The Washington herald., 1921-11-13
TRAVELLER TELLS
OF PICMY TRIBE IN
THE PHILIPPINES
DR.. Cole Says Five-Feot
@Gia1ts' Live Like
Monkeys.

Do you remember reading m
-ouliivers Trsvsis- how ship
wrecked ouiiivsr stretched himself
out on what he thought was an un-
Inhabited island. went 70 sleep. and
awoke TO ind himself surrounded
By q swarm Of tiny people-Ldiii-
putiansf
In the Philippine Isiands, psrtic-
ularly the island OF Paiowan. there
live the smallest known people q
the human race. They come the
nearest 10 being like Guiifver's III
iiputians Of any known people. A
fve-foot man 10 giant among
them Usually these pigmies are
no more than four feet. eight or
nine inches tall
Live LIKE Me.keya
NO others of the human race
come so near TO living like mon
keys" declared DR.. Fay Cooper Cole,
Of the Adventures Club and an as
sistant curator at the Field Mu-
scum. Chicago. TO the writer. Dr.
Cole ought 20 know. He has made
two trips into the land Of the pig
mics and iiveda with them. once in
In 1906 and again In 1911
They have frizzly hair contfn-
used DR.. Cole, are very dark-skin-
ned like Africans. and Their only
clothing IL made of tree bark.
when a pigmy IL very young his
parents make a hole in the lobe or
each of his ears Sticks are placed
In them, and are added to from
time TO time until finally the pIgny
49, ~
be used nicely as a cigar holder.
One time. while living with the pig
mics, i threw away an empty con-
densed milk can Some minutes
later saw one Of the men struttIng
proudly about with the can In the
lobe Of his ear.
Peculiar Sense Of Beauty.
The pigmy sense of beauty seems
rather peculiar. For the sake OF
good looks some Of them will file
or chip each front tooth to a saw
tooth point A grinning pigmy with
saw-teeth is a peculiar sight
Others Of the pigmies viii cut
their chests with a sharp BAMBOO
knife, arranging the small sIashes
In various designs Dirt is rubbed
into the cuts, making them very
sore. When they finally heal there
are slight ridges, scars, remaining.
A pigmy does this, no doubt. for
the same reason that some Of us
have an arm or hand tattooed. A
tattoo mark such as we are ac-
quainted with would not show
plainly on a pigmy's black body.
On special occasions they will
rub their bodies with rancid grease,
making them slick and sh'uy As
the pigmies seldom battle, this
grease soon collects a great deal OF
dirt. asked one Of the men why
he did not wash the dirt away. He
answered that he didn't wear cloth
ing like We white men do and that
IL he washed away the dirt ne
would be exposed to the elements
and he would likely take cold
They have music, too; bamboo
flutes and bamboo guitars. They
have a peculiar way OF playing the
lutte. Instead OF blowing into the
instrument with the mouth. a pig
my blows his flute with his ncstril.
Poison darts. blowguns and the
bow and arrow are their weapons.
With these they shoot their game
food and ward OF or attack their
enemies. / was never so unfortun-
ate as TO anger and be attacked by
the pigmfes. but they are hard
fighters IL they fear that they are
in danger.
Custom II Law.
Custom is law among these Pc
culiar persons. To break away from
custom. Is to break the law. They
have no elaborate form of govern
ment In each group of twenty or
twenty-five person which wanders
about following the game, there is
\ leader. OF course. Their homes
are frail and OF such a nature that
70 abandon them means no great
loss, Their dishes are green leaves
and bamboo tubes. They know
nothing of the outside world. They
are seldom visited by white people.
And while they were the original
Inhabitants Of the Philippines. there
are only about 10000 OF them left in
the islands"