280 Professor Flower [April 13, 



Far further into tlio interior, towards the centre of tlic region 

 contained in the great bend of the Congo or Livingstone River, 

 Stanley heard of a numerous and independent population of dwarfs, 

 called " Watwas," who, like the Batimbas of Battel!, are great 

 hunters of elephants, and use poisoned arro.vs. One of tliese he met 

 with at Ikondu, was 4 feet 6J inches high, and of a chocolate brown 

 C(dour.* More recently Dr. Wolif describes under the name of 

 " Batouas " (perhaps the same as Stanley's Watwas), a people of 

 lighter colour than other negroes, and never exceeding 1 • 40 metres 

 (4 feet 7 inches) high, but whose average is not more than 1-30 

 (4 feet 3 inches), who occupy isolated villages scattered through the 

 territory of the Bahoubas, with whom they never mix."]" 



Penetrating into the heart of Africa from the north-east, in 1870, 

 Dr. Schweinfurth first made us acquainted with a diminutive race 

 of people who have since attained a considerable anthroj)ological 

 notoriety. They seem to go by two names in their own country, 

 AMa and TiJihi-tikki, the latter reminding us curiously of Dapper's 

 Bakke-bakke, and the former, more singularly still, having been read 

 by the learned Egyptologist, Mariette, by the side of the figure of a 

 dwarf in one of the monuments of the early Egyptian empire. 



It was at the court of Mounza, king of the Monbuttu, that Schwein- 

 furth first met with the Akkas. They apj)ear to live under the pro- 

 tection of that monarch, who had a regiment of them attached to his 

 service, but their real country was further to the south and west, 

 about 3° N. lat. and 25^ E. long. From the accounts the traveller 

 received, they occupy a considerable territory, and are divided into 

 nine distinct tribes, each having its own king or chief. Like all the 

 other pygmy African tribes, they live chiefly by the chase, being 

 great hunters of the elej)hant, which they attack with bows and 

 arrows. 



In exchange for one of his dogs, Schweinfurth obtained from 

 Mounza one of these little men, whom he intended to bring to 

 Euroj)e, but who died on the homeward journey at Berber. Un- 

 fortunately all the measurements and observations which were made 

 in the Monbuttu country by Schweinfurth perished in the fire which 

 destroyed so much of the valuable material he had collected. His 

 descriptions of their physical characters are therefore chiefly recollec- 

 tions. Other travellers — Long, ]\Iarno, and Vossion — though not 

 penetrating as far as the Akka country, have given observations upon 

 individuals of the race they have met with in their travels. The 

 Italian Miani, following the footsteps of Schweinfurth into the 

 Monbuttu country, also obtained by barter two Akka boys, with the 

 view of bringing them to Europe. He himself fell a victim to the 

 fatigues of the journey and climate, but left his collections, including 

 the young Akkas, to the Italian Geographical Society. Probably no 



* ' Througli the Dark Continent,' vol. ii. 



t ' La Gazette Geogi-aphique,' 1887, p. 153, quoted by Quatrefages. 



