Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-11
Qigmie8 Of The past.
Mr. Cell Who Studied the Activities of Missionaries Among
These Little People, Now Relates the Results of His
Researches to Their Place in History.

the cranes are often alluded to by later
classical writer's. and are not infrequently
aepicted upon Greek vases. In one Of
these. in the Hope collection at Deepdane
in which the figures are represented with
great spirit, the plgmies are dwarfish-look-
ing men with large heads negro features
and close woody or frizzly hair. They are
armed with lances. Notices OF a less poeti.
cal ana apparently of a more scientific
character of the occurrence of races OF
very small beings are met with In Ars-
. so.,e' Herodotus. Ctesias. Pliny. Pomponus
Nieio and others. Aristotle places his pig
mics in Africa, near the sources of the Nile
while Ctesias describes a race OF dwarfs
in the interior of India
Anthropologists will be interested to know
something of the distribution OF tho
strange little folk referred to as pigmies.
which word. however, 1 like to regard as
applicable only to the dwarf men and wom-
en- OF the vast Pigmy forest. DIR. holman
round, near Schaffhausen in Switzerland, a
settlement which was inhabited during
three prehistoric periods, viz, the palaeo-
ithlc, neolithic and metallic. In the neo-
ilthic period there were found skeletal re-
mains of normal-szed persons of the usual
european type such as represents the popu-
iation OF today. and also skeletal remains
OF small human beings which, considering
all accounts We possess about pigmes Of
other continents. must be regarded as pig
mics or the neolithic period OF Europe.
Then there were the pigmies of the AM
oaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal con-
corning whom Marco Polo In the latter
part OF the thirteenth century says: The
people are no better than wild beasts and
l assure you all the men of this island
nave heads like dogs. and teeth and eyes
likewise in fact, in the face they are just
like big mastiff dogs"
There also small people referred to
as pigmies living In Sicily and Sardinia
where they form IA per cent of the popula-
ton.
Dwarfs also exist in Russia Then there
are also the e-Negroes- the Mountain
In the interior of the Island of Luzon. The
average height of the men is four feet
eight inches. They have a most interesting
not be modified or abandoned.
The marriage ceremony" according to
M. Montana, lis very remarkable. The at.
famed pair climb two flexible trees placed
near to each other. One of the elders of the
tribe bends them toward each other. When
their heads touch the marriage is legally
accomplished"
But what is still more astonishing is that
pigmies once occupied at least part Of the
United States. Whether this has been fairly
established I am unable to say but IL the
pigmies were the predecessors of the larger
people 1t Is not surprising that there should
be remains of these people found as we
know that parts of this country are geolig-
icaily older than any portion of Europe.
ASA or Africa. In q volume on anthropol-
ogy which 1 found in the library of the
British Museum is the following:
"A Pigmy Graveyard in Tennessee.-An
ancient graveyard of vast proportions has
been found in Coffee county. 1t Is similar to
those found In White county and other
places In middle Tennessee. but is vastly
more extensive and shows that the race OF
pigmies who once inhabited this country
were very numerous. The same peculiari-
ties Of position observed in the White coun-
ty graves are found in these. The writer of
the letter. says: Some considerable excite
ment and curiosity took place a few days
since, near Hillsboro, Coffee county, on
James Browns farm. A man was blowing
field which had been cultivated many
years, and plowed up mans skull and
other bones. After making further examina-
ton they found that there were about six
acres In the graveyard. They were buried
in a sitting or standing position. The bones
show that they were a dwarf tribe of peo-
pie, about three feet high. 1t is estimated
that there were about *, 600 to 100000 bur-
led there. which shows that this country
was Inhabited many hundreds Of years
ago."