Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-08-01
AS NEAR APE AS MAN
ODD FOLK FOUND IN CONGO
FOREST.
LOW IN ARTS OF LIFE
"@ry characteristics of the Monkey
Prevail, but Creatures General
Oociie-Types Crop Out IN
many Diverse Parts of African
Continent.

OH marry Johnston, who is home on
leaVe from Uganda, is likely IN odd
largely to our knowledee of that Gov
Try as result of TIC two years he has
just completed there in the capacitv
OF MS maJesty's special commissioner
he brings with him photographs and
measurements Of the ape-like race nj
men whom Mr.. Grogan and Mr.
sharp hrst encountered on the verge
Of the Congo Forest.
That man first swung himself down
Irom the tree in the primevaI forest
IS a commonly accepted belief. Rut
Sir Harry Johnston knows better than
TO suppose that he has come anywhere
near hndlng the original article. What
MS investigation leads to is con-
hrmauon OF the belief that there are,
mere and there in Africa, living tvpes
OF the first kind Of negro who entered
that continent from Asia, and that this
negro is, in a very slight degree.
nearer to the ape than the better-de-
Veloped types of black men who pre-
dominate there nowadays. But the
explorer shall speak for himself:
I hope said Sir Henry Johnston
that the public interested in these
matters will not form any exaggerated
ideas on the subject until the material
which l have gathered has been prop
erly examined by antKropologists, and
my own impression as to the some
what simian character of these natives
is confirmed. The ape-like people to
whom refer seem to constitute the
underlying stratum of the population
OF the eastern outskirts of the great
Congo Forest, from the vicinity of
Lake Albert down to the neighborhood
of Lake Tanganyika, the western
slopes Of Mount Ruwenzori. and also.
strange to say, on the west slope of
Mount Elgon, the extinct volcano.
which lies about $50 miles east of the
Victoria Nile.
The general characteristics of
these ape-like people-who sometimes
constitute tribe Of pariahG by them
selves, and sometimes crop up as
type in the middle of other tribes-are
a dirty yellow skin, poor develop
ment OF the back of the hea /, eyes
rather close together, with prominent
eyebrows, low and much-Wrinkled fore
heads. The hair is woolly. like that Of
the ordinary negro, though it some
times tends to brownish in color. The
arms are long and the thumbs weak.
The legs are a little knCck-kneed, and
are often very short in proportion to
the body. In one instance in which |
took photograph the toes are turned
rather inward.
These people seem to be very low
in the scale as regards the arts of life,
but this may be due to the fact that
they are rather in the position of
pariah or subject tribes. In the Sem
Tiki Valley they are known by the
name of Munande. Their stature as
rule is not much, if any, below the
average height of humanity. | can
only say that in genral appearance
they do look as have described them,
very ape-like, but too much
stress should not be laid on
my general impression in this re-
spect until the measurements which
have made of their heads and bodies
are discussed by competent au
thority on anthropometry. The photo
graphs, also, which l hope soon to get
printed, and which propose to exhibit
hon T he
Society in November, |
should enable people to form a correct
as to the affinities of this
low type of negro.
Are they docile? Well. those of the
Banande whom l have met on the
very wild and timid. On the other
hand, the Banande who come from the
west side of Mount Ruwenzori were
hired porters in no way afraid of the
white men, and most willing to be
or measured | have a
kind of impression that this ape-like
type of negro represents something
like the original stock-the earliest
form of negro man that entered the
African Continent from Asia. It mas
seemed to me as though, in my jour
neys, could trace it cropping up here
and there through East Central Africa,
and not only over the line l have de-
scribed, but also much to the south of
not far from the head
waters of the Lualaba and the Ka fue."
AS student of languages, Sir
Harry Johnston has found time, amidst
his multifarious duties, to engage in
most valuable work. He has compiled
q early so vocabularies of languages
and dialects, and made five or six
studies of the leading
groups of tongues. OF the dialects
many, of an ancient and interesting
type, seem to be fast disappearing
under the leveling influence of Suahfld,
which may be described as the Hin
doostani or the French of Central
Africa between the Me and the Fam
tesi. This is actually the Bantu
language of Zanzibar and the adjoin-
ipIa If ic pid1v haoorn-