130 



ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO. 



bows and arrows or snares. Their huts are about four feet high 

 and of about the same diameter, built of branches stuck into the 

 ground and bent over into a semicircle. The hut is thatched with 

 large leaves and a small hole is left at the side through which the 

 pygamy crawls in to lie on his bed of leaves, which is the only piece 

 of furniture. 



Stanley found some of these dwarfs in his journey through 

 the Congo forests, and agrees with Sir Harry Johnston in the 

 description. It seems that the little fellows have no language of 

 their own, but talk more or less imperfectly the language of what- 



TlIE MARIMBA, OR AFRICAN PIANO, 



ever tribe of negroes happens to be their nearest neighbors. The 

 white travelers who have visited them say that, although they are 

 absolutely savage in their natural life, yet they possess quicker 

 intelligence than the ordinary negroes and learn languages easier. 



The foreign travelers declare that they are most interesting 

 people, fond of singing and dancing, with music of their own that 

 is distinctly melodious, and a drollery of action w4iich makes them 

 generally entertaining. It remains now for Africa to yield a race 

 of giants to complete the record of marvels which the continent has 

 produced. 



The Dutch were not in the first instance the discoverers of the 

 Cape of Good Hope. The old Portuguese navigators were the 



