THE PYGMY OR NEGRILLO RACES 



275. 



BATVVA AND WAMBUTTU. 



The nearest dwarf neighbours of the Akka are the tribes described by Stanley as the 

 Batwa and Wambuttu, who are of greater interest on account of their racial purity. The 

 relations of these two tribes are undecided. Burrows says they are the same people, but Stanley 

 has pointed out striking differences between them. He describes the two races as " utterly 

 dissimilar in complexion, conformation of the head, and facial characteristics. Whether the Batwa 

 form one nation and the Wambuttu another we do not know, but they differ as much from each 

 other as a Turk would from a Scandinavian. The Batwa have longish heads, long, narrow faces, 

 and reddish, small eyes, set close together, which give them a somewhat ferrety look, sour, 

 anxious, and querulous. The Wambuttu have round faces, gazelle-like eyes, set far apart, open 

 foreheads, which give one an impression of undisguised frankness, and are of a rich yellow, 

 ivory complexion. The Wambuttu occupy the southern half of the district described [i.e. 

 between the Ituri and Xgaiyu rivers in the North-east Congo], the Batwa the northern, 

 and extend south-easterly to the Awamba forests on both banks of the Semliki Kiver, and east 

 of the Ituri." 



Stanley first made the acquaintance of the Wambuttu at the settlement of the Arab 

 chief Ugarrowwa, near the confluence of the Lenda and the Aruwimi. There he had the 

 opportunity of studying a pygmy woman of the large-eyed, round-faced tribe, who had been 

 captured by the Arabs near the sources of the Ngaiyu. " She measured 33 inches in height, 

 and was a perfectly formed young woman of about seventeen, of a glistening and smooth 

 sleekness of body. Her figure was that of a miniature coloured lady, not wanting in a 

 certain grace, and her face was very prepossessing. Her complexion was that of a quadroon 

 or of the colour of yellow ivory. Her eyes were magnificent, but absurdly large for such a 



WATER-CARRIERS, ANTANANARIVO . 



