A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients | Page 7

almost furry, being nearly half an inch long, and his hands were
very delicate. On his head he wore a bonnet of a priestly form,
decorated with a bunch of parrot feathers, and a broad strip of bark
covered his nakedness."
[Footnote A: In Darkest Africa, vol. i. p. 345.]
[Footnote B: Ibid., ii. 40.]
Jephson states[A] that he found continual traces of them from 270 30' E.
long., a few miles above the Equator, up to the edge of the great forest,
five days' march from Lake Albert. He also says that they are a hardy
daring race, always ready for war, and are much feared by their
neighbours. As soon as a party of dwarfs makes its appearance near a
village, the chief hastens to propitiate them by presents of corn and
such vegetables as he possesses. They never exceed four feet one inch
in height, he informs us, and adds a characteristic which has not been
mentioned by Stanley, one, too, which is very remarkable when it is
remembered how scanty is the facial hair of the Negros and
Negritos--the men have often very long beards. The southern parts of
the continent are occupied by the Bushmen, who are vigorous and agile,

of a stature ranging from four feet six inches to four feet nine inches,
and sufficiently well known to permit me to pass over them without
further description. The smallest woman of this race who has been
measured was only three feet three inches in height, and Barrow
examined one, who was the mother of several children, with a stature
of three feet eight inches. The Akoas of the Gaboon district were a race
of pigmies who, now apparently extinct, formerly dwelt on the north of
the Nazareth River. A male of this tribe was photographed and
measured by the French Admiral Fleuriot de l'Angle. His age was about
forty and his stature four feet six inches.
[Footnote A: Emm Pasha, p. 367, et seq.]
Flower[A] says that "another tribe, the M'Boulous, inhabiting the coast
north of the Gaboon River, have been described by M. Marche as
probably the primitive race of the country. They live in little villages,
keeping entirely to themselves, though surrounded by the larger Negro
tribes, M'Pongos and Bakalais, who are encroaching upon them so
closely that their numbers are rapidly diminishing. In 1860 they were
not more than 3000; in 1879 they were much less numerous. They are
of an earthy-brown colour, and rarely exceed five feet three inches in
height. Another group living between the Gaboon and the Congo, in
Ashangoland, a male of which measured four feet six inches, has been
described by Du Chaillu."
In Loango there is a tribe called Babonko, which was described by
Battell in 1625, in the work entitled "Purchas his Pilgrimes," in the
following terms:--"To the north-east of Mani-Kesock are a kind of little
people called Matimbas; which are no bigger than boyes of twelve
yeares old, but very thicke, and live only upon flesh, which they kill in
the woods with their bows and darts. They pay tribute to Mani-Kesock,
and bring all their elephants' teeth and tayles to him. They will not enter
into any of the Maramba's houses, nor will suffer any one to come
where they dwell. And if by chance any Maramba or people of Longo
pass where they dwell, they will forsake that place and go to another.
The women carry bows and arrows as well as the men. And one of
these will walk in the woods alone and kill the Pongos with their
poysoned arrows." It is somewhat surprising that Tyson, who gives in
his essay (p. 80) the account of the same people published at a later
date (1686) by Dapper, should have missed his fellow-countryman's

narrative. The existence of this tribe has been established by a German
expedition, one of the members of which, Dr. Falkenstein,
photographed and measured an adult male whose stature was four feet
six inches.
Krapf[A] states that in the south of Schoa, in a part of Abyssinia as yet
unworked, the Dokos live, who are not taller than four feet. According
to his account, they are of a dark olive colour, with thick prominent lips,
flat noses, small eyes, and long flowing hair. They have no dwellings,
temples, holy trees, chiefs, or weapons, live on roots and fruit, and are
ignorant of fire. Another group was described by Mollieu in 1818 as
inhabiting Tenda-Maié, near the Rio Grande, but very little is known
about them. In a work entitled "The Dwarfs of Mount Atlas,"
Halliburton[B] has brought forward a number of statements to prove
that a tribe of dwarfs, named like those of Central Africa, Akkas, of a
reddish complexion and with short woolly hair, live in the district