing regular station
work with the Mabeyarspe aking PEG
pie there, and at the same time doinI
every thing possible for the speed.
: evangelization OF these wandering PEG
pie. But the workers are needed, mel
,, with good constitutions and real low
for itinerating bush travel. II . mai
has love for plants and insects an
. birds, 80 much the better. These pee
pie might be able to chow medtca
pr perty of some of the plants the
know that would be helpful to all. Thu
pow to shoot q parrot out OF . higl
tree with Winchester ought not t.
be lightly overlo )ked in . countr.
where everything is eaten, from
{ snake to q mOukey.-Iudepende