CHAPTER XV 



Pygmies visit Parimau — Description of Tapiro Pygmies — Colour — 

 Hair — Clothing — Orjtaments — Netted Bags — Flint Knives — Bone 

 Daggers — Sleeping Mats — Fire Stick — Method of making Fire — 

 Cultivation of Tobacco — Manner of Smoking — Bows and Arrows — 

 Village of the Pygmies — Terraced Ground — Houses on Piles — 

 Village Headynan — Our Efforts to see the Women — Language and 

 Voices — Their Intelligence — Counting — Their Geographical Dis- 

 tribution. 



The Pygmy people — or Tapiro as they are called by the 

 Papuans — whom we saw in March, visited us occasionally 

 in small parties of three or four at Parimau and later we 

 went to one of their villages in the hills, to which they 

 were reluctantly persuaded to show us the way. When 

 they come down to Parimau they were warmly welcomed 

 by the Papuans, with whom they seemed to be on very 

 friendly terms, and stayed in their houses for two or 

 three days. They appeared to be particularly attractive 

 to the women, one of whom we saw affectionately embrace 

 a Tapiro on his arrival ; it was said that she kissed him, 

 but if that was so it was the only occasion on which that 

 form of endearment was seen practised by the Papuans. 

 It was noticeable that when they arrived at Parimau 

 they had not their bows and arrows, which they always 

 carry elsewhere ; probably they had left them hidden in 

 the jungle before they came to the village. Similarl}^ 

 when we went up to visit the Tapiro, the Papuans who 



