THE AFRICAN PYGMIES. 661 



De Commerson, who accompanied Bougainville on his voyage 

 round the world, and visited Madagascar in 1771, heard of a small 

 race in the interior of that island, called Kimos or Quimos, and 

 actually saw one woman — a slave in the household of the gov- 

 ernor of the French settlement, the Comte de Modave. De Modave 

 collected all the information he could about the Quimos from 

 native chiefs, but never succeeded in reaching the valleys where 

 they were said to live, or meeting with any, except the slave- 

 woman before mentioned, who may or may not have been a typi- 

 cal specimen. Ellis and other missionaries, in later times, heard 

 of these people under the name of Vazimba, but never appear to 

 have seen them ; and it may be doubted whether any of them ex- 

 ist at the present day. The native statements preserved by De 

 Commerson and De Modave would, if true, show the Quimos to 

 have been in some respects physiologically different from the rest 

 of mankind ; but these statements — and rightly so, in the absence 

 of further evidence — are treated by both gentlemen with extreme 

 caution. For the rest, the description of the Comte de Modave's 

 Quimo slave might very well stand for the portrait of the average 

 Bushwoman. 



Captain Boteler, who was on the east coast of Africa, between 

 the years 1821 and 1826, heard of a tribe of small people, living in 

 the interior, called Waberikimo ; and reports of these seem at dif- 

 ferent times to have reached Zanzibar. The native information 

 on this point was somewhat vague ; but from all accounts they 

 would appear to be the same as the Doko, of whom Dr. Krapf re- 

 ceived a description in 1840 from a slave of the name of Dilbo, a 

 native of Enarea. The Doko were said to live in the Galla coun- 

 try ; they were small in stature, and of a dark olive color. They 

 lived on fruits, roots, mice, and wild honey, and were unacquaint- 

 ed with the use of fire. They had neither weapons, houses, nor 

 temples, nor even, like the Gallas, sacred trees. Yet they had 

 some notion of a Supreme Being, to whom, under the name of Yer, 

 they sometimes addressed prayers, " in moments of sadness and 

 terror," said Dilbo. There is a certain pathos in what follows ; 

 but we must remember that it was filtered through the imagina- 

 tion — perhaps elicited by the leading questions — of a kind-hearted 

 German with a touch of poetic mysticism about him. " In their 

 prayer they say : ' Yer, if thou dost really exist, why dost thou 

 let us be slain ? We ask thee not for food or clothing, for we only 

 live on snakes, ants, and mice. Thou hast made us, why dost thou 

 let us be trodden down ? ' " 



The Doko had neither chiefs nor laws; they "lived in the 

 woods, climbing trees for fruit, like monkeys " ; but diseases were 

 unknown among them, and they were much liked as slaves in 

 Enarea, being docile and obedient. 



