PYGMIES OF THE ITURI FOREST 343 



four pygmy cliiefs were carried around the clearing in 

 chairs swung upon the shoulders of two men. Their 

 subjects followed in wild disorder, shouting and chant- 

 ing. Young women shaded them with banana leaves, 

 while others wiped their faces. At the end of this pro- 

 cession walked the medicine man, performing a few 

 crazy steps and later sprinkhng water over the marchers 

 when they assembled to the call of the drums. 



I measured some of the men and women, finding that 

 the women averaged two and one-half inches shorter 

 than the men. The tallest man measured fifty-seven 

 inches and the shortest, fifty inches. The average for 

 the twelve of each sex measured was, for the men, 

 four feet seven inches, and for the women, four feet 

 four and one-half inches. The tallest woman was 

 fifty-six inches in height and the shortest fifty inches. 

 Truly a small race. 



The Momvu are a race of Bantu stock who, being 

 men of unusually large stature, and Hving among 

 dwarfs, have assumed a sort of overlordship toward 

 the Ifi. But nobody, not even the Belgian Govern- 

 ment, levy tribute from this Uttle folk, and the Momvu 

 claim to rule over them amounts to a claim only, for 

 the Ifi demonstrated this to us more than once. 



A chief of the Momvu, by the name of Ongodi, made 

 a visit to the clearing. He came in state, being carried 

 on the shoulders of his subjects in a huge chair. I was 

 standing near the hut door on top of the ant hiU when 

 this chief was deposited at the bottom. As he arose 

 from the chair, a royal retainer brushed the wrinldes 

 from his coat tail, while another went ahead picking 

 up sticks and other obstructions from the royal path. 

 In haughty style he strode up to me and extended his 



