\-^s 



WE VISIT THE PYGMIES i6i 



" set in a faint track, it seemed that they might perhaps 

 " be right. So we went on and in a few minutes we came 

 " out of the forest into the clearing. About thirty yards 

 " from us was a hut with three men standing outside it. 

 " We called out to them and they waited until we came 

 "up. A minute or two later two more men came out 

 " from the forest behind us, no doubt they had been 

 " following us unseen. The hut was a most primitive 

 "structure of sticks roofed with leaves, leaning up 

 " against the hillside. There was a fire in the hut and 

 " beside it was sitting an old man covered with most 

 " horrible sores. We went on up the hill for a couple of 

 " hundred yards to a place (about 1900 feet above the 

 " sea) where we had a fine view. Rawling put up the 

 " plane-table and got angles on to several points for the 

 " map. 



" During the hour or more that we stayed there, eight 

 " men came to see us. Excepting one rather masterful 

 " little man, who had no fear of us, they were too shy to 

 " approach us closely and remained about ten yards 

 " distant, but even so it was plainly evident from their 

 " small stature alone, that they were of a different race 

 " from the people of the low country. 



" The most remarkable thing about them is the case 

 " that each man wears, his only article of clothing ; it is 

 \ " made of a long yellow gourd, about two inches in 

 " diameter at the base and tapering to about half an inch 

 " at the pointed end. It is worn with the pointed end 

 " upwards and is kept in position by a string round the 

 " waist. As the length of the case — some of them 

 " measure more than fifteen inches — is more than a 



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