Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-02-01
More About The African pysnie..


Two recently published articles have
attracted attention to the African
pygmies. the existence of whom has
been demonstrated within recent years.
One is an interview with a returned
explorer. Albert b. Lloyd, an English
man, who has just completed trip
without armed escort. over the route
traversed by Stanley. and which in
cluded several weeks passed in the dim
twilight of what is known as the great
pygmy forest.
Here is what he says: Altogether l
was 20 days walking through its
gloomy shades. l saw a great many Of
the little pygmies, but generally speak
ing they kept out of the way as much
as possible. At one little place in the
middle Of the forest called Hoelnga l
stayed at a village of few huts oc-
cupied by so called Arabs. There l came
upon a great number of pygmies who
came to see me. They told me that un-
known to myself they had been watch
ing me for five days. peering through
the growth of the primeval forest At
our caravan. They appeared to be
very much frightened. and even when
speaking covered their faces I slept
at this village. and in the morning
asked the chief to allow me to photo
graph the dwarfs He brought 10 or 10
of them together, and l was enabled to
secure a snapshot. I couldn't give
time exposure. as the pygmies would
not stand still.
Then with great difficulty I tried to
measure them. and l found not one Of
them over four feet in height All
were fully developed. The women were
slighter than the men, but We're equally
well formed. l was amazed at their
sturdiness. Their arms and chests
were splendidly developed-as much so
as in a good specimen of an English
man. These men have long boards
half way down the chest, which i'm
parts to them a strange appearance.
They are very timid, and cannot look
stranger in the face. Their eyes are
constantly shifting. as in the case of
monkeys. They are fairly Intelligent.
l had long talk with the chief, and he
conversed intelligently about the ex-
tent of the forest and the number Of his
tribe l asked him several times about
the Belgians, but to these questions he
made no reply. Except for a tiny strip
quite nude. They are armed with
bows and arrows-thc latter tipped
with deadly poison--and carry small
spears. They are entirely nomadic,
sheltering at night in small huts two to
three feet in height. They never so
outside the forest. During the whole
time l was with them they We're per-
fectly friendly"
The other article on the African
pigmy was published in the January
number Of The Humanitarian. and was
written by the late Sir Richard +. Bur-
ton. In this the learned writer quotes
from legend and discovery to throw as
much light as possible on the history Of
these diminutive people. this article be-
ing the first in the series that COM
prise the treatise To M. Paul Il. du
Chaillu he attributes the rediscovcry Of
the pySmy people. whose ancestors he
finds to have been correctly repre-
scented on the tombs of the Egyptians 5000
years before the Christian era. and leg
ends of this race to have existed in the
earliest writings. Aristotle wrote Of
them. AT the swamps of the (Africam
interior beyond Egypt. and whence tee
Nile flows, is the land round which the
,,-l,n hax CO..
cranes attack them" 1t will be re-
membered that Milton celebrated them
''that small infantry
Warred on Ny cranes.
There really seems to be no end to the
traditions that refer to the existence Of
such a people. Of which nothing save in
the very ancient times was known for
certainty before the discoveries of Du
Chaillu.
TO the student of anthropology these
dwarfs affords great. opportunities.
Some have attributed the dminutive
stature to the fact that these little pso-
pie intermarry and are compelled to do
SO because tney are SURROUNDED py
tribes of large physical structure and
some OF them cannibals, while others
think their living in the dim twilight of
this almost impenetrable forest has
much to do with their dWarfed condi-
ton. The earlier discoveries for the
most part regard them as degenerates
but Lloyd, it will be noted. was amazed
at the sturdiness displayed by them.