280 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



with bow and arrow, and adding absurd emphasis to the general effect by their set and solemn 

 countenances" (Burrows). But where they have fallen under the influence of other tribes their 

 dances are less restrained. Schweinfurth described the dancing of one of his Akka as displaying 

 an "agility that was perfectly marvellous. The little man's leaps and attitudes were accompanied 

 by such lively and grotesque varieties of expression that the spectators shook again and held 

 their sides with laughter." 



The Batwa appear to have no religious observances; they bury their dead without ceremony 

 and erect no monuments over them. According to Burrows, "they have no regard for time, 

 nor have they any records or traditions of the past; no religion is known among them, nor 

 have they any fetish rites; they do not seek to know the future by occult means, as do their 

 neighbours." 



PYGMIES IN ABYSSINIA AND BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



The eastward range of the Akka is bounded by the Rift Valley of the Upper Nile, of the 

 Albert Nyanza, and the Semliki branch of the Nile. But nearer the India Ocean there is a 

 tribe of half-caste pygmies living in the high forest-clad plateau extending from the southern 

 provinces of Abyssinia to the great mountain of Settima in British East Africa. The first 

 evidence of the existence of these East African pygmies was obtained by Sir W. C. Harris in 

 Abyssinia in 1842, and was published by him two years later. He reported the existence of a 

 tribe of dwarfs in the province of Shoa, in Southern Abyssinia. lie called them the "Doko,"' 

 and described them as "a pygmy and perfectly wild race, not exceeding 4 feet in height, of 

 a dark olive complexion, and in habits closely approximated to the beasts that perish." He 

 describes their country as "clothed with a dense forest of bamboo, in the depths whereof the 

 people construct their rnde wigwams of bent canes and grass. They have no king, no laws, 

 no arts, no arms; possess neither flocks nor herds; are not hunters, and do not cultivate the 



A HOVA IN A PILANJANA. 



