The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-28
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Skeletons Of Astas Brought From
the Philippines.
Noted Black Dwarfs Approach Very
Closely 70 the Missing Link Between
Man and the Lower Animals.

- r. GEORGE r. BECKER. who was
sent by the geological survey to
make q scientific exploration of
the Philippines, has brought back
- with him two skeletons of dwarfs
belonging to the curious aboriginal
race of that archipelago known as Aetas,
or more Familiarity as Little Niggers."
They are the first of the kind ever fetched
to this country, and are considered high
~ interesting, inasmuch as they represent
the lowest existing type of osseous frame
work.
The washington correspondent Of the
Chieago Tribune says Of the Aetas:
Though adult, the capacity of the skulls
IL only about three-fourths of that of an
average American Uranium, and the arm
bones are so long that the owners must
have been able to touch their own knees
with the tips Of their fingers when stand
Ing erect. The eye-holes are notably long,
and in other characteristics, particularly
the formation of the Jaws, they are quite
nonkey-like Even the feet are different
from ours, the big toe being more devel-
oped and the three outer toes OF each foot
so modified as to turn inward, like those
OF some monkeys.
Java and the pigmies Of central Africa.
are the lowest human beings on the face
Of the earth, approaching most nearly to
the theoretical type OF the missing link.
They were the earliest inhabitants of
Polynesia, and remnants of them still
iinger in some OF the larger islands in
that part of the world. The men average
only feet inches in height. and both
sexes have strikingly ape-like appear
ance. Their wool Is black, their heads
seem too large for their bodies, and their
Jaws project beyond their noses, while
their faces are wrinkled In deep lines like
those Of monkeys.
They live Wild in the forests, much after
the manner of monkeys, sowing no plant,
subsisting on wild fruits mainly, and in
dulgfng In no intercourse with more civil
lied human beings.
. A sort Of traffic they carry on in gold,
precious stones, rare plants, and birds
skins, which one may purchase from them
by depositing In recognized spot little
mirrors or other articles which they
covet. These articles they will take away
in secret. replacing them with their own
merchandise. In this manner are OBJ
tained for the European market many
beautiful birds Of paradise which the
dwarfs kill with poisoned darts fired from
blowpipes, and in Borneo the little Mig
gers" do a considerable business in baby
orang-outangs. which they get from the
nests.
1t Is the intention of the National Mu-
scum to use these two Aeta skeletons in
connection with new collection which
will be designed to illustrate the bony
structure Of the various races Of mar
kind: In other words, the collection will
furnish q study in comparative anthro-
pology. A. yet the scheme Of 1t has not
been thoroughly worked out. but. II en-
tirely complete, II would contain the skel-
et0ns OF a grown man and woman OF ev-
cry race. In addition 1t ought to COM
prise a series of skeletons which should
show the development of the osseous
framework in an Individual from the first
appearance of bony structure to the death
of the adult in old age. All through life
the skeleton of a human being undergoes
notifications. the skull. for example. be-
coming much thinner and the other bones
more brittle in the aged.
Finally, say the experts, It would be
interesting to exhibit series, of verte-
brate animals of various genera, begin.
ming with the lowest and ending with
man, to show the development OF the
bony skeleton in nature. This would
serve to illustrate incidentally the differ
entiation OF the forelegs from the hind
legs, which reaches its elimination in the
human being. Most people do not realize.
though 1t is a fact. that the forelegs of a
horse are vastly different from the hind
legs Few things are more curious than
a comparison between a horses skeleton
and that of man. placed side by side.
pretty nearly every bone In the latters
makeup having its place in the structure
of the former, so That, looking at the two
together, one realizes that the creatures
they represent, though so little alike to
the casual eye. are, in reality, cousins,
being derived from the same original an
cestry.
The collection referred to doubtless will
include skeletons of the great anthropoid
apes. of which the chimpanzee's is by far
the most like that of man.. Next comes
the gorilla. which, though commonly pic
tured standing up on its hindlegs, in re-
atty rarely assumes the erect attitude
its customary mode Of locomotion being
on all fours and supporting itself upon
the knuckles of its hands. Man is the
only anthropoid that walks on the fiat of
the foot. that member in the apes being
set obliquely.
AS for the orang its whole structure is
modified for climbing, inasmuch as it al
most never descends to the ground its
life being spent in trees. its nest Of