New-York tribune., 1921-11-27
nd Men and Wild Animals
Seen in Tropical Wildernesses
! pygnaies and the Nasal of Central Africa
and the Birds, Beasts and Insects
of South American Jungles

rather than the "Father of Hisforv y
Yet chat great river is now we'll known
to US as the Bahr el Ghazel, exactly an-
swering Herodotus's description. Henry
M Stanley many years ago discovered
the pygmiss, even smaller than Herod-
otus indicated, and now here ia a most
circumstantial and detailed account Of
those strange folk, with numerous pho
tographs from the life, given as the re-
suit of actual explorations directed bv
the American Museum Of Natural His.
tory and various American universities.
Thus Is completely vindicated the story
as told by Herodotus, the Cyrenaeans,
Etearchus, the Nasamonians and the
five young adventurers.
DR.. Vanden Bergh's partv started tn
land from Mqmbasa and therefore first
visited the Wanyika, tribe of average
physical size but inferior mentality
and morals. Next they reached the
Wakamba, Bantu tribe of rreat s,ze
and interesting character, occupying
the kapiti Plains, which were the scene
OF some of Theodore Roosevelt's Afri.
can exploits; a pastoral and agricultu-
raj people, with both sight and hearing
developed to an oncanny degree and
with practices Of covering considera-
BILE parts of their bodies with scars.
Far more attractive than either of these
are the Wakikuyu, occupying the beau
tlfui kikuyu plateau, which DR.. Vanden
Bergh thinks the most attractive spot
in Africa. The natives there have q
tradition that the Creator waited to
watch the effect Of ali the other lands
He had made and then gathered all
the choicest features Of them and be-
slowed them upon Kikuyu to make 1t
an earthly paradise. The Wakikuyu
are described as very religious and
pensive people,
Finally we come to the Pygmies, or
Mambuti, as they call themselves. who
claim to be the oldest Of all the tribes
OF central Africa. "They live as close
to the monkey as it is possible for
human beings to do. They eat the
produce of the forest; they shelter
under trees and boughs; they make
huts of the twigs and the leaves of the
forest; they need no open space or
sunshine, and they are as happy with
out cover or shelter az they are under
it," Why are they so small, say two
thirds the size of the average man?
II is an unsolved problem. We cannot
attribute it to their life In the dense
forests, where sunlight seldom or never
falls upon them; else what could we
say of the Mohawks and other Ameri-
can Indians who were similarly forest
dwellers? It cannot be because of gen
eral decadence, for the photographs
show them to have fine cranial develop
ment. their foreheads comparing ia
yorably with those of Caucasian peo-
pies. Again, what becomes of the
theory that Africans are black because
OF their life beneath the direct rays
Of the tropical sun? For uncounted
centuries the Pygmes have dwelt in
dense shadows and gloom, the majority
of them probably never for an hour
entering actual sunlight. Yet they are
one Of the blackest Of all the tribes.
And thus they have been, dwarfs and
blacks, for twenty-four centuries ut
least. They are one of the strangest
problems in all ethnoiogy.
In his studies and observations of
the wild life of the South American
Jungles Mr.. Beebe has shown himself
possessed Of the spirit of Audubon in
abundant measure. 1t was his habit to
swing q hammock in the Jungle and lie
IN it, motionless but wide-eyed, until
1t and he seemed SO much q part of the
jungle that wild creatures acted as
though he were not there. Humming
birds perched upon the hammock cords
and made themselves at home, and at
the hour of the siesta tucked their tiny
heads under their wings and slept,
within reach of his hand. There were
other visitors, less welcome. One day
low rustling caught his ear, a sound
as OF moving leaves when there was no
breeze; sinister and ominous, Look
ing down he saw great army of ants
on the march, battalion after battalion
flowing steadily along. Knowing the
danger he was at first inclined to leap
out and seek safety in fight. Then,
testing the strength of the hammock,
he decided to remain where he was,
watching to see what would come about.
81 knew that no creature in the world
could stay in the path OF this horde
and live. To kill an insect or a great
bird would require only few minutes,
and the death Of jaguar or a tapir
would mean only few more. Against
this attack, claws, teeth, poison-fangs
would be idle weapons. i. !. From
where I watched l saw massacres in
nemerable; terrible battles, in which
some creature~-a giant beside an ant
fought for his life, crushing to death
scores of the enemy before giving up.
There is cause for gratitude and for
exultation in being able to add to the
list another name of man who has
not only the eyes to see and the ears
to hear, but in no less measure also
the tongue or the pen to tell Of what
he has seen and heard and felt, in Ian
guage which vies with the triumphs Of
nature itself in its convincing truth, its /