Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-08-01

largely to our knowledge of that conn.
Wy as result of the two years he has
Just completed there in the capacitv
OF his majestys special commissioner
he brings with him photographs and
measurements of the ape-like race of
men whom Mr. Grogan and Mr.
sharp first encountered on the verge
of the Congo Forest.
That man first swung himself down.
from the tree in the primeval forest
is commonly accepted belief. But
sir Harry Johnston knows better than
10 suppose that he has come anywhere
near finding the original article. What
MS investigation leads to is a con-
hrmation of the belief that there are
mere and there in Africa, living types
or the first kind of negro who entered
that continent from Asia, and that this
negro is, in 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:
L 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 have gathered has been prop
erly examined by anthropologists. 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.
1.-THE general characteristics of
these ape-like people-who sometimes
constitute tribe of pariahs by them
selves, and sometimes crop up as a
type in the middle of other tribes-are
a dirty yellow skin, a poor develop
ment of the back of the head, 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 knock-kneed, and
are often very short in proportion to
the body. In one instance in which |
took a 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
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 a competent au-
thority on anthropometry. The photo
graphs, also, which hope soon to get
printed, and which propose to exhibit
when read paper before the Royal
/ Geographical Society in November,
should enable people to form a correct
impression as to the affinities of this
low type of negro.
Are they docile? Well, those of the
Banande whom | have met on the
verge of the Congo Forest seem tn he
very wild and timid. On the other
hand, the Banande who come from the
west side of Mount Ruwenzori wera
| hired porters D. no way afraid Of the
"hite men, and most willing to be
photographed or measured. I have a
KIND or impression that this ape-like
type OF negro represents something
IKE the original stock-the earliest
FORM OF negro man that entered the
African Continent from Asia. Il has
seemed to me as though, in my iour.
neys, could trace it cropping up here
and there through East Central Africa
and not only over the line have de-
scrlbed, but also much to the south of
fanganyika, not far from the head
waters OF the Lualaba and the Ka fine "
AS a student OF languages sir
Harry Johnston has found time. amidst
his multifarious duties to engage in
most valuable work. He has compiled
nearly so vocabularies of languages
ana dialects, and made five or six
grammatical 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 Suahil, !
which may be described as the Hin |
doostani or the French of Central |
Africa between the Niis and the Fam
Resi-. This is actually the Bantu
language Of Zanzibar and the adjoin-
ing mainland, and 1t is rapidly becom.
ing a universal tongue, by which |
Europeans can converse with the |
natives in the countries round the |
Great Lakes, along the Congo, and |
between the lakes and the Indian |
ocean. The triumph OF this volapuk |
necessarily means the decay OF the old |