El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-12
HITHERTO unknown race OF

A HITHERTO unknown race or
"A pigmies said to be the smallest
people in the world, has recent
ly been discovered in Madagascar. They
call themselves Behosy. are extremely
monkey-like, and, when pursued, jump
from tree to tree after the manner Of
apes Dwelling in a densely forested
region, they are so timid that when
captured they sometimes die of fright.
This discovery is interesting largely
because OF new theory that the black
and woolly-h headed dwarfs found in va
rious parts of the world are the sur
vivors of the Oldest race of people on
the earth-that is to say, Of primeval
type which inhabited the world tens of
thousands of years, perhaps before
there were any white men. Henry NJ.
Stanley, the explorer, was confident
that there was time when these pig
mics 'treigned over darkest Africa I'M
disputed lords"
Pfgmfes of One Race.
There seems to be no question of the
fact that the pigmies, wherever found,
are all of one race, though they differ
in minor particulars. But the puzzle
is to imagine how they managed 20
distribute themselves so widely over
a few scattered tribes of them, in the
region of the Congo. in Africa, calling
themselves Aka or Batwa. One comes
across them in the Philippines. wnere
they give themselves the name Of
Aetas. They are the aboriginal in
habitants OF small group of islands
known as the Andamans, in the Bay of
Bengal, and now they turn up. smaller
and more monkey-like than elsewhere,
in Madagascar.
Resemble Monkeys.
But they always resemble monkeys
very strikingly. The typical black
dwarf of the Congo has huge and
clumsy feet, jaws that project beyond
his nose, and a face wrinkled in deep
lines like that of an ape. The same
description, indeed, may De said to ap
ply to the Aetas of the Philippines, two
Of whose skeletons were brought to
this country not long ago by DR.. Geo.
F.. Becker, q government scientist. He
found that the whole skeleton struct-
ure was unlike that of any other kind
Of human being, and that the skulls.
had scarcely three-fourths the capaci
ty of an average Americans Uranium.
Similar skulls and pones nave been
picked up by anthropologists in , the
mountainous interior of Formosa (not
far to the north of Luzon). showing
that this island also was formerly in
habited by an aboriginal race of Ne
gritos, as the Spaniards call them.
Doubtless the warlike Malays killed
them off, as they, and afterwards the
Spaniards, did to a considerable extent
in Luzon and Mindanao.
Wherever the black dwarfs are
found, they are slowly but surely dying
out. In the Andamans, where a Brit
ish penal colony is now located, they
are protected from harm as far as pos
sible; but the diseases of the white
ated them. 1t is evident that the Little
Niggers, as sailors ave always called
them, cannot. much longer survive.
There are doubtless more of them in
the Philippines than anywhere else
possibly $4,000, though many Of these
are not of pure bloou
Measurements made by Stanley and
Schweinfurth showed that the pigmy
men of the Congo region rarely exceed
four feet, six inches in height, or a
weight of 80 pounds. The women are
three or four inches shorter some of
them being less than three feet high |
Indeed Stanley describes the first
dwarf he saw as young woman, "33 |
inches tall, yet perfectly formed and |
Of a glistening sickness of body She |
appeared to be about II years old, and |
her complexion resembled yellow ivory. |
Her eyes were absurdly large for so |
small a creature-almost as big as |
those Of a gazelle, and extremely lus-
trous" Though absolutely nude, she |
was entirely seh-possessed
African Pigmies.
These African pigmies have been |
supposed heretofore to be the smallest /
people In the world. Their color is |
usually that of a half baked brick,
their noses flat, their lips thick, and /
the bodies of the men covered with |
hair so closely as sometimes to resem-
BILE felt Practically, they go stark