5 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



west longitude that the Nasamonea reached the Niger." (It 

 should be noted here that a large proportion of our former slave 

 population was brought from a section of Africa only a degree or 

 so south and east of Timbuktu.) The above- quoted author very 

 correctly states that the town in which the Nasamonians were 

 held captave could not have been the famous Timbuktu, for 

 Ahmed Baba, the celebrated Arab historian and annalist, declares 

 that the town was not founded until the fifth century of the He- 

 gira, or 1100 A. D. But, taking everything into consideration, I am 

 inclined to believe that it was really in this neighborhood that 

 these adventurous explorers met the pygmies, and that the latter 

 at that time had a town on the banks of the river Niger. The 

 incursions of stronger and more warlike peoples probably drove 

 these little men southward, out of the immediate neighborhood 

 of the present site of Timbuktu. 



The older writers, notably Pliny, located the pygmies in more 

 than one country. Pliny not only locates them in Africa, but 

 also in India, and modern research has declared that this his- 

 torian was correct. 



In the Vindhya Mountains, Malwa, India (20 to 25 north lati- 

 tude, and 75 to 80 east longitude), M. Rousselet has found the 

 Bandra Loks (" man monkeys "), true pygmies, less than five feet 

 in height. These people are, unquestionably, bona fide negritos 

 ("little negroes"). Saint-Pol Lias also found negritos in the 

 province of Perak, called Sakaies. These little negroes were all 

 five feet or under, and presented all the characteristic marks of 

 the African pygmies, with the single exception of the protuberant 

 abdomen. This modification of form is probably due to their sur- 

 roundings. Not only are the negritos to be found in India, but 

 they are to be observed in the Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal ; 

 in the Malayan Archipelago ; in Melonesia and Polynesia ; and in 

 Australia. This race has penetrated as far north as Japan, for 

 Dr. Maget has found true negritos among the Japanese. They 

 are also to be found in the archipelago of Loo Choo and in For- 

 mosa. 



The Andamanese probably approximate more nearly in stature 

 and form the pygmies of the United States than do any other 

 tribe of little people save the Akka and Bushmen of Africa. The 

 Tasmanians, however, resemble our negritos very much, as far as 

 facial angle and expression are concerned. I have, therefore, in- 

 troduced the portrait of a Tasmanian for the sake of comparison. 

 In recent times explorers have penetrated Central Africa, and have 

 found the smallest of all little people in the region of the country 

 ruled over by King Munza, sovereign of the Monbuttos (1868- 

 1871). Here Schweinfurth found a small colony of pygmies sup- 

 ported by King Munza; their chief, Adimokou, told Schwein- 



