486 THE PYGMIES OB^ THE GREAT CONGO FOREST. 



dwarf type makes its appearance here and there in the eastern part of 

 the Kingdom of Uganda (in tlie forests of Kiag-^e), in the nomad of 

 the Andorobo (a people of hunters which, in half-servile connection 

 with the Masai, wanders over the greater part of eastern Africa 

 between the Victoria Nyanza and the vicinit}" of the Indian Ocean), 

 and amongst the people on the west and north of Mount Elgon/' No 

 doubt, as Africa becomes more closely examined, the Pygmy type may 

 be found to crop up elsewhere, either living as a separate people or 

 reappearing as a re vei'sionary type in tribes of more typical negro appear- 

 ance, who in times past have absorbed antecedent dwarf races, " "'■' * 



AN HISTORICAI. EXPLANATION OF THE (INOMES AND DWARFS OF FOLK- 

 LORE. 



Other dwarf races of humanit}', belonging to the white or the Mon- 

 golian species, may have inhabited northern Europe in ancient times, 

 or it is just possible that this type of pygmy negro which survives 

 to-day in the recesses of inner Africa may even have overspread Europe 

 in remote times. If it did, then the conclusion is irresistible that it 

 gave rise to most of the myths and beliefs connected with gnomes, 

 kobolds, and fairies. The demeanor and actions of the little Congo 

 dwarfs at the present day remind one over and over again of the traits 

 attributed to the brownies and goblins of our fairy stories. Their 

 remarkable power of becoming invisible by adroit hiding in herbage 

 and behind rocks, their probable habits in sterile or open countries of 

 making their homes in holes and caverns, their mischievousness and 

 their prankish good nature, all seem to suggest that it was some race 

 like this which inspired most of the stories of Teuton and Celt regard- 

 ing a dwarfish people of quasi-supernatural attributes. The dwarfs of 

 the Congo forest can be good or bad neighbors to the big black people 

 according to the treatment they receive. If their elfish depredations 

 on the banana groves or their occasional thefts of tobacco or maize are 

 condoned, or even if they are conciliated by small gifts of such food 

 left exposed where it can be easily taken, they will in return leave 

 behind them in their nightly visitations gifts of meats and products of 

 the chase, such as skins or ivory. I have been informed by some of 

 the forest negroes that the dwarfs will occasionally steal their children, 

 and put in their phices pygmy babies of ape-like appearance — change- 

 lings, in fact — bringing up the children they have stolen in the dwarf 

 tribe. These collections of pygmies, which one can scarceh^ call tribes, 

 certainly exhibit from time to time individuals of ordinary stature, and 

 with features not strongly resembling those of the pygmy type. 



«The resemblance of the dwarf types in West Elgon to the Congo pygmies is 

 unquestionable; but I am not sure that the dwarf element in the Dok(j of northeast 

 Africa and the Andorobo is not of Bushman rliaracteristics. 



