The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-03
NEW RACE OF
PIGMIES FOUND

London July 2.-(SpeciaD. News has
just been received in England of re-
markable discovery that has just been
made by one of the most interesting and
scientific expeditions that has ever left
these shores.
The expedition, which is composed of
a party of eminent British scientists,
and owes its inception and organization
to Mr.. w. R. Ogilvie-Grant, was dis
patched by the British Ornithologists'
union In October last to explore the
Snow mountains of New Guinea, or
Papua, which is the largest unknown
area on the surface of the earth
The discovery is that of a strange new
race of pigmies of a color closely re-
sembling that of newly blackleaded
stove.
The discovery of the new race of pig
mics was made during the ascent of the
Snow mountains in Central Dutch New
Guinea
At an elevation of about 1000 feet the
expedition came across tribe whose
e1 erage height is about four feet three
inches.
Although definite details are still to
seek. there can be little doubt this tribe
belongs to the divisionf of the human
race known as the Negritos.
The occurrence of the Negritos in the
Papuan sub-region has In the past been
a subject of much discussion, the view
that they did not occur there finding
wide acceptance among the authropolo-
gists.
The present discovery will account for
the presence of various anomalous races
in the remoter parts of the Lesser Sun
da Islands.
Heretofore these people have only been
known to inhahit three widely separated
areas. namely, the Andaman Islands. In
the Bay of Bengal. the northern portion
of the Malay peninsula, where they are
known as Senangs, and contain areas, IN
the Philippine islands. In particular, the
northern~island of Luzon.
In all these districts the characters
tics of this race are amazingly uniform
practically no adult over five feet In
height being met with the women Indeed
rarely exceeding four feet
The main feature Of this marked type
of 'the human race. apart from their
small size, are:
/. The extraordinary dark color q
their skin, which approaches, as one
observer has remarked. the color of a
newly blackleaded stove.
O. The extremely broad nose. the
breadth OF which is about equal to the
height.
g. The frizzy hair. which grows In
isolated peppercorn tufts all over the
scalp.
These people are in no sense dwarfs
small, but otherwise we'll developed men,
the arms however. being relatively
longer than those of Europeans.
In habit they are nomadic, nowhere
filling the ground but depending for
their living entirely on their skill in
hunting and fishing. Their chief weapon
IL the bow, their arrows being gener-
ally poisoned, either with the famous
"upas' or some other analogous vege-
table-poison which Is, in some cases, a
species of strychnine.
But by far their most interesting wea-
non is an Ingenious variety of spring
gun"
This is formed by setting fattened
be mboo spear attached to a bent sap
ling. which is fastened to trigger In
such a way that 1t is released by the
passer-by stumbling against an invisible
string attached across a track.
These spears are In reality set for
game In time of peace they are OBJ
vious enough to the initiated, for their
n essence Is generally indicated by GU
rious sign-namely, broken off twig
placed in a cleft stick.
Tn war, however. this and other warn
ing signs are removed, the removal cor
responding to the moving of buoys In g
mined channel The wounds inflicted by
these hardened bamboo spears are neces-
sarily extremely serious.
The mental qualities of the Negritos
are far from developed. Not one OF
them, for example. is able to express d
higher numerical idea than three.
All who encounter them none the less
unite in saying that they are a merry
little people, with massive ideas of hos
pitality, when once their confidence has
been won, and provided that they have
not been i'll treated previously.