The evening times., 1899-03-10
QUEER DWARFs OF AFRICA.
mother Group OF Pig,uies Found in
the Canerccus.
fFrom the New York SuuD

tfTOm the New York sum-
Never before has so much been learned
about those strange little people the pig
mics of Africa as within the past year
The tinidity OF these wandering tribes
seems 10 be wearing of. and at last they
Will talk TO white men about themselves.
They were quite friendly with some of the
latest travellers. They seem convinced at
last that the white man. after all. means
them no harm.
II was reported at least ten or twelve
years ago that mans dwarfs lived in the
interior of the CameToons. south of the
Niger River, but no white men ever saw
them till last year. when the German ex-
peditiol sent against the Bulu tribe met
some Of the little folks. They would not
have seen them If the dwaTfs had had their
own way. and only half dozen OF them
were On view. They were dragged uuwill-
ingly into the German camp, while all their
relatives buried themselves deeper in their
forests. They differed in no respect from
the dwarfs of other parts OF Africa. 1t
seems strange that the six groups of pig
mics thus far discovered differ from one
another in no essential except that some
Of them average an inch or two taller than
others They all have practically the same
ways of life and the same mental and
physical characteristics They live solely
by the chase, they never cultivate the soil,
they are the most skillful hunters in Africa.
they wander from place to place, following
the game through the forests. and they
sell much of the meat they kill 10 the
tribes around them for vegetable food and
other things they desire. They build the
poorest huts that are found in Africa, and
with reason enough, for they occupy the
fiimsy shelters of boughs and leaves only
few days before they move on to other
hunting grounds 1t would not seem sur
prising if they had developed differing
traits owing to their remoteness from one
another and the fact that they probably
have been separated for many centuries.
Dr. Virchow maintains that they all have
the characteristics of the true negro. eN-
cept that they are of shorter stature. He
told the Anthropological Society of Beriiu
| a few weeks ago that the dwarfs were 10
be regarded as the sole survivors of prim-
tive race from whom all the negro tribes
of the present day were derived. He be
lieyes that this view should supplant the
older theory that the dwarfs are the rem
nants of the aboriginal tribes of Africa,
who in time were widely dispersed by the
intrusion of larger and stronger peoples.
Mr. Philip Werner has been living for
two years among the Batwa dwarfs south
of the Congo, who told him stories about
their forefathers which seem to bear OIL:
the Older theory. They have handed down
from father to son the statement that long
ago they were the sole occupants of the
country where they live. Then the big
people (Bantu tribes) suddenly swooped
down upon them from the north and killed
most of their forefathers, but kept some of
the dwarfs to hunt for them. Others buried
themselves in the great forests and thus
escaped the general slaughter and perpet-
uated their race.
Mr.. Werner says the Batwa have some
curious ideas bearing on the man and mon
| key question. They say that parrot is
| man because he can talk and a monkey is
| a man because he can use his hands and
looks like a man; and they add that par
rots monkeys. and men are all good to eat.
The Batwas told Werner that they had seen
men who differed from all others, who have
! long hair, small, keen eyes. and are very
| wild, never coming into the towns. but
| living only in the bush, where they some
| times try to hold converse with the dwarfs.
| who call the strange beings Kaieke. He
| brought some Batwa boys to Europe with
| him. one of whom said he had seen the
| Kaieke. When he took his boys to the
| Geological Gardens at Antwerp where they
saw the celebrated baboon there go through
his performance, the boys declared that he
| was a Kaieke, and triumphantly exclaimed,
Didn't we tell you so?" Werner says these
Kaieke may be balloons, though he has
never heard of the Cape baboon north Of
| the Zambesi or of the gorilla south of the
| Congo.
| Mr. Lloyd, in his recent trip through
| the great forest north of the Congo. which
| Stanley was the first to cross. had no
trouble with the numerous dwarfs he met.
| though earlier travellers. had been the
target for their poisoned arrows. He
| actually succeeded in establishing friendly
relations with one of their chiefs, who
| told many things about his people.
| The six centres where dwarfs have now
been found in Africa are ~ In the west