128 ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO. 



ward in their development, and at least two tribes which are actual 

 pygmies, to justify the old stories of the country of the dwarfs. 



It is in the great forests of the Congo River in Central Africa 

 that these most peculiar races have been found. These pygmies 

 were probably well known to the ancient Egyptian slave-traders, 

 who journeyed up the Nile in ancient days to return with treasures 

 and curious specimens and wonderful stories. Herodotus wrote 

 about the pygmies and their fights with cranes, but the story has 

 been believed entirely mythological, until the discovery of ostriches 

 and these very dwarfs has given justification to the ancient classic 

 writer. 



Sir Harry H. Johnston, the governor of British East Africa, 

 who has described these African tribes most interestingly, suggests 

 that from the mischievous actions of such dwarfs as these may 

 easilv have come the stories of brownies and o'oblins in our own 

 fairy tales. He found two varieties of the pygmies, one with 

 reddish and yellowish brown skin and a tendency to red in the hair 

 of the head, and the other a black-skinned type with entirely black 

 hair. The latter are slightly taller than the others. 



STRANGE CREATURES OF A STRANGE LAND. 



The tallest specimen measured by the explorer was about five 

 feet in height, but the average height for the man was four feet, 

 seven inches, and for the w^oman four feet, two inches. Several 

 of the men were only four feet, two inches in height, and several 

 of the women were four feet. The nose and the lips are very differ- 

 ent in shape from those of the ordinary negro types, the upper lip 

 being long and straight and the nose having very little bridge. 



The chin is very much receding, the neck is short, and the head 

 rather sunk between the shoulders. The legs are short in propor- 

 tion to the body and the feet are inclined to turn in. Some of the 

 dwarfs have quite long beards. They seldom wear anything in the 

 way or ornament and in the forest the/ go about naked. 



These Congo pygmies are very shy, and avoid contact with 

 travelers through their country. They keep no domestic animals 

 nor do they cultivate the ground, but live entirely by hunting with 



