Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1906-01-06
70 STUDY THE PYGMIES
purpose of Professor Starts Elk
petition to Africa.
nAREFUL RESEARCH WILL BE MADE


Professor Frederick Starr, the enthu.
elastic anthropologist of Chicago uni
versity, sailed from New York the 9th
or day for Africa on what is thought
n be one of the most important ethno-
logical expeditions of recent years, his
especial mission being years So
iourn in the wilds of the central AZ
rican Jungle to investigate the habits,
customs, etc, of the pygmies, the yell
low men and the cannibals of that re-
gion. says the New York Tribune. The
remarkable black lilliputians of Africa
continent. Professor Starr hopes to
throw new light upon their origin and
ancestry by making a series of plas
fer casts, physical measurements, pho
nographic records, moving pictures and
hundreds of Photographic negatives of
them. For this purpose he takes with
him an expert young Mexican photog
rapher, Manuel Gonzales.
When asked for an outline of his
plans, Professor Starr said: 81 shall
study the little Batwa pygmies and
camp with them in their forest re-
treats. The pygmtes are in no sense
apish, as popularity supposed. The re-
suit of my Investigations will, no
doubt go far TO prove that they have
been an unchanged race from their
creation and not a degenerate people.
| shall also make an investigation of
the strange yellow and copper hued
race OF Africans recently made known
by Samuel Werner, the missionary sci
enlist now in that country. He says
that the traditions of these yellow men
Indicate no white ancestry. They have
a traditional testimony of an unmixed
descent for hundreds of years. They
are superior in handicraft and culture
to the native blacks and do not like to
marry dark women.
There are about as many of these
yellow men in Africa as there are ne
groes in the United States. They are
scattered through many different tribes.
1t is believed that they are the last sur
Vivors Of a migration of peoples cen
turtles ago into Africa from the region
of the Nile and the Red Sea. Mr.. Yer
Eer's preliminary account, both of the
Batwa pygmies and the yellow negroes,
practically az unknown race of man
kind, has awakened widespread de
sire among scientists for a more ex-
tended knowledge in regard to them,
which can only come from careful and
prolonged research, such as I propose
making. The field Is q rare and fas-
chatting one for the ethnologist The
results may open up new chapter of
life on the dark continent"
Professor Starts headquarters will
be LOO miles In the interior, at Ndom-
be, In the Belgian Kongo protectorate,
the capital city of King Ndombe. who
will aid him In carrying out his investi-
cations. Large bands of the Batwa
pygmies live in his territory. They pay
him tribute by furnishing meat and
game to supply his large household
King Ndombe Is of copper color over
six feet six inches tall and of herculean
build. He has a fac&s expressive of
kindly intelligence and a searching pair
OF brown eyes, each said to be as
large as q quarter of dollar. King
Ndombe's domain Is about as large as
tne state of New Jersey and contains
some 100000 inhabitants. The king is
credited with possessing thirty
wives and forty children.
A band OF some 300 pygmies lives on
me edge of King Ndombes town.
1ney dwell In beehive-like huts, formed
VI Dent sticks covered with leaves and
palm fbers, with an opening In the
bottom just large enough for them to
crawl through. The inside would be
ABOUT the size Of two good sized dry
goods boxes. This cramped place shell
.ers man, wife and half a dozen chill
uren. A full grown native cannot
sahd erect or lie at full length In one
VI tnese structures. The more print
1--WE pygmies are to be found far in the
iorest interior, where the tree dwelling
nlDes exist Here cannibalism Is met
"lth' and some more or less dangerous
w.. hS NApcL ISllCcS Inlay EeSull.
WIN pygmy guides and armed native
attendants Professor Starr will pitch
lamp and carry ON his observations
"-'iiln range of the deadly poisoned
StIows or the tree hiding dwarfs. not
'es introduced to white men.
samuel Werner, now awaiting Pro
eosor STAIRS arrival to introduce him
"hlhg Ndombe, and who was for many
uOnthS practically a next door neigh
VT 10 the little black dwarfs, says the
n'lre life of the little people is given
~, ~ 70 hunting and fishing. They never
m tne soil or become agriculturists.
h. er principal weapon Is the primitive
NV" Nv, with poisoned arrows. The Dye,
1A eS are often shorter than their bows
+a ac poison they use is one of the most
oi known. 1t will cause death In
,aO. m TWO 10 five minutes. Sometimes,
, resS OF quick death, the wound, II
saa.. 'eu upon a person, will cause In.
e,.s5 a light scratch is suficier e
Cue. madness, and finally dead ~
, Il uslons In about two weeks. There
no, ~ antidote yet discovered for thin