A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients | Page 3

have to be considered in a later section.
Pigmy races still exist in considerable numbers in Asia and the adjacent
islands, and as it was in that continent that, so far as our present
knowledge goes, they had in former days their greatest extension, and,
if De Quatrefages be correct, their place of origin, it will be well to deal
first with the tribes of that quarter of the globe. "The Negrito" (_i.e._,
pigmy black) "type," says the authority whom I have just quoted, and to

whom I shall have to be still further indebted,[A] "was first placed in
South Asia, which it without doubt occupied alone during an
indeterminate period. It is thence that its diverse representatives have
radiated, and, some going east, some west, have given rise to the black
populations of Melanesia and Africa. In particular, India and
Indo-China first belonged to the blacks. Invasions and infiltrations of
different yellow or white races have split up these Negrito populations,
which formerly occupied a continuous area, and mixing with them,
have profoundly altered them. The present condition of things is the
final result of strifes and mixtures, the most ancient of which may be
referred back to prehistoric times." The invasions above mentioned
having in the past driven many of the races from the mainland to the
islands, and those which remained on the continent having undergone
greater modification by crossing with taller and alien races, we may
expect to find the purest Negritos amongst the tribes inhabiting the
various archipelagoes situated south and east of the mainland. Amongst
these, the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands offer a convenient
starting-point. The knowledge which we possess of these little blacks is
extensive, thanks to the labours in particular of Mr. Man[B] and Dr.
Dobson,[C] which may be found in the Journal of the Anthropological
Institute, and summarised in De Quatrefages' work. The average stature
of the males of this race is four feet six inches, the height of a boy of
ten years of age. Like children, the head is relatively large in
comparison with the stature, since it is contained seven times therein,
instead of seven and a half times, as is the rule amongst most
average-sized peoples. Whilst speaking of the head, it may be well to
mention that these Negritos, and in greater or less measure other
Negritos and Negrillos (_i.e._, pigmy blacks, Asiatic or African), differ
in this part of the body in a most important respect from the ordinary
African negro. Like him, they are black, often intensely so: like him,
too, they have woolly hair arranged in tufts, but, unlike him, they have
round (brachycephalic) heads instead of long (dolichocephalic); and the
purer the race, the more marked is this distinction. The Mincopie has a
singularly short life; for though he attains puberty at much the same age
as ourselves, the twenty-second year brings him to middle life, and the
fiftieth, if reached, is a period of extreme senility. Pure in race, ancient
in history, and carefully studied, this race deserves some further

attention here than can be extended to others with which I have to deal.
The moral side of the Mincopies seems to be highly developed; the
modesty of the young girls is most strict; monogamy is the rule, and--
"Their list of forbidden degrees An extensive morality shows,"
since even the marriage of cousins-german is considered highly
immoral. "Men and women," says Man, "are models of constancy."
They believe in a Supreme Deity, respecting whom they say, that
"although He resembles fire, He is invisible; that He was never born,
and is immortal; that He created the world and all animate and
inanimate objects, save only the powers of evil. During the day He
knows everything, even the thoughts of the mind; He is angry when
certain sins are committed, and full of pity for the unfortunate and
miserable, whom He sometimes condescends to assist. He judges souls
after death, and pronounces on each a sentence which sends them to
paradise or condemns them to a kind of purgatory. The hope of
escaping the torments of this latter place influences their conduct.
Puluga, this Deity, inhabits a house of stone; when it rains, He
descends upon the earth in search of food; during the dry weather He is
asleep." Besides this Deity, they believe in numerous evil spirits, the
chief of whom is the Demon of the Woods. These spirits have created
themselves, and have existed ab immemorabili. The sun, which is a
female, and the moon, her husband, are secondary deities.
[Footnote A: The quotations from this author are taken from his work
_Les Pygmées_. Paris, J.B. Baillière et Fils, 1887.]
[Footnote B: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst_., vii.]
[Footnote C: Ibid., iv.]
South of the Andaman Islands are the Nicobars, the aborigines