The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1909-04-21
DOYLESTOWN MAN DiSCOv-
ERS RACE OF PYGMIES
IN CHINA.
DR.. CELL ALSO TRAVELS THE ENTIRE
LENGTH OF THE GREAT WALL.
FIRST TO PERFORM FEAT.

DR. William +. Cell, the explorer
and writer, arrived at his home in
Doylestown recently, from quest in
China that involved no less feat than
travelling the whole length Of the great
wall, and the discovery Of 200 miles OF
that barrier that never had been map
ped before He says that he has con-
frmed the story that in the remote
northern mountains of China there
lives race Of hairy pygmies, which has
been there since 2Io B. c.
DIR. Cell is the man who started out
IN 1901 to study the most primitive
races of the world wherever he could
find them. He crossed China and
Africa in the course OF his search, and
ventured farther into the pygmy forest
of Africa than Stanley had gone. He
was gone for four years and traversed
10000 miles.
This recent expedition of about
twenty-five men, headed by DR. Cell,
started in May, 1908, from Shan lila
Yuan, where the great wallis eastern
extremity is washed by the Yellow sea.
Its purpose was to reach Thibet by
sticking TO the wall for all of its I,25o
miles. Crawling along with pack
mules, the party got to the other end
of the wall at Kan ku Van, north of
the Nan Shan mountains, in September,
1908. DIR. Cell does not know that any
body ever did the trick before; it is GER
tain, he thinks, that no white man ever
did. The whole trip was about 1900
miles. 1t took the explorers into Thibct,
where DIR. Cell fell i'll and had to be
carried along by his men for several
days.
The explorer sand that he made sure
OF the existence OF the pygmy people
by getting Chinese pundits to translate
for him inscriptions III half dozen dia-
lects on the sides OF the great wall.
These learned men told him that il was
a part of their folk lore that whenever
one of the millions of men who worked
on the construction of the lar-tlung
bulwark was found to have erred ever
so slightly at his task he was immetli-
atcly buried alive In the wall At the
very point where he made his mistake.
1t will be about sIo b. G., accord
ING to the legend that a body of work
men tired of seeing their comrades and
friends transmitted into building mater
lal, fed with their wives and children
into the interior and kept on until they
came to the deep forest, where their
descendants now live. Some of them,
the narrator said, became demented.
because of the frightful experiences to
which they had been exposed,
"Ihe interesting folk lore that |
studied through interpreters, DR.. Cell
said, "gave me line ON these wild
men. We located them tar in the in.
terror. have a man among them
now, and am interested To- know how
he is fairing.
The explorer contributed the further
information that the pygmles live like
ANIMALS, and their long nails and terri
bic faces give them the appearance OF
being of a lower type.
The members OF DIR. Cells party had
no serious trouble with the natives, al
though they met many to whom a
white man was a novelty. The hard
going--in some places the trail led to
an altitude of $4,000 ieet--seems to
have been more hazardous than en-
counters with the natives.
The traveller remarked that he had
been in the African country, where
Roosevelt is 70 hunt and that he
couldn't see any great danger ahead Of
the former president in so high an alti-
tude, unless he should tail to protect
himself against the tsete fly, which the
sleeping sickness is said to prefer as 4
common carrier.
DIR. Cell brought with him numer-
Gus souvenirs of his trip among them
was number OF very handsome rugs,
some from the west end of the Great
Wall and some from the middle and
some from the east end. These rugs
are all of native workmanship, the
workmen being paid about fifty cents a
week for weaving them.
Mr.. Cell used them as sleeping rugs.
The Chinese bed is made OF bricks
usually with the hard side up. Under
these brick beds are number of
sinuous flues under which fire is
built for the purpose of warming the
bed, and when the smoke comes out
at the top it is absolutely cold. Every
one in China sleeps with their clothes
on, and as Mr.. Cell, during last sum-
mer was never less than 1000 feet
above sea level, he had to supplement
his clothing with other garments.
One Of his very handsome coats is
made of the skins of the rhihetan