PYGMIES AND FOREST NEGROES 



527 



elsewhere, either living 

 as a separate people 

 or reappearing as a re- 

 versionary type in tribes 

 of more typical Negro 

 appearance who in times 

 [tast have absorbed ante- 

 cedent Dwarf races. 



The Pygmies on the 

 verge of the Uganda 

 Protectorate offer usually 

 two somewhat distinct 

 types as regards the 

 skin colour, one being 

 a reddish yellow and the 

 other as black as an 

 ordinary Negro/" The 

 reddish yellow type has 

 a skin which in the dis- 

 tance often looks dull, 

 and this appearance 

 arises from the presence 

 of very fine downy body- 

 hair. This hair is not 

 unlike the Ian ugo which 

 covers the human foetus 

 about a month before 

 birth, and would almost 

 seem to be the con- 

 tinuation of a foetal 

 character. The body- 

 hair in question is short 

 and very fine, and is of 

 a yellowish or reddish 

 tinge. Where it grows 

 to any length, as oc- 

 casionally on the legs 

 or on the back, though 





284. A PIGMY WOMAN OF THE BABIBA GROUP, CONGO FOREST 

 (WEST OF ALBERT EDWARD) 



* It would seem as though 

 the pure-blooded Pygmy was always of a dirty reddish yellow in skin colour, and was 

 invariably covered all over his body with light-coloured downy hair, and that the black 

 type appearing amongst these Dwarfs is due to intermixture with bigger Negro races. 



